Joni & Friends

The first week of November, Jonah, Maddie and I (Kathy) volunteered to work at the Joni and Friends Family Camp for disabled children and their families here in El Salvador. Founded by Joni Erickson Tada, this ministry is an opportunity for families of disabled children to come to a safe place to be loved on, ministered to, and to just plain have fun! This year, 25 families were invited to attend. Each family can bring a total of four family members for a completely free retreat for 4 days at a lovely hotel at the beach. These families are usually from the poorest in El Salvador. Here in El Salvador, disability is treated like it was many years ago in the U.S. Hiding disabled people away, neglecting them. Acting like they have a disease and being repelled by them. I could tell you so many stories of these families. It would melt your heart. I was so thrilled that both Maddie and Jonah wanted to volunteer to be a buddy to a disabled child, or to a sibling for the retreat. That meant that they were with that child almost 24/7. After long days of go, go, go, Jonah and Maddie would just drop into bed each night exhausted. I was sooooo blessed as I watched my kids extend themselves and sweetly serve these beautiful children. Maddie was assigned little Jennifer. She is severly handicapped and non-verbal. She is nine years old, yet, so tiny she wore diapers the size of an average one year old. Jennifer always had a smile on her face. She grabbed everything she could get her hands on…faces, hair, jewelry, clothes…so Maddie really had to watch her flying hands! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Maddie so content as when she was with Jennifer. Maddie loved on her, carried her, played with her, spoke to her, swam with her, and by the end of the retreat, Maddie shed tears as she had to say good-bye to this sweet little one. Jonah was assigned Kevin, the 12 year old sibling of one of the disabled children. The siblings of the children who are handicapped can have a very difficult life with many challenges. Usually, they take a back-seat to their sibling. The disabled child takes so much time, energy, and focus, that the sibling gets lost in the shuffle. This can cause resentment, confusion…these kids need to be loved on and told how important and special they are. At the retreat, they have ministry sessions just for siblings. They are loved on, and taught how to process what they are experiencing in their lives in a healthy way. Watching Jonah hang out with Kevin was a joy. Kevin had a constant smile on his face, and a twinkle in his eye. He was just so happy to be there he couldn’t stop smiling. All day, Kevin and Jonah would run around to all the events: games, singing, crafts, bible stories, swimming, flying kites, worship services, meals,…they were buddies. I loved watching these families as they were presented with three beautiful meals each day. The families that came were just so overwhelmed and blessed by the abundant, delicious food! One family rarely has enough food for everyone. If there is only a bit of money for food, they buy milk for their disabled child, but everyone else goes hungry, including the 5 year old little brother. One family just could not understand that they would be given food at the retreat. Three meals a day, for free. (How could that be, that would be like heaven?) They were concerned that if they came to the retreat...if they took those days of work to come, how could they supply food for their family for those days? But, they desired so greatly to come that they saved up enough bread and Coke for 4 days, and brought it with them so they would have food to eat at the retreat! Can you imagine their reaction when they understood that, truly, three times a day, a delicious, bountiful meal would be put before them!? Another family, desiring greatly to attend the retreat, could not afford the pampers for their disabled child to wear on the bus ride to the retreat. (This could be 2-4 hours) At home, they would use cloth diapers, (without plastic pants, which aren’t available here) but on the bus, they would have to have something to prevent ‘spills’. Joni and Friends provides pampers for the disabled children during the duration of the retreat, but this family had to GET THERE first! The only way they could pay for those pampers? They took all their dishes, and went into the street and sold them. Then, took that money, and bought pampers for the bus ride. Well, needless to say, the retreat was an amazing, special four days for all the families, and for those of us there serving. What a priviledge. Also, seven family members accepted Christ during that retreat, which is open to Christian and non-Christian alike.

