February 28, 2015

Up at 5 this morningJ…..did some cooking to prepare lunch for the movers.  It is funny when you take all the small things to one place and are still living in another, you miss half of what you own.  I had to keep improvising for the cooking because half of what I need was in the new place.  I headed out at 7:40 to pick up Rachel and Brisa for the ladies’ seminar on teaching children.  It was great!  First, I knew so many of the ladies from working in Ahuachapan for so many years, so the fellowship was great.  Louis, one of the young men that works with the youth, who is a teacher by trade, led the seminar.  He focused on the utilization of games in the classroom.  His main two points were that they involve all the children and that they typically have zero costs.  He had and very well organized power point and he involved many in the audience.  Once, he asked for four older volunteers.  They were asked to write four likes, dislikes and fears.  Afterwards I told Luzelana that I didn’t volunteer because one of my fears was participating in a game in a different language!  She just laughed.  Afterwards, I volunteered to take all the Ataco ladies back with me.  Then, the car wouldn’t start again.  Fortunately, there were many helpers there to work on it.  When the men couldn’t get it going, they decided to call a mechanic.  They asked all the ladies to go to Noe’s home and they started working on lunch.  Everyone was so gracious.  Dwaine, our landlord and Cesar had gotten all the big items moved, so Cesar brought Dwaine down the mountain.  The mechanic found the problem in the negative cable and we were own our way.  I told the ladies from Ataco that it would be good when the person that offers a ride had a working car.  Hector also came to pick Rachel up.  In the end, the fellowship and hospitality was great and the car was fixed!  I was much relieved. 

As Charlotte said, Cesar and I spent the morning moving the large items.  I had thought the landlord from the old house was going to lend us his truck but he insisted on staying with us and doing all the driving.  He did not lift much he is probably in his 70’s.  He arrived with the deposit Caleb had paid in hand without even waiting to see if the house was clean or if there were any problems.  So after we got everything out we tried to clean it really well since they had been so nice to us.  The moving went pretty well and everything survived.  The worst two things were when we moved the two large cabinets that Caleb & Della had bought as closets, they were very heavy and large and he had put them together so we were not sure if they would stay together.  I tied three ropes around each one to reinforce them and they made it.  But even on their sides they were way above the pickup sides so I stood in the back and held on to them.  I sure was glad when that trip was over.  The other was getting the washing machine up the stairs to where the hookups for it were located.  In the end all was well.  I think we may put the dryer on the large balcony because I have to run wire somewhere anyway and that is close and would be outside since there is no way to vent it.  That means I have to get it upstairs which I did not do yesterday.  Charlotte did not mention that the young mechanic who came to where the car was on Saturday afternoon and did the repair charged a whopping $10.00.  I asked if he came to Ataco and he said he did so I got his number for the future. 

Games at the Ladies' Seminar

Ladies' Seminar for Teaching Children

Louis teaching the games.

Volunteers from the audience.

Lots of interest!

Catherine from Ahuachapan

says hello to Clifton

Last of old home....lots of memories,...

Church of Ataco, Caleb and Della's home,

first home for little Charlotte,

summer home for Clifton, 

visits by Christina, Dan, Leanna and Della's mom,

home for Dwaine and Charlotte!

Adios!

