Hello, everyone!
There has been so much happening in ministry lately that we’re excited to share with you! We know that life can be busy, so we really appreciate you taking the time to read these updates and follow along with our story.
Rock City Missions Team
In the first week of August, we hosted a team of 14 missionaries from Rock City Church in Columbus, Ohio. This was also the first missions team to work closely with the CDI children since the pandemic began. The kids were over the moon to hang out with missionaries again, receiving Bible lessons, making crafts and playing games with their friends. The team also worked very hard to build twenty beds for CDI children in need—that’s right, twenty beds! In addition, they painted the facilities at the Soyapango CDI, hosted Bible studies for CDI parents, conducted home visits to meet and pray with local families, assisted in the medical clinic and helped prepare lunches for the children and staff.
For Chepe and I, it was definitely a busy week but at the same time very refreshing to be hosting teams again. Hosting mission teams and sharing the stories from this ministry always helps to remind us of our motivation in serving these families and growing in our own relationships with the Lord. We loved seeing old friends and meeting many new ones!
Ohio Ministry Trip
Shortly following Rock City’s departure, Chepe and I traveled to Ohio on behalf of Great Commission Church to meet with existing and potential ministry partners. We shared about how the CDIs and clinics have bounced back from the pandemic and are functioning well despite all the challenges brought on in the past year and a half. It was encouraging to hear of churches’ plans to send mission teams next year and to promote child sponsorship in their own churches. If you think your church would be interested in supporting the CDIs in either of these ways, please feel free to reach out to me!
Spending time in Ohio was also a chance for precious quality time with friends and family, like having all of my siblings in one place at one time! Those of you with siblings scattered across the world can appreciate how special that was for me. Nevertheless, we’re excited to be back in El Salvador to continue serving in this ministry!
CDI Updates
Like I mentioned, both the Volcano and Soyapango CDIs are open again, hosting children for tutoring, proving medical consultations and serving hot lunches. It was a lot of work for our staff to prepare everything, making sure to abide by government restrictions along the way. Seeing how excited to kids were to return to in-person CDI has reminded us of how important this ministry is and the needs it fills for these children every day.
This week, both CDIs celebrated El Salvador’s independence day. This holiday is observed on September 15th, but at the CDIs we tend to celebrate late in the month to allow the children to enjoy their holiday and events in schools without any interference. The children worked hard to prepare lovely presentations of traditional dances and informative speeches to show the love they have for their country. The pupusas weren’t bad either! October 1st marks Children’s Day in El Salvador, so the teachers have also worked on special games, prizes and treats to make the children feel extra loved in order to celebrate.
Great Commission Church Updates
Chepe has been working hard to create art for every sermon series for the church. Below you can see what he created for September (Making Wise Decisions) and for the upcoming series in October (Jonas). It has also been great to see more church members getting involved serving in different areas of the church, giving their time to serve God and others.
Our youth small group continues to meet each Saturday, and we currently have three new young men that have joined the group. Please pray for Chepe as he will meet with them to grow in friendship and invite them to become more involved in church.
Prayer Requests
For protection:
for all church members and CDI families from sickness, as cold season has hit and El Salvador is experiencing a rise in COVID cases and deaths.
For Chepe and I:
as we both feel freshly motivated following our trip to Ohio to continue to serve ardently. We have both made clear goals that we are hoping to execute in the last quarter of this year!
For our youth small group:
and the three new members (I don’t share their names for privacy). That this would be God’s way of drawing them close to Him!
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement, it means more to us than we could express in words!
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