Fall 2011 Pastors Conference

September found us hosting a conference here in San Julian for pastors and leaders entitled, "Marriage and Ministry". Pastor Daniel, his wife, Karen, and Pastor Mike and his wife, Jeneane, from Las Vegas, New Mexico, joined us to teach during the three day conference. During that time, we also had a night of ministry for women, inviting the women of the churches to join us. I, (Kathy) led the time of worship, and Karen shared the Word with the ladies. It was a great night of ministry. Also, we were able to take them out to visit Nelsi and her girls and see the work that the team did on her house in August. During that visit we had the opportunity to spend some time ministering to Nelsi’s oldest daughter Daniela, who is 14. During that time, Daniela prayed to accept Christ as her Savior. It was a sweet time. After the conference, we were able to spend a few days with Daniel and Karen talking about our time here, processing, debriefing, crying, praying, sharing, planning, setting goals for the future. It was sweet. We were all very grateful for this time with our beloved Pastor and his sweet wife. We are thankful for their hearts of care and love for the missionaries sent out by Calvary Chapel Vancouver. 

Karen Gettemy spoke at a Women's Service

Kathy led the Worship

Pastor Daniel Gettemy speaking at a Wed. Service

Pastor Mike sharing at the Conference

Pastor Louis praying for the Gettemy's and Herrera's

School of Ministry Begins

(Reprinted from September 2011 Newsletter with added pictures)

We have reached a milestone on our ministry here in San Julian. After almost five years of planning, on August 24th we had our first School of Ministry class. The name of the school is, Instituto Biblico Capilla Calvario. (Calvary Chapel Bible Institute) We are very thrilled and blessed by the response. We have almost 40 people enrolled in our first class. We hold it on two separate days to try to accommodate the schedules of the students; Wednesday evening, and Saturday afternoon. The first class Jeff is teaching is a survey of the Old Testament. The Lord has provided two excellent translators for us. Jeff has been doing a great job of preparing and teaching the class. Please pray for direction, translating and the students that they would learn of God’s purpose for their lives.

Jeff teaching the class with Wilfredo (left)
translating to Spanish

Open Doors

Reprinted from our September 2011 Newsletter with additional photos

We are thankful that the Lord is in charge of our lives, and as He leads all we need to do is follow. Sounds easy, huh? Sometimes God requires us to step out in faith before He reveals his complete purpose. We have been earnestly praying for direction as we live and serve here in El Salvador. We know that God brought us here to begin the school of ministry, but we also know that the school is not the only reason we are here. Doors of opportunity are opening and we are seeking the Lord as a family, for wisdom, discernment, and direction. As we stick our toes over the threshold of each door, and take it one step at a time, we ask that you would hold us up in prayer. We know that not every opportunity is necessarily a door we should walk through. But, we want to be faithful to boldly step out of the boat, if God is commanding us to walk on the water. 

Kathy has been given the opportunity to help lead worship at a church that our family and the Pursley’s attend, once or twice a month, in San Salvador, called Union Church. It is a church with a mission to English speakers. Much of the church is made up of missionary families and those who work for the U.S. Embassy. It is a very interesting mix of cultures, as there are people from all over the world who attend the church. The church has a few teams that take turns leading worship each week. Kathy was asked to form a team to lead once a month. This Sunday was her first time. We have been very blessed to be able to get to know Pastor Gary and his family. They started and operate a children’s home in San Salvador, called, My Father’s House (Casa de mi Padre). They are also in the process of building a children’s ranch, which we had the opportunity to see for ourselves. We love the purpose and vision of this ministry. Could it be that the Lord wants us to be a part of it in some way? We are praying and seeking His will.

Finally, you have heard us speak of the Baby House (hospital) in San Salvador, which is called Lovelink (Vinculo de Amor). It is run by our dear friends, Sam and Julie Hawkins. This ministry takes in mal-nutritioned babies, most of whom would die without their help. They nurse them back to health and work with their families to educate and enable them to properly care for their child. Those who are orphans, are at times adopted out to families across the world. Their work also goes into communities…with medical clinics, educational programs, food, clothes, and the love of God. If that isn’t enough, they also have a ministry to one of the men’s prisons. They have a house next door to the prison where prisoners are allowed to come into the program to be introduced to Jesus, discipled, loved on…and very importantly, to learn a trade in order to support themselves and their families when they leave the prison system. They teach the men to make beautfiul, hand-made shoes. This ministry has been absolutely blessed by God from its inception. We have seen for ourselves the work there, and it blows us away. Lives are changed, saved, and redeemed from a terrible pit. It is dangerous work. Many of these guys are gang members. But, each one, God loves and calls there to be given the opportunity to see Jesus, and be changed. That is why the ministry is called, "Metamorphosis". Like a caterpillar that breaks out of his cocoon a beautiful butterfly, these men’s lives are completely transformed. We are also praying about involvement with the ministries of Lovelink, and Metamorphosis.

