A Sweet Night

Last night was one of the best nights I’ve had here. Through a strange and unplanned series of events, I asked the house mother of the Griffin Boys (my absolute favorites…ages 4-7) if I could show them a movie on my computer. I threw my comforter and pillow on their floor and they all gathered around me as we watched Curious George (in Spanish). In some ways it was a bitter sweet night because I knew that one sweet boy, Bryan, would be leaving to go home with his mom the next day. It's not a "good" home as best we can tell. Anyhow, I sat on the floor with one boy on my right thigh, another bony rear end on my left, one directly in front of me, one was draped over my shoulder/back, and one lay on his stomach and rested his chin on my shin. I couldn’t have been more happy as I lazily rubbed their backs and heads and enjoyed my time with them. Sometimes, one boy or another would get restless and he’d move to the lab of Abigail, the house mom. At one point I looked over my shoulder and saw her hand on Bryan’s head, her head bowed as she silently prayed over him. What a sweet night.

"Helping" a Fisherman

Last week on our free day, we missionaries went again to the beach. It’s close, easy, and cheap. While I sat under the shade of a palm tree, I couldn’t help but notice a good size boat (not a ship) pull up onto the beach directly in front of us. The young tyke stayed in the boat, but the other two young men heaved on a net to pull it on the beach and up beyond the incoming waves. I watched as they opened the net and began to pull out the fish one by one and throw it into a bucket. I suddenly had the urge to go help them. It was so easy to image that this must be similar to how the fisherman of Jesus’ time earned a living. My urge got the best of me and the next thing I knew I was asking in Spanish if I could help. They looked at me like I had two heads. So I repeated my question. One asked me, “You (actually) like doing this?” I replied, “I don’t know, this is my first time.” After a pause, he said OK, so I started to “help”. I wasn’t afraid to mess with a fish since I’d fished many times with my dad and sometimes my grandpas when I was a kid. The fish weren’t as slimy and as hard to handle as I expected, however many of them were very tangled in the net. I quickly learned there was a right and wrong way to do this job, and it was not nearly as easy as it seemed. Also, within about 2 minutes, I noticed that not only were my arms itching and burning simultaneously, but so was my neck on one side. Only a minute or so later, one of the young guys encouraged me to try to stay out of the net (which is impossible) as much as possible because of jelly fish. It took me awhile, but I finally figured out that “jelly fish juice” was on most parts of the net from times where jelly fish had tangled with the net. There wasn’t anything visible on the net (re: the jellyfish), but anytime a bit of water spritzed on me or when the net hit my skin, it caused it to react as if I’d touched a jelly fish. I refused to stop what I was doing and was determined to tough it out along with the guys. But you can believe I headed for the shower as soon as the catch was done. I guess they’d become accustomed to it. Unfortunately, I found out that I was so focused on getting the fish out of the net, that I didn’t notice that not all of the fish were being thrown in the bucket. Yet, I tossed every fish I touched into the bucket. So when we were finished, the guys had to dump out all the fish and sort them. So I guess I wasn’t but so much help. They told me that they were unable to sell a certain kind of fish. They then washed out and folded their net and headed inland. I wished someone had their camera...but it's not worth risking it in the sand and salty air. But it'll last in my memory for a long time. It was a really special experience.

Preparing for Christmas

For those of you that may think that the mission field can't possibly have as much Christmas chaos as what you're experiencing....you just may be wrong.

Let's see there's gifts to buy and wrap for 80 children, stockings to stuff, 7 Christmas trees to be put up, decorations to be hand made, trees and houses to be decorated, Christmas pageant to be prepared and rehearsed, children's hand bell choir to be organized and rehearsed, gifts to be purchased and wrapped for the kids in Oasis, teams to host just before and right after Christmas, various Christmas parties to throw and attend for the kids and staff, and 350 sponsor Christmas cards to be written, translated, decorated, folded and placed in an envelope that needs to be addressed, sealed, and stamped to various parts of the world. Yes, there's plenty to be done here too.

But I've also got to admit to you, that this year this ministry has been truly blessed by excellent teams that have come intentionally to help with Christmas. Robin, from Maryland, was a missionary here when I came to check out this place last December. Robin finished her service and returned home last Feb. Except for my 12 day visit, Robin had everything to do on her own, and she vowed she would return this year and bring lots of nice gifts for the kids. I knew her intentions were good, but to be honest I didn't really expect her to come back. But sure enough, she and two really helpful young women came and made a huge impact. They bought a lot of gifts with them, and then went out and purchased shoes and other items for every kid here. By the time they left, they had prepared individual plastic sacks of gifts for each kid (usually a pair of pants/shirt or skirt/dress, socks, underwear, shoes, and a small toy or two). They did an outstanding job. Of course we missionaries helped out, but by in large they took on this Christmas project head on. Shortly after Robin's team left, a college aged gal from upstate New York came for 1.5 weeks to volunteer. She wrapped just about every kid's gift. Now there's a team here from Florida. They bought and wrapped gifts for the Oasis kids. They were assigned stocking stuffing duties. Oh, they (and Robin's team) also made hand crafts for the Christmas trees too. And a team from Texas is coming on Dec 27th for 2 weeks. I'm sure they'll be helping to take down all the decorations. So, all in all, we missionaries have been really blessed by support this Christmas. To be honest, I think God knew that we were going to have out hands, minds, and hearts filled with other stuff going on and He knew that we would not be able to sufficiently take care of Christmas w/o help. I think God hand chose certain people and teams to come help us out. Isn't it just like God to provide all we need, especially at Christmas?

My special Christmas assignment has been to get the kids to all write and decorate Christmas messages to their sponsors, then translate them, and get them mailed out. I was far from the being in a Christmas mood when I started this project in mid November in this tropical climate. I put on some Christmas music (including my all time favorite Charlie Brown Christmas CD) and invited a few girls to my house to help with the work. We worked and laughed and enjoyed sharing our lives with each other. I didn't put up a tree, but did put a red bow on my front door. And not too long ago I found myself feeling a bit "Christmasy". I'm currently re-reading the Christmas story in the Bible, and even trying my Spanish Bible. And like every year, I'm again struck by the true meaning of Christmas as I envision God's gift of His son. But this year, my vision has increased to thinking about how this gift is experienced by people who live on dirt floors, or by kids that don't have a traditional style family, and by watching people around me who are giving so selflessly because they received this gift.

Wherever you are and however you celebrate Christmas, I thank you for being a part of my Christmas.

(The picture is of me and some of the kids in front of the Christmas tree in the dining room . )

Jokes....Central American Missionary Style, Part I

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road
A: Because it was being chased by a man with a machete.
(It's true....I've seen it happen!)


Q: What's worse than having a next door neighbor with a kid that likes to scream and cry often?
A: Discovering that the neighbor also has a parrot that has learned to scream and cry often just like the child.
(This too is true, and is my current reality.)

Graduation

School is done differently in this country. We're now in our summer break and a new school year will begin in January. They make a pretty big deal of graduation from kindergarten as well as 9th grade and 12th grade. The picture below shows most of our little ones. The ones with the green ribbon around their neck are the kindergarten graduates. The girl in the blue/white is Beatrice, who graduated from the 9th grade. She's quite a gal and has lots of potential. The high school graduate is Diana. She's been here for about 10 years, and just left about a week ago to go live with a family member. She's hoping to get accepted into a local Christian University. If so, her current sponsors will also pay for her college education.

