Update

So it's about time for an update, wouldn't ya think?! :) There has been a lot going on in the past week so bear with me as I try to inform you on everything!

To start things off, I'll tell you about our staff meeting last Thursday. In order to celebrate the leaving of our wonderful Short-term missionary Coordinator, Elsa, we all went to this gorgeous waterfall and had dinner in old San Salvador as a staff. As much as I wanted to swim in the water I could not get past how extremely cold it was...needless to say, I had fun watching the others. It was so nice to take the adventure and see such a beautiful sight and be with all the people who are apart of CFCI and their families. I love it how the culture down here is so people-oriented. Down here it's not about what you have or what you do, but rather who you are and how you can get to know one another better. I feel this is so much of the heartbeat of Christ. He invested in peoples lives, spent time with them, and most of all LOVED them. How great!

Now for the busy stuff! We received two teams from the US this past Saturday and have been working with them in and out. One team from Wake Forest is staying in the Missionary House with us while the other is in a different house. The team from Wake has been helping to transfer our medical clinic from Altavista to here in Soyapango. One Tuesday we traveled with the team back up to "Jicalapa" in the mountains to provide free medical care for the people there. One of the highlights for me was on our way up to the mountains. We took a microbus which holds 25...and we had 34 people. Not only was it extremely crowded but incredibly hot inside. We couldn't turn on the AC because we needed all the power we could conserve in order to actually make it up the mountain, but also the windows needed to be closed because so much dirt was flying inside. Someone made the comment that it could be worse and I thought to myself, "There is no stinkin' way it could be worse than this". But as I started thinking, God slightly put the thought in my head that it certainly could be worse, and I began to think of the treacherous journey that Jesus had to take up a mountain while carrying a heavy cross on His beaten back. What a convicting yet awesome realization! Right then and there I definitely stopped complaining and was so grateful!

We've done a couple of other activities with the different teams and spent some time with them. It's been good seeing the different personalities of people who come down here and hearing their stories. How cool that God weaves together all different people for the single purpose of glorifying His name and loving on His children of the world!

Last highlight was last night as we had another fiesta for Elsa. Again, people here love to get together with people! Nothing else is needed! Except maybe some music and dancing! I finally learned how to Salsa...well just a little taste. All of the "Gringas" had no clue how to dance to this type of music...but it sure was fun! It makes me love the culture even more! Everyone had a great time and it was such a pleasure to enjoy the fellowship and relax after all the work we've been doing so far. I still have to remind myself that it is OK to relax and have fun, even though I'm a "missionary". :) Please feel free to email me with ANY more specific questions you have. Love you guys mucho!!

p.s...pictures to follow later