February 2015 Newsletter

Amazing month.  It is still hard to believe we have already been here almost a month.  Almost 3 & 1/2 years after we decided to come to El Salvador we finally made it.  What a busy time it has been!  From our last days working at Encore in Dec. to all the traveling in Jan., then the final goodbyes to families and friends.  We arrived here Jan. 31 and had a great trip and no problems throughout.  We were met at the airport by Bros. Hector and Carlos with a van large enough to accommodate all our bags.  Then we arrived at our house about 10:30 p.m. to the news that the house had finally been sold and that we had to be out by the end of Feb.  We overlapped by 9 days with Lucky, who had worked with Caleb and Della all of last year.  She took us on a whirlwind week of visiting people she had been working with-even taking one long trek through a coffee field.  Thankfully, we have been able to keep the two main studies she was having.  One, Stephanie, is a young mother who is a cousin to a member here.  The other, Reyna, is an older lady who has been coming to Sunday services but has not been baptized.  We have started going through the booklet “Que Dice La Biblia,” What Does the Bible Say, with both of them and the studies are going well.  Please put them in your prayers.  Charlotte is also studying Mark with a young sister, Kathrine, who was just baptized in Jan. 2015.  Charlotte has also started attending the Saturday ladies’ class (which she has been asked to lead next time) and having lunch with the teen girls on Sunday and going out with them to visit the members who did not come that day.  She really enjoys it but there is a lot of walking involved and it is tiring.  There are three services every Sunday that we attend.  One at 9 am in Shucutitan , one at 4 pm here in Ataco and the last at 7pm in Juayua (a town about 30 minutes from Ataco where a new work is just beginning.  We usually get home around 9 on Sunday nights if we do not go out to eat after the last service.  We started right in working on our long term visa applications with the help of a brother here, Cesar.  We made 4 trips to San Salvador, one on every Thursday since we got here, and last Thur. Feb 19, we turned all our paperwork in to immigration and they told us to come back this past Monday.  WE HAD BEEN APPROVED.  Now we have temporary cards good for 3 months while we wait for the one year visas but all is done and certain.  We know that our good progress was due in large part to all the experience we gained from what Caleb and Della had to go through in getting their visas.  We also had to start looking for a new place to live.  The first week Lucky took us to a brand new house here in Ataco.  It has been built a while but no one has lived in it yet.  Caleb and Della actually looked at it but all the bedrooms are upstairs and they decided that would be too much for Della because she was pregnant at the time.  We did look at a couple of other places but they were not suitable and ended up with only one real choice in the end.  Fortunately, the lady was willing to rent to us month to month and not require a contract.  We are moving the last two days of Feb. We have gone every Wednesday to the town of Juayua.  As I mentioned, it is a brand new work that is just beginning and Hector has asked us to consider being a part of.  We spend the day going from house to house having studies and end the day with home Bible studies at two different places.  It is very exciting and rewarding.  All of the Christians here have been so warm and receptive and we are so thankful that we have already had the chance to have several families into our homes for evening meals and some lunches and lots of fellowship.  We are also so thankful that we are at least at a level of Spanish where we can communicate well even though we have a long way to go.  It would be hard to imagine how this month could have gone much better, except maybe for having to move, but even that has gone well too.  Keep us in your prayers and if you want in depth info check out our blog. 

February 27, 2015

Friday was the first of two moving days.  Dwaine went out at 8:00, to pay the deposit on the new apartment and make final arrangements with the landlady.  She was really nice.  We started taking trips over with small items and I think we made about 5 trips total.  I guess when you start putting items into a place, it seems to get a little smaller.  The kitchen is a great size and very workable.  The garage is open to the ‘living room,’ which is very small.  We are going to use our free standing closets to create a division.  Now, the living room will actually have to serve as a dining room as it corners with the kitchen.  Even with only the table and chairs in this room, we are uncertain if the front door will open all the way.  There is a small bedroom off the living room and we will locate there.  Upstairs, there is an open room, where we will place the two futons and there are two bedrooms and a bath.  We did discover one really funny thing and one not so funny thing.  The funny one is that the plug in for the dryer is about 1/3^rd of the way up the stairs.  The funny part of this, is….where does that leave you to actually put the dryer?  We will be running a line into the kitchen, I suppose.  It was a crazy place!  You can look at the picture on that one.  Caleb and Della had the same plug in the old house, but, it was a line to nowhere outside of the house so they did not get to use their dryer.  We hope we do not discover the same today.  The second, not so funny thing, is the entry to the garage.  It is a good slant to enter the garage, so they put two grated ramps to the garage.  Dwaine had me direct him onto the grates and at best, the front bumper drags.  He said he might be able to build up the end of the grate to prevent this.  The garage door is very hard to slide.  So between the grates and the door, I personally may never attempt to put the car in the garage.  But, it all has gone smooth so far and we are thankful that we have a place to go to.  We will get used to all the layout and make adjustments.  In the move, we have not been able to change the cable location yet.  We may not have internet for a few days, so posting on the blog may be delayed. 

