HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This is how the new year is celebrated here in El Salvador!! Fireworks....Car Alarms....Dogs Barking, and in that order!!

Our apologies for getting so far behind in our blogging.....Would like to say that we will try to do better in this New Year!!

Christmas was a busy time for the Compassion Team at King's Castle. We celebrated with each of our 5 feeding programs, a Happy Birthday Jesus party! Complete with a warm nutritious lunch, a toy from Santa (who actually came to visit), homemade cookies and a candy bag! The smile on each child's face, was the payoff for all of our hard work!

Thank you for your continued support in prayer and finances, this is what makes it possible for us to serve on the mission field.

Please remember that we have an ongoing toy drive throughout the year for our Christmas programs. We give away literally thousands of toys each year, and often times still do not have enough to cover the need. There is a drop off in our hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, in the Wedgewood Plaza on Raccoon Rd., where you can donate gently used toys, clothing, shoes, blankets, etc.. Ron & Jo Mauch are the owners of Thrift Outreach Center and would be happy to mark your items for El Salvador with your request to do so. Their store is located next door to the Dollar General store.

Thank You and Many Blessings for a Wonderful 2012!!

Seattle Vacation, Part 2

Wow! Sorry friends, this is LONGGGGGG overdue! Sometimes time on the mission field has a way of getting away from us!

We hit the ground running once we returned to El Salvador. Busy with medical teams and feeding programs, and the kids going away on mission trips or giras (week long ministry programs)!

But I promised a Part 2 and here it is!

Seattle was so much fun....so many things to see and do! And when you are with awesome friends, makes for double blessings.....what memories we've made!!

We drove around looking at houses in different neighborhoods and found this gem! Had to share the picture because of its uniqueness! This home is in a really nice upscale area.....like million dollar houses!!

We also toured Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners. We even sat in the press box, for a photo!

Better than that, our friend Mary (team nurse for the Mariners), took us to the Mariner/Yankee game! Mariners won!! Awesome seats, as you can see!! And the time spent with our friends, was priceless!

A Gift from a Friend, Our Seattle Vacation!! Part 1

Good friends are gifts from God, and gifts from good friends, are Blessings!! Our friend Mary blessed us with a vacation to Seattle, and we had such a wonderful time!!

We were invited to Seattle by a nurse/friend of ours, that we met 2 years ago when her church brought a 12 person medical team down to El Salvador. The team returned last November, with 11 people, some returned from the year before, but some were new.

When Mary asked us to come and visit her in Seattle, we thought that was really nice of her, but to be honest, we hear that from a lot of people, and aren't really sure if they mean it, or they're trying to be nice! When it came time to schedule our flight home to Ohio (we visit home once a year), we told Mary that maybe we could fly to Seattle first for a weekend, before flying on to Ohio. She told me not to come for less than 5 days, because there was so much that she wanted to show us! That's when I knew she really wanted us to come!

We were there for 1 full week, and ran ourselves ragged, from sun up to sun down, taking in all the sights that Mary had on her schedule for us! From touring Safeco Field, to driving through the neighborhoods, to eating lunch in the Space Needle, and visiting with other team members! We had the time of our lives and loved every minute of our vacation blessing! God Is So Good!

We'd like to share more pictures of where we went and what we saw in Seattle, so we'll have a Part 2 to follow.....maybe even a Part 3!

For now we'll post a couple of family snap shots and one with our friend Mary! The picture of the city with the Space Needle, shows our hotel, The Edgewater, that sits in the bay. The Beatles once stayed at this hotel and fished out of the window in their room! They don't allow fishing out of the windows any more, because people were leaving the fish lay in their rooms, and well, that doesn't make for pleasant smells! Lol!

Blessings From The Prayer Fortress!

We just finished up our week in the Prayer Fortress, with our Compassion Team, headed up by Dr. Boris. We spend 2 full weeks a year, fasting and praying in the Prayer Fortress. In teams of at least two, females separate from males, we pray in increments of 2 1/2 hours at a time, interceding for family & friends, twice a day, 12 hours apart. We also have personal devotions and group devotions, Bible studies and services, throughout the day. A truly tough, and exhausting week, but so many breakthroughs and miracles! God ALWAYS proves faithful! We love hearing the praise reports from those who have asked us to pray!

After years of working the night shift in the hospital, we prefer praying during the night. It's cooler and there are less distractions....well, except for creatures of the night.....bats, bugs (when we say bugs, we mean mucho bugs), mammoth locust/grasshoppers, and moths of ALL sizes! But there are other benefits, too, like the beautiful sunrises on the 3:45 am to 6:15am shift!

