Hello all,

Well the team from New York left today, so life has been slowly getting back to normal here. The kids are a little somber, and some of them are pretty sad that the team left. The team was really good with the kids, so their presence was a definite blessing, but it is always hard for everyone to say goodbye.

Even though the team left today, it was still very busy. Bobby and I got up early as usual (although Bobby always gets up way earlier than me). I did my devotion first thing this morning and then afterwards became very busy helping the team prepare for their departure. I also managed to squeeze in about an hour of office time this morning as well before the team left. In addition to all of this, I was also getting last minute details covered for the arrival of Deb, a new missionary who came today. Finally, at about 9:30am, we had everyone and all of their luggage loaded up and we took them to the airport. I was very sad to see them leave, knowing that I may never seen some of them again. But, it was a real blessing to have met them and to share part of my El Salvador experience with them.

After we got back from dropping the team off at the airport I busied myself picking up their rooms. They did a great job of cleaning the rooms before they left, but several of them left sheets, blankets, and pillows behind as a donation for the kids. So, I needed to collect those items and get them washed before handing them out to the kids. Bobby and I then ate lunch (homemade pizzas that he prepared with fresh vegetable toppings from our garden) and then we left for the OASIS feeding program.

OASIS has become one of my favorite programs because I love working with the community, and especially with the poorest of the poor. Immediately after arriving to the OASIS location, me and several of the girls went around door to door to invite people to come. I love getting out into the community and going into the peoples homes. It makes me feel connected to them in some way. I chatted briefly with a lady I met in her home who recently had surgery. I told her that I was a nurse and that I would be happy to check up on her and help her if she needed. I plan on visiting her again and checking on her surgical wounds and possibly taking her some food. I told her that I would pray for her. We then continued on going door to door and we came across a little boy sitting on the street corner looking dirty and drabby as many of the kids there do. One of the girls from the orphanage that was with me gave him some cookies and then they began playing. There was a cement sewage drainage "slide" near his home and they began sliding down it. I told them that this was disgusting, but it was dried up right now so they didn't seem to care too much. It was funny though to see this little boy with cookies in his hand sliding down this cement sewage drain. He didn't care what it was, he just thought it was fun. We then returned back to the OASIS building and continued with the program as usual, which is singing and a basic Bible story. We then fed them a simple meal of beans, cheese, and tortillas.

After OASIS was over we came back to the home and by this time Deb had arrived. We greeted her and I then helped the girls wash the mound of dishes that they had from lunch and OASIS. After all of the dishes I was hot, sticky, and I smelled like beans. But, oh well. I then spent more time this afternoon getting Deb acquainted as well as doing more washing of the items that the team left behind. I also did my spanish homework and filled out some postcards that I need to send out to family.

Bobby and I then ate pupusas this evening for dinner. The cafeteria was serving chicken feet, and that is the one meal that I just can't stomach. So, we went to the little pupusarisa down the road and bought 6 bean and cheese pupusas for $2.10. After dinner I spent time with the older girls here at the home and now I am back in the office again working.

So, it has been a long, busy, but good day. I have been thinking of you all a lot lately and we miss you all a lot.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers.

Lots of love,
Britney

Hello all!

Things are going well here. A team from New York arrived on Friday. There are 22 people and 15 of them are between the ages of 15 and 19. They are all very nice and very hard workers. They are also very gifted musically and have led worship for the kids a few times, which has been great.

One of the girls on the team actually lives here in El Salvador. Her father works for the US embassy, and they were stationed here in El Salvador back in October. The team that is here now is from her old church, so she is staying here this week with them so that she can spend some time with her old friends as well as serve here! Anyway, her family invited us all to their church today and then to their house afterwards for lunch. Bobby and I really liked the church alot. It was a great service, the pastor was super nice and down to earth, the people were all warm and friendly, and it was composed more of middle and lower class people (versus the upper class church that we normally have to attend on Sunday mornings). Bobby and I are really hoping that we will be able to attend the church again in the future.

The cookout that we went to was also really great today. The embassy worker's house is super nice, and their whole family is sooooo nice (the wife is from Guatemala, so her spanish and english are both perfect). They used to be missionaries to Hong Kong for 5 years, so they have a big heart for missionaries and they are super hospitable (they currently have 3 missionaries living with them from Honduras for a month). They told Bobby and I that if we ever just wanted to get away for a little while then we could come and stay at their house. They have a separate guest quarters within their house, so we really could "get away" while we are there. Plus, they are just so nice and friendly that they would be fun to hang out with too. They fixed us a wonderful "American" lunch today of hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill as well as potato salad and all the works. YUMMY!!

Well, I g2g for now! Bobby and I miss and love you all bunches. Thanks for the continued prayers!

Love,
Britney

Hello all,

Hope that everyone one back home in snowy Ohio is doing well. Things are good here. Bobby and I have been very busy preparing for the team that is arriving tomorrow. There are 22 team members, 15 of which are between the ages of 15 and 19. Initially, Bobby and I were pretty frustrated because we were told us yesterday by one of the founders that we were not allowed to have our youth night on any Saturdays that the teams are here. We were so upset because that basically meant no more youth night for the rest of the summer. Yeah, there would be a few weeks here and there, but not much. Then, today, I talked with another one of the founders and he said that he wanted us to have the youth night when the teams were here because most of the teams were teenagers. So, long story short, we are having the youth night now! Yeah!!