We did experience our first earthquake!  Guatemala had a 5.2 quake.  We were sitting studying and I asked Dwaine if he felt something.  He said yes, he was sure it was a quake.  It lasted about 30 seconds, and it was sure strange.  There was a funny part of this too.  I have taught in science classes that one indication of a quake is the strange actions of animals.  Well, just after the quake, one of our residents, a small mouse, ran right out in the middle of the floor.  Dwaine jumped on that one and it won’t be visiting us anymore!

Old home where Caleb and Della lived and we have been for a month.

Old home location.

Kitchen from old home.

New home!

Stair well with dryer connection in the corner!

Dwaine assembling shelves in new kitchen.

Bedroom

Top of stairs in open room.

Balcony overlook.

February 26, 2015

This was our first Thursday to spend in Ataco.  So far each Thursday, we have been going to San Salvador to work on immigration papers.  Through the morning, we studied Spanish and Bible. Edgardo came by for a visit and coffee. He was on his way to Triumphal for studies.  We took about an hour for a walkabout.  Dwaine had not been to the overlook of the city with the cross.  It is very near to our current home, so we thought we would go during the morning.  Actually, it will still be close after the move.  Ataco is very small.  It was fun to identify houses and places we know form the overlook.  In our walk we came across one political group gathering.  Elections are next week and there has been a lot of campaigning.  We left after lunch for our studies.  Catherine was still in exams so we did not have that study.  But, both Stephanie and Reina were at home.  For the first time we went to the home study on Thursday evening and it was at the home of Rosamirida where the Ataco church meets.  We had a good study of the life of Joesph, but at the end Dwaine and I started getting a barrage of phone calls.  Since we are moving on Friday, we had given out phone number to Claro to change our internet address.  It took about 6 calls, each from different people, to try to make the appointment.  In the end, we don’t have a set time, but we think they will come on Friday.  Thankfully the calls were all at the end of the study.  Rosamirida graciously gave me 4 fresh eggs from her chickens.  She wanted for me to have some fresh eggs.  When we got home, Dwaine packed the car to prepare for the move and then Bryan came over, Caleb and Della’s high school friend.  Dwaine practiced some English with him while I baked some peanut butter cookies.  We played a game of Blokus and talked about studying the Bible on a regular basis.  We are going to try to begin with Romans.  Caleb studied a lot with Bryan and one group that visited here studied with him.  He is open to study, but is very active at a local church.  We gave him our new address and hope he will continue to come regularly for visits and study. 

New wall constructed along the way to the overlook

The enormous house behind the wall was also new

Overlook to Ataco

Charlotte at the overlook

Dwaine at the overlook

Coffee beans spread for drying

Tiny baby chicks

Common to see someone carrying a heavy load

Skype photo of snow falling in Huntsville

Skype picture of Caleb's back yard

Skype picture of our back yard

We're in the mid 80's here!

February 25, 2015

Wednesday tends to be a busy day and this one was no exception.  We studied some Spanish and Bible during the morning hours and left home about 10:30 to go out for the day.  First, we went to Salcoatitan to walk around with Cesar and Eliza to get an idea of safety and size.  This town borders Juayua and we are considering moving closer to Juayua eventually for the work that is starting there.  We only spent about an hour in this location, but it was good to get a sense of the town.  Afterwards, we drove to Juayua, about 5 minutes away.  We ate lunch and went to Sister Regina’s home.  We had a slower start to the afternoon because Osvaldo and Hector were working on construction on Osvaldo’s home in Ahuachapan.  We visited Sister Ana, with Arthritis, for a devotional and she was in good spirits.  We were talking about the snow in Huntsville and were trying to learn the word for ‘inches’….pulgadas.  And, the topic of fleas came up…..pulgas.  Then, the jokes started.  All throughout our visits we kept mixing the words and everyone was just laughing and laughing.  It was a good encouragement to smile and laugh.  It was a blessing to that Cesar and Eliza were with us.  Of course they had their baby Abigail.  She always smiles and it was nice for Ana to enjoy their company too.  Next, the usual two studies were out, so we studied with two other neighbors of Regina’s.  I continue to be amazed at her outreach and influence.  Her life if definitely a testimony for Jesus.  Finally, we went to study with William Rivers, the man we had studied with each week.  While Cesar, Dwaine and I go to this study, Osvaldo teaches at Regina’s home.  Some of the people that have been in the studies came.  Our study with Mr. Rivers was great.  Cesar had researched his questions and that got us started.  We talked about world religions and the background of the church.  Everyone contributed and it was a good study.  After the studies, Osvaldo said he would come by the house and pick up the stove stored in our home for the church.  Since we are moving, we are trying to clear out everything we can.  So, Cesar, Eliza and Osvaldo came to our home for dinner.  I had put on red beans and rice in the morning and it was delicious by 8 o’clock.  Of course, we checked in with all the kids on the snow totals.  It was fun the experience the snow through their videos and pictures.  We thought Cesar and Eliza might spend the night, but Osvaldo, Eliza’s brother, really wanted them to come be with their family.  Looks like we might have to ‘take turns’ having them for the nightJ. 

