Hello, everyone! We’re so excited to say that we arrived in Ohio a couple days ago and will be here for three months. Read below for more on why we’re here and what we’ll be doing!
USA Furlough
Some of you may remember that Reliant Mission (my mission agency), requires their international missionaries to conduct a three month furlough in the States every two years. My latest furlough ended in late 2018, so I was due for another one! Furlough has the purpose of helping me to stay connected to my current supporters, as well as seek new support and reconnect with family and my home culture.
Due to the pandemic, the airport in El Salvador is still closed (currently scheduled to open mid-September), but God was good and we were able to travel on a humanitarian flight back to the States. It was strange to see big airports so quiet and empty, but we are grateful that God orchestrated everything and it was a smooth trip here to Columbus. We’ve spent the last few days resting and spending time with my immediate family, and we FINALLY got to meet our niece, Ainsley, who is already seven months old! Actually, for Chepe it was also his first time meeting our other niece and nephew.
Wanna catch up?! We’d love to talk to or see you guys! We are going to take the first few weeks to spend quality time with our family and giving Chepe a taste of what Ohio is like (it’s his first visit to the USA). After that, we’d love to schedule a video chat or phone call to see how you are doing and tell you about how ministry is going El Salvador. If you’d prefer, we may also meet in person although we will be following all local guidelines to keep everyone safe! Not in Ohio? No problem! God has blessed us with lots of technology to stay connected from a distance.
Please pray for us during this time. As for so many of you, this year has been an emotional roller coaster for us and we are welcoming the change of scenery and the chance to see our family after a long time apart. We’re sorry we didn’t get to let everyone know before we got here about our trip and we appreciate your understanding. Because of delays in the airport reopening in El Salvador, we had to book and cancel several rounds of flights before being able to get here and with just about a week’s notice.
El Salvador Updates
Dr. Valencia – Thank you so much for praying for our dear friend and clinic staff member, Dr. Julio Valencia, who was hospitalized and battling COVID-19 last month. Praise God – he was discharged from the hospital and continues recovering from home. Please continue praying for him to regain his muscle mass and his ability to walk soon.
CDIs – The CDIs continue monthly food deliveries to support families in need. As the number of cases continues to rise in the communities we serve, many people are fearful of getting sick especially because all hospitals have been full for a couple months now. Please pray for protection for all CDI children and families and that God would perform a miracle to make the virus disappear quickly.
I spent most of July working on individual child updates to send out to our child sponsors. It was definitely a challenge not being able to interview the children like I normally would, but the teachers were rockstars and helped me to contact all of the parents to get updates on how they are doing since quarantine began. Below you can find an example report!
alihoward.co 