I know that this is going to come as a shock to you all, but Bobby and I are seriously contemplating going to language school in Guatemala this August. For those of you that know Bobby well, you know that this whole studying spanish thing is not his "thing." But, several weeks ago the Benner's suggested that we possibly go to language school in Antigua, Guatemala to study spanish. They have recently made it a requirement that all missionaries who are going to serve here for more than one year have to attend a language school for at least 3 months. They weren't going to make us, as we were kind of "grandfathered" into the rule (and the fact that we are the only missionaries here too, so if we left, they wouldn't have any help). Anyway, there was supposed to be a new missionary arriving here in 2 weeks but they are making her go to language school first instead. We thought that she would totally flip when they told her that she would have to go, and she did, but then she gave into the idea and has decided to go. After watching her reaction to the situation, we have seriously been thinking about it. It is the Christian Spanish Academy in Antigua and it actually sounds like a good school. You study spanish for 20 hours a week and you live with host families. Bobby and I have really enjoyed staying with families on past mission trips and we think that this might be a good experience for us. In addition to learning spanish, you are also given the opportunity to serve with some different organizations in the community.


So, as you might be guessing, the decision to go to language school is basically a decision to stay on the mission field longer than a year. Bobby and I have been strongly feeling like God is calling us into the mission field beyond a year, but we don't know what He wants us to do. We don't necessarily think that we are supposed to stay here, but we know that He wants us here right now. We think that he has some tough lessons for us that we need to learn first here before He sends us out further.

I am posting a picture of one of the teenage girls named Estella. She is 15 years old and she has an older brother named William who lives here as well. I love Estella because she is always happy and wearing a smile. Yesterday after dinner I was talking with her for a long time and she pulled a picture out of her back pocket of her and her brother, it was one of the few times that I have ever seen her sad. She says that she carries the picture with her always and that she is sad and worried because her brother only has one year left here at the Home before he leaves, and then she will be alone. What a scary thought, to be all alone in this world. Yeah, she is surrounded by people here, but we have all experienced what it is like to be surrounded by people yet feel alone. In the picture I have posted today she is with a team member from a team that came in January. She, like all of the kids here, needs a lot of prayer for God's protection and comfort in her life.

Well, I must go for now, always work to do!

Love you and miss you all!
Britney

Hello all,

Greetings from Sunny El Salvador. I heard it was snowing in Ohio - Lo siento! Bobby and I had our very first youth night here at HIS. We held it Saturday evening. This is something very special that they have never had or allowed here at Shalom, so we are very thankful that they have allowed us to start up this program. It will be held every Saturday night and it is for all the teens over 14. Anyway, like I said, we had our first one this past Saturday. There were 17 kids there and 2 Hermanos (house parents). We set it up pretty much like a typical youth group meeting in the states. We have been given permission to hold the youth group in the team room. The team room is the big room/apartment where teams sleep when they come. It has a big central living room, 2 side bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. So, it is perfect for having youth group in. Of course, we will have to hold it somewhere else when the teams are here, but we will work it out. Anyway, we started out by just having some games that the kids could play when they came in and just having some hang out time. We had board games and a small video game (pacman) as well as music playing and snacks. Then, we played a group game (which they weren't really excited about)and then Bobby led a devotion. Since it was Easter weekend he centered the devotion around the movie "The Passion of the Christ," which we watched also. After the movie we talked about the impact of the film and Bobby actually had some of the kids nail sins written on pieces of paper onto a 9 ft cross that he made. We thought that, generally speaking, things went well. However, after all the kids left that evening and we were cleaning up, we noticed that a video that we have of Christian music was missing. We looked and looked for it everywhere, wanting to believe that one of the kids would not have taken it. But, after looking for a while, we never found it. So, Bobby went down to the teenage boys house and asked them if they knew what happened to our video and, sure enough, after a little looking, it was discovered that one of the boys had it in his CD case. He said he didn't know how it got in there and it must have been an accident. We would like to believe him, but we know that he is probably lying. Since we have been here Bobby has had a knife and several tools stolen from him. We have never had to deal with teenagers who lie and steal from us on a repeated basis, so this is tough for us. Especially when they do it immediately following a devotion that we worked so hard to put together for them! However, we also know that if the kids were "perfect" then we wouldn't be needed here. This evening I was spending some one-on-one time with one of the girls just talking about life in general and she told me she had a big problem. When I asked her what it was she told me that she was thinking about what we talked about on Saturday and that the needs to change her life. She said that she prayed to God to come into her heart and to change her heart, but she says that she always wants and does "bad things." So, she is thinking that it is just better for her to give nothing to God since she messes up all the time. We talked about how none of us is perfect, and that God loves us just the same. I don't want her to give up because she can't obtain perfection, because she never will. I hope that I was able to encourage her and show her that God loves her no matter what.