Baby chicks in the market.

Devo at Ana's home with Regina and Pedro

A visit with Sister Ana

Dwaine with Abigail, daughter of Cesar and Eliza

God's Creation

February 24, 2015

I met Carlos at the garage in Auchupan at 8 to leave the car for the AC repair.  I got there about 10 min early and spoke to the attendant and they started working on the car right away.  We asked Carlos to come for lunch because he was coming at 1:30 to give us a ride to our afternoon Bible studies.  When he got there at 1:00 he said they thought the car would be ready today.  We went to our afternoon studies and the first one with Kathrine didn’t happen because she said she had too much homework.  Then we walked about 2 miles to the next studies and found out that it was a really good thing that we were early because the younger lady we study with, Stephanie , had a 3:30 appointment.  We were supposed to study at 3 but we got there right after 2 and were able to finish before she had to leave.  Then we went to the older lady, Reyna and studied the first lesson of “Que Dice La Biblia” with her.  Both studies went really well.  Carlos was supposed to hear back from the garage but he called us about 4:30 and said he wanted to head on over because he had to lead the house church group at 5:30.  We sorta flew over there with me sitting in the back with no seat and hanging on for dear life.  We got to the garage about 5:05 and the said the car was ready.  It ended up being $143.  Which was better than expected.  I asked if there was a warranty with the work and the man said it is freezing cold but bring it back if there are any problems.  It was really nice on the way back and we made it to the house church before it started.  Carlos gave another great lesson-this one on the life of Joseph.  I know we will enjoy the AC in the car and I guess most of you there may be wishing you needed AC about now.  We will keep you in our prayers.  Charlotte is always watching the weather and worrying about our kids.  

February 23, 2015

Dwaine

We had appointments with immigration in San Salvador because they had kept our papers to make sure all was correct before saying we were approved.  The appointment for Charlotte was at 10:30 and me at 11:00.  We left at 8:20 and picked us Cesar in front of his housing complex at 9:15 and arrived about 10:25 for our appointment. They called us both back together after all and almost as soon as we sat down the man said we need to pay.  We knew that meant all was well because the first time we went to immigration they had told us they would not take our money until they accepted our applications.  The man we worked with was really nice.  We joked about my large family and the color of my and Charlotte’s hair.  He finally settled on cana which is gray color.  It made for a good laugh.  We now have very nice driver license size cards with our pictures on them and all our information.  They are good for three months but they said to call back in 6 weeks because the year long ones would probably be ready.  After immigration we went to lunch and then to the other Walmart that we had not been to.  We have been wanting to get a table clock that alarms for our nightstand.  As Charlotte was looking at the groceries to see what she might find that is hard to find she said why don’t you look for a table clock.  I thought she said table cloth because Caleb and Della had to use two to completely cover the table and both have slits in the open ends. I brought three from across the store for her to look at.  “No, I don’t think I want cloth”.   I took those back and brought back the only vinyl one they had.  “Well, I guess that will be ok.  Did you find the clock?”  Well, after that I asked about a table clock but they did not have one.  It is amazing how well all has gone for the immigration and everything really.  Even the house, finding out that we at least had a month to move was tons better than it having sold before we got here and having no place to stay when we got here and the furniture having to be stored-which I guess would have to have been in someone’s garage.  We have so much to be thankful for.

