Happy October! It was a month full of joy for us as we celebrated two years of marriage on the 5th and five years since I moved to El Salvador on the 25th. Thank you for all of your support and generosity over the years.
Total Health Visit
We received a short but sweet visit from the leaders of Total Health, the non-profit in Ohio that funds and equips our clinics at the CDIs. It was great to meet up with them after such a long time since their last visit and to help foster the communication between them and our local leaders in charge of the management of the clinics. We are so grateful for Total Health and the chance to work with them to serve the communities in a tangible and spiritual way.
CDI Updates
This month, my focus has been collecting data and taking updated photos of all CDI children in preparation to create updates for their sponsors that I will send out in November. This is a big project that I take on twice a year as the Child Sponsorship Coordinator for both the Volcano and Soyapango CDIs. My favorite part about creating these updates is spending time with each child to hear about how they’re doing and ways we can be praying for them. With over 220 children between the two CDIs, I’m not sure I would be able to do if it wasn’t part of my role with the ministry, so I cherish it!
I also spent time organizing and labeling the Christmas cards the children made for their sponsors to send them off to GCLA in Miami to be mailed later this year. I loved seeing all their artwork and reading their heartfelt words of gratitude to their sponsors.
P.S. If you are one of our child sponsors and GCLA doesn’t have your current address on file, you should have received an email from me requesting it. Please respond to make sure you get your cute Christmas card!
Leadership Conference
This year, GCLA hosted their leadership conference virtually, inviting any current or aspiring leaders in the local churches to join. On October 21st and 22nd, Chepe and I tuned in to learn from several leaders within the GCLA movement and pastors from partner churches in the States.
The theme of this year’s “Expansión” conference was “Disruptivo”, diving into how we can be leaders that disrupt the spiritual plateaus of life. It was motivating to learn about different aspects of leading and discipling. The conference also sparked some interesting conversations between us on how we can improve as leaders in the various roles of ministry we fulfill here in El Salvador.
Prayer Requests
CDIs:
As the children finish up the school year this week, the teachers are preparing a two-week workshop to help reinforce important skills like reading, math comprehension and writing. Please pray that it would be helpful and that they would also have fun as the teachers plan to incorporate games and rewards to help encourage the children before they go on break for the year.
Youth small group:
We continue to have lots of new people in group; please pray for us as we strive to foster a comfortable environment that encourages each of us in our individual relationships with Jesus.
Thank you for your continued support and encouragement, it means more to us than we could express in words!
alihoward.co 