Days of Tears

About a week ago, we found out the names of the children on the ISNA list that would have to leave 3 days later on Thursday Dec 13th. 5 names were on the list...mostly teenagers. A week earlier, completely by surprise, a mom came by with the appropriate legal papers to obtain her 3 children. This happened on our day off, so we didn't even get a chance to say good-bye. It seems to be a good mom, so we're happy for the children and hope the mom can care for the children appropriately this time. Then a couple days later, Diana left. This was expected since she was our oldest kid, 19, and just graduated from high school. She said a tearful good-bye at our church service and then left with her family. So, in the week before the big exodus, we'd already lost 4 kids.

On the 13th, we missionaries gathered early in the AM to talk and pray with the 5 kids slotted to leave . It was really tough. We cried our eyes out. Unfortunately, nobody knew what time their family was going to come, so we spend most of the day trying to be productive yet waiting for the final good-bye. The kids congregated on a park bench and just sat and huddled together the entire day. Some of them were going to have to say good-bye to siblings, and all of them felt like they were loosing siblings and/or best friends. At one point, I sat on the bench with the kids. One kid on my left knee and leaning her wet face against my chest. Another kid was under my right arm. Another kids was sitting on my left and holding my hand. By mid afternoon, 4 of the 5 kids and their family member were on campus. So B&B put them in the big van and took them all home....a really emotionally hard task. The 5th kid, Tito, was angry that his grandmother hadn't shown up.

In addition to the 5 above, there were other surprises. One little boy, Wilfredo, had been on the ISNA list, but the mom hadn't returned the phone call. We were told that if the mom went to the ISNA govt. office and obtained the paperwork, then she'd be allowed to take her son. In response to the situation, Wilfredo said "if my mom wants me, she'll show up". At the end of the day, Wilfredo's mom hadn't come. We missionaries were leery of the mom to say the least, so we were kind of glad, but heartbroken for Wilfredo. However, the next day, the mom showed up. Plus, 2 middle school boys had anticipated leaving on the 13th to go home on a 3 day pass for Christmas. However this mom also showed up with the needed papers, and they also suddenly left on the 13th. Their 5 year old brother was left here and if all goes well, he may be picked up in about a week. There were 4 other siblings that were also allowed the 3 day Christmas break at their mom's house. The mom decided she could care for one, so 3 of the 4 were returned to the orphanage.

When all was said and done, 12 are now gone (8 on the 13th), and we expect one (Tito) to be picked up tomorrow by his grandma. And one more may leave in the next week or so. We're all trying to recover. The house moms/dads, the siblings, the kids that feel like they are siblings, the Benners, and we missionaries are trying to catch our breath and still being caught off guard by things that suddenly remind us of one of the kids. We continue to pray that God would protect and guide those that are no longer with us, and he would comfort those left here (particularly the siblings). I know many of you prayed for this situation. We missionaries send our sincere gratitude.

Pictured below are the missionaries and the 5 kids scheduled to leave on 12-13-07. Left to right: Bobby, Samuel, Tito, Britney, Jonathan, Wendy, Tania, Griselda, and me.

Chicken Pox

To the tune of a childhood song:
One little, two little, three little chicken pox,
four litle, five little, six little chicken pox....

Man oh man did we have chicken pox around here about 3 weeks ago. Fortunately, none of our adults or older kids got it. First Hector got it, then all 6 little boys in his house, a day or so later, all the little girls, etc. And it ran like mad fire all around school too as you can well imagine.

One little boy in the Oasis community came to our our tri-weekly Bible story and feeding program. He looked absolutely miserable. He was covered in blisters, but he wouldn't let me look too closely at him. They didn't look like chicken pox blisters to me. He had clear fluid filled blisters on his face, in his ears, on his trunk, arms, lets, etc. You could hardly find 1" btw any blisters. He even had sores in his mouth, poor thing. He said he'd had a fever, and denied he had any pain, but was itching terribly. Two days later, with permission from the administrator here, I took a staff member to go check on the boy and to possibly take him to the doctor. It ends up that he lives in the house I described in an earlier blog. The house has a side-ways turned mattress springs as one it's walls. Anyhow, the blisters looked much better, obviously healing. Unfortunately, his 3 siblings were in various stages of the same condition. I guess it was some form of chicken pox? I also discovered that he had gone to the MD a few days earlier. All they gave him was generic Tylenol, nothing for the itching! Can you imagine having a serious case of chicken pox and having nothing to help the itch? Or can you imagine being the mom of 4 kids with chicken pox without being able to give them any itch relief? Of course I warned them, particularly the dad, about the dangers of getting chicken pox and how to prevent it's spread.

Now several weeks later, all looks good.

critters and other stuff

You know you're an El Salvadoran missionary when:

• A bat flies through a room while you're sitting around talking and nobody blinks or thinks anything of it. (Reality: we only have occasional bat sightings, and usually one one or two bats, not bunches of them. Don't want to scare off anyone that may want to visit me.)


• When it feels like something is crawling on your leg and you look down and find a small cockroach, and you flick him off as you continue your conversation. (Reality: we get out food delivered to us in cardboard boxes, which are infamous for containing cockroach eggs. Plus, my apartment is fairly close to the kitchen...another place where cockroaches are infamous. We tend to grow sizable cockroaches here, but I only see one every 2 or 3 weeks, and we also have a pest control guy who treats any needed area with incredibly smelly stuff.)


• When the weirdo critter pictured below is found frequently throughout your apartment. This critter is very light wt. and moves along like an inchworm, dragging behind it's cocoon like shell. Just before his short life is over, he attaches his cocoon like shell to a wall (usually in a corner) with a strong web-like strand.


• When you're finally able to sleep through the rooster that crows all through the night. However, there is one type of tropical bird that has a screech like "song" that resembles nails on a chalkboard. He particularly likes to sing btw 3-6am and I've yet to be able to sleep through his song when I have my windows open (which is always).
• When your legs have bug bites all over them. I don't get eaten much by mosquitoes, but there is some bug that we call a "no-see-um" that's bit is much worse than a mosquito. I'm told this bug is black and tiny, but I've not seen him because I don't feel it when I'm being eaten. The bites are often very close together and is red and flat. Unlike the mosquito, the bite of this critter can causes insane itching for several weeks....no kidding! The bites I got on the 2nd week of Nov still itch on occasion and the sore hasn't yet healed. In the twilight and evening hours I've learned to wear long pants or use bug spray, which seems to be effective.
• When you save any possible left over from your meals for a pittiful loooking dog just outside the gate. Actually there's a german shepherd dog that's just outside the security gate that looks very hungry, and I now make a point of giving him something to eat every night. I've never been a person to particulary like dogs, but somehow I gain comfort by loving this dog.

Some other things I've noticed:

• I spied a huge possum way bigger than a cat, more like the size of a small to medium dog, calmly walking down the center of the road beside my apartment. He and many local cats and dogs are frequent visitor to our trash dumpster just outside of our main gate. As the possum walked down the road, a german shepherd dog was coming from the opposite direction. They passed only inches from each other and I could've sworn I heard a conversation that went like this: "Hi Fred, how ya doing?" "Oh, Hi Sam, I'm doing quite well. Great night for a walk isn't it?" They seemed to be accustomed to mingling together.


• In Virginia, I can count on huge amounts of leaves to be raked every year. This year I'm thankful that my dad is doing this job for me this year. But do trees here also loose their leaves? After all, everything here is always lush and green. I now know that most trees/shrubs loose their leaves a little at a time all through the year. However, there are a few types of trees that drop most of their leaves twice a year. In Oct the little kids squealed with delight as they kicked around and threw the fallen leaves. Some of the leaves are quite large. See the picture below. By the way, when the leaves are off this one particular large leaf tree, it reveals some type of large fruit high in it's branches. And the fruit draws literally hundreds of colorful tropical birds.


• Thanks to the advise of one of the kids, I've learned that if I don't want my chewing gum to be extra sticky and gooey, then it needs to be stored in the frig. Now it's perfect. I keep my passport in a ziplock in the frig too to protect it from mold/mildew.


