Discovery

Lifeline

When we came to El Salvador five years ago, we were sent out from an amazing church family. We grew so much during our time at Discovery Christian Church, and the opportunities that we had there for leadership and service helped to prepare us for full-time ministry. Discovery continues to act as our “lifeline” in many ways. They handle our finances, pray for us, do our mailings, and send teams every year to see firsthand what is happening in El Salvador. They also raised the funds to help us buy our building which currently serves more than 100 people each week, and offers a safe haven for people struggling on the streets. Individual members of Discovery support us with their personal finances, volunteer time to work on our website, and […]

The Just Church

  We are in the middle of a busy season in our lives, but I’m still trying to make my way through a few books. One of the books I’m reading right now is called “The Just Church.” It’s a book written by International Justice Mission staff member Jim Martin. I’m about halfway through and I’ve already been inspired by the story of his journey to lead his church into becoming a church with a heart of justice. One of the things he mentioned that really resonated with me is the “failure point of faith.” He talks about weight training and how muscles need to fail to become stronger. Our faith is similar. When we are confronted with terrible injustices and horrible things our faith gives out. But it also […]

Discovery Team Gets It Done!

We had a great time with a work team from our sending church, Discovery Christian Church. They have supported us in El Salvador from the very beginning, and they kicked off our fundraising campaign for the ministry center through their BRIX capital campaign. It was so fun to have the first group from Discovery actually see the building and what is going on there. They came with the purpose of laying ceramic tile throughout the building and they worked HARD! Painting, laying tile, sawing, demo, they did a little bit of everything and we are so grateful for all of their hard work!!!! Let’s get to work! Demolition Day! Looks like Tori wants to break some stuff too! Painting, painting, and more painting! Ian wanted to get in on the […]

New Location, New Possibilities

This past week we had our first week of ministry in the new building. After months of renovations, it was exciting to see the first realization of the potential that this new space has! El Faro (The Lighthouse) homeless ministry used the building for the first time and the guys and girls were thrilled with the new shower facilities and indoor space out of the sun. Thank you so much to all of our donors who are making this a possibility, and a special shout-out to Discovery Christian Church who kicked this whole thing off as part of their BRIX capital campaign! The bathrooms have been renovated, additional storage and an extra room have been added, a new outdoor sink has been installed, and the outside of the building has […]

Ministry Center Update

I am going to try to put into words the amazing things that have been happening in El Salvador regarding the community ministry center. When we set out to open this ministry center, we did so with a lot of praying and a lot of hoping. We weren’t sure what the timeline would look like, or where the funds would come from. Friends, I am excited to share that in just a few weeks time all of the needed $80,000 to purchase this center have been donated! Yes, the FULL amount! We never in our wildest dreams imagined that we would have the funding so quickly. Literally, we are still shaking our heads in disbelief that this has even happened. There is nothing to do but express our gratitude to […]

Community Ministry Center Coming Soon!

Three years ago we came to El Salvador with the dream of impacting those who live on the edges of society…the fatherless, the poor, and those on the streets. We have seen this dream grow into reality and we are excited to share with you the next step for our ministry. Through prayer and circumstances, God has directed us to a permanent location in the city and we are beginning the process of opening a community ministry center! We thank you for your prayers and support as we move forward to secure and renovate this building. Our ministry is focused on reaching kids at risk, homeless children and adults, and individuals working in prostitution… this building will allow us to expand all of those ministries. Up to this point we […]

Updating…

This past month has been one of those crazy busy stretches of life where there isn’t time for ANYTHING, and I’m sorry to say that my blogging has fallen by the wayside for a few weeks. Now I’m back to writing and updating everyone about what’s been happening in El Salvador. So, here are some of the variety of  things that we have been up to lately… We hosted a team from our home church, Discovery Christian Church, who did a lot of awesome things for the kids in El Salvador like put on a carnival in Gerardo Barrios (above), feed the homeless, and work with the girls in a few local children’s homes. File this one under the “wow, that is really random” file! I was on a Salvadoran radio […]

Bringing Technology to Kids in El Salvador

We’ve got a new project going on in El Salvador! We recently signed an agreement with the government to open two new computer labs. These labs will be opened in two centers for orphaned, abused, and abandoned children. A year ago, thanks to generous donors, we opened a lab in the CISNA boys’ center. This center has been a huge success as the boys have the opportunity to learn a marketable job skill and interact with healthy adult role models. Due to the success of this project, the government wanted to work with us to help other kids at risk. We are excited to be working with them on this project! One of the computer labs will be in a center for girls, and the other in a center with both boys […]

Gerardo Barrios Kids Camp

Last week was an exhausting, but really encouraging week. We spent a week doing a kids camp in the Gerardo Barrios slum community. In El Salvador, the public schools take their summer vacation from the end of November until mid-January, so this was our opportunity to do a camp with these kids while they are out of school. We had around 50 kids ages 5-12 come each day last week to participate. I’ve done kids events like these back in the States, but this was a little different. For starters, it was right in the kids’ backyards so there were a lot of adults around observing what was going on. It also was right in the middle of a slum, alongside a major highway in San Salvador. The houses around […]

Emergency Relief Needed Now

After a week of rain, the situation in El Salvador is not looking good. There have been dozens of floods and mudslides around the country leaving thousands of people displaced and many dead. Local news sources are reporting that up to 60% of staple crops like rice, beans, and corn have been lost. It is also expected that the coffee industry will face losses.  Hundreds of livestock have been drowned. Many people have lost their homes, and everything they own. Yesterday, Jon went with a group from the YWAM base to take relief into Usulutan, one of the areas cut off by flood waters. They had to take a boat in order to help the 100 families in need in that community. Today, there are many more communities that we […]

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