Hey
friends!
It has been about three weeks
since our team arrived safely here in El Salvador. We are so thankful to have experienced the
Lord’s protection over our travels and first few weeks getting settled in. Thank you to each of you who have supported
me financially and prayerfully. You are
a huge part of this journey and your prayer means more to me than you know. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Here’s
a little about El Salvador so far…
The
first week after arriving on the 27th, we had “Orientation
Week”. We have been all over the city of
San Salvador and beyond. Mario, a pastor
here as well as our fearless leader, has showed us the country and introduced
us to lots of new people. We are now
plugged in at a couple different churches and an awesome youth group that is
middle school through college-aged students.
Building relationships in these environments has definitely been my
favorite thing about living here so far.
I have made a special friend, Genesis who loves to ask me and the other
girls questions. We try our best to
answer them with the little Spanish we know!
She is so sweet and her smile is contagious.
Our
team began attending Spanish classes at La Universidad de Central America (UCA)
this past Thursday, the 17th.
Class is going well as we are all eager to learn Spanish in order to use
it for the Lord’s work this year and beyond.
As
well as starting school this week, we are easing into our work with a few
different ministries we will be involved in throughout the year. We will be working in a few orphanages as
well as teaching English classes at a church, La Gracia, twice a week. We have passed out flyers and gone door to
door spreading the word about our English classes in neighborhoods surrounding
the church building twice the past couple weeks and the first English class
begins this Tuesday, the 22nd.
Lots of people seem to be interested… Praise God!
Starting
yesterday, a few of us had the opportunity to go to Escuela Americana, an
American school in San Salvador where we will be helping teach an after school
Bible class for Kindergarten through middle grade students. For those of you who know my desire to teach
and the love for school I have had since I was young, you can understand my
excitement for this special ministry!
Our team will be in charge of writing the lesson plans for the class
every week as well as teaching and leading it every Friday afternoon. How cool is that?! I am SO pumped to see the Lord work through all
of these ministries!
Outside
of our scheduled ministries, Global Year El Salvador provides some free time in
the afternoons/evenings during the week for us to get involved in other local
ministries of our choosing. Some of the
team, including myself, has joined a kick boxing gym and begun building
relationships there. The owner of the
gym is a man named Carlos who our leader, Taylor, has gotten to know well. He has invited him to church and we are
praying that Carlos will come and experience the Gospel! If you would like to join us in prayer for
this boxing ministry, we would be thrilled!
I will continue to keep you all updated as much as possible on how the
Lord moves in Carlos’s life as well as the lives of the other men and women we
are getting to know there. Ravyn has
recently started taking all four of the girl students here to a dance studio
that is about a 30 minute walk from the house.
We have enjoyed meeting and getting to know the owner of the studio,
Pablo. As Ravyn was a student here in El
Salvador last year, she knows him well and they have kept up with each other
since then. (Ravyn is now our intern
this year. She’s the bomb!) Pablo has a huge heart. He wants faith so desperately, but his eyes
have not yet been opened to the beautiful Grace that has been freely given to
him. We pray for Pablo every day, and
now that all of us girls have had a few opportunities to talk with him and hear
his heart about God and faith, our hearts have been burdened deeper and deeper
for Pablo’s salvation.
Being
here about three weeks now, I have found this new love for the Word. God has definitely placed that in my heart
and I love it so much. When I think
about how badly I NEED the Word and NEED to be in it… it’s crazy. The Psalms say to meditate on His Word day
and night. I don’t do that anywhere near
what I should be. I’ve been convicted by
this verse and God is working on my heart with that. Ravyn said the following statement the other
day and it stopped me dead in my tracks… Feeding
the Spirit starves the flesh. But sadly,
in just the same way, feeding the flesh, starves the Spirit. Feeding the
Spirit starves the flesh. I need to be
focused on continually feeding my Spirit, the Spirit of God that lives in
me!! Not distracted by the flesh’s
desires or feeding the flesh’s worldly appetites. Paul writes in Galatians 5:16-17, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will
not gratify the desires of your flesh.
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit
what is contrary to the flesh. They are
in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. “ I have to really focus on feeding my Spirit
and therefore, starving my flesh and it’s desires. I want to meditate on His Word day and night
and have His praise continually on my lips.
Another
thing I am learning… I was reading in 1
Peter last week about beauty. The
following are common verses among women, but something new stuck out to me this
time in reading and I want to share it with you! …
“Your beauty should not come
from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold
jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it
should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet
spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God
adorned themselves.”
Like
I said, I feel like these are common verses among women, but the second half of
this group of verses sometimes seems to be left out when I’ve heard them
before. I should not find my beauty in
any outward adornment or in any outward appearance or anything I put on my outward
self. Rather though, my beauty should be
found in my INNER SELF. The next line
really hit me the other day and has every time since then… the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. Wow. I
am praying and begging God to work on this in me. I want the unfading beauty of a gentle and
quiet spirit! This which is pleasing to
God! It says here that this gentle and
quiet spirit is how the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used
to adorn themselves! I want to be just
like them! I have put my faith in God,
just like them… so why would I ever try to let my beauty come from anything or
anyone else? I am learning to let my
beauty come from that of my inner self in a whole new way. The
unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.
Thank
you for your outpour of love and prayer for Watson and I. We could not be more blessed by the
incredible relationships God has placed in our lives. Thank you for checking in on our blog
today! Don’t forget if there is any way
we can be praying for you or if there is anything you’d like to add, please
don’t hesitate to comment below or email us at watsonandlane@gmail.com. Thank you!
-Lane
“As
a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul thirsts for you, my God.”
Psalm
42:1
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