July 2016 Team

Our journey began Saturday after our departure from the church at 2:30 am. A special thanks to Bob Kittelson for driving us to Omaha. We arrived in San Salvador on Saturday around noon and after lunch at Pollo Campero, we drove up to Ahuachapán and checked into our hotel on the square.

Worship at Cristo Rey

On Sunday we rode to Santa Ana to attend church with our friends at Cristo Rey Lutheran Church. We were happy to worship with our friends. We were greeted with some good news and some sad news. The good news is we visited with our friend, Pastor Vilma, and she told us the she has been attending classes the last three years to get her degree in theology and become an official pastor. The sad news that lays heavy on our hearts was that our dear friend, Pastor Carlos, is very ill. He could not attend the service so Pastor Vilma led the service.

Worksite

On Monday we were excited to see  the house where we are working this week, only 10 minutes from our hotel. The house is already started and up to the point where we can start with “chispa” (cement mixture);  which means we start filling the already laid block with rebar running through them with a form of cement called “chispa”.   We are also sifting sand, digging out rooms and leveling them,  wheel barrowing sand, tamping, tying rebar, and having fun.  Many of our team members speak some Spanish and are having fun practicing and learning new words with the masons, family members, and neighbors.  It has rained every night but the days have been bright and sunny. We are looking forward to a soccer game with the community after work on Wednesday.
Please continue to keep our team in your prayers this week.

Shalom, Jody Simeck, El Salvador Team Member