Charlotte

We are deeply indebted to our children, Caleb and Della for forging the way on these papers.  Through their trial and error and difficulties, they were able to send us to a good lawyer that could accomplish the translations effectively and stay with us until the process was completed.  Caleb’s detailed record keeping helped us identify important documents and content.  This has been a tremendous blessing for our success.  On a lighter side, when you take an elevator ride in the states, there is a sign that tells you what to do in case of fire.  Signs here include what to do in case of fire or earthquake!  We haven’t experience one yet, but we anticipate this.  There were other things that were interesting on our return trip, we saw a sign for a ‘lava’ route.  Sure it was close to a volcano.  Then, we passed the volcano debris in the fields.  That was amazing to me.  El Salvador has over 20 volcanoes.  We returned to Santa Ana via a different route and we saw signs for the Pan American Highway.  Cesar explained that we were on the Pan American bypass.  Our usual route was the actual Pan American Highway, but we had no idea. One more interesting bit of information.  In one conversation, we talked about the size of El Salvador.  Dwaine looked it up and Alabama is 8 times the size of El Salvador in its entirety.  Well, that trip to San Salvador makes El Salvador seem 8 times the size of Alabama!

Volcano in San Salvador

Look closely at the blue sign.  

It is actually the Pan American Highway Bypass.

Scenery while driving.

Black volcano rock and ash along the road.

February 22, 2015

Sunday is such a blessing to see people and fellowship.  Shucutitian was really full and Reina came.  We talked to her about studying Tuesday as we are going to San Salvador on Monday.  This Sunday I went into the children’s class.  It is done a little different.  The children’s class meets during the time of preaching.  There is a short opening with singing and announcements when you arrive and then a ‘recess’ and the children go to class and the service begins.  The teens go to another home for a class during this time too.  I really enjoyed the children’s class.  Linda conducted the class and two of the teen girls helped, Carolina and Catherine.  They did storytelling, verse memorization, craft, singing and lots of prayer.  The interaction was great with the children.  There were about 12 children.  After service, I stayed to go visiting with the teen girls.  We had about 7 or 8 girls.  I took some hotdogs and cookies for lunch and then we had a devotional and visitation.  We found about 4 families home and we had prayer and singing.  At one home we were able to leave the remaining food and at another home, we had the opportunity to talk more about choices.  Both of those were very moving.  Yesterday was above 85 degrees and most homes are dirt floors and very dark. The dark helps with the heat.  I am always deeply moved by needs and love among the people.  It is hard to put into words, but opening your heart in prayer gives a connection beyond everyday greetings and general conversation.  When we finished, Dwaine came to pick us up and we had time for a short rest in the heat of the day.  Dwaine went to the Ataco service and he said there was a good turnout there.  When that finished we headed out for Juayua.  That service was a little smaller, but the exciting thing was that Gloria and her husband came.  We had studied with them this past Wednesday.  It is encouraging to see visitors coming.  Carlos did all the teaching at each service today as Hector had taken some teen guys to Nicaragua for a retreat.  He will be driving back soon, so keep them in your prayers.  We feel that soon we will become more ‘routine,’ in our schedule, but for God we know nothing is routine.  Blessings.

Ms. Linda teaching the children's class.

Children's Class

A bloom opened in our small courtyard.

Lucky, this is the bloom you anticipated!

Little Brianna during Bible class

February 21, 2015

Dwaine:

Yesterday was our 4^th. Saturday here if you count the one we arrived on.  Next Saturday we will spend the day moving.  I went by the new house and spoke to the landlady and got the address.  Tomorrow on the way back from San Salvador we hope to stop in Auachapan and ask if the internet can be moved to the new house on Friday.  We will pay the first month rent and deposit Friday at 8:00 and get the key and spend Friday moving smaller stuff by car.  Yesterday morning I got up at 5:30 and left home at 6:30 to pick up Edgardo and go to the leader training school in El Refugio.  We picked up Carlos and another brother in Auachapan .  There was a group of about 12 first year students who had just begun in Jan.  And a group of about 8 2^nd. Year students.  There were about as many ladies as men but several of the men were older and all of the ladies were fairly young adults. I sat in on three classes.  At the end of the first class which was on the beginning of the church the teacher, Bro. Mario Laro gave out a one page test and they were joking about giving me one.  I said sure.  It was so basic I could not have missed any of the questions except one in which I did not know what the Spanish word meant.  I probably will wait to go again till the time when my Spanish is good enough to teach and then ask if they are in need of a teacher on some topic.  Carlos said the teaching had to be fairly basic because even those who desired to be leaders had little foundation in Bible knowledge so it would not value much for me to sit in on classes. 

