monday

We had a great day today. Breakfast at Mr Donut was really interesting. I have never felt quite so inadequate as I did when trying to order food in a foreign country without speaking the language. I would do my best, struggling along until I finally gave up and yelled ¨Teresa!¨over my shoulder for help translating. My compassion for people in a country where they don´t speak the language grew tremendously.

We loaded up in our microbus with our two armed guards complete with machine guns and started our day. It was a day of sightseeing, since the whole country was on holiday. We drove first to the Mayan ruins, which unfortunately were closed. So we kept driving to a small town up in the mountains to see the oldest church in El Salvador, built over 300 years ago. (Mom, and Mom-in-law, please look closely at the machine guns in this picture. Make you feel better?)

Then, we walked through a cemetary where everyone had come to honor their family who has passed away. Every year, in Mexicao and Central America, this is a very important tradition. They bring flowers, sometimes will repaint the graves, and will even hire musicians to play their loved ones´ favorite songs. Very interesting.

Next, we drove to La Palma to buy some souveniers for all of our friends and family. It rained most of the afternoon, which was beautiful. We drove next to a beautiful area with lots of waterfalls. The group walked the one kilometer to the falls and back, but Jayelle didn´t feel like walking so far because her feet hurt, so she and I sat on the porch of a wonderful place that grows, roasts and brews their own coffee. The view from the porch was amazing, and the coffee costs a whopping 15 cents per cup!

Because of the traffic from the holiday, we were almost an hour late getting back, so I wasn´t able to get with the worship team tonight. I was really disappointed, but hopefully we can make it work another night this week.

The real highlight of the day was all of the discussions that we had about the country here. We learned so much about the history of the people and the civil war. Teresa and Mariela both shared about their families´experiences during that time, and how it has impacted them. The stories were so moving and deep, and I was struck by how much I don´t know about other people, even those I am close to. I felt like God was really opening my eyes and trying to teach me to dig deeper in my relationships with people, and ask more questions about someone´s past. The more you understand about where someone came from, the more you understand about who they are and why they think the way they do.

The older I get, the more I realize how broken I am as a person, and the more that I desperately want to grow so that I can help more people. It is embarrasing on one level, but so incredibly exciting on a deeper one. I am praying for God to continue to break my heart and teach me anything that he wants me to learn while I am on this trip. I know that he is just getting started, because we haven´t really done anything yet.

Tomorrow, we will spend time at the university sharing our faith. That should be fun, especially for us non-Spanish speaking gringos. Then, we are going up on a volcano that overlooks the city so that we can pray over San Salvador. Then, we will spend the afternoon visiting three families in the church who need assistance. We are going to take them some food and some clothes that the Turning Point family donated. I am really looking forward to what God is going to do in our hearts tomorrow.

One last thing - here´s a picture of me and Leo´s dad. Can´t you just see Leo in thirty years?

Thanks for praying for us. Please keep it up.