I think we ended our week of Gospel outreach in San Salvador with around 900 decisions for Christ. The time in the schools and out in the Colonias (neighborhoods) was time well spent for all our families. We overcame illness and fears and some of our personal inhibitions in sharing our faith with others. What great lessons we all were able to learn together, parents, kids and friends.
We leave early in the morning even though some of our team are still sick with fever and stomach troubles. We ask for your prayers as we return home.
A couple of nights ago, a step off the bus was a big step of faith.
When our group arrived in a neighborhood to do another outreach, we were informed that this particular area was more dangerous then other areas we had gone to. We were assured by the missionaries who had been to this area several times that if our group just stuck together in the central location we would all be safe. Still, we were given the choice of whether we wanted to get off the bus or to stay on the bus. As a big bunch of parents with young children, you can imagine what was going on in our heads.Worries, fears, anxieties, and the big question: Is it worth the risk? Are the eternal destinies of these people worth risking our safety over, and possibly our lives?
With tears in many eyes, we stood up, took our children by the hand, and stepped out of that bus. That step was a HUGE step of Faith for each of us. God answered our prayers for protection that night and I'm sure we were surrounded by angels guarding us. Many people that evening heard the gospel and accepted the gift of Salvation. I hate to think what would of happened to those precious souls if we had stayed on the bus.
"Whoever finds hislife will lose it, and whoever loses hislife for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:39
As we enter into our last couple days here, many prayers are needed:
*Please pray for health for our team. There is an illness going around that seems to be a viral. It includes a fever, diarrea, and vomiting and last about a day per person. So far, it has passed through each member of a family of four and now a little girl in another family has the same symptoms. Please pray for those who have been sick to recover well and for no one else to get sick!
*Pray for strength, energy, and perseverance. All of us, parents and kids, are getting tired and weary. The newness and excitement has worn off, along with our energy. The only way we can make it until Saturday is with supernatural strength from God!
*Pray for God to move during our last two nights out in the Colonias. God has been at work in peoples hearts the past 4 nights, so pray that this continues and that we make the most of every opportunity.
We do have many, many things to be thankful for:
*Each day, it seems as if our team members are getting more and more comfortable sharing their faith with total strangers. The first night out on the streets, I could see a lot of hesitancy and uncertainty about how to talk to others. But as the week has gone on, I have seen more and more boldness in both parents and kids sharing about Jesus. I love looking around in the evenings and seeing kids bust out their Evangecube and parents involved in intense deep spiritual conversations with others. God has really been at work in changing our hearts.
*HUNDREDS of public school students (and their teachers ) have been able to hear the good news of Jesus and want to follow him!
*God has allowed us to be his mouthpiece in leading many to Jesus. The one-on-one conversations is where we see the most fruit and where we can really see the heart change. We've been able to show many Salvadorians the Truth in Scriptures of how Jesus is the only way to God in heaven.
If you have ever been to Florida, you might understand a bit of what the weather is like here in El Salvador. So far, every afternoon sometime between 1 & 3pm it will rain, and rain hard. Fortunately for us, this just happens to be when our break time is, so this is perfect weather for a siesta! (nap) We go to the schools in the morning, enjoy a rainy nap in the afternoon, and in the evenings we have been hitting the dampened streets.
Last night we went to a large Colonia (town) in a poorer area, with about 2-3,000 homes and invited the neighborhood to a big party held by the local church. We split into family groups, with a few translators per family, and went knocking on doors. We set out to invite the neighborhood to the party that had food, bounce houses, and a movie. At the party they showed a Christian film emphasizing how a man changed his whole life after coming to faith in Jesus. There was then a drama by local teens from the church that showed the story of the Bible. There was then a gospel presentation by one of our Christ Chapel men with an invitation to accept the gift of Jesus. The hearts of many people were greatly affected by each of these presentations. Last night there were about 40 people that raised their hands indicating they had put their faith in Jesus after the event. We went and talked to each person that raised their hand, counseled them, and got their contact info.