There is so much opportunity here…everywhere you look…and we want to make sure that we are following our Masters’ leading; fearlessly going where he calls us.

Sunday Morning Service at Union Church

Kathy leading worship

David, Jeff and Gary (left) in front of Casa de Mi Padre

Chapel on a hill at the new children's ranch

Gary's daughter, Whitney, working with horse therapy
at the children's ranch

Deck on a hill where a future guest house will be

Julie Hawkins giving a tour of the Baby House
to our team

Julie holding one of the babies at the house

The inmates at Metamorphosis having their morning
discipleship class before starting work

The inmates making shoes

August Mission Team

(Reprinted from September 2011 Newsletter - with additional Slide Show)

In August, our first mission team arrived from Vancouver, Washingtion. They were from our home church of Calvary Chapel, Vancouver. We spent a lot of time planning and preparing for this team. The Lord really blessed as we saw all the details come together. The group consisted of six adults and six high school youth. They spent a very full week here. The theme of their trip was, "Faith in Action", and they had a real opportunity to live out James 1:27 while they were here. They worked on the house of a dear friend of ours, who is a single mother with four daughters. She lived in a house with a dirt floor, and a very leaky roof. Our team covered her dirt floor with a beautiful concrete floor and replaced her leaky roof with a new metal roof. Their hard work was a huge blessing to this family. Concrete is very hard work and especially when you have to mix it by hand. But, all the team pitched in, including all of the young ladies. It was a real accomplishment for them. Also, later in the week, the team visited an orphanage where they worked during the day doing a deep cleaning of the building. Then, in the afternoon all the girls on the team took all the girls from the orphanage to a night of sharing, pizza and pedicures. It was neat to see the team taking the time to minister to these girls and bless them by washing their feet and sharing Jesus. The team also brought with them a large, generous donation of pre-folded cloth diapers (which are unavailable in El Salvador) to give to Lovelink, the Baby House. Julie welcomed us, shared the story of the history of the Baby House, and gave the team a tour. She and the staff were overwhelmed by the gift. Those babies really touched everyone’s hearts. If that wasn’t enough, they also held an outreach at the town plaza with a skateboard demonstration and sharing the gospel through drama and teaching. Another night, we held a youth service at a local church and invited all the young people from every church to come for a night of worship and sharing in the word. Our youth leader, Cameron Silsbee did a great job speaking at both events. The response was tremendous and the time of worship in song, was wonderful. It was such a blessing to see all these youth raising their hands, and passionately praising God, alongside our team. Kathy was responsible for putting together and planning for the worship team, and God really brought great people together to help in this. I know that the team went home extremely tired but encouraged to see how much God can use them to bless the lives of others. Their hearts were touched by the people they came to serve. I don’t think they will ever be the same. Cam and Hannah did a great job leading this team. Jonah, Maddie and Chrisitna had a great time of much needed fellowship with dear friends. We are looking forward to next year! We praise God for this fruitful, blessed week of ministry with this sweet, hard-working group of adults and youth!

Worship in Isuatan

Churches worshipping together

This last Friday our family participated in a multi-church worship service in the town of Ishuatan.  The pastors invited our family to sing a song for the offering.  So, Kathy decided to pick a new song that she was learning and have Maddie and Christina join her in singing it.   Keep in mind that the song was in Spanish.  Kathy decided to memorize the song in Spanish, as well as memorizing the guitar chords; to reduce the chance for major errors! This was Christina's first time singing in front of a crowd.  Maddie has sung a few times, but she was a pretty nervous to sing in Spanish. They both did great! 

Now they have been invited for another gig on July 2. I am truly amazed at how well and how far Kathy has come on the guitar in such a short time.  It is a real blessing for me to hear her lead worship.  It is such a passion of hers.  I added a short clip of them singing.