YWAM

Living the Good (Busy) Life

Family, Life in El Salvador, Short-Term Missions, Third Culture Kids, Urban Ministry, YWAM -

So, I haven’t been blogging too much lately, because it’s been a little busy around here. Instead of blogging, I’ve been… Hosting short-term teams. We’ve had an average of three teams a month for the past few months and we’ve done tons of ministry projects with them. It’s been fun! And tiring, and busy, but really, it’s been fun. Disciplining my kids. They’ve had a great summer, but all the coming and going of so many new friends (see above), and a disrupted schedule has caused them to flip out a little bit. Planning for the next couple of months. Jon and I have been talking and dreaming about what we’d love to see happen in El Salvador. Working with the students in our Discipleship Training School. We have five great students […]

Heal Our Land

Justice, Kids at Risk, Thinking About God, Urban Ministry, YWAM -

Yesterday during one of our weekly worship times at the YWAM base, we sang a song called “Sana Nuestra Tierra.” In English, this simply means “Heal Our Land.” As the music filled the room, tears filled the eyes of many who were gathered there. Many in the room were Salvadorans, and El Salvador is a land in desperate need of healing. A few weeks ago, Jon saw yet another young man dead on the street…shot through the head.  There is a girl in one of the centers here who is 13 years old and pregnant with a baby conceived when her father raped her. Sexual abuse is epidemic and there are 16 homicides per day. That’s more than New York, Baltimore, St. Louis, or L.A. Extortions and crime are everywhere. Injustice hangs […]

Some Good News

Gangs, Language Learning, Training, YWAM -

The newspapers in El Salvador often contain very bad news. Soaring murder rates, hundreds of youth dead, students afraid to go to school, gang violence on the rise, drugs, deliquency…and on and on. But today I have some good news about the youth in El Salvador. Five Latin American students have committed to spend the next five months living and working with our Youth With A Mission staff. They’v made this committment because they want to seek God’s plan for their life, consider His call on their future, and be mentored along the way. Our DTS this year consists of one student from Ecuador and five from El Salvador. I personally am super excited because I will be working closely with this school. I am looking forward to the chance to […]

Lights On!

Kids at Risk, Life in El Salvador, Urban Ministry, YWAM -

Well, tomorrow is lights on again at the Lighthouse. A month and a half ago we had to suspend this ministry due to an incident involving one of the boys in the ministry, my husband, and a knife. Let me tell you, this was NOT my favorite day in El Salvador! Since then, we’ve changed some things, talked about some different strategies, and frankly, prayed a whole heck of a lot. We’ve kept up with most of the guys and one has been in, and then out of, rehab. Tomorrow is a new day and we are opening the base again for lunch, showers, and some hang out time with the guys. I have to admit that I am a little nervous about how it will go. I’m learning to deal with […]

The Lighthouse

Kids at Risk, Prayer, Urban Ministry, YWAM -

We recently chose a name for our homeless ministry…instead of just calling it “homeless ministry” or “street kids.” The name we chose is “El Faro” which means “The Lighthouse” in English. We chose this name because we want to be a light shining and welcoming those who are struggling through dark storms in their lives. Our work for those on the street includes preparing and distributing meals for those sleeping on the streets, it includes adult literacy, and it includes weekly meetings on Tuesdays. During this weekly time we share a meal with the teenagers and men (and sometimes women and children) who come to the base. They also have a chance to take a shower and trade in their old shoes and clothes for new ones. We share a devotional about […]

Another Perspective

Prayer, Transitions, Urban Ministry, YWAM -

We have been doing this whole cross-cultural missionary thing for almost a year and a half now. Sometimes it feels like forever, and sometimes it feels like just weeks and like I’m still the “new kid.” This past weekend we had the privilege of hearing the perspectives of three individuals who have been doing this for a whole lot longer than us! We spent Saturday as a training day with some of the YWAM Central America leaders. The Central American director was there as well as another couple who are part of the leadership committee that is over all the Central American bases. The couple, who are American, stayed at our home. I loved hearing their stories of 30 years of ministry spent in first Guatemala, and then Nicaragua. I like hearing from those on […]

Timing is Everything

Fundraising, Thinking About God, YWAM -

Yesterday morning was kind of a rough one at the YWAM base. We were going through some financial things, some staff issues, etc. This is all normal stuff that anyone in our type of work is constantly revisiting. By the end of the meeting we were all feeling pretty frustrated. I for one find myself growing impatient and frustrated sometimes because of the lack of finances that we are often faced with. We are a non-profit, non-government organization in a developing country. This is not the way to make the big bucks…haha. We all raise our own salaries, we all find churches and individuals to support our work, and we all feel the strain of finances. It’s a lot harder to raise support in developing countries, then in North America. […]

Opportunity Amid the Crisis in Japan

Natural Disasters, YWAM -

As you know, we are working in El Salvador with YWAM (Youth With A Mission).  YWAM is an international organization operating in many countries and in many languages. Right now the YWAM Japan team has their hands full! They are teaming up with an organization called CRASH JAPAN.  This is a network of Japanese churches and organizations who work together to respond to natural disasters of which YWAM is a member. You can check out the full story of what they are doing in Japan by visiting the YWAM website at this address:  http://www.ywam.org/News-Stories/news/Opportunity-amid-the-Crisis-in-Japan. There is also information on the YWAM webpage about the YWAM Japan blog as well as a website to donate directly to CRASH JAPAN if you would like to do that. We also ask that you pray for our […]

YWAM Tragedy in Kenya

Prayer, YWAM -

I just want to ask for your prayers for one of the Youth With A Mission bases in Kenya. This prayer request was posted by YWAM International this morning: YWAM is devasted to report that around 1am on Friday, 25th February, armed robbers broke into an orphanage operated by a YWAM team in Athi River, Kenya, 50 km outside of Nairobi. A Dutch couple, Ebel and Lora Kremer, managed the orphanage. In the attack, Lora was assaulted and Ebel was shot and killed in front of his wife and their two small children. A night watchman was also injured in the shooting. The orphanage shares a property with a YWAM community which is preparing to host a Discipleship Training School graduation this evening and has recently received students for a new […]

Fun at the Beach

Family, Holidays, Life in El Salvador, Third Culture Kids, YWAM -

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to get out of town for two days at the beach. We went with our fellow staff members from YWAM for a staff retreat. It was a much needed opportunity to have fun together and just relax. So much of our time as a staff is spent in meetings, planning events, organizing missions teams, and doing our weekly ministries so it was great just to get to know each other more and enjoy some down time. Friday night we arrived and did some swimming and walking on the beach before sunset. Then, we built a bonfire on the beach. It was so peaceful to watch the flames fading into the night sky as we listened to the waves rolling in. The stars were so clear and I […]

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