Monday, April 11, 2016

Stronger Together

It's a strange feeling to be lifted off the ground inside a winged metallic cylinder. There we sit suspended in the air for a few hours, reading books and watching movies, until we gently descend back to the ground. It's not the same ground, for while we were suspended in the air, the earth rotated, rolled and reconfigured itself so that we exited our craft in El Salvador.  Just like that it seems the Lord has made the distance, language and culture shrink into manageable proportions. We leave home and we are welcomed as though we are home. This week (April 9-16, 2016) we, Aynsley and I, are again joining with almost 30 other people from Canada to celebrate and share about how the Lord is working through our Shelter teams. We will be building 11 homes this week, to bring this season's total to an even 300!!  That is something to celebrate...not the number of homes, but the number of lives impacted by a tangible expression of the love of Jesus...but don't stop your counting at 300 El Salvadorian Families. Please also consider the over 300 Canadians that have been down here this season and their families; and their church families, businesses or organizations. And then think about how each of their communities are impacted not just in supporting before, but in celebrating after each team returns. And don't forget to add in the people in the communities and the churches here in El Salvador.  How's your calculation coming?

Your prayer, financial support and encouragement for the work that we are part of in El Salvador gets stronger as we work together, following the rhythm that God establishes. I am thankful to be caught in that rhythm, learning to move according to His impulse among these aforementioned people which includes you!

Two things, from our church service today in San Vicente: first they have a new pastor (Amilcar) and he seems to be a refreshing answer to prayer as he shares our desire to disciple the people of the communities in which Shelter is working.

Secondly, these verses in 1 Peter 5:18-19 - they tell us that with the Lord as our strength we are stronger together and He is calling us to run to Him with great determination.

Thanks for praying for us this week.


Deve