• Speaking of mold/mildew, now that it's dry season I don't have much of a problem with mold/mildew anymore. I still occurs, but nowhere near as bad as before. When rainy season comes in May I may have to see if I can afford a dehumidifier or two.
• Currently the temperatures are in the upper 70s or low 80s during the day. When I go to bed at night, my indoor/outdoor thermometer shows the outdoor temp to be btw 73-76, and the inside temp is usually 1-2 degrees warmer. I consider this season to be comfortable. December is known as the windy month and a month where earthquakes are common. However, we haven't had much of either. And the humidity is low too.
• And just fyi....the gas prices here are currently around $3.50 per gallon for regular.

Just wanted to share the above slices of life with you. I hope you're doing well.

Oasis Shoe Project

Do you remember me mentioning Oasis, the community next door that's dirt poor? Well, back in Oct. a good friend of mine in Virginia emailed me and said he wanted to somehow help poor people. After some discussion among several folks here, I decided to start the Oasis Shoe Project that took place in Oct & Nov. We already encourage the people of Oasis to attend our Sunday church service by providing transportation. The shoe project was designed so that if an Oasis person attended our church service three times in the allotted Sundays in Oct and Nov, then he/she (regardless of age) would be given a pair of shoes. The project was bigger and involved much more work than I had anticipated, but it was ultimately worthwhile. Fortunately, I had a great team of people who volunteered to help me every week. You may get a chuckle from some of the following lessons that we learned the hard way:

• Just because a person says that they know their shoe doesn't mean anything. It may just be that a same aged friend has a size 6 foot, thus it is logical to them that their foot will also be a size 6. And a when a young adolescent girl tells you a shoe size, it may be a girls shoe size 6 or a woman's shoe size 6...which are far from the same size. Ugh!


• Shoes here are marked in European and/or American sizes. For example, a woman's size 9 in the USA is approx. a European size 38. Trying to figure out this very inexact science of shoe size conversion is a serious pain in the neck. And just for kicks, sometimes shoe sizes are in Japanese.


• Many people believe that if their current shoe is a size 6, then their new shoe must also be a size 6, even if it doesn't fit because it's a different style.
  
• Always draw the actually foot, not the shoe because they often are wearing someone else's shoe. (Thus the reason why I purchased a shoe that was WAY too big for a 3 yr old.).


• There's not a single store here, including Wal-mart (called Hiper Paiz) that will give you cash back or credit your credit card if you need to return something. Only exchanges are allowed and it's a pain in the neck too.


• Sometimes I had to buy sandals due to the width of some feet. Men tend to have shoes because of their jobs, but girls/ladies can usually get away with flip-flops which I believe contributed to their feet spreading out and thus being wide.

On at least 4 Sundays we had over 200 total people in our service, about 1/2 from Oasis. The typical attendance from Oasis had been 20-30 people. Every seat and bench was full and young ones were sitting on laps. When all was said and done, approximately 125 pairs of shoes were given away. Of course the shoes were needed, but ultimately we prayed that their attendance in church would expose them to Christ and His love and forgiveness. Thankfully, we had a great series of dynamic and fun speakers during that time period. We pray that we tangibly showed God’s love to our neighbors and also provided good opportunities from them to know Christ more personally.

Thanksgiving

Within moments of waking up, I was acutely aware that it was Thanksgiving Day (even though it's just a normal day here), and I was nowhere near my recliner in my living room where I would typically be found comfortably wearing my sweat pants and t-shirts, and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I had and continue to have much to be thankful for, yet I admit I was a bit sad and rather melancholic. As a way of contributing towards the big meal, I agreed to peel about 10-15 pounds of potatoes for Bobby to make scalloped potatoes. Yes, you heard my correctly, Bobby was making the dish. Actually he made 2 or 3 dishes. Sadly enough...we're a strange bunch here. 3 gals, 1 guy, and the 1 guy can out cook all of us put together with his hands tied behind his back. (Another sad insight is that even though we come from Texas, Ohio and Virginia and there is 20 yr between me and the youngest missionary that just graduated form college, we all love college football and are stupid when it comes to computers.)

I'm afraid I greatly mislead all of you in my pre-Thanksgiving email. Wilbur Zehr is not the Ambassador here. He's like a secretary. However, he and his family are big wigs in my book. They are an outstanding Christian family and they certainly treated us well. We arrived near 1pm and were treated warmly from the moment we entered the door. Everyone dressed casual and the whole day was very comfortable. We had 15 folks around the table (actually 2 tables) that were moved to the carport-like porch. Remember that it's still 80ish degrees here. The Zehr family is from upstate New York and are here until next Oct when their 2 yr assignment ends and they will be sent to another country for 2 years. They have 3 very nice teenagers. Chiky, Wilbur's wife, is extremely pleasant, and is from Antigua Guatemala, but speaks English as well as you or I. They also invited 4 Peace Corp workers and a teacher from their kid's school. We had all the Thanksgiving standards. We couldn't figure out where in the world they got the onion rings for the green bean casserole, and then Wilbur let out the secret that he uses the commissary at the Embassy, and therefore can get most anything from the USA. For those of you who know my from my days in college, you may be interested to know that Wilbur comes from a Mennonite background and has 2 cousins that lived in my dorm with me in my sophomore year. It's a small world getting smaller.

After dinner and the option of several pies, we sat on the patio furniture (that's usually on the porch) out on the small yard and talked for hours. The Peace Corp workers had very interesting conversations. They had all been robbed and held at gun point. Yikes! But they acted like it was no big deal and just part of life. Hmmmm....

At days end we drove home through the city and saw all sorts of Christmas lights in the nice part of San Salvador. Looked as commercialized as any city back home. When we got back, we went and visited with the Benners for a little. Then we retired to our apartments. That's actually when my sadness overtook me for a little while. Another tradition surrounding this holiday includes decorating for Christmas. And I knew Kim, for the first time in 14 years, would have to drag out the decorations alone, set up the tree alone, try to pass the lights, garland, and other beads to herself as she tried to wrap them around the tree. What hurt me was that I knew she would be hurting. This transition of me living here has been equally hard on her. But I'm proud of her. I called her Thanksgiving night and she had struggled yet persevered and got all the decorations up. And I'm sure that she'll be thankful that I'll be around to put it all away after Christmas. We both reflected on the many reasons we have to be Thankful, and before my head hit the pillow I said an extra prayer of thanks to God for His provision and your friendship.

Missing Persons Report

Some of you may know that over the last year or two I’ve discovered that I really enjoy kayaking. I’d thought that the summer of 2007 was going to be full of kayak trips with some local friends in Richmond. Little did I know that I would not even be in Virginia during the 2007 Kayak season. But sometimes I’m convinced that God goes out of His way to put a smile on our face. Last week I experienced one of those special “smile” days.

