Back In California

    

   We made it back to California a few weeks ago. We have spent the first couple days getting paperwork ready for El Salvador. Some of the requirements we needed to do while we were there was to get our birth certificates apostilled, get fingerprint and background checks for our resident cards to El Salvador, renew Selah's passport, replenish supplies that we can only buy here in the U.S., and reorganize the things that we will need to bring to El Salvador.

    After taking care of the paperwork, we were able to spend quality time with family, friends, and some of our ministry partners. The time spent here went by fast, but God gave us great opportunities to connect with the people we needed to see. I was happy to see my mom and help her prepare her things for her trip to the Philippines. I am happy that she will spend some time with family.

   As we prepare for our journey in El Salvador, we ask for prayer for the following:

    

    To find a comfortable home in a safe neighborhood

    To find a good school for our girls

    To be able to set up the dental clinic with all the equipment needed

    To establish community and build strong relationships with the Nationals

         and other missionaries

    To maintain our monthly budget for the next two years

    We thank God for all His provision. Thank you to all our family and friends who have helped make our stay here in California comfortable and memorable!

    Stay tuned for our next post about El Salvador.

Spent some time with my family

With our good friends in California

The kids having fun

We Will Miss Costa Rica

  

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. 

Let nothing move you. 

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,

because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

                                                                            - 1 Corinthians 15:58

Photos above taken at Punta Leona, Costa Rica

          Our family photos were taken by Clarita Castro Photography, our fellow missionaries whom we met at CINCEL and are headed to serve in Chile. They will be working with the Chi Alpha group there which will be ministering to students in the universities.

   

The Graduates

   Four students have  graduated on this First Trimester 2016. Phil and Mia Gendreau- El Salvador; Kiersten Hakes- Nicaragua; Beth Shaffer- Ecuador

     The last 8 months have gone by so fast. Graduating from CINCEL has truly been life changing. Not only did we learn to speak Spanish, we also learned the importance of culture and community. The friendships we have made in this country are so precious. Despite the language barrier, we somehow were still able to make meaningful and genuine connections with both the missionaries and the locals.  We wished we could have stayed another semester to further our knowledge and spend more time with our new friends, but we trust that God will use whatever we learned so far once we get to El Salvador. Knowing that we were able to thrive in a different country in such a short period gives us hope that we can do this all over again in a different place. 

     A special thanks to the directors,  teachers, and staff for giving their time and skill to help us become the people who we are now- a family who is willing to lay aside their own cultural upbringing to better adapt into a new surrounding in order to serve in whatever way possible.

     As the staff mentioned in our last days at CINCEL, "Graduating does not necessarily mean we are able to speak the language very well...it only means that we are finally ready to learn Spanish. This idea may seem discouraging, however we  have found that this whole experience has been a huge blessing. It is not about who has had the best linguistic ability, it is all about cultural integration and the willingness to reach a culture in all forms of communication...that includes emotional and spiritual connections with each other. What good is a language if we are not able to communicate to the culture in the appropriate way? We came with hardly any expectations of what we would get from this school. From living a busy life in California to going to a country where all we had to do was go to school allowed us to have an attitude of thankfulness and humility. We are grateful that our friends and family have partnered with us on this remarkable journey!

    Thank you, CINCEL! It has been an overall positive experience.  We hope to see you again very soon.

Graduation Day