DIARY OF A CRAZY GRANDMA ON MISSION IN EL SALVADOR
May 27 – June 1, 2010
Dear Friends,
How blessed we were to be able to carry the Mission Message God has given us into El Salvador. On the day we left we received new updates from Nicaragua that another 10 new Generation 2 & 3 groups are starting there. How we pray the Lord will use this ministry in El Salvador as He is doing there!
For your easy reading I will report on THE MISSION in bullet points.
THURSDAY – May 27
Maria Gonzales (who will translate for me this week) and I arrived safely late tonight with the 150 Living in a Zoo? Bible Study books you sent for women; after an unexpected detour through Honduras. Volcano eruptions in Guatemala cancelled flights into and out of there causing all kinds of flight detours! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS FOR BEING WILLING TO SPONSOR WOMEN WITH A BOOK – MANY WHO HAVE NEVER HAD ONE BEFORE. I can’t wait to see what the Lord will do with our next 5 days here.
FRIDAY – May 28
Rained buckets most all day. However the Mission went forward and God blessed in an incredible way!
Maria is doing an incredible job translating and I thank God for allowing her to be with me on this mission!
*AM – Christian School/Teens – The Pastor asked us to speak on Sexual Purity – Principle #7 in Living in a Zoo?
*PM – Public High School & College University – As we approached the school, Mauricio, our Pastor host, told us about a woman speaker who was here last week to speak to the students. As she approached the entrance one of the gangs who controls the school murdered her – right at the entrance where we were. The student response was great, very polite and attentive – especially the guys – which was surprising. A sea of hands went up to receive Christ as Savior that day – 15 were brave enough to come forward and face the crowd publically and acknowledge they were indeed accepting Christ and would be willing to be Christian leaders for the students as they are discipled.
PRAISE THE LORD! They were very courageous, and thing is – even the gang leaders here allow someone who accepts Christ to leave the gang without retribution – that is unless they decide later to abandon Christ with their actions. If they do that the gang leader will have them killed. I am not making this up. The students are aware of this and were very serious and sincere in their decisions. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!
They will all start Bible Study together under the direction of the teacher who brought us there. The female converts will also start the Zoo study even though they are unmarried. Humph. Wonder why we think unmarried girls won’t benefit from learning these Titus 2 principles? …..
The Princess gift books were also a HUGE success. It was a great way to get the Gospel into the hands of those who had little prior knowledge of God, Jesus or salvation. You wouldn’t believe how the girls responded to them.
SATURDAY – May 29
The women’s conference went very well today! It was mostly church leaders who came to learn about the ministry and how to use it in their communities.
- 32 churches were represented.
- Plans are underway to get groups set up and going over the next weeks.
- The women were very excited and said they have never had anything like it before.
- Evelyn, the pastor’s wife at the main church is being very careful with the books to see that they go only to women who make the commitment to use them personally and carry out the mission for multiplication.
- She will work with leaders here like Odily is in Nicaragua…….. I praise the Lord for what He will do here.
PM: Urgent call for prayer…. A tropical storm hit today. We are in the middle of torrential rain – already receiving 5 inches today. 2+ more inches expected tonight, 2+ more during the day tomorrow and 2+ more tomorrow night. Some areas are expected to get up to 30”. Flooding has already started in some areas and mudslides are also expected. The whole country is on RED ALERT and women’s conferences have been cancelled. Please pray that we are able to get to the airport to fly out tomorrow. Otherwise, we might not be able to get to the airport. We are about 45 minutes away in good weather. We need God’s wisdom, protection and guidance. I am sorry to admit the fear I feel inside. I hate fear.
SUNDAY – May 30
RAIN SLOWING: Maria and I have been praying – asking for guidance on what to do about the storm situation and whether or not to fly out early. Then in church this morning, Exodus 40 was read – where God gives instructions to Moses on what he is to do to prepare the tabernacle for the Ark. In verse after verse it says he did “just as the Lord commanded” – even though Moses must have thought some of the instructions didn’t make sense – he did “just as the Lord commanded”. We felt the Lord told us to come to El Salvador and so we did “just as the Lord commanded” and came. It doesn’t seem to make sense that several ministry opportunities were cancelled – it doesn’t seem to make sense for the Lord to send us here knowing the storm would cancel out our purpose here – even for tomorrow and – as it stands now – maybe even Tuesday. But God is in control. Then I read further in the passage than the pastor had read and this is what I saw (New Living Translation) – right after the cloud covered the Tabernacle, it says
“Now whenever the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey, following it. But if the cloud did not rise they remained where they were until it lifted”
Well – it seemed that sentence lifted right up off the page, so the plan is to stay right here( subject to change no doubt!) …….not that we had a whole lot of other choices, but it seemed to me the Lord had spoken in a way I could understand. Though the fear still threatens, we will trust the Lord. Not that it is easy – but our safest place is always wherever the Lord directs.
PM - the rain stopped after church this morning and was supposed to have started back this afternoon – But it did not! They are still calling for another 2+ inches this afternoon (its 2 hours behind you here) an additional 2+ inches tonight and another 2+ tomorrow – but that is still a whole lot better than 30”. Many in the shanty villages have lost everything. My heart breaks for them – they have so little to lose and hope is almost nonexistent for them.
MONDAY – May 31
Well, THE RAIN TOTALLY STOPPED WITHOUT US EVER GETTING THOSE EXTRA 6+ INCHES OF RAIN! This morning the sun is shining and it promised to be a beautiful day.
This has certainly been a different mission trip. Since the Ladies Conferences were all cancelled, today we wound up ministering all day in a Favela (Gang Getto)
Yes, you heard that right. We had no idea that was where we were going to minister in the Favela until we got there. We were supposed to work with Evelyn on training leaders for the start of ZooKeepers Groups here, but we had no control of the situation.
Good thing – because the Lord opened up a door to start ministering permanently to the women right here in the Favela! It