It was my day off….we have one day off each week, usually Wednesday. We all work on Saturdays and have various responsibilities on Sunday. And NEVER is our work finished at 5pm, especially since we live where we work. Typically on a day off we (missionaries- Bobby, Britney, Wendy and I) try to get away from campus for at least part of the day and find something to do that won’t cost us much money. Sometimes we wander around the city or go to a movie (only $3.50 I’m told); sometimes we go to the beach (about an hour away). Early in the summer Bobby and Britney found a beach resort/hotel that didn’t cost too much. The resorts rule was that you had to spend $15 in some way while you were there. It was at the end of a dirt road near a pig farm. The options at the resort seemed endless: enjoying the beach or their 2 large pools, going 4-wheeling or horse back riding on the beach, kayaking, using their game room, etc. We started at the beach…but found that on this particular day the waves were not only huge but very strong. Not even Bobby could go in farther than his knees, and he still got knocked over once by the strength of the water at knee level. We resorted to throwing Frisbee and football on the beach. On one particularly bad throw, the Frisbee went into the ocean. We all went running after it….well kind of. I managed to trip and have a less than graceful fall/slide across the shells and sand. And to make it worse, the Frisbee was gone. When I got up, I found that the outside of my left leg, ankle to hip, was scraped and bleeding. At first I figured the salt water would help clean it, but then I remember that there’s an estuary that joins the ocean very nearby. Bobby had earlier told us about how this estuary zigzags through the community, becoming a convenient place for sewage and whatever else. So, I opted for the shower and Neosporin (I rarely leave home without it). We ate lunch on a balcony that overlooked the ocean. While the others opted for naps, Bobby and I decided to go kayaking….in the estuary of course. Bobby said last time the estuary water looked thick and black…but only yucky brown today. Not the best way to keep my new wounds clean…but I figured I’d survive. The kayaks were sea kayaks…a new experience for me and a bit more challenging than the kind of kayak where you sit in a hole (the kind I’m accustomed to). This kind of kayak is kind of flat and you sit on top of it, not in it. How I got on that kayak from that dock without flipping I’ll never know. Within minutes, everything changed. It was so quiet. I honestly felt like I was paddling thru the Amazon just like in a National Geographic. I yearned for my camera. We went past numerous tiny thatched hut homes, occasionally seeing a child peek at us. I could only imagine how many times these homes were easily washed away by storms. But I’m sure their meager earnings didn’t allow for anything else. The estuary at times was narrow and challenging to navigate through due to the heavy growth from jungle-like trees and vines. I thought to myself…ignorance is bliss. For all I know, the spider webs we forged thru were the homes of deadly spiders, and who knows what sort of slithery creature could be in the thick mucky water surrounding us. Then we saw him. A man was in the yucky water up to his neck. We stopped paddling and watched from a respectable distance for awhile. His partner, standing nearby, would throw a home made looking circular shaped net into the water, and then this guy would go completely under water. Doing I don’t know what…something to do with the net I reckon. Then shortly afterwards one of them would pull up the net, never letting it stay under water for more than a minute or two. And we never saw them pull anything out of their net. We encountered this same sort of activity over and over, sometimes by the young, sometimes the very old as we continued on our journey. Eventually we reached our goal…the place where the estuary meets the ocean. The estuary running one direction, the waves of the ocean the opposite direction. We pulled onto a sandy spot to get out and look around a bit, and then we started to paddle back towards the resort. About ½ ways there, we saw Wendy and her friend in a kayak approaching us. That’s when we found out that we were considered, “missing persons” by the staff of the resort and they’d sent out a search party. They said that we’d been gone over 2 hr and the estuary had many side routes, making it easy to get lost. Oh, that explains why the very out of the ordinary small boat with a motor on it went by a little earlier, then turned around and went back. Guess that boat belonged the resort and once they saw that we were fine and headed back to the resort, then they headed back too. We had no idea we’d been gone that long; neither of us was wearing a watch. With a little help I was able to get off the kayak and onto the dock without getting too wet. We then retreated to the pool to join Britney have a coke and some ice-cream. At the end of the day, the manager of the resort (a kind lady who speaks English well) told us that because we are volunteers trying to help her country, then the kayaking was free. I didn’t quite spend $15, but she said that was fine and she encouraged us to come back anytime, and the kayaking would always be free for us she said. I doubt we’ll come back often, but it’s nice to know it’s there. And who in the world would’ve ever thought that I’d find a place to kayak in El Salvador? Not me! At the end of the day I thanked God for the gift and the smile on my face. (And by the way, my leg is fine and Bobby found the Frisbee washed onto the shore about a mile from where we were playing.) Aint God good?

1st Youth Sunday

I grew up in a small country church, and I’m glad I did. For as long as I can remember, our youth group met on Sunday nights and followed the organizational structure of another organization called Christian Endeavor (CE). Bobby and Britney, a young missionary couple who arrived in Jan, do an excellent job with youth ministry here (particularly gauged for teenagers). They were the youth leaders in their home church back in Ohio. I find it interesting that they are beginning to learn about concepts in youth ministry that CE was doing many years ago, particularly the idea of youth taking roles of leadership. I can’t tell you how many numerous times I and my best friend Kim have been thankful for our years in Christian Endeavor. Although we didn’t know it back then, CE built solid Christian leadership skills into us that we now use in our every day lives. One of the things CE encouraged was Youth Sunday, where the youth were responsible for every part of the service, form door greeters to preaching.

On Sunday Nov 4th, we had our first ever (as best we can tell) all youth led Youth Sunday here at the Home. I’m so proud of Bobby and Britney and the kids. They spent many hours in planning and rehearsing. Every piece of the service was done by the youth: the decorations, the music, the drama, the preaching, the clean up afterwards, etc. Teen-aged Rodrigo seems to have a passion to be a pastor and it certainly looks like he’s gifted that way. With some guidance from Bobby, he did an outstanding job. For an object lesson, Rodrigo obtained a big barrel that was no longer being used. Then during the service (as practiced), he got a small tyke (Milton, who’s just a little taller than the barrel), and put Milton into a trash bag up to his neck, and then into the barrel. Then, as the whole congregation watched, he had older boys add bucket after bucket of sand into the barrel around Milton. The whole time, Rodrigo was teaching that our lives are like this when we sin. The more we sin, the more we get trapped and feel weighted down and unable to get out of the mess we’ve created, until we’re up to our neck in trouble and completely unable to help ourselves. By this point Milton was nearly up to his neck in sand. Then, as Rodrigo explained, we realize we can’t do anything to help ourselves and we must understand that we need help. If we pray to God, repent from our sins, and ask His forgiveness, He is certain to forgive us and help us in the midst of any circumstance we’ve gotten ourselves into. Then, on cue, the boys who dumped in the sand, start lifting up the barrel over Milton’s head. Unbeknownst to the audience, the bottom of the barrel had been cut out, and the sand poured out the bottom of the barrel as it was lifted up, thus freeing Milton. The audience applauded loudly. I think it’s an object lesson they won’t soon forget.

Rodrigo is the guy in red in the background. Although Milton is looking a little concerned at the moment, I promise you he was all smiles at the end as he had everybody's attention and applause.

Science Fair

On Oct 19th I suddenly had a tiny taste of what it must be like to be a parent at a school function. At various times, I had about 20 kids from the orphanage pulling on my sleeves, arms, and/or pant leg saying “Have you seen my _____ yet?” or “Come see my ________!” or “What did you think of my ________?” Everyone was excited. It was the day of the annual School Expo which is somewhat like a science fair back home, except that it was not limited to just the subject of science. How clearly I remember my solar system project, and it always seemed that someone was going to build a “real” volcano and someone else was trying to hatch eggs under a light bulb. Remember those days?

There are 350 kids in the school, and apparently every student had to do at least one project, regardless of their grade. However, if the student needed to bring up his grade in a certain class, then he could do a project for the expo. Some did various kinds of art work. Some did projects for their English class, i.e. Douglas and Nicole’s first place puppet show performed completely in English. There were math projects, Bible projects, social studies projects, history projects, and a whole bunch of science projects. By the look of things I'd say that a lot of kids needed to help their science grade. Some were extremely impressive. Starting with the middle school aged student, they had to stand near their project and give a demonstration and explain (in Spanish) what was being shown to observers like me and to the judges. Additionally, the older ones were also required to have their demonstration in written form, both in Spanish and English! A lot of the staff and volunteers here at the Home put in extra long hours to help the kids to get their projects ready. The week leading up the the expo had Bobby And Britney's house looking like something had exploded; half finished school projects here and there. Bobby's carpentry and construction skills were put to the test. (See Bobby in the picture below.) Everyone was exhausted from the chaos at the end of the day, but I also felt proud of the kids and was glad that they were excited to share their special day with me.

