Serving God and serving others in a foreign land has gotten a lot easier than it used to be. Hundreds of years ago, missionaries would leave their homeland and travel to places unseen to spend the rest of their life. They would pack all of their belongings in a coffin in case they died on the mission field…then their body could be shipped back home in case things didn’t go as planned. Now that’s an encouraging thought!

Jon and I had the luxury of visiting our country of service several times before we committed to live here. We had access to all kinds of sociological and cultural studies on the history and the problems facing El Salvador. Don’t get me wrong, we have faced many unexpected bumps in the road but we did not come here with absolutely no idea what it was like to be in El Salvador. It’s easy for us Americans to travel and preview what it would be like to live in the country where we believe God is calling us to go. In that way, we are unlike the missionaries of years passed who stepped out in incredible courage to go to a land that they had never seen.

We have a friend who has that kind of courage. Yesterday, our friend Karla left El Salvador on a plane for the African country of Senegal.  She is going to use her degree and skills in psychology to reach the street kids of that nation. She has not been to Senegal before, but she is trusting God to carry her into the unknown. She worked tirelessly to raise the funds to make this a reality. Raising your own salary and ministry expenses is not easy. It’s not easy in the United States, but it’s even harder in El Salvador. This didn’t stop her. Learning a new language is a hard task, and she has to learn two…French, and the local tribal language.  She has made many sacrifices to serve the people of Senegal.

Please pray for Karla as she starts on this amazing journey. I know that I  have a lot to learn from her unwavering faith. She is an incredible young woman with a truly courageous heart to follow God. I love her for this, and I am inspired by her.

Tori and Karla…Tori will miss her buddy!

We were sad to say good-bye to Karla! We are excited for her to go, but we will miss her! She completed her Discipleship Training School at YWAM El Salvador, and she has been a faithful volunteer with our ministries.