El Salvador Mission Report - Day 15, Delon
Aug 25, 2010Day 15, Tuesday, August 24
We woke up reluctantly at about six in the morning to what would possibly be one of the best days of each of our lives. At about six-thirty, our faithful tour guide arrived to take us to the beach resort. We all packed our swim suits into the van and departed. We had no idea what paradise was ahead of us.
Yesterday on the news El Salvador received a Hurricane warning. Beaches were supposed to be closed and weather conditions were expected to be ugly. Most of the team gave up hope on spending the day at the beach. Our plans seemed to be ruined. Then something happened that flipped the script of the bad weather prophets-The pastor prayed. Pastor Tara said a prayer to God asking him for a clear and peaceful day. Her prayer was answered times ten. The movie Avatar presented a colorful world of mind boggling creations in 3D. Today, what we saw proved that no man’s imagination could even remotely surpass the creative Genius of the only true and wise God. It was almost as if God took Holy windex, sprayed it on the windows of nature, removed all the spots of distraction and said, “look what I made for you.” We saw hills and valleys of perfect shades of green. We saw the horizon kiss the sky. We saw mountains pass the clouds. We saw spiders. We saw lotus and real grass hoppers. We saw life. Today Creation yelled to the top of its lungs, “Look what God can do!!” We were all mesmorized by the tedious handy crafts of God.
Among the many wonders we saw today was a volcano. This monster of a mountain screamed, “Humble yourselves!!” Why do humans glorify themselves when even things on earth belittle them? One eruption from that volcano could silence thousands. The volcano appeared dark-brown from a distance. We took pictures with and of it. I still can’t believe I got a chance to see such a creation. It was awesome!!
We arrived at the resort which was the portal to the great pacific ocean. The waves of the water seemed to long for surfers. Greg, Alyssa, and, Mauricio were the first ones in the water. Mauricio is an incredible child who seemed to have been dealt a terrible deck of cards. Alyssa asked if he could sleep at our home since his only other option was outside, and he did. Apparently, his keepers are angry at his attendance and baptism at the evengelistic series. They show their anger by locking him out when he gets home after they do. While Greg, Alyssa, and Mauricio got their first taste of the ocean, Amanda rocked back and forth in a Hammock as she read her Bilble. Lee rocked with sunglasses on. I on the other hand, was in my own world as I ran back and forth to the trash can spitting out hocotes seeds. Hocotes are nature’s special candy reserved for those with great taste. I think they might also be halucinogens because today felt like a dream. Pastor Tara ran around with her camera trying to capture and recapture special moments. She clearly had her own memory recording agenda. I finally entered the water. The waves tossed and pulled me; Twisted and turned me. I have never seen waves as big as what I saw today. They resembled thick pipes that stretched across the ocean as they turned. We all ran into the waves, jumped over the ways, tripped on the waves, and travelled on the waves. The beach was wondeful. The pacific ocean packed a specific blast.
After we came from the ocean, we entered the pools. The pools were a vital part of the day, because it was there that Alyssa taught me to swim. Learning to swim was a combination of faith, strength and will power. I still have a long way to go but I am happy with the progress that was made. Coconuts, rice, plantains, beans, and salad followed an incredible time in the resort’s pools. We all ate and were satisfied as the food went well with the empty stomach created by the struggle with water. After eating, some of us travelled to our own world of alone time while others chose to continue conquering waves. Pastor Tara swinged in a Hammock as she obviously talked to Caleb on the phone. Lee swinged in a hammock while studying his sermon. I chose to fall asleep in a hammock as the ocean breeze snuggled my body. When quiet time was over it was time to go home.
We loaded the van and travelled. The ride was silent. Some slept while others contemplated. We drove back through the sun and into the rain. God kept the storm from getting to us before we were finished at the beach. On our way back, all the places we stopped to see when we were going were completely covered in fog. The curtain had been closed.
The show was over. The time had come for us to preach again. We are grateful that all went well in the evening with our sermons. Praise God for all His many blessings!
- Delon Lawrence
El Salvador Mission Report - Day 14, Alyssa
Aug 25, 2010Day 14, Monday, August 23
So today me and pastor Tara, Amanda and Pastor Montano went horseback riding. This time was even better than the first time. Pastor Tara rode her favorite and i rode the no name crazy one, and Amanda rode the paint. The ride was very interesting. Rafaelle surprised me by pulling a freshly killed rabbit out of a bag and handing it to me laughing. It was kinda weird but funny at the same time. Me and Pastor Tara raced. She insisted that she won, but we all know better :) The second time i rode my favorite the gray that i named Cataschnickey. They did not have enough saddles, so I rode bareback, which was fun. He is young but a really good horse. The rancher Rafaelle is
a really nice man and I like him alot. He does not charge us anything, he just likes to see us have a good time. While we were riding I saw a few people from my church and they were really surprised to see me. It was really cool. We went to eat at the vegetarian restaurant in Santa Ana, and it was good. I was really hungry because riding takes a lot out of you.
