Today is Independence Day here in El Salvador, where most of the businesses are closed and the people can celebrate with their friends and family. For us, it's a day for our kids to catch up on their school work. Tim and I have chosen to homeschool, because we have found it to be more compliant with full time ministry. Although schoolwork seems to be a challenge at times, we count it a blessing that it is generally due to the kids being so actively involved in their own ministries, that causes them to fall behind in their schoolwork!! Their ministry has actually been an education in itself.

I'm reminded of some of the questions that Tim and I were asked when we first told our family and friends that we felt we were called to the mission field. Questions like: "Are you taking your kids?" and, "What if God hasn't called your kids to the mission field?"........We had to explain that God called us as a family and it would be "as a family" we would go!

I have to admit, although I believed that with all of my heart, I never imagined that God would use Aaron and Emily to the extent He is using them. It has been so amazing to stand back and watch the Lord work through them. Not always an easy task, as parents, to release your children to minister in foreign countries, most often times without us. But, we have learned to put them into God's hands and believe that He will watch over them. Tremendous spiritual growth, in each of our children's lives, has been the result of allowing God to use our kids to minister to others.

We pray that this is an encouragement to any parent that is hesitant in allowing their children to go on a mission trip to a foreign country, or to be involved in ministry in the streets of your own community.....God wants to use our youth to reach out to the next generation. Allow Him to use them, it will change their lives, and bless you, as well!

Thank you to all, who support us in prayer and finances. Please continue to pray, as our family brings the compassion of Jesus to the streets in El Salvador and other countries in Central America.

Please keep Aaron in your prayers, as he prepares to minister in the streets of Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica, in November. He will be gone for a whole month with The Warriors (his youth group).

And please pray for Emily, as she will be spending most of November away at camp, taking necessary classes that will allow her to advance in her level of ministry.

Love and Blessings!

Tim, Pam, Aaron and Emily