Charlotte:

While Dwaine went to El Refugio, I stayed home to cook for dinner guests.  I cooked lasgna, snow peas and potatoes with onions.  While cooking is quite time consuming, it is very rewarding to have people over and have this time of fellowship.  I finished up everything early, so I could go to the ladies’ class in Shucutitian.  It was my first time to drive alone.  It’s not a bad drive, but the cobblestone ‘path’ that is lined with homes, does not have space to turn around.  I had practiced a couple of time last week, and it went well.  Linda taught the ladies’ class and they asked if I could ‘preach’ it the next time they meet in two weeks.  I said ‘no’ because I wasn’t a preacher, but I would be glad to teach it.  It was a play on the Spanish words. They all laughed about that oneJ.  Afterwards, we had Edgardo and Martiza and their two children, Javier and Paola.  Dwaine went to pick them up and I realized we had not gotten tortillas to add to the meal.  So I went out around our home and kept asking shops until I found some.  I am sure that was funny to everyone I asked.  It was neat when they arrived because I found a few pictures of Xavier’s baptism and some group pictures of when I came in 2013 and printed those for them. It was a nice evening together.

Edgardo, Maritza, Javier, & Paola for dinner!

Family Night

February 20, 2015

Friday was a little slow for us.  We headed out early to go by and visit Rachel, our sweet sister, and take some lasagna.  That was a challenge to make, but I had found some cottage cheese in San Salvador and wanted to try it.  We are in prayer for Rachel and all of the Nance family, as David’s mother passed.  We were scheduled for a study at 9:30, but Reina was not home.  It is our understanding that study times are somewhat open-ended, so we were not surprised that she wasn’t home.  We drove back home and planned to visit again later in the day.  After lunch, we headed out for our studies with Katherine and Stephanie and those went well.  Reina still was not home, so we tried to connect with Carlos for the evening study.  Then, it happened, yikes, the car wouldn’t start.  The battery wouldn’t turn over, so Dwaine started working on cleaning the battery posts.  Each one had a good bit of corrosion on it.  Bessi’s father-in-law drove up on a motorcycle and he started helping us.  He went inside and cleaned and bent a penny.  Dwaine loosened the post and he added the penny for a better connection.  It started!  We sure were thankful.  It was almost evening and we didn’t want to leave the car out on the street all night.  Tomorrow, I am making my first trip out alone and I was thinking, I was thankful this didn’t happen when I was by myself.  It was a blessing to have some help and get things going.  The extra time it took made us miss the evening study that is like a life talk.  So we came home for the night.  Dwaine helped snap some beans for dinner.  It is quite a process to have veggies here.  I had brought a slow cooker/pressure cooker and the pressure cooker cooked them in 6 minutes.  We won’t say how long it took to clean and snap them thoughJ  They sure were good.  With all the bad weather in Huntsville, it was good to learn all the kids were safe at home.  I guess we all  had an evening in. 

Study with Katherine

Walking along the trail, we passed a quiet girl in a tree.