Right photo: Linda shows her project

Left photo: Bobby with the girls in the art room.

6 MONTHS!

Last Wed, Oct 24th, marked my 6th month here. Amazing! It's been quite a rollar coaster ride of emotions, activities, and learning. These 1st 6 months were chopped up quite a bit...arrived in El Sal April 24th, 3 days later went to Guatemala for school for 8 wks, then back to El Sal on a school break for 3 weeks, then back for the final 4 weeks of school, then back to El Salvador....etc. Now, however, things have gotten more into a routine, so I think the next 6 months will be different.

Oct 24th also marked the first day without rain. So I'm glad to say that it looks like rainy season may finally be at or near the end. We'll probably still have an evening shower here and there for part of Nov, but most people seem to think the worst is over. It's also noticeably cooler and we have some light breezes at times. According to a thermometer in my bedroom, it was actually 72.9 degrees one night! Wow! We'll still get into the low to mid 80s at times...but in general it's much cooler and it's quite pleasant outside at night. We haven't had any earthquake tremors in quite a while...but I think they come more frequently during dry season. We'll see.

As I think about the first 6 months, the symbol of a link in a chain comes to mind. On several occasions the Lord has allowed me the opportunity to be a link. Back when I was in school in Guat., I met a lady who desperately wanted to provide some solid Bible resource books for a pastor in a poor community. I was able to tell her about our book ministry and later relayed her book order and ultimately delivered the books from El Salvador into her hands. In reality I had done very little, just a link in the chain, yet she and the community in Guat. were thrilled. It was truly my pleasure. And as I've just been writing in earlier entries...the Lord is allowing me to be a link in the chain between a poor community that needs shoes and a person who is financially willing to provide this for them. What a thrill to be a part of this! Oh, and one other opportunity comes to mind. A friend of mine in the USA will be going to Guatemala soon where he will help in a school that has essentially no school materials. Through our book ministry, I've been able to get some dated but excellent materials and hope to have them transported to Guatemala soon. Again, I'm just the middle man, a link in a chain. But oh what a feeling to be that link. I have a debt of gratitude for these and other opportunities over the last 6 months.

Return to Oasis

If you haven't read the blog entry that was written just before this one called "A New Heart Beat", then this entry may not make too much sense.

Today and 2 other days this week I returned to Oasis. Our normal routine is to go to our one room concrete block building in Oasis, sweep the concrete floor, set up the plastic chairs that we bring with us on the back of our pick up truck, then we walk around the community telling all our regulars that it's time to start, and inviting all we see. But today was different. Today, before we walked around the neighborhood, a staff member suggested that we drive up a really big hill into a different part of the community where they was a lady who wanted to come but couldn't walk very well. We piled into the back of the truck and went to this new area. Isaiah, our staff member, sent us out in pairs to walk down various streets to invite folks to our program. When we all returned to the truck, nobody felt that anyone in this new area seemed to be very interested and the originally targeted lady wasn't home. So we went back and got the program started. We had a fairly good crowd...about 65 folks. Then, about 15 min later, waves of folks from the new area started to come in. In the end, we had a record number of 99 folks (including 8 of us). We were thrilled that they had come, and we hoped we had enough to food. Then it hit me...Oh No! We told them we had food, but we didn't tell them to bring a bowl. We couldn't not feed them after such an effort on their part! When it came time to eat, Isaiah had an idea. We had a new large black trash bag with us. Isaiah simply started to tear the plastic bag into squares, which would become like a plate. I cupped the thin black plastic in my hand as rice and beans were spooned into my make-shift bowl, and then I pulled the 4 corners up and together to make a secure pouch for each child. Somehow I was thrilled that Isaiah had come up with a solution, yet my heart broke even more for these fellow brothers and sisters.

But wait...there's good news! Several weeks ago, a friend back home gave me $1500 to specifically use for "the poor" in anyway I thought best. Although the logistics may be dificult, I developed a plan to give out shoes to many of the Oasis folks. They need shoes so badly! Last Thursday and today we announced the shoe program at Oasis. But never have we seen a response like we had today. In my really bad Spanish, I explained the program to everyone. As always, we provide transportation to and from the Oasis community for church on our campus at 4:30pm. But starting tomorrow, Sunday Oct 28th, anyone who comes to church for three Sundays (thru Nov), will receive a pair of shoes after their 3rd service. The Oasis group was obviously happy and it seemed that they were not sure if they could believe what they heard. I'm very excited to be involved in this program. $1500 in a lot of money in my book...but how far can I make it stretch? Unlike our neighboring countries, things aren't cheap here. I can't wait to see how this goes. I'll draw around their foot or shoe if I can't figure out their shoe size. Then I'll go bargain hunting and watch to see how the Lord is going to provide for all the shoes that are needed. It feels a little like the Bible story about Jesus multiplying the fish and bread for the crowd. Please join me in prayer over this project, that all would go well, that many would hear the gospel message and respond positievely to it, that they would invite others, and that the Lord would provide exactly the right shoes for each and every person. I{ll be sure to update you.

A New Heart Beat?

It seems to me that I've got enough new things going on in my life right now and I'm not overly interested in adding more. But it seems that maybe God is inclining me toward still one more thing....a heart for the poor. Now I've been as sympathetic toward the poor as the next gal, but before now I couldn't honestly tell you that my heart was inclinded toward them. But I think I'm feeling a new heart beat for the poor. You've heard me mention our neighboring Oasis community before. On Tues, Thurs, & Sat we take some of our kids with us to Oasis and serve a group of mostly kids. We teach them songs, do a Bible story, and at the end we feed them. They bring their own bowl and we provide the food. Last Sat I was scooping out spaghetti (which doesn't much resemble spaghetti the way you and I know it). Usually the bowl or plate is plastic, sometimes it resembles a dog bowl, sometimes a container like we use for left overs. But last Sat, some of the people in line only had thin ply small black plastic sacks (like the kind we usually get a Wal-Mart, but thinner). They didn't have a plate or bowl. Wow...to have to eat out of a plastic bag!

Afterwards I was talking to Bobby about this. Bobby and his wife (missionaries here since Jan) are pretty well traveled in poor countries. Bobby told me about an Oasis family that he recently met. Like most in the area, they have a dirt floor and their roof is made from scraps of rusted tin that they've scrounged up and being upheld by poles. But Bobby said this family was really bad off and showed me pictures he took. The house is cut inside the side of a fairly steep hill. One wall is only made of rusty box springs of a queen or double size bed. There's no fabric or wood...just a rusty metal frame and rusty springs, turned on it's side. Another wall is made of a very old rotten mattress turned on it's side. Obviously the height of the house is as heigh as the width of the mattress and box springs. They sleep on the floor. They have 2 very simple basic chairs and a small table. Bobby said their 4 kids (10 yr old and younger) are the best behaved kids in the program. And when Bobby visited the house, the father and mother happened to be there. They too were very gracious and insisted that Bobby and our staff member come in their home and sit on the 2 chairs. Out of all the places Bobby has seen, he said this had to be among the poorest.