That night at church was really good. The sermon went good. The people were a little loud, which was kinda frustrating but i know part of it was beacause there was a deaf person there, and that created a lot of commotion, but it was still a good night. Afterwards Pastor Montano came to pick me up. No one wanted to leave so we were all there talking and laughing. The people seemed to get a kick out of my horror that there was a frog the size of a small dog around my church.
Mauricio, my favorite boy at my church, is going to go with us to the beach on Tuesday, so tonight he slept at our house and he really liked it. We stayed outside at the church for maybe 2 hours after the service ended and it was nice! It got really dark because there were no lights, but other than that everything was swell.
- Alyssa Bianco
Day 14
Santa Ana, El Salvador
El Salvador Mission Report - Day 13, Lee G.
Aug 25, 2010Sunday, Day 13 Mission Report
Fruits in El Salvador are like music in the States. In America we say, “Have you heard the new Kanye album?” And here we say, “There’s a new kind of papaya out!” Or, “It’s Hocotes season! Check out this new breed!” Delon and I are actually working on a Hocotes theme song, keep an ear out. The roads here are so bumpy you can literally feel whatever you just ate or drank sloshing around in your stomach. I see so many beautiful faces looking on to the sidewalks of El Salvador as the road scrambles my insides.
This morning we all went to the Mission (conferance headquarters) for a meeting with the two other ShareHim groups that are now in El Salvador. One is an American group mostly from California and the other group is from the Dominican Republic. The D.R. group looks so powerful in Christ, so cool, young, and strong, so confident that I see them as evangelizing super heroes. Delon and I were the last ones to leave the house on our way to the Mission and apparently I left the front door unlocked. The house is in a rough neighborhood in El Salvador and no one broke in the whole 4 hours we were gone. God is most definitely with us. I mean, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalms 23:6.) God’s mercy is just unbelievable.
There’s actually a “watchman” who rides around at night on his bicycle with a wailing train-like whistle he blows to let you know your safe. We hear him all night long and Delon imagines that he drives in slow motion.
I’ve realized that in this group, Amanda and I are the most similar. We’re both very introspective, inside our own world and journals. And thank God we both have Pastor Mario Cruz as our host pastor. He also has a self-reserved demeanor and reminds me of an old school gangster for Christ. He works for God and dresses like a smooth criminal, hustling from church to church and baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Those same skills of hustling and organization could potentially have been used in the drug game and organized crime but he’s using them for God. Every one has gifts that can be used by Satan or Christ. The decision is ours, and every moment God gives us the choice, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15.) Pastor Cruz is very inspiring, writing and preaching 15 sermons a week, visiting his 9 churches and the members, writing articles for the Ministry Tribune publication, raising his son Roy Andrews with his lovely wife Sylvia and being a loving, kind person. I got a bilingual evangelist named Harvey Miller to ask Sylvia how she met Pastor Cruz. She said he came to pastor at her church three times. The first time they didn’t like each other, the second time they were engaged and the third time they got married. When asked what she saw in him that sparked her interest she said she saw him kneel down to pray and noticed his shoes were polished, his socks matched his trowsers, and he prayed fervently. I’ve noticed that all the host pastors have AMAZING superwoman wives.
Tomorrow’s my birthday and I’m in El Salvador. How about that? Just drove by cows eating trash like it was grass.
Life is short and life is strange, time is vain and times have changed.
I will never feel the same, I will never feel the same.
I can easily say my 22nd year of life has been my craziest yet. 1) Got baptized. 2) Did colporteuring with the Pennsylvania Youth Challenge and witnessed countless miracles. 3) Went to El Salvador to evangelize. 4) Produced a song with Delon for The Roots that was released internationally. 5) Filmed two proffessional quality music videos. 6) Encountered some of the most amazing and inspiring people I’ve ever met.
Pastor Cruz offered to take me on an adventure for my birthday from 8 AM to 3 PM and I’m so down. It’s a shame I don’t get to spend my birthday with the group but we’ll have the night to spend together at least, God willing.
At my church site, La Providencia; 11 to 12 people said they want to get baptized on the decision cards we handed out and 3 people were baptized tonight. Praise the Lord. The church has really been warming up to me. They (Irid, specifically) made me INCREDIBLE pupusas (Philly is to cheese steak as El Salvador is to papoosa), these circular tortillas stuffed with deliciousness and some FANTASTIC hot oatmeal juice. And now the boys at the church call me brother and hug me. One of the children named Esteban was baptized today. He’s very young and I wonder what his decision means to him. Please pray that we will all stay faithful and continue growing in Christ. And please pray that all of those who keep putting off baptism in the valley of indicision will choose today to serve the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind and go down into that watery grave; specifically Homer, Brian and Sandra.
Thank you and God bless you.
Lee G.
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