The town of San Julian

We are planning to change the picture in our title banner soon. But before we do, I just want to let you know, if you haven't figured it out already, that this picture is of the town of San Julian. It was taken by us from the mountains just to the west of the town. If you look at the little white spot just below the "e" in "borders", that is our home.

It's Raining Crabs?

Moving to a tropical country, it was not surprising to us that we would see a lot of rain. We have had some amazing rain showers since the rainy season began in May. Of course, we got off to a great start when tropical storm Agatha blew through. We live on the slope of a hill and our street becomes a river (a very brown river) when it rains hard. During Agatha, it rained so hard and fast that the water was pushing boulders up to a foot in diameter down our street.

What we did not expect was to have a certain crustacean find its way into our house. And, not just once, but twice. The first time, Jonah and Maddie discovered our cat Daisy playing with something on the floor of our living room. At first, they thought it was a bat and were screaming to get it away from the cat. The thing managed to get away from Daisy and it scrambled into the garage to hide. At first, we couldn’t find it. But, because of Jonah’s persistent searching, we discovered, hiding under a shelf behind some boxes, a crab. It was about 5 inches in diameter, and ready for a fight! We all screeched and laughed with surprise! It was the last thing we thought we would find scurrying around our house!
I tried to capture the crab, but it kept moving around under the van so I couldn’t get to it. Finally, I had to give up and hope it found it’s way out of the garage. Kathy was a little nervous to get up at night to use the restroom! (There is no door to close between the house and garage, it’s just open.) Well, by morning it was gone.
Now, if that was not strange enough, a couple of weeks later, while Kathy was doing some school work with Jonah and Maddie on the couch, Jonah looked up towards the sliding glass door and said “Oh Wow, what is that?” At first, we all thought he saw something scary, like a huge spider. He pointed to the top of the sliding door, and upon closer inspection, we realized that sitting on the ledge was a crab.



As you look at the picture, I know the first question that came to your mind was “How in the world did that crab get up there?” Ours too! The last we knew, crabs can’t walk up walls or glass. So, the only thing that we could figure is that we left the door open because it was very humid after the heavy rain we had the night before. Possibly, the crab wandered into the house, tried to get out through the back door, climbed up the screen to the ledge above and got stuck there.


When it finally stop raining I got a broom handle and tried to knock him into a bucket. He instead grabbed the handle and hung on for dear life. Once I got him into the bucket, Jonah, Maddie and I went down to the river to let him go. We just never know what to expect here in San Julian.

For the past couple of months, Jonah and Maddie have been involved with a small group of young people from our little fellowship here in San Julian, (Josue’ Iglesia Cristiana), going out to the community in San Julian, and around about in other small pueblos doing evangelistic outreaches with skits, dramas, preaching, clown ministry, and the like. It has been a great opportunity for Jonah and Maddie to get involved with the community here in San Julian, to use the Spanish they have been learning, to make friends, and to really stretch them personally. They have gone out on the streets, they have gone to a little church up in a small village in the mountain area, they have gone to a forest clearing next to a river, where there is a sweet couple reaching out to a very poor community of children. Here, they took their skits, clowns, and the Word of God to share with the children for a little fiesta this couple was putting on for the children. David and I have been blessed to tag along and watch our little team work together. We are kind of like the team mom and dad! What a diversity of young people in our group. From young men, like Miguelito and Nahun, in their late teens, who are on fire for the Lord, to little guys like Fernando, Yeni, Jonah and Maddie, who are spreading their wings and testing their faith on the streets. Pastor Oscar and his wife Monica, lead our troupe, and do a great job inspiring the kids! Oscar and Monica met while they were serving at Youth with a Mission in San Salvador some years ago. Both of them learned clowning and drama outreach there, and really have a great passion to reach children. Monica is now expecting her first child, coming up in September…so her clown outfit won’t fit her for much longer!! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy…please pray for our outreach team. Especially pray that Jonah and Maddie will grow and thrive in their personal walk with the Lord. Keep praying for Spanish acquisition as well. They are doing very well, really understanding a lot…a few times, they have had to interpret something for ME when I didn’t understand! Ha!!

Jonah, Pastor Oscar and Javier performing a skit




It's getting ready to rain on us...notice the big, dark, looming cloud





That's Jonah as the grim reaper...waiting for his opportunity to reap this man's soul to hell, but, he ends up getting saved and thrwarting Satan's plans.


from left: Nahum, Miguelito, Jonah, Pastor Oscar, Monica, Maddie and Javier