Sunday in El Salvador

Yesterday we had an 11 hour bus ride from Nicaragua through Honduras (and the drug searching police & dogs) and arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador around 3pm.  The rest of our team from our church in the USA arrived around 9pm and we were set to go this morning.  One point of interest...our last night in Managua there was a wedding with loud music until after midnight....and of course the place we stayed last night also had a wedding with loud music until after midnight.  Sigh.

Woke up to a great breakfast and saw some old friends from Enlace (the organization we partner with here in El Salvador).  Here is our team just before we left for the 2 1/2 hour drive to our hotel in Chapeltique, El Salvador.

Left to Right: Ron B, Rachel, Andrew, AJ, Chris, H, Richie, S, V, Pastor Phil, Walter, Emily, Arturo

AJ made new friends during the car ride.  One of the team members said "It has been great on previous trips seeing our team members play with the Salvador kids....so it will be nice this week to see the Salvadorans play with one of our kids!"  

Checked in to hotel (previous team members say it is MUCH nicer than where we have stayed before), ate lunch and headed out to the area in the mountains where we will be working this week.

The first 10 minutes of the drive is on a normal, paved, winding mountain road.  The laws are a little bit different on what is allowed as far as how people travel in vehicles.....

Then there is a turn and afterward 30 minutes on the bumpiest, steepest, non-paved road I have ever been on.  The truck literally goes about 5-10 miles per hour on this road because any faster would throw everyone off and ruin the truck.

I didn't even try taking pictures of the road because nothing can do it justice in a picture.  Rachel has been here several times and has tried to explain this road to me, shown me pictures, shown me videos...but nothing in my mind connected to how bad the road really was.  So, I'm not even going to try to post pictures of it.  Instead, I'll post another of my girls arriving at church!  

The community church has been under construction for 2 years and is nearing completion.  They started the church 2 years ago when the community finally got electricity (see light in center).  

Church starts at 1pm and goes until 4pm.  It starts so late because families from around the area walk as long as 90 minutes to get to church and it is the one community event of the week.  Yes, it was hot!  One of my daughters commented that one of our team members looked like he had jumped in a pool (and that was a pretty accurate description).  

The Community Church - nearing completion after 2 years.  All that is left to do is the front entry way and the stairs into the church.  

View from back of church: Notice all the women and children are on the left and all the men are on the right.  This is not common in El Salvador.  It was a choice of this church because unmarried couples who only got to see each other this 1 time each week would sit next to each other and only pay attention to each other versus the message!  So, the community and church leaders came up with this seating arrangement as a solution.  

View from front of church.  Each team member introduced themselves and when the microphone reached AJ I  asked him what his name was and he said into the microphone 'AJ!!!' and he pretty much won the whole community's heart right then and there.

The service was very passionate.  There is something interesting that happens when the pastor starts praying out loud....everyone starts praying out loud and this roar rises to heaven as one voice of many.  They sing loud, play music loud, raise hands, and speak forcefully and passionately.  I loved it.

Our Pastor Phil gave a sermon that focused on our true Identity in Jesus Christ.  Without knowing this was the topic of his sermon, I mentioned to Phil early today a man by the name of Luke who gave a fantastic message in the church we attended in Noosaville Australia.  The focus of his message was on seeking our Identity in Jesus Christ....that once he started doing that he just started praying to be Love, to be like Jesus.  

In praying to be Love and focusing his Identity in Jesus, he found patience came, love for his wife came, wisdom in parenting came, a service oriented attitude came and no one could ever take that Identity away from him.  He also said that when your Identity is in Jesus Christ you will not be able to help but bear good fruit.  You won't need to work at it, it will just happen....just as an apple tree doesn't try to make apples.  It just happens because that is its identity...its an apple tree, therefore it produces fruit.  When your identity is Jesus, you will bear good fruit and won't be able to help it.  It will be natural as that is your identity.  

So, I mentioned to Phil this message that really impacted me and he looked at me and said "I have been praying about whether I chose the right topic, and your comments are a confirmation to me that I have as I'm speaking today about our Identity and how we define it versus how God defines it and how he really sees us."  Anyway, Phil's sermon was really powerful and the response from the congregation was fantastic to witness.  

I posted the picture below especially for our Pastor and church leadership team.  This is what the leadership team of this church presented to the congregation as the final plan for putting stairs on the front of the church.  I think we can save some significant dollars going forward using their architects!

And, yes, AJ was a big hit at the end of the service.  The ladies were just all over him passing from one woman to the next.  The lady holding him has the most awesome spirit about her and just loved all over our little boy.

This week isn't so much about building a house (though we will do that).  It is about building relationships.  I think we are off to a good start.