The kids here need a lot of prayer, so if you all could please just pray for them and pray for us also that we will be able to reach out to them, we would greatly appreciate it. We also ask that you could just pray for this ministry. Like any organization, there are many things here that need to change. The founders of the organization, The Benner's, have said that the ministry is suffering financially, and as a result, they fired a cook, and 2 house parents last week. This week they have informed us that they will be firing 2 of the construction guys. My heart just breaks for these people who are being fired. I know that most of them make less than $200 a month, so it doesn't seem like firing them would save a whole lot of money, but I don't know. It is also difficult for me because I see many other ways that money could be saved within this ministry instead of firing people, but, once again, who am I to say. Work is very hard to come by in this country, and most of the people who work here come from hours away and they have families to support. In addition, the 2 construction workers are the nicest, humblest, Christian men that I think I have ever meant. They work hard all day, and they spend their lunch time reading their Bibles and playing the guitar singing Christian songs. They are really good people, and they deserve to be treated well and fairly. They are among the few people who really walk the walk. I kept looking at them all day today, feeling guilty for knowing that in just a few short days they would be jobless in a country that has so few jobs and no social service system. I know that my opinion or thoughts regarding the matter are of little importance or influence, and I have to just trust that the organization is making the best decision. The whole thing is out of my hands and all I can do is pray about it and learn from it.

Thanks to everyone for all of your love and prayers.

Te quiero mucho,
Britney

Hey everyone,

Greetings from sunny El Salvador! It was soooo good to go home last week and see everyone. Things have been extraordinarily difficult here, and it was so good to go home and get refreshed. It was also great because we were able to see how wonderfully the senior high youth group is doing at GNG. We were so happy to see that everyone and everything is going well, and we are especially proud of our Bible study group. When we left back in January there weren't any adults to take over the Bible study group because the other youth leaders were just too overwhelmed with everything else. The teens in that group decided that they wanted the group to continue and they were going to run it themselves. To think that a group of teenagers was going to organize and meet every other Wednesday to study the Bible without any help or anyone telling them to was a big thing to wrap our brains around, but, we knew that if anyone could do it, then that group of teens could. And, they have. They have a deep committment to that group, and they said that they knew after we left that it was completely up to them to make that group a success and to keep it running smoothly, and they have done just that. Many of them have stepped up to leadership positions and they all have taken ownership in the group. So, Bobby and I were especially proud of them when they just randomly got up on Sunday morning in front of the senior high class and told the other students about the group and invited them to come and join them. They were reaching out to the other students, and that is a great thing to see. Bobby and I felt like parents whose children have moved out of the house on their own for the first time. You know that you have done all that you can to train and equip them for life on their own, yet you still worry that they will stumble and fall. And, then when you let those children go and you see them prospering, it is such a good feeling. I honestly feel that if Bobby and I were to return to GNG now and return back to that group, then we would actually be a hinderance. I feel like we would be prohibiting their growth. Just like a parent has to cut the apron strings and let their child discover the world on their own in order for them to fully mature, we know that this was the right thing for our group as well. We know that they may stumble a bit, or even fall, that is just the nature of life, but we strongly believe that they are connected enough and strong enough in their fath to pick back up again and keep going. We are proud of you guys!!

Well, on another note, things are going well here. Things are actually going surprisingly well. It has to be a miracle from God. Now, don't get me wrong, things certainly aren't perfect, but they are better than what they were. The kids have all been out of school this week for Holy Week, so they have been more lax on the many rules around here. And, yesterday, many of the kids went home for 3 days to stay with family members. Even though this is an orphanage, many of the children do have some sort of surviving family member, whether it be a sibling, grandmother, or at times, even a parent (although obviously not a fit one). Bobby and I are really glad that the kids got to go home and visit their families because we know that it means so much to the kids, plus we feel like it will be good for the kids to get out and see just how hard it is for people to live here in El Salvador and how lucky they have it here. When they see how poorly most people live and eat here in this country, we hope that they will have a deeper appreciation for what they have here. I don't know, maybe they will, maybe they won't. We shall see!

For all of those kids who don't have family members that they can return home to for a visit, we took them all to the park today. It wasn't our idea, it was Julio's (the director of the home), but we think it was a wonderful idea. We left at like 10:30 this morning and the kids played and played all day at this really huge park that we went to. At lunch time the cooks from the home came and brought he kids' lunches. Because their aren't that many older girls here now (only 3) I was able to spend alot of intimate time with them today and see a little more of their hearts. Their hearts are of course broken because this week is just another reminder to them that they don't have any family. The 3 older girls here are Linda, Veronica, and Karina. Linda has no surviving family at all (not even siblings) and never knew or never met her parents. Karina has 2 brothers and a set of grandparents, but her parents are dead. Her dad hung himself and her mom died of AIDS. And, I am not sure what Veronica's story is. I love them all dearly, and I hope that I can make an eternal impact on their lives. I have posted a picture of Linda on my blog today.

Well, I am going to go for now. I have been writing for too long. Tomorrow Bobby and I are having our first youth night here at the home so I will tell you more about that tomorrow.

We love and miss you all a lot and we thank you for all of your prayers and we ask that you keep them coming.

Lots of love,
Britney