Somewhere between serving lunch into a sack and thinking about this particular family, my heart really began to ache for them. When I went to bed that night, I was still thinking about them, particularly when it started to rain really hard. It had been raining every day for more than a month...really hard at times. But this particular night, I was woken up twice by the sound of the heavy rain (and I'm in the bottom apartment!) The temperatures had dropped to the low 70s, and the wind was blowing. It rained ALL of the next day. To the best of my knowledge, there was not one minute of that day when it was not raining. As we came and went to church, our roads were sometimes blocked or partially blocked by mudslides and/or rock slides which are common here due to the heavy amounts of rain. When it was time for bed the next night, it was still raining. Think of this particular poor family...they've been in rainy season for 6 months now. Every thing they own is soaked and probably growing tons of bacteria and mold (including their mattress wall). I'm sure the roof leaks like a seive. There's no way for them to dry their things. There's nowhere to sleep since I would imagine their floor is at best several inches deep in mud or at worst a river of mud (if there house is standing at all since the likely hood of mud slides is high). There's no way to have any warm food since it's impossible to keep a fire going in this kind of rain. And without a fire, there is no warmth. Now 70 degrees genrally sounds like heaven to me. But if I'm soaking wet and everything around me is wet, and there's no way to get warm food or drink, and the wind is blowing....then I think I'd be miserably cold. As I went thru my day, this family and the Oasis community stayed on my mind. They and all the others in the community need help! For that matter, there are gazillions of other communities just like them. What can be done? That night all I could do is pray. Sleep was hard to come by. How dare I complain about my stinky moldy apartment when I think of them! Shame on me!

Little faith...yet a miracle

I bought my first ever computer last January, an HP laptop. I also bought a sizable external hard drive, since I've heard people talk about the importance of "backing things up". At the end of Sept, about a week before I left to return to Richmond, my computer screen kept doing funny things....strange colors, lines cutting all thru it, etc, but then a couple of minutes later it would clear. Sometimes I had no problem at all. The weekend before I left to return to Richmond, I had a nearly non stop nagging feeling that I should back up (copy) my computer files onto my external hard drive. I kept putting this off. On Sat night the nagging was so bad that I got up during the middle of the night to just finally do it....but found that the electricity was off, so it was impossible. However, I promised myself I'd do it Sunday afternoon. I didn't really know exactly how to "back up" my stuff. I'd never done it before. But I did what seemed logical, and as far as I could tell my all the pictures on my computer and other important documents were copied onto the external hard drive. On the remaining 2 days before I left for Richmond, I spent a considerable amount of time working on my financial records so that my accountant friend at home could look over things. And I also downloaded all the pics that were currently on my camera's memory so that I'd have lots of room on my camera to take pictures of "my kids" at home.

Once I was home, my computer was acting up more and more, and then one night the screen was no longer legible at all and it wouldn't clear no matter what. Earlier in the evening, I'd try to send a couple of emails, including one to my accountant friend with all my updated financial stuff, but I couldn't get it to go out. I called the 800 # and spoke with a computer technician. He walked me thru various steps for over 1.5 hrs. When all was said and done, he said there was one thing left to try, but it may cause me to loose all my files. I was SO SO SO glad that the nagging....which I now understood was from God....caused me to copy my files. Unfortunately, the technicians last effort didn't help, and we were unable to tell if I had lost my files. Just before I hung up the phone with the technician, I said, "my email address book should be fine, right?" I don't know why that hadn't occurred to me until then. When the technician realized that I used Outlook Express which saves my emails onto my hard drive, he gulped hard and said that it was very likely that my email address book of over 700 people's emails, were gone. I was crushed. I've been using and adding to this email address book for over 10 years. And worst yet...all of you...who so faithfully support me....all your addresses were gone and it overwhelmed me to think of how it how long and how much work it would take to try to rebuild this data base. Then, another thought...the financial stuff I worked on and the pictures I downloaded were done AFTER I copied my files, therefore they were likely gone. And the email with my attached financial stuff hadn't gone thru. I cried hard that night and I was glad Kim was there to give me hug when needed and pass me tissues.

The next morning, I returned my computer (still under the 3 yr warranty) to where I purchased it. They sent it off to be repaired...and not likely be ready for about 2 weeks. Therefore, I would return without my computer and without knowing knowing exactly what was lost. Somehow I knew it would be OK, but it sure looked like an uphill battle in front of me. When I returned from my errands that day, I had a voice mail from my accountant friend. He said we didn't need to cancel out meeting, because the email actually got thru! WOW! This means all the hours I put into this document wasn't lost...he had a copy and therefore could give me a copy. This really encouraged me that God was still in control, and He would see me thru this difficult time. That night, after watching my favorite 7 yr old nephew play soccer, my family got together at our favorite pizza place. After hearing my computer woes, my sister said she had an laptop sitting in her closet that she wasn't using, and she'd be glad to loan it to me. Double WOW!

Last Thursday, 3 days after after returning to El Salvador, I hooked up my external hard drive to see exactly what I had somehow saved on it....especially since I didn't know what I was doing when I did it. I looked thru a couple of files...so good so far. Then it happened. I saw a file called Outlook Express. I clicked on it, and my entire email address book popped up- completely intact. I had saved it without even knowing that I had saved it. Wow doesn't cover this kind of awe. I don't even know if I was breathing. My jaw was probably hanging open, and I probably turned pale. I do know that tears were in my eyes. I truly couldn't believe what I was seeing. I dared not touch the computer at first, for fear that my precious info would vanish. When I finally got a grip on myself, I knew what I had to do next. I got out of the simple rolling secretary-like chair and got on my knees. Telling God thank-you seemed so lame and inadequate...yet it was all I could come up with. Hadn't I prayed and prayed for a miracle...for Him to somehow provide my lost emails...yet here He is providing it, and I can hardly believe my eyes. I have SO little faith....yet He provided a miracle anyhow. I know He loves me....shouldn't I have expected Him to provide this? Wow...what a boost that provided during this past week of transition! When I got off my knees...I ran out to find somebody to whom I could tell my good news...even if it was to somebody that couldn't understand a lick of English. Reminds me of The Good News and the excitement and need to tell someone. Anyhow, I was glad that Bobby and Britney were actually on their way to see me...and they jumped up and down with in my excitement.

You know, I've had another thought about this faith building moment. Even though my faith was small and I wasn't expecting a His sudden miracle, I don't think God's too discouraged with me. I think He was glad to give me this gift....just like we like to give surprise gifts to people at times. I think He just wants me to use this as a lesson as a building block for the next lesson that comes along.

And for those of you who haven't yet heard from me....now you know why. I've been somewhat email address-less. My current computer doesn't have Outlook Express on it, so I'm not yet too sure if/how I'll be able to copy this into a formal in which I can use it. If nothing else works, I know that I can re-load this onto my computer whenever I get it. So just hang on with me. I'm working on it whenever I can catch a spare moment.

Aint God good?!

A New Start

Shortly before I left to go to Richmond, my duties here were suddenly and unexpectedly changed. A meeting was held. Some false accusations were made, some lies were told, and without knowing it, I was shocked to find that I was in the middle of it. We're Christians, but we're also human and far from perfect or angelic. The lies were just lies and the accusations were painful but not true. When the dust landed, it took me a little while to get my whits about me and get back on my feet. This is why I didn't mention this in my blog before I left...it's taken me awhile to digest it all and know how to respond. I'm glad I had the time at home to process it all. Here's the bottom line....I'm fine and nothing was done maliciously. I've been asked to no longer work at the book ministry in the city with Teri, but to instead work on various projects here at the Home. That's OK with me. I really liked what I was doing, learned a lot about an industry that I'd never interacted with before, was able to put great Christian literature in people's hands, and make meaningful new friendships. But now I'm back at the orphanage with the kids that originally pulled at my heart strings. I'd missed not being around them much. I could view the lists of projects as stupid ways too keep me busy since the clinic is nowhere near ready. Or, I could choose to resemble the faithful servant in Matthew 25. I've chosen to have a good attitude with a smile on my face and heart, and to be faithful in the little things (even if I don't understand it). Besides that, when God called me to come here (which I still absolutely believe it true), He knew the clinic was not going to be ready. Therefore, He must have other plans for me. The Bible says that if we're found faithful in the little things, then God will move us on to whatever God has for us at the next level. Based on that, I started praying for God to show me how He'd like for me to do the projects, and I'm not kidding you...He bought all sorts of new and creative ideas (and I'm usually not too creative) to me. He showed me ways to involve the kids in the projects, which allows for our relationships to grow and allows me to pour myself into their lives, and strangely enough... here I am writing this 4 days later and I can honestly report that we're having fun with the projects. Now before you think I'm dancing thru fields of daisies, not all of the projects involve the kids, and no it's not always fun. But all in all I've got to tell you that God has been faithful and it's really going well. It feels like a new start.