February 19, 2015

Partial Success.  Yesterday we went to San Salvador for the third time.  I guess any day in San Salvador without a driving accident is a very successful day.  We went first to the lawyer/translator/notary public.  We had one paper left that had to be notarized.  As we understood this paper the one I signed said I was responsible for our expenses here in El Salvador and the one Charlotte signed said that she agreed that I was responsible for her expenses as well as mine.  We joked that Charlotte could go on a spending spree.  The secretary said that we needed a copy of the founding charter of the Church of Christ in El Salvador.  Cesar called a preacher in San Salvador who was also the “president” of the churches here and he had the original charter in his possession.  So we went and got the charter and made a copy of it to put in each of our sets of papers.  We got back to the lawyer’s office at 11:30 and the lawyer was out to lunch so we went to lunch and came back at 12:30-third time.   All the papers were ready and the secretary looked over the requirements papers from the government and said she thought we had everything.  So we went to immigration.  They put us in a room with several waiting chairs and about 8 small cubicles.  Charlotte was called in first and she took a little while but my turn took only a few minutes because everything was identical.  There had been one change since Caleb and Della applied-birth certificates were no longer needed.  We had going to a place in Montgomery for mine and then spent a while traveling around Jackson, Miss for Charlotte’s but they didn’t even look at them.  The lady who looked at our papers said everything looked ok but that we had so many papers they needed time to make sure everything was in order.  We have appointments for Monday morning –Charlotte at 10:30 and me at 11:00 to find out if we are approved so pray that will be the case and we will be all done with our visa applications.  All has gone really well, but like everything so far Caleb and Della paved the way and made it smooth for us where it was pretty rocky for them.   Then we went to Walmart and went on that shopping spree.  We got some items that we needed and some we could not find anywhere else but not too much.  We went by Super Selectos for some groceries and got home early.   Then Brian came by for about an hour visit.   Then we watched our first computer movie in El Salvador.

Februayr 18, 2015

This Wednesday we planned to start out early and make an extra stop before working in Juayua.  We went to Sonsonate just past Juayua to look for a few furniture pieces.  We found two nightstands and a small coffee table. We bargained some and it was surprising that they were willing to come down quite a bit. Since Caleb and Della had furnished the apartment, there is not a need for much.  We are thinking we might need a couple of additional small pieces once we move, primarily in the kitchen because there are no cabinets or shelves.  We decided to wait until after the move to finish this need. 

After this stop, we went on to Juayua and ate at Restaurante de Guadalupa, an authenic Mexican food restaurant.  It was funny, we were the only ones there the whole time.  I hope that wasn’t a bad sign for the food quality.  It was good.  I think most of the restaurants are busy on the weekends with tourists. Then we met Osvaldo at Regina’s home.  First we visited the lady we visited last week that has arthritis.  It is always a tender experience to see her.  She can hardly stand without falling and her hands are very knarled.  I think the devotional is conducted there each week.  Since we just walked to her home, we walked back because Cesar had arrived by bus from Santa Ana.  It had taken him all morning to catch the bus and make the trip.  From there we had two afternoon studies.  The first home the lady asked why we took the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week.  Without any preparation, Osvaldo gave a complete lesson that was well organized.  Everyone joined in and added some extra passages and the study went well.  Outside of the study, the lady had a pile of two week old puppies and her son brought us a Coleoptera…beetle….to enjoy.  I asked to hold it and it reminded me of the markings of a Hercules beetle, but the shape was different.  God’s creation is absolutely amazing to me and I thank him for the vast array of specimens. Next, we went on to a study we had had last week as well.  We studied being spiritual dead and its consequences.  This family has been visiting the church that meets at Regina’s home.  Regina is a soldier for Christ.  These studies are her neighbors.  She stays with us the whole day and her home is where the church meets.  She has two children. One, Pedro, is 13 and I am also enjoying getting to know him.  We talk about his school subjects and practice some English.  He is eager to learn, but more importantly, he stays with the group and goes to all the studies.  You can see his love for the Lord.  Our last study was with William, the man we studied with last week too.  In conversation, I learned he was the nephew of the preacher, Miguel, at Santa Katerina.  This was a lively study.  We studied about prophecy and Jesus’s second coming.  Everyone contributed and there was lots of discussion.  This study began in ‘Que Dice La Biblia,’ but definitely moved to align with the questions.  It was a great study.  Dwaine and Cesar primarily led this study and the interaction with everyone was great.

Thursday we are heading out to San Salvador with Cesar, so we invited him to spend the night after the day in Juayua.  His wife, Eliza, and baby, Abi are already in San Salvador visiting her parents.  They are making plans for a possible trip to the States to visit Samuel.  It was nice to visit over dinner and talk about the Lord’s work.  We will head out again early Thursday, so we all retired to bed about nine after Skyping with everyone.  We know Caleb spoke at Central last night and he was the only one we didn’t get to talk too.  We are praying for everyone’s safety in the snow, as we listened to all the stories. 

Views of Volcanoes

One of these volcanoes erupted 14 years ago.

Mobile cart to carry wood downhill.

New Puppies!

Beetle!

I had to have a turn holding it too:)