Thank you so so so much to everyone who prayed and supported us financially on our El Salvador Trip. We know it was God who sent us on the trip, and He used you all to help us get there. We are humbled by how fast the support money came in and how supportive people were about us going.
Some highlights from the trip:
- Through all the events, sharing in the schools and communities, there were approx 2,000 people that clearly heard the Good News of Jesus. Out of these, there were hundreds who made the decision to follow Jesus.
- We loved getting to know new families from our church-parents and kids! It was such a blessing to see families working alongside each other in ministry.
- Our whole team, parents and kids, all left the trip with a little more boldness and passion to share Jesus even with complete strangers.
- We saw how overseas missions is possible and even enhanced with a baby along for the ride.
- Because of baby S and the attention he brought, the door was open to talk to many people, especially many young moms and young girls.
- We had the great opportunity to go into PUBLIC schools and present the Gospel to hundreds of kids. The lesson on honesty that was prepared for us was fantastic. Brodie had a great story from his life about lying that connected so well to the forgiveness of Jesus and the kids really responded.
- Brodie preached one night and was so calm and organized in speaking, I know it was the Holy Spirit speaking through him. Also, Spanish came so easily for him in conversation, I feel like that was the Holy Spirit too!
- Forming relationships with teenage/college age translators was meaningful. Brodie is currently doing an E-mail Bible Study with one of them
- We loved getting to know the missionaries there-we were given great parenting advice from them-about dating, schooling, training, everything!
- There were 3-4 men during the evening community events, that Brodie was able to talk to about Jesus, and who prayed to accept Him as their Savior, and dedicated their lives to following Him. You could tell that these men were desperate for help, and God led Brodie right to them. These men will be followed up with a Bible study by the local church.
- I was able to tell a 12 year old girl about how she could be sure she could go to heaven. She seemed to understand and prayed for Jesus to be her Savior. She too will be followed up.
- We met many Christians out in the communities and were able to encourage them in their walks, talk to them about things they may be confused about, and invite them to the local church if they didn't already have a good church home.
During the trip, I kept looking back to Colossians 1:27-29.
"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone, and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me."
In this verse, Paul was a missionary to the Gentiles. For us that week, we were missionaries the the Salvadorians. We proclaimed Jesus to them, warned them of the dangers of sin, and taught them the truths of the Bible. Why? So we could present everyone mature in Christ. Christianity as a religion is very prevalent in El Salvador, but a relationship with Christ is not. We labored in order that the Christians there would become mature in Christ-that they would see Him as someone to have a relationship with, not just as a stale religious figure. And like the verse says, we toiled. Boy did we toil. Traveling with a one-year old and a big belly was not an easy task. But God powerfully worked His energy in me each day. It was totally worth it.
I had my hands full with S all the time, that I barely took any pictures the whole trip! The pictures from our previous Blog are about all the photos I have, and some of those aren't even from my camera! However, below is a video of the night Brodie preached. It's missing the first couple of minutes, where Brodie talked about the Character of God, but if you watch it you should be able to catch up :)
To read more stories about the work God did through our team in El Salvador check out our team blog at : http://ccbcelsal.blogspot.com/