Re-entry to El Salvador

I arrived back in El Salvador on Mon. Oct 15th with essentially no trouble, and was able to make use of my new "residency card" for the first time. It was a non-stop flight from Washington DC..only about 4hr...I think it's the first time I've ever flown anywhere non stop. Bobby and Britney picked me up and we were back the orphanage around 8pm. A long day, but I was excited to show them the many Christmas gifts I'd found for the kids at Goodwill, and 4 pair of your girl shoes for $1.50 each from K-mart!

I was told it had rained more than usual while I was gone...literally several times every day. And I should brace myself for an increase in mold in my apartment. That night it didn't look too bad...but then came the next morning and the light of day told an entirely different story. Shock and awe isn't far from what I experienced. Mold was growing on the outside of my frig and kitchen cabinets and on top of the cabinets, on my kitchen table and cloth place mats, on the walls, in and under each and every single drawer in the house (bedside stand, kitchen drawers, clothes drawers, end tables, desk, on and on and on), and in my pillows and comforter, towels, clothes, etc. Of course all the usual places too, like doors and furniture. The task was more than I could even consider tackling, and it took me until the weekend to really get started.

But worse than that was the black clouds that seemed to hang over the campus. I'm not talking about the weather. And I know some of you aren't going to really follow what I'm about to say...but that's OK, just bare with me or you can skip to the next blog entry. It was a spiritual darkness that was heavy and nearly visible, even though the sky was nearly blue. It seems that some things had happened on campus while I was gone, and were continuing to play out. Bobby and Britney seemed defeated and weary. And although the kids greeted my warmly, I soon found myself feeling low too. If you've ever seen the picture on the cover of the book "This Present Darkness"...that's exactly what it was like. By lunch time the sky had turned gray and a weird looking fog had rolled in. To be honest it's the first time I've ever seen fog here and it grew surprisingly thick. They say we seldom get fog. And it seemed so appropriate for what we were all feeling. Then it occurred to me....the verse in the Bible that says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities. Of all people, I should be fresh, strong, and ready to do spiritual battle. So I went to my apartment, got on my knees, called on God for help, told the Devil to take a hike, and asked the Lord to pick up us. Know what...it worked. Truly by the end of the work day some much needed discussions had taken place, and even though to the naked eye not much had changed, we knew spiritually the sky had cleared.

My First Time Back Home

Every day back home was like a new set of gifts from God. It was really that amazing and wonderful.

Wed evening I was home from the airport in time (due to the miracles described in my previous blog entry) to sit in my recliner in my living room with my best friend beside me and my cat purring in my lap as I watched the early evening news. I remember thinking to myself, "Man this is great!" Kim and I went for a short walk around the neighborhood then we ate a dinner of one of my favorite foods, pork chops! What a wonderful way to come home!

Thursday I had scheduled back-to-back appointments with various folks, including a routine MD visit. One of the people in that schedule, Emma, didn't know I was coming. I entered the activity room in her nursing home, holding my finger to my lips so that the staff wouldn't ruin the surprise. Emma looked up from her wheelchair, and just stared at me. I didn't think even think she was breathing. Then she broke out in laughter and we hugged like we hadn't seen each other in years. We had a great visit together. Also on Thurs. I visited with Cindy Johnson (the director of my church's mission dept.) and Susan Glasscock (an elder in my church and more importantly a mentor in my life). I was able to mentally and emotionally download with these 2 special friends, sharing the good and bad, and ask for advise regarding specific challenges. I told them my plans for dealing with those challenges to see if they had other suggestions. I left that meeting feeling very encouraged and affirmed. They whole heartedly agreed with my plans and had a special prayer for me before all was said and done.

Friday, only minutes after getting out of bed, I become sick to my stomach and things quickly became ugly. Luckily I had not scheduled that day with too much, and one friend still ventured over that evening for dinner and a movie (although it a few days until my appetite really returned). In hindsight, if I hadn't been ill, I probably wouldn't never slowed down to rest or sit still for more than a few minutes, so in a strange sort of way I guess it was good to be sick, and it kept me from gorging on all the wonderful foods that I have missed.

Don't worry, I'm not going to write about every day, but thought I'd hit a few highlights.

Sat evening my sisters planned a get together with just us sisters and cousins- about 8 in total, at a Mexican restaurant. Mmmmm! I love Mexican and this type of food is not common here, contrary to popular belief. I got to see my newest cousin, Isaiah. So handsome! And near the top of my memories is the hugs that were exchanged that night, particularly with my sisters.

Speaking of hugs, I'd have to say that hugs were very near the top of my list on this trip. I had so many great hugs....not just the standard "hello" hug , but warm, genuine, "man I missed you!" hug. Oh, and the phone calls! Really great conversations. And my small group did a speacial fondu meal for me (luckily my appetite had returned!) and I really enjoyed the evening.

My 1st Sunday home was probably the day I was looking forward to the most....and it was all that I hoped it would be. It was so good to worship, I mean really worship, in English again. And so good to see so many friends and reconnect. I even had one friend and her husband who basically drove all the way from South Carolina just to say hello and exchange hugs. Wow! Then, the big moment....going "home" to finally see my family and to have one of our traditional Sunday Skalsky lunches. Those hugs were extra extra extra rich. After mom's special pot roast and mashed potatoes (my mouth is watering by just remembering it) the kids and I got to play. It was really hot outside, so we horsed around inside. We played chase....around and around we went thru the living room, into the kitchen, then thru the dining room, and back full circle to the living room. At times I didn't know if I was the chaser or the chasee. They squealed and laughed with delight. Then when I didn't think mom could handle one more minute of this chaos, we collapsed on the living floor and wrestled. Yep....this memory is definitely near the top. Just messing with the kids. Later on in the week I went back down (about 45 min) to Prince George twice to join my family as we cheered on Forrest as he played soccer. On another day "My Princes" Haley (the 4yr old niece) and her mom (my sister) met Kim and I at the zoo for a day of fun. My time absolutely flew by.

I left Virginia healthy, happy, and in tears with sadness. I don't know if saying those dreaded good-byes will ever get any better. But after so many days of great memories, how could I at least not be thankful? My mom and dad took me to the airport about 2+ hr away in Washington DC so that I could use a much cheaper airline. And then finally the last good-byes were over, and I gulped hard and tried to breath slowly and deeply. And to be honest, I'm already looking forward to my next trip home, how could I not after such a wonderful visit?

I'm sorry that I didn't see too many of you. I actually saw more of you than I thought I would. It just seems so impossible. And I can't make any promises about future visits home, particularly over the holidays. Who knows, maybe we can get together or at least talk by phone. But please know in my heart, that you are so special to me, and I couldn't make it without you.

My amazing plane trip home

In the normal logical world, due to the airline changing the times on both of my flights, I should have never made my flight connection in Houston since I only had 1 hr to go through immigration, then go get my luggage so that I could go to and get through customs, then re-check my luggage, then get to the proper terminal before my plane left. But let me tell you what God did.

