Standing in Awe

It is amazing how quickly our lives can run away with us.  I just realized that it has been over two months sense I have posted!  I apologize.  In my last post I was talking about fall and being back on the ground in the US.  It has been a wild ride so far with a ton of ups and downs.  Sense my last post I have been in one wedding, attended another, run a marathon, and currently I am recovering from getting my wisdom teeth pulled. In the business of life it can be hard to take time to stop and reflect on all God is doing, and simply thank him for his blessings.  As I have been leading a small group and it has been a blessing larger than I could have ever imagined.  God is using the women of the group to grow and encourage me in so many ways.  Their hunger for God has reminded me of how important it is to never forget the fundamental truths of our faith and to constantly be seeking God in order to understand his love more deeply.  I also ha...

What are you afraid of?  The unknown?  Change?  Insecurity?  How others think of you?  Disappointment?  Failing? The list could go on forever.  Logically, as a human being, there are so many things in this world to be afraid of.  However, if you are a Christian we are called to live without fear.  I would like to say up front that I am going to be pretty bold in this post.  I am not suggesting that we make unwise decisions to put ourselves in harm's way.  I read the Proverbs and I value wisdom.  In 1 John 4:18 God tells us that "There is no fear in love , but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."  Earlier in the same book it says that "God is love," so if we are with God there is no fear.  A simple A=B, B=C, so A=C.  Take a minute just to think about that.  How different would your life be if you didn't make any decisions bas...

Something I have dreamt of ever sense I became serious about my faith is a community that lives like the first Chriatians did. In Acts there are stories of people coming together and sharing their resourses so that everyone always had enough. This type of sacrificial love and recognizing that NOTHING really belongs to any human being, but that EVERYTHING belongs to God is a radical but beautiful way of living.  In today's society people may call this socialism or communism or what have you. When people love this way to honor God and to truly love one another the way God calls us to I cal it Christian community. This is what first drew me to El Salvador, and now I would like to try and give you a glimpse of it! Here is a picture of our small group that meets on Sarurday nights. It may not look like much but if you look closely you will see that young and old are together. In the background some women are cooking food for the group, and on the right is Ricardo with his bible preparin...

This is the first of my feature entries I'm going to write. Considering I spend a good chunk of my week at the CDI (or nutrition center in English) I thought it appropriate to write about it first. The basic goals of the CDI are to love children by providing for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. How do we do this? Each child that we serve in the CDI is sponsored by awesome people like you that have decided to give to help meet their needs. Marielos, our pastor's wife, writes the menu each month according to the budget.  What does this look like for the kids? The majority of the kids arrive around noon. They play for a few minutes and then around 12:30 they form their "filas" to go wash their hands. This is one of my tasks. I distribute soap and manage the mayhem that accompanies 30 children all trying to wash their hands in 4 stalls. I have recently taken to timing them. They then head back to the kitchen where the table is all set up. Soñya and Melanie,...

16  Rejoice always, 17  pray without ceasing, 18  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  -1 Thessalonians 5 Writing this post is so hard.  I feel like I could write about a million things, but I have decided to dedicate this one to what God has really been showing me.  The next few posts after this one I am going to do features on different aspects of my job here and help you learn more about where I am, what I do, and the people I work with.  For now though lets talk about prayer. Throughout my support raising experience prayer was something I struggled with pretty frequently.  It felt risky and there were times when I really didn't trust God with my pain and I didn't trust him to lead me through it.  Furthermore, asking him for the deep desires of my heart was not somewhere I wanted to go for fear of being abandoned.  As you can probably tell there were a lot of negative ass...

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This has nothing to do with how my week went, but I would like to tell you all that I slammed a cockroach multiple times just minutes ago with my shoe.  That's all I have to say about that. So this past week has been a whirlwind!  I arrived just one day after a mission team of 21 from Maryland and worked with them most of the week.  A lot of great things were accomplished.  Have a look! Jose and I are reunited! The mission team performed silent dramas in order to share the gospel.  In this picture they are sharing with the parents of the CDI children. Here are some of my girls coloring. Not a great picture, but the team built a house for one of the families that have children in the CDI program! Happy Independence Day!  Pastor Ivo got us some fireworks to help us celebrate! Here are just a few of the awesome fruits that grow in our yard.  Mangos (whole and eaten) and oranges! After a long week with the mission team t...