God not only answers the prayers we lift to Him, but He paints us pretty pictures in the sky, to remind us just how majestic He is!!

Hello Friends!

Thought we better get an update out....we've been pretty busy lately, seems we can't help but add things to our already busy schedule, but there's just so much to do....so many needs and people to reach! But on a good note, we can't remember the last time we were bored, and at night, when our tired heads hit our pillows, we feel like much was accomplished, for HIS glory!

Two weeks ago, we hosted our very 1st AIM/evangelism team from Canada! We had previously only worked with medical teams, so this, we thought, could be a little challenging, but what the heck.....Missionary life is full of challenges, right?? Turned out to be a lot of "firsts" for us, but such an incredible and fun time!

We spent the week ministering in the streets with dramas and dances, and did a program in an elementary school. We traveled to and spent the night in El Nilo, a small, rural town full of poverty. We camped out all night on the church floor, and had some awesome meals, prepared by the pastor and some of the ladies in the church. We walked throughout the neighborhood, on the dirt roads, distributing food bags and offering prayer to all. Not one person turned down prayer! We also put on a program for children outside of the church and passed out "goody bags" to each of them. That was followed by a women's program, with "goody bags" for each of them, as well.

To wrap up our wonderful work week, we spent our free day zip lining in Apaneca, followed by an awesome lunch at an amazing restaurant situated on a coffee plantation with beautiful gardens.

The team's flight home was rescheduled because President Obama had flown in on the same day, and all flights were postponed. This "Devine Detour" gave us another "free day" with the team. It was a great way for all of us to wind down and relax. We were able to spend some good, quality time in the prayer fortress, which I think all would agree, was a great ending to a great mission trip!

Thank you to our Canadian Missionaries, Scott & Melissa Williams for giving us this opportunity, and trusting us, to work with their team. And a BIG Thank You Maple, for being such a wonderful and fun team to work with! We have all experienced some "firsts" together, and were reminded, on more than one occasion, about the importance of flexibility! We have amazing memories to hold on to, because of this time together! Blessings!!

More Of El Salvador!

We're back with more random pictures of people or things we come across in our daily ventures, as missionaries, here in El Salvador! As mentioned previously, some may make you chuckle, others, may bring a tear to your eye, but either way we hope it helps you catch a glimpse of our journey on the mission field! Enjoy!!

The 1st photo is our Coca Cola Plant.....We think it's pretty unique, because if you look closely to the left, on the roof of the building you can see all the red bottle caps sticking up across the whole plant!!

In the 2nd photo are two men standing in the back of a pick up, probably heading to work. It's very common to see pick up trucks full of people, flying down the highways 50 to 60 miles an hour....something I still cringe at, especially when there are young children among them! We have witnessed some children that looked as young as 3 or 4 years old, standing up in the back of the truck, alone, as it flew down the highway, obviously unaware of the dangers of being thrown out!

The 3rd photo is a beautiful painting that is on a building in a favorite town of ours, called Ataco. There are so many talented artists, among us in this country. Buildings are painted, telephone poles are often painted, and walls along the highways, like those we posted in a previous blog. This little town also had cobblestone streets, with coffee shops and eateries, as well as cute little gift shops.

The last photo is that of a little boy that I snapped, when he came to watch a program that Aaron's Warrior group was performing in a poor area. I just couldn't resist that sweet little face. Some of my favorite photos, are those of the beautiful Salvadoran children!!

Well, we hope you enjoy the pictures that we're sharing with you, as we capture them in our day to day ventures! Blessings!!!

More Sights in El Salvador, For Your Enjoyment!

In this 1st picture you'll see a man selling bread that he carries in the Big basket on his custom made bike. This is a very common sight around El Salvador. It will almost always be a male riding a bike and selling bread or other baked goods. It's rare to see a woman doing this.

In the next picture is an example of the wall art that we see everywhere. This Indian is painted on a wall along a major highway and displays some of the talent we have here.

While driving to the clinic yesterday, we drove up behind a herd of cows on the camp road. You always have to be prepared to stop, as you never know what you might find ahead! On more than one occasion, we have had to stop on the highway, for crossing cattle!

Another common sight around here are vendors, selling fruits and veggies, more than likely, grown on there own property. A necessary way to earn a living around here. It's truly amazing to us, at what little money they make, they can survive on. Such a simple life, yet difficult for us to wrap our minds around.