We're here!

After an full day of travel, we have arrived to El Salvador!

Main Highlights:
This morning, we met at 7:30am, and the Nepal Mission's team graciously drove us to the airport.
Everyone thought Scott Lundberg was joking when he said, "What should I do if I don't have my passport?" right when we got in the ticket line. This began a mad frenzy of taking apart his luggage, and making calls. Eventually, the rest of the team had to go on without him. As it turned out, it was back at home underneath his bed! God answered our prayers in having faithful brothers/sisters drive back to DIA, Scott's getting a elite pass to get thru security, and our flight being delayed by 35 mins...this had Scott arriving at the gate only minutes before we boarded. God is in control of the details.

Verse of the day:
Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

This verse tells me that a crucial part of our prayer life is keeping our eyes peeled for ways that God answers prayers throughout our days, and to thank Him for it.

Lord Jesus, thank You for your Sovereignty, and having Scott be a crucial part of this mission trip! Amen!

Flights were uneventful to Houston and to San Salvador. The first thing everyone noticed as we arrived was the intense humidity. Our van ride into the city included close quarters of sweaty arms and foggy windows.

Currently we are at our hotel, guarded by a man with a large shotgun. Sleep sounds very fitting right now, though it is not likely, as there is a dance party right outside our room, with Latin music at close to 100 decibels (no kidding!)

Our agenda tomorrow includes church and culture training!

Pray that God would give us unity of heart, and a spiritual focus as we kickstart this amazing opportunity to share Christ and his glorious gospel here!

Prayer Requests for El Salvador

Prayer Requests for El Salvador

1. For church: Our focus for 2010 is: To grow to 400 members and become known in the city of San Salvador as a non-religious, biblically based church that focuses on filling the needs of the people and that wins a presence in the city.

2. For church: To raise up and train leaders in every ministry

3. For church: To encourage members to serve (seeing missionary teams is a HUGE encouragement to church members!!)

4. For mission trip: To see university students saved and get connected with local church

5. For mission trip: Good followup/Lasting fruit (from us, local church) after team leaves

6. For mission trip: life-changing experiences for missionaries

Some Verses:

Habakkuk 2:14: "For the earth will
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters
cover the sea."

Acts 14:1b There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.

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Trip Itenerary

During the two weeks in El Salvador, we have a variety of opportunities.
During the 1st week (May 15-22nd) we plan on

• Going through cross-cultural training
• Putting on a Celebrate Recovery program at Universidad Evangelica de El Salvador. Multiple presentations will be made describing the cause for addictions and the cure (Sin and Jesus Christ). Rock Missionaries will be facilitating discussion groups, sharing testimonies and the gospel, and playing music that fits with the theme.
• Helping to host an outreach concert on the University Campus.

During the 2nd week (May 22nd-29th)

• Helping to lead worship at the Sunday service
• Visiting a nearby village called El Guayabo
• Playing with kids, doing bible lessons, sharing the gospel, singing songs, feeding them meals and meeting other needs
  
• Delivering shoes donated from our church, Summitview Community Church
  
• Pinata party for the kids!

God Moves in Big Ways

I actually already knew I was heading to Central America this summer long before this trip was on anyone's radar. God has been leading me towards El Salvador for quite a while now. In January of 2009, God lead me to drop half of my engineering classes and sign up for some Spanish classes. I didn't know why at the time, but shortly after that Spring started, I found out about the Summitview trip to Honduras. I went with a team of 11 to Choluteca, Honduras in June of 2009 and was priveledged to see many miracles performed by God. More than 40 salvations were seen on the one week trip, we were asked to build a new house for a woman who hadn't told anyone but God of her need and that testimony of her prayer brought all her neighbors to Christ, people received the Gospel and took off running to bring others to hear the good news. My heart was touched by the orphans and malnourished children that are cared for by various church projects. God grew me in my love for the people, the language, and the culture. I came back from Honduras knowing that God wanted me to eventually lay down my life in Central America. Then, shortly after we got back, I was asked to return for a month the following summer with Ryan and Melissa Martine. I began praying, planning, and saving for that trip, knowing that God wanted me to go back to Central America.

When the summer mission trips were announced at the Rock, I immediately knew that I was supposed to go to El Salvador. I get these sorts of Holy Spirit feelings pretty often, and always seem to be taken on big adventures with God afterwards. Shortly after committing to the Rock trip, the plan for me to head to Honduras fell through because the trip dates had changed. There were a few more signs along the way that led me to believe I was really supposed to be on board. As a college student, I don't have much money, but God is gracious with His riches! While I was on the phone to a call center that happened to be in El Salvador cancelling a credit account,(thanks Dave Ramsey!) I had a conversation with the man in Spanish. We were speaking about how I was planning to go to El Salvador this summer for missions, but didn't yet have the money. He told me, "Don't worry sister, God will give you a job." and then put me on hold. Well, while I was on hold, I got a call out of the blue with a job offer! God also later gave me a prophesy over Spring Break that said I would meet someone in El Salvador that will ask me to be part of a lifetime project for His Kingdom.

I'm incredibly excited to see what God has in store for my heart, our team, and the people that we will get to work with. I'm claiming this verse for the trip:

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." Habakkuk 2:14

Why am I going to El Salvador

I have been wanting to go on a mission trip since I came back from Asia. So when it was announced tht we would hve the opportunity to go on mission trips to Nepal and El Salvador I signed up. I was expecting to be on the Nepal trip but God had a different plan. One day John Larsen called me while i was driving a day care bus. I told him i would pray about it. After i hung up the phone i was talking to one of th kids on my bus. He is about 5 but he told me that i need to go. God just kept telling me in different ways to go. I don't know Spanish but God is bigger than that!

Why am I going on this trip?

This past August, Nathan Hrouda and I were discussing what possibilities we had for missions trip for this upcoming summer. We banged around a few ideas, but none of them seemed to really settle. I knew I didn't want to just go somewhere to go somewhere. I wanted us to go to a place that had a real need.
John Meyer also had given counsel about how we do really well in places where there is a similar demographic..in other words, if we can reach college students, we are closer to our sweet spot.

That weekend I heard about this opportunity in San Salvador. I wrote to Nathan:

"Hey Brother,
I don't know for sure whether it's God's will for us to go here or not, but I have to say that the timing is very uncanny, since we were saying we were looking for a place with a need!
United,
Juan"

It seems that God had opened up this door for us.

In addition to this, God has always seemed to open up opportunity for me to share/influence Spanish-speaking folks, and this could be a great opportunity to use those language skills for the gospel and His glory!

Youtube Video from San Salvador

Youtube Video from San Salvador