I left El Salvador at dark o'clock in the AM. We made excellent time and landed 15 min early. The plane was more than 1/2 empty, so I changed my seat so that I was sitting as close to the door as possible and was able to leave the jet quickly. I used the stairs instead of the escalators to gain valuable minutes. I got to immigration ahead of anyone else and for the first time in my life, immigration didn't have one single person in line! Wow! Then I hurriedly went to get my luggage...both pieces came through in less than 5 min. When I got to the line at customs, a staff person told the person in front of me to go to a new line that was just opening. Now I was the 2nd person in line instead of way back. Double WOW! I re-checked my luggage and took the tram to my terminal. Once I was at my gate I could hardly believe that I even had time to pick up a quick lunch and call Kim to tell her that I was actually going to make my connection and she could pick me up at 4:30pm instead of the later flight at 10pm. However....when I tried to use my calling card at the pay phone, I discovered that my card had expired. I knew that if I had a cell phone and somebody asked if they could make a quick call, I'd let them. Therefore I figured that God could provide the right person for me to ask to borrow their phone. So I prayed and then headed toward the people sitting at my gate. One gentleman stood out to me. He was using his cell. He looked like a dad and for some reason it even seemed like he may be a pastor though there wasn't anything outward to prove it. So I sat with one seat between us and watched him for a moment, then prayed one last time before I leaned forward to ask to borrow his cell...but I was stopped short when he leaned forward to get something from his backpack....he pulled out a book called "Growing Churches". Yep, I thought, this must be my guy. So I boldly introduced myself and asked to borrow his phone. He said he was a pastor from Arizona and on his way for training at the Foreign Mission Board in Richmond, and I could use his phone all I wanted. I finished the quick call and still had several minutes to chat with my new friend before boarding on time. Is God amazing or what? This would have not been possible without God and so many of you who prayed for me on this day of travel. With much sincere gratitude, I give you and God thanks.

Two of my favorite things

Two of my favorite things...one's a new passion, the other is old.

The old one of course is my love of photography. After seeing my first family visitation day here, I knew I wanted to give these kids and their parents photos. They've been so appreciative. The middle picture is of a house mom with her 4-7 year old girls. She was so pleased that some of her girls had photos, that she asked me to take this picture. You may or may not be able to see that the tallest girl in the picture is holding an identical picture to the girl in pink sitting on the floor. These 2 sisters have 2 other siblings here too. The girl standing on the far right and the girl standing on the far left are also sisters. A high percentage of kids here also have siblings here.

My new passion is reading to kids in Spanish, and they seem to eat it up. The idea is a new for me, and it seems to benefit them and me. First I read the simple (very very simple) Bible story to them. And then they each take a turn at reading a page. We all get to enjoy it and if we're not careful, we may even learn something.

These are the same kids as above. Shhhh....don't tell anyone...but they are my favorites. They live in Griffin House and are the boys from age 4-7. Their house mom, Lilly, is outstanding. They're all (except the one boy who's hiding) waving hello to you. They are really enjoying their room which was renovated this summer by a team from the USA in a Noah's Ark theme.

New kids on the block 8-2007

Here's the newest kids at the Home. Pablo was abandoned and bought here by the government when he was 1.5 months old. He's the one enjoying the milk and rocking chair.

Not too much longer we finally obtained legal custody for Michael. I don't know if he has improved significantly in the past few months or if things were made out to be worse than they really were. He's deaf in one ear and nearly deaf in the other. He has BPD (bronchial pulmonary dysplasia) which is common in premature kids. He's currently 3 and the doctors say he's not expected to make it past the age of 7. Based on what I'm seeing, he very well may out live me. He now seldom to never needs oxygen. Prince George Volunteer Rescue Squad (my hometown) donated a portable pulse oximeter that helps us to easily monitor his oxygen status. Thanks PGEC! Michael is in blue and riding piggy back on Violetta.

I'm in the middle picture with most of our "babies" (birth thru 3 years old). Michael's in the very center, sitting on my lap.

On the same day that Michael arrived, the government also called and asked us to take in 4 others. We said no, our hands are full right now. They bought the kids by "just for us see" and of course we kept them. These kids are in the picture on the right. They were found in a shack with the door locked. The neighbors said the mother left days ago and never came back. Nobody knows if she was injured or worse or if she abandoned her 4 kids. The 10 year old girl was raising her 8 yr old brother, 3 year old sister, and 2 yr old baby brother. Wow! I've been really impressed with the character of the 2 oldest kids. The picture above was taken during a church service where we dedicated all the new kids.

We're now at an all time high of 81 kids, and all hands are on deck.

The 2007 Quinceanera

A Quinceanera is a milestone for every young girl. It's a time she invisions and dreams about for years. This ceremony publically marks their transition into womanhood.

Every year here at home, a Quinceanera ceremony is held for any girl that turned 15 (quince) years old during the year. This time honored tradition is celebrated differently all over the Spanish speaking world depedning on your religious beliefs and economic standing. I've seen some ceremonies/parties to include renting out hotel banquet rooms, a DJ, and a sit down meal. I've also heard of a ceremony that simply included a special family meal and well wishes for the girl's future. Here at the Home, the girls don't have a prom. And in some ways, this celebration kind of resembles a mix between a prom and a wedding. All of their family is invited (if there is any). The church is decorated with streamers and paper flowers. The girls wear a fancy formal dress, and are escorted in on the arm of their brother, or significant male staff member into the church while everyone stands in their honor and special music is played. The girls are seated like royalty on the stage of the church. The pastor personalizes a special message. The next set of younger girls stand as a group and read special wishes to the girls and formally present hand made cards to each of them. Then each of the honored 15 year old young ladies have their turn at the microphone to say whatever is on their heart. At the end, their escort gracefully helps them off the stage and out of the church. Then everyone gathers in the cafeteria which has been brightly decorated with streamers, balloons, and a special 3-tier cake. (The cake this year was donated as a gift from the house mothers to the girls.) All enjoyed a nice fried chicken dinner and a time for hugs, well wishes and photos.

Veronica, in the picture above has been special in my heart from the moment I met her. She has such a tender heart. She and her 4 younger siblings arrived here about 4 years ago. Before coming here she hadn't gone to school, so she's now in the 4th grade. In the back of the picture you may be able to see a blond lady...that's Britney. And the guy in the blue shirt is Bobby, her husband. This missionary couple arrived here in Jan.

The other picture includes Don and Roseann Benner with the girls. It really was a nice ceremony and I was so happy that I had the opportuntiy to be a part of it.

My Special Wall

This Special Wall is in my bedroom. I go to this wall when I need to laugh, get encouragement, love, or a long distance hug. This picture was taken on 9-6-07, so it doesn't have some of the more recent cards that have arrived. Of course, you won't be surprised to find the hand drawn picture by "my princess" Haley in the center of this display.

I also have a special basket. In my basket are the precious letters that I've received. They don't display on a wall very well, but I'm quite aware that each letter represents someone equally specail in my life...someone that took a good bit of time and effort to hand write a letter to me.

Thanks so much to each of you who have contributed to my special wall and special basket. I have and will continue to add to the collection as time goes by, and I'll post a photo update sometime in the future. You can find my current address at the top right of my blog page.

Mold....phew wee, stinky!

Remember my Look, Behold, I've got Mold blog entry about a month ago? Well, here 's the evidence...mold on the back of my night stand beside my bed, on the back of a door, on the back of an armoire, and on the inside and outside of my shoe.

Keep in mind that I run my ceiling fans 24/7, as advised, to help with ventilation and prevent mold. And all the growth you see here is only 2 weeks old. I had cleaned these surfaces 2 weeks prior to these pictures, and this is how fast it has grown back. Fortunately, the rains should subside in October and I'm hoping things will improve significantly...although I'm somewhat doubtful due to the tropical heat and humidity that is present year round.