The people of El Salvador are VERY open to talking about "religious" things, much more than back in home where the topic is a bit more avoided. It took us out of our comfort zone to talk to people so openly. Before going out we prayed that morning for boldness to share as God would lead. Our translators were also very encouraging to us and pushed us to talk to others. We would walk around with small tracts that asked "El Gran Pregunta"---"The Big Question." This big question was "If you died tonight would you go to heaven?" The response to this question gave us a good indication of whether or not a person had faith in Jesus and gave us a good basis for further questions.
Here are some cool stories from the past couple of evenings:
*One family was able to lead a security guard to faith in Jesus. After asking him the big question, the guard shared that he thought he wouldn't be able to go to heaven because he had done many bad things and hung out with bad people. The 9 year old of the family had been practicing Ephesians 2:8-9 and was able to share with this with the man. "For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works so no man can boast." This helped the man understand that it is through faith alone that one is saved. The man prayed that night to accept Christ as his Savior.
*One Dad from our group found a man that was exactly in the right place at the right time and needed to hear the message desperately. The man had followed Jesus many years ago, but was now going astray. That night he ran back to Christ. While the Dad from our group was praying with the man, the Mom and Son from our group were on the side praying for their Dad.
*The 11 year old in the group had great boldness in sharing the Gospel with a college student-and partly in Spanish too! He used a great tool called the Evangecube to share the good news of Jesus. (Below is a video of how the Evangecube works.) This was the first time he had led a person in a prayer to believe in Jesus.
*I was able to use the Evangecube to tell a 12 year old girl how she could be sure that she could go to heaven. When I asked her the "Big Question," she said she didn't know if she would go to heaven or not. She understood the story well and in the end prayed to accept Jesus.
For all of these people and others we got their contact information to give to the church. They will be contacted the day after our event and be invited to study the Bible in depth with the church.
Enjoying pizza in between the rain
The girls showing off their hand games
Fun inflatables!!!
Talking to people about Jesus-thank you translators!
Let's think back to those great tv shows of the 90's and remember this tune: "It's all right, cause I'm saved by the bell!!!" Today some Salvadorian children were actually saved before the bell :) We were able to enter PUBLIC schools and share about Jesus!
We split into 5 family teams and went into 5 different classrooms to teach a character lesson on honesty. We targeted the 4th-6th grade classes which had about 30-40 children per classroom.
Christ Chapel kids practicing their illustrations
One of our mini-missionaries leading the illustration
The students were engaged, interested, and really taking in the truths we taught. The American children with us were great helpers doing the ilustrations to go with the lesson and passing out candy as a reward to participating students. In each classroom we tied in our honestly lesson into the Gospel. We emphasized that though you may have lied or committed other sins in the past, if you trust in Jesus he will wash away each and every sin. The kids really seemed to respond to the personal stories we told of how we had lied and God had forgiven us. We asked the kids to pray if they would like to accept Christ as their Savior and many kids in each class raised their hands to say that they had. Each and every child we visited will be followed up by a local church to be led in a study of the Bible.
The most encouraging part of our task is the fact that after we introduce them to Jesus, we don't have to leave them alone in their faith. There are wonderful local missionaries and churches just waiting to build up the faith of new believers in the places we go.
We will do this same lesson every day that we are here and are excited to share in God's work in the hearts of these people. More stories to come!
We are on the ground in San Salvador for our first full day. Yesterday was more about getting acclimated and comfortable. But today was when the real fun started.
We celebrated Sunday with the Vida Nueva Church at the Crowne Plaza San Salvador. Pastor Julio brought an interesting sermon on Living the Christian Life in Hard Times. Thank goodness they had translation available for us gringos.
Worship with Vida Nueva (New Life) Church
Our group headed out to a nice gated community in Lourdes, a suburb of San Salvador, for a Family Fiesta celebrating Father's Day. We paired up with some translators and hit the streets to invite people to the party. We had bounce houses, entertainment, drama, food, and a presentation of the Gospel.
Some of our kids at the fiesta
In the end there were about 300 residents that showed up for the party. There was a good number that indicated making a decision for Christ. Those people will get follow up visits tomorrow evening (I know! Pretty cool! Right?)
As for us, we are off to the schools to teach about honesty and share the Gospel story again.
