We're Off!

I wanted to give you all a quick update. We ended our last conference of this calendar year on Sunday. On Monday morning, we started our 1150 mile trek back up to the cold tundra of Michigan :) We got here really late on Tuesday and then had a chill day on Wednesday. We hit up a couple stores to get last minute stuff for our el salvador trip. Yesterday we went to a team members home and had thanksgiving with them. It was such a blessing since we were not able to go home and be with our immediate families. God is so good to provide for us!

Tonight is the big night...El Salvador! We will be driving to Chicago at 4:00 this afternoon hanging out there for a bit and then heading to the airport. Our flight leaves at 2:00 a.m....woohoo :) We will be serving and ministering there for a week. Our two main spots of ministry are taking place at the Shaloam Home (orphanage) and a local church (i forgot the name of it). We were originally going to do some light maitenance work at the orphanage such as painting, and tidying it up. But with the recent Hurricane Ida (i think that was her name :) sweeping through, it has left el salvador in poor shape. At the orphanage, there have been a lot of mudslides and a lot of damage to the childrens housing and buildings. The Lord knew ahead of time the timing of all of this and us going there to serve...and what a perfect time to help those who are in need. We will be doing a lot of mud shoveling (which with our team most likely will turn into some occasional mud fights), and whatever else needs to be done. Pray that the Lord would give us endurance and physical strength to get done what we need to get done. Pray that my attitude there would be the continual mindset of serving. In the evenings at the childrens homes we will be doing their chapels. We will be leading them in worship and leading in their devotions.
We are also serving at a local church. I think we are going to do a mini thirst conference like we do in churches here in the states. It will be a little more condensed because of translation and what not. Pray for Ryan (our leader) as he seeks the Lord as to what to share and challenge that body with.
I will be taking a lot of pictures, so I will post some when I get back. We get back Dec. 5th and then we are released to go home for the holidays. I am really looking forward to getting together with some of you back home! yay!

Here are some pictures from our missions trip last year. We are going back to the exact same place.

God is so good!

I would love to share how God has been working the last couple weeks in the last couple of churches we have been at. We recently ministered in Grapevine, Texas for an 8 day conference (which turned into an 11 day) because of what God was doing in their lives! People in that church started getting real with God and with others. When you have 3 hours of testimonies in one day you know God is doing something in their lives. They were so H.O.T. (Honest, Open and Transparent) with where they were in life and how they have drifted from the Lord and ran to things of the world instead of to God.
On one of our free days while we were there, my roomate and I headed off to the nearby mall. Well, it should have been nearby :) We took some massive wrong ways and pretty much took three times longer than it should have :) To be honest, we were both a little frustrated because we were supposed to meet some team members there and by the time we got there, they had to leave. So we decided to go strolling by ourselves and we went into this one army store and were trying on some of their paraphanalia and one of the workers said she would take our pictures. We ended up getting into a conversation with her and she was free for lunch so I took her to the food court and she just poured out her life to me and wow, what a story! (Talk about somebody being H.O.T.!) God has pulled her out of the depths of despair and saved her and she is on fire for the Lord. It was such a God thing how he knit our hearts together so fast. We took her back to our host home and she went with my host parents and myself that night to minister at a homeless shelter and then she was able to come to some of the services that we were doing at the church. She pretty much wanted to jump on the bus with us and join our team when we left :) Hopefully that will work one of these years for her.
I am just so amazed how God worked that whole situation out. How we had got to the mall late and were kind of frustrated to how God orchestrated (not coincidence) my visit with Ashley. Please pray for her and that she will stay strong hearted for the things of the Lord. I know that is her desire.


Here is Ashley!