Last stop - San Salvador

Tonight we are in San Salvador, the capitol of El Salvador. We had a relatively uninteresting drive down from Guatemala City. One of our minibuses had a flat tire so we were a little delayed, but the border crossing was very smooth so we made it into San Salvador about 2:30. We had a lunch at the church we will be partnering with and then went to the university for a basketball game. Our team came back to tie their team and went on to win by 2 in overtime. It was a very good game and fun to watch. But better yet was the response to the halftime mim presentation. It was also cool to see the two teams form a circle at half court at the end of the game and close the eveing in prayer.

During half time the mime team presented the Forgiven By His Love sketch , and after William gave the message and prayed with the crowd he asked for a show of hands of those who had accepted Christ for the first time. Out of a crowd of 75 people or so 12 raised their hands. So regardless of the outcome of the game our visit their was successful. After the game we went back to the church for a baked chicken dinner and then got everyone off to their home stays for a much-needed night's rest. We start our last 2 days of service tomorrow. Its hard to believe we are already into our second week and our third and final city.

Here are some comments from the students and some pictures from tonight's game:

Well hey hiddy ho friends! We are all sitting in a cool (finally) basketball gym watching our boys play the U-17 National Salvadorean team..not doing to shabby! The Mime team will be presenting the gospel at half so we're excited to see that! We have finished our extremely long drive from Guatemala City to San Salvador and are a tid bit tired from our 5:30 am wake up this morning. We still have a few who are a little sick but overall we are doing really well health-wise. Each team is thankful for another break from ministry so that we are ready for our final week of service! Thank you for all of the support everyone has given our team. Continue to pray for reception of our gospel throughout El Salvador this week!

Special shout-out to the fam (Ma, Bret, Colin, Kyle, and Amy), Otis, Shore, Garrett, Zozzy, Tranny, and one of my faves: Mr Garten! (Hope the knee scope went well if that happened already) Praying for everyone back home, thank you teachers that are following us! (That's you Shatz!)

Adi para ahora,

-CFox

Hello everyone!! I'm so excited to tell all of you the amazing things that God has been teaching us on this trip! We have seen Him work in so many ways and have learned so much! The past days have been mostly fun things such as shopping and the beach. However, I'm anxious to get back to serving and see what God will do here in El Salvador! Thank you for all of the prayer! It has been helpful in getting me through some difficult experiences such as eating mushy plantains and beans which for a picky eater like me is a struggle. :) Seriously though thank you and please continue to pray for our last ministry days, sick people, and overall energy for the group!

family- Christina and Dad: Happy belated birthday and Father's Day! I love you both! Family: Today when I was struggling to sleep on the bus,l I kept imagining our house! I hope you guys are having fun with Hannah! (if its not to hard it would be great if you could wash my sheets....thanks! haha) Love you and miss you!]


ELisabeth Solfelt


Hey friends and family! the first thing i want to say is that it is HOT. like i havent sweated this much in my life. everyone in the group smells. anyways, God has been working in awesome ways on this trip!! A cool story about God's amazing healing power happened to me on saturday night. I get swimmers ear really easily and its really bad. So since we went to the ocean, i got swimmers ear. It didnt hurt all that much at first. But when I started to get ready for bed, it was aching pretty good. then i woke up in the middle of the night with my ear throbbing. i got my drops and took advil. i tried going back to sleep, but it was no use. So i sat up and prayed prayed and prayed. the pain lessened a little. and i fell back asleep. and i woke up with NO pain at all and usually my swimmers ear lasts for like a week. this is just ONE of the MANNNY stories of how God is healing, blessing, and helping us on this trip. God is amazing. and i can not WAIT to see what his plans are for El Salvador! :) I hope you guys are doing great! miss you and love you!!
hey mom and dad, i miss you. wish you were here with me!! :)

Taylor Hansen

Dear mom, dad, Sarah, grandma, grandpa, and everyone else,

We crossed the border into El Salvador today! It was a 9 hour process (the drive from Guatemala City to San Salvador and the border corssing) and I am exhausted. We are sitting at a basketball game right now at the University of El Salvador. It is insanely hot here (mom you would die). We went to a black sand beach and waterpark two days ago and it was super fun to jump in the waves! I havent gotten sick yet, which is really nice. But I will throw up if I eat anymore beans, eggs, plaintains, or tortillas (sorry if that was what you were planning for my welcome home dinner).Yesterday we went to Antigua for shopping and I enjoyed bartering with the sales people and got all of you presents (: On saturday night I had a homestay at a really nice house in Guatemala city that was in a gated community and the best part was that it was me and Morgan Rolfing! For dinner at that homestay we had ramen noodles,take-out pizza, and hot cocoa, I don't think I've ever had such a good dinner. And for breakfast, we had pancakes and hot cocoa. Not a ton of people are sick but there is not a lot of energy because of the long bus ride today. Happy fathers day Dad, hope it was great!

Love you all and miss you!

Kalli Thommen

p.s Please buy bagels and fruit for when I get home, gracias.


Hey guys!
I'm in El Salvador! It's super hot here but really beautiful. We are at the University of El Salvador right now watching our basketball team play UES. I wanna tell you all the awesomelicious stuff that has happened when I get back, but I just wanted to let all my friends and family that are praying for me that I am ALIVE and I am not sick!! Todd, Mom, Desi, Ben, Maddie, Annika, and Matthew <3 I love you all so much and miss you. Thank you so much for your prayers and I can't wait to see you all and tell you all about how God has been working during these two weeks.

Love muchly,
Briana Griggs

P.S. Rich, Adele, Emily, and Catie - Lisi says hi and she loves you so much! See you soon! <3

Hi everyone!We just arrived in El Salvador and it is very hot here,but more of a dry heat.We only have two more full work days which is hard to believe! I have seen so many incredible things that God has created.The people of these countries are so gracious and have such passion for Jesus. It is really encouraging for us on the team to see fire in the hearts of these people. I miss you family,so much it's crazy! But I am praying the homesickness will go away so the last days here will be great.Continue praying for us and i love you Mom, dad, Jennifer, Luci and Lily!

Maddie Bessinger

Hi Everyone,

This isn't going to be super long (sorry mom), but I can show you guys in pictures better than tell you. It's day 9 and I've taken around 900ish. Happy birthday, Dad and Happy Father's Day! The children's team has been doing well. It's been tirig and I've stayed mostly healthy (only the usual but not very bad, and I got sunburned. I even used sunscreen!) It's really pretty here and the locals are super nice. I miss you, guys and am excited to get home. Love you, Dad, Mom, Cate, Elizabeth, Aunt Marleen, Gary and Sherly. Oh and thanks for letting me know about band. I haven't seen the blog comments from anything after day 5. I'm anxious to hear about choir here or at home.

Love you lots.
Danae

ps. sorry, this is me writing without spell check... (: