A Sunday Afternoon Drive

The Volcanoes

After church we all headed to Dena’s and ate a huge El Salvadorian lunch that Dena and Isabelle had cooked…it was delicious.

Swinging.

After a short rest we piled into the cars and headed to the mountains and the volcanoes.

The views were incredible of the Lake and the city on the way up.

Once there we enjoyed the peace and quiet of nature and just enjoyed each other’s company as the day passed.

God gave us a peak at the top of the volcano.

I am a blessed mama.

Grier and Mother Dena

God shows off His Majesty...

He is sooooo good! :-)

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Psalm 145:5

“Cristo Yo Cree En Ti”

On Sunday GB (aka Gloria) preached!
By Grier Cash

She did such an amazing job, teaching, encouraging, and challenging the congregation.

GB preaching (Brother Antonio Escalante translating)

She spoke on Hosea and Gomer. It was a breath of fresh air to hear a sermon in English. I didn’t have to strain to understand or guess at what was being said.

I also had the opportunity to share an interpretive movement during the service. Originally I had hoped to share “Shout To The Lord”, a song in English but one that the congregation knew well. For several days it just seemed to not come together. I then remembered that I could download a song in Spanish that I had done an interp to several years before.

The very first time I learned an interp (interpretation through dance) it was to a Spanish song – “Cristo Yo Cree En Ti” It was 10 years ago and I was in Venezuela. The song was dear to my heart because my mission trip to Venezuela at the age of 15 was very instrumental in my spiritual walk and it was the first time I danced before the Lord.

But this time when I shared it here in El Salvador the song took on a whole new meaning.

For many months/years now I have been really struggling with the Lord. His presence has seemed very distant from me and I have even doubted his existence at all. My spirit has been dry and I have had overwhelming sadness in my heart. Many times lately my prayer has been… "Lord I believe, but forgive my unbelief"

As I performed this song it became my prayer as well:

Though I can’t see your holy face
And your throne in Heaven above, it seems so far away
Though I can’t touch, can’t touch your nailed scarred hands
I have a deep unspeakable joy that makes my faith to stand

Lord I believe in you
I’ll always believe in you
Though I can’t see you with my eyes
Deep in my heart your presence I find
Lord I believe in you
I’ll always believe in you
Let the whole world say what they may
No one can take this joy away
Lord I believe

This past week I have also had the opportunity to teach the interpretive movement to the girls at the church here.

There are about 10 girls ranging in age from 7-10 years of age who meet each week to learn new dances. Though we have not been able to communicate easily it has been so much fun spending time with them. I teach them and they teach me. It has been such a gift to be able to pass on something that transcends cultural and language barriers.

When we dance we speak the same language.

(Grier is a very dear family friend who joined us for the El Salvador leg of our world mission trip. She was also our host in New York http://gearyfamilymission.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-york-school-of-urban-ministrys.html)

Oscar: Bless The El Salvadorian Children

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Oscar
The children were sitting around a large table eating breakfast when we arrived.

There were about 30 of them and they ranged from pre-schoolers to around twelve in age. As we walked into the compound, they began yelling excitedly in Spanish. There was one boy who out yelled the other children and he was trying to use what little English he knew. I took one look at him and knew he was trouble. He had a smile on his face, but he exuded mischief. In fact, he was leading the pack to see who could yell at us the loudest. I turned to look at my boys and Grier. The looks on their faces conveyed what I felt. This was going to be a tough and rambunctious audience. I prayed in my head for God to lead us and show us how to connect with these kids.


These precious children are a part of Ricardo’s ministry. Ricardo and his wife minister to recovering drug addicts, but on Saturday they minister to poor children who live around the compound where their ministry is. Many of the men who are recovering from drugs and alcohol sat around the outside area and watched as we were there. Ricardo had a microphone and speaker so that all we said to the children was heard by those close by.

As the children finished eating they began moving to a different area and started to play. I was introduced to Ricardo and his wife and we discussed the logistics of our talk. When I looked around for the boys, I realized they had joined the other kids to play.

I then looked for Grier and she sat at a table of about 4-5 kids trying to share with them in Spanish.

I saw another small table of children and joined them.

I asked the names of the children at the table. I understood David, Marta (Martha) and Mario. I then looked at Martha and told her there is a Martha in the Bible who was with Jesus and she cooked for Jesus. I explained to David there is a David in the Bible who was very strong and God said David had a heart for Him. It was then that the mischievous little boy showed up. He sat at the table and smiled that smile at me. I asked his name. Oscar.

As God would have it, I had been with two men the day before named Oscar. I told Oscar this and that they both loved God and were good men. I then shared about a third Oscar back in my hometown. “This Oscar is much respected in my city because he is very kind and loves the Lord. Maybe one day you will be respected because you are kind to others and show them the love of the Lord. It’s possible.” I stated it as a fact and gave him questioning eyes. He took this in a minute and then he nodded.

Oscar’s hand is going up to accept Christ.

We were called to begin speaking. Oscar sat on the front row, right in front of me. The children were perfectly still during the whole presentation. They listened intently and participated enthusiastically when asked. We shared the Gospel and when we asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ, guess who the first to raise his hand was? Oscar. He led the way and several other boys came forward too.

The boys who accepted Christ… Oscar is third from the left (with a hand on the boys on either side of him). Ricardo and Julio (our translator) are in the back.

Please pray that God will break through the obstacles in the lives of these children and that they will follow Him.

Pray they will all have a heart for God and will be known by the love of Jesus they show to others.

Please also pray for the other Oscars who were wonderful role models to a boy they never met.

El Salvador Labor Day Harvest

Monday, September 1, 2008
El Shaddai School
Santa Ana, El Salvador

We arrived at the school at 10:30 am. Their school day starts at 7:00 am. The morning school has approximately 450 children and their afternoon school has about 250 children. The church started the school in 2000 to make sure children were being raised with Christian values in their teachings. We spoke to two classes in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Our first class was the 7th graders….Hatcher’s age group. The children were very curious about our travels and we were able to share many stories about the people and places we visited. Reid shared the Gospel and we gave out the salvation bracelets.




After school the children gathered around for a photo, Pastor Ena is on the right.






Our second class was the kindergarten class… we all sat on the floor in a big circle as we talked.

They were precious and constantly moved forward to get closer to us. At the end, we were all in the middle surrounded by these energetic and excited children. We sang for them and they sang for us.


Our last class was the third graders in the afternoon school. This class had over 30 children. When we asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ into their hearts, over half the class came forward. I asked the translator to please explain to them they were making a commitment to Christ and ensure they knew what they were doing. He spoke to them and soon they were all nodding their heads that they knew and wanted to pray to receive Christ. Our translator Julio led them in prayer and I prayed over them afterwards.

How blessed we were to be a part of this!


Those who accepted Christ with Julio, our translator and Grier.








The boys are thrilled to have Grier with us, as am I!

Arriving in Santa Ana

Santa Ana, El Salvador
Mother Dena’s Home

We arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador about 8:00pm last night. Pastor Salvador, his wife Ena and their two children Enrique (12) and Priscilla (10) along with Roberto (a church member) picked us up at the airport. Grier Cash, our dear friend from Gaffney had met us in Dallas to join us for this leg of the trip.

Our new family in El Salvador: Mother Dena, Isabelle, Enrique, Pastors Ena and Salvador, Jeziel and Prescilla.

We were referred to the Barahonas by Pastors Joey and Denise Turner at Restoration Church in Gaffney, SC. The Barahonas pastor a church here, have an orphanage with currently 10 children and run a Christian school for approximately 700 children. During the two hour drive to Pastor Ena’s Mother’s home we learned more about their ministry. We stopped at KFC on the way for supper and at that point the children became fast friends playing in the playground.

Hatcher and Enrique make friends with the camera.

Please pray for this wonderful family and their ministry here in Santa Ana.

(the second largest city in El Salvador)

So great to have a short visit in the states….

My mom, Gloria White, joined us in Dallas, Texas for 4 days as we tried to readjust to the Western world time zone.

“Her children rise up and call her blessed…” Proverbs 31:28

We are off to El Salvador.

Please pray for us as we visit our last two countries, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

Gloria

The Thief

This has not been an easy year. In fact, it may be one of the toughest of my life. I have uprooted my family, physically moved to the center of the country for four months where I got seeped in the Word and prayer as God rearranged my heart.

Then we took off again for 8 months of non-stop travel. As of this writing we have been in 14 countries in four months and 10 states in two months. We still have two months of travel left.

I have been tired, hot, sweaty, smelly, hungry, thirsty, lonely, scared, frightened, homesick, sad, heartbroken and devastated. I haven’t slept in my own bed in almost a year. I have gone through at least seven employees in my business. I have doubted every part of my life and almost every decision I have ever made.

Needless to say, God has been working on me this year.

But through it all, there has always been a thread of encouragement from the Lord. Twice in my darkest times, the Lord has sent a messenger to me, (each time a total stranger who walked up and shared a “word from the Lord”) and encouraged me directly concerning my pain. More times than I can count, God has surprised us with encounters with individuals that have given me hope that their life will be different because we have been obedient to this call.

This past week as I listened to Third Day’s song "The Thief", I realized how God had also encouraged Jesus in His darkest time. The song is about the thief who was crucified with Christ…

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:42-43

I have always seen that story from the thief’s perspective. But God showed me how He also used the thief that day.

Imagine you are Jesus. You have lived a good life. You have sacrificed a “normal” life and have spent your time sharing the love of your Father with others. Many doubt you are real. Some think you are from Satan. You heal the sick. You cast demons out of children, women and men. You raise the dead. You feed the hungry. You answer the deep questions that many hunger for an answer about. You even fast for 40 days!

In the end one of your dear friends (whom you trusted with your money) betrays you. The rest of your friends leave and deny you. You are arrested, ridiculed and beaten. You knew this was coming and you have accepted your call to do this so others will benefit, but as you hang on the cross doubt starts to creep in. You are physically within hours of death and emotionally you have been battered by everyone.

Can you hang on to the end without crying out for God to rescue you?

Don’t you want to give up?

Then the thief next to you, a man who has possibly never loved a day in his life suddenly sees the truth. He recognizes you are the Messiah and humbly asks you to remember him. You realize this is one whose eternal life will be different IF you can complete the task before you.

All we know after this exchange with the thief is that three hours passed. Jesus suffered and bled three more hours, quietly. I believe that the encouragement from the thief was what God used to help Jesus make it those last three hours. It was the ray of hope Jesus needed and he held onto that until the end.

If God will provide encouragement to His son (a man and God) as He suffers, He will also provide encouragement for us (mere humans who are needier).

I love the Lord.

I am beginning to even love His ways (they are so much higher than mine).

Here are the Lyrics to this powerfully moving song:

I am a thief, I am a murderer Walking up this lonely hill.

What have I done?

I don't remember.

No one knows just how I feel.

And I know that my time is coming soon.

It's been so long.

Oh, such a long time, since I've lived with peace and rest.

Now I am here, my destination.

I guess things work for the best and I know that my time is coming soon.

Who is this man?

This man beside me They call the 'King of the Jews'?

They don't believe that He's the Messiah but, somehow I know it's true. And they laugh at Him in mockery, and beat Him till he bleeds!

They nail Him to the rugged cross, and raise Him, they raise Him up next to me.

My time has come, I'm slowly fading "I deserve what I receive."

"Jesus when You're in Your kingdom, Could You please, please remember me?"

He looks at me still holding on.

The tears fall from His eyes.

He says, "I tell the truth today, you will live with Me in paradise!".

And I know that my time is coming soon.

And I know paradise is coming soon.

.

You may click on the link below to experience "Thief" by Third Day on Godtube :

.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hgi3_third-day-thief-the-passion-of-chri_events

Im Jai House with Darenee

Sunday, August 10, 2008
Chiang Mai, Thailand

About five years ago I was called by the Lord to my first mission trip. Hatcher and I came to Thailand to visit Im Jai House. This is a Christian orphanage for approximately 50 children. At the time Hatcher was 7 years old and he so enjoyed playing with the children. Then about two years later, I returned to Im Jai for my third mission trip. Needless to say these children and house parents have a special place in our hearts.

Over the years I have prayed often for them. Sometimes the Lord has called me to prayer for them and sometimes I have prayed because I was prompted by news or emails. I have always felt called to keep them in my prayers.

It was such a treat to see these children again! They have grown and matured. We arrived about 5:00 pm which is right in the middle of their play time. The boys brought some soccer balls and were soon playing with some of the boys there.

Shirley and I headed to the house where Darenee was house mother. Darenee and I have communicated some over the years. She and I have in common being single moms, so I was looking forward to seeing her again.

Darenee (far left), Sherry and us on the front porch.

We took a tour of the home (they have moved since I was last here) and just sat around and caught up a bit. As we sat on the porch with most of the girls in the house, it occurred to me that this might be a good time to hand out bracelets and share our mission story.

Sherry, the oldest in the orphanage translated for me and the girls listened intently. At the end I quizzed them to insure they had learned all the colors. They had. I then asked if any would like to pray and ask Jesus into their hearts. To my surprise and great delight three girls said yes!

What a gift from God to be able to be a part of their public profession.

As we prayed with them, I thought of all those teams from First Baptist (and many other churches) who had come and planted seeds into the hearts of these children. I thought about the many house parents, board members, foundation leaders who had played a part of showing the love of Christ to these children.

I was truly humbled that God would let us be a part of the harvest.

Shirley (second from left) and the girls hearing the meaning of the colors of the salvation bracelet.

Please pray for these precious young women and all the children at Im Jai.

Church in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand
The Gathering Church Service

Small World!
We worshiped at church today with Dave and Shirley. The Gathering Church is made up of missionaries from all over the world who live and work in Chiang Mai. Can you imagine being the pastor of missionaries?
David and Shirley teach a Sunday School class before the worship service. We arrived early and before the class started, I went to check on the boys in the room next door. When I returned a new couple had arrived. I looked at the woman and immediately felt I knew her. Mary….yes, Mary. She looked at me and said, “You look very familiar to me.” I said the same to her. “Gloria?” she asked. Mary Douglas used to live in Gaffney, SC. She, her husband Dan and their family were members of First Baptist Church where we are members (the Callahans are members of FBC too). When my husband Bill died, Mary (who had also been widowed several years before) was such a source of encouragement to me. I could not believe I was running into her half way around the world!

Stephen, Dan, Mary, Hatcher and me.

The Douglas family joined the Callahans and us for lunch. What a small world to have three families from First Baptist Church of Gaffney, SC eat Sunday lunch in Chiang Mai, Thailand!
Dan, Mary and Stephen have just moved to Chiang Mai as missionaries.
Another sweet note for First Baptist Church in Gaffney…..

Dan and Mary Douglas were interviewed during the church service to introduce them to the congregation. When asked how they got to Chiang Mai all the way from South Carolina, they responded that during their time at FBC in Gaffney they had been introduced to missions and visited Thailand. They have since visited a couple other times and have just moved to Chiang Mai to teach for a minimum of one year. FBC has spawned two sets of missionaries to Thailand (and a third temporary family of four). May God bless the Mission Task Force and all those who work so hard to encourage our mission work! Never, never underestimate how God will use your efforts for His Kingdom!
In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23

It gets smaller!

As we sat in the church service, Harrison pointed to a young man across the way and said, “Mom, he was at Gateway Camp.” I didn’t recognize the young man, but he was wearing the Gateway key we were all given at the end of camp. He happened to have the key hanging down his back or we would not have seen the key. At the end of the service, we spoke to him and he was at the camp. So here we are in Chiang Mai, Thailand and we ran into 4 people we’ve known from other parts of the world.

Shawn from Korea who was at Gateway Camp with us in Hong Kong.

We recognized the Key given to all camp participants.

Please pray for Shawn.

Hill Tribe Area of Northern Thailand

This morning the boys, David and I all piled in the truck and headed to the House of Blessing. There we met the boys and house parents of both the House of Blessing and House of Comfort. Then we all piled into three trucks and headed to the Hill Tribe area to visit an orphanage who has asked Dave and Shirley for help.

It was about an hour and a half drive up the mountains (North Carolina mountain curves ain’t got nuthin on these mountain curves!) We arrived at the orphanage, had a time of worship with all the children and house parents. The pastor of the church/orphanage we visited spoke a bit, then asked David to share some.

After David spoke (in Thai no less! I was very impressed with his Thai.), he asked us to share the Gospel with all the children and give out the salvation bracelets. Ajon Yeah translated for me and we were thrilled that two of the boys accepted Christ!

We took a tour of the house for the orphans that still needs about $500 U.S. to be finished. The most immediate need is food. The church provides some support for the children but lately there has not been enough to feed them. They have been foraging the local forest and eating the plants and fruit that grow wild there. However they have about exhausted those resources. Faithful Heart has given them some emergency money to purchase rice so the children are feed and have agreed to help provide enough to ensure the children have food.

David (far left), Ajon Barruche, Pastor from Hill Tribe area, and Ajon Yeah (Ajon means Pastor in Thai and Barruche and Yeah are house parents for two of the orphanages the Callahans oversee.) The house to the left is where the children live.

We stayed and ate lunch that was brought by one of the Faithful Heart House parents. The children ate together in shifts.

Please pray and see if God may be calling you to help provide for this group of 12 childen.