A little break in Cojutepeque, El Salvador then on to San Miguel, El Salvador

back to Our Walk of Faith

Friday, August 10th

(6 of 9 days walking) We were walking again!! Several of the ladies from Las Delicias walked out us out to the street and then watched us and waved until we were out of sight! Thankfully Chris and I were feeling pretty good even though we were getting a little later start. But after about 12.5 miles, we were starting to get tired and hungry. We stopped into a little roadside stand to get something to drink and use the bathroom. While we were there we shared with the owner's daughter about the mission that we are on and two guys overheard us...Carlos Alberto and José. The men were headed into the next town and offered us a ride. I was so excited...it was probably only 1-2 miles away, but all up hill! Carlos Alberto put our number in his phone because he wanted us to stay at his house that night. He told us that he would call around 8 pm, but we never heard from him. After supper, we went to work on e-mail...but both of us started not feeling so good. Lots of stomach issues...we decided that it was best to get a hotel room where we were sure that there would be a clean bathroom near to the bed. And oh was it necessary!

Saturday, August 11th

Both of us are worn out and still battling a bit with stomach stuff. Only God knows the cause...we physically couldn't walk today. So we've been resting and taking it easy. We were both able to eat lunch and supper today! Praise God!

While we were at lunch we met a guy from New Jersey, Alex, and his son, Mike. He called this afternoon to invite us to the pool, but we couldn't be that far from the bathroom. We are hoping that we will get to spend some time with them tomorrow after church. We'll have to see what happens.

Sunday, August 12th

We went to church this morning at Tabernáculo Bíblico Bautista--Amigos de Israel which means Tabernacle Biblical Baptist--Friends of Israel. We weren't really sure what to expect, but it was really good. Both the morning and the evening message were about having Christian conviction....being completely sold out for the Lord...the stories of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego and of Daniel in the lion's den!! Both messages were so encouraging!! The church gave us each a hymnal too, so we were able to actually follow along with the songs they were singing!!! The praise band did a great job leading us into worship!

After the morning service, Pastor Wilber (pictured with his fork in the air) invited us to step into his office. He talked with us a bit, and then the associate pastor, Carlos (far right) came in. Both of them really love the Lord! They've been working together for about 2 years at the church. Pastor Wilber asked for our prayers because his kidneys have failed. The doctor only gave him 1-3 years to live...this is year 4. God is powerful! He is just trusting for a miracle healing, so that he can continue serving the Lord here on this earth. Please pray for Pastor Carlos too...his wife and children are all Christians, but they haven't been moved to serve along side of him. Then Brother Rodolfo (beside RE) invited Pastor Wilber, Pastor Carlos, Kevin (Pastor Wilber's nephew who helps him around the church...pictured in the tan jacket), and us to lunch. More good fellowship.

This afternoon we rested a little more...our stomachs still aren't quite straight. Then we went back to church. They invited us to share a short testimony of what God has been doing on this journey. After the service, Chris and I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of the members. Somehow it just worked out that Chris talked to a bunch of the guys, and I talked to a bunch of the ladies. Such sweet people...we hope to be able to work with them again in the future. We ate supper with pastors and Hno Hedra. (He leads one of the midweek services at the church.)

Monday, August 13th

One more day of rest...Chris is almost completely better and I'm getting there! Praise the Lord. We are writing and up-dating today. Tonight we went to church again. It was the family service...we're always excited to learn more about how God intended the family to be. Pastor Carlos talked about the importance of forgiveness. After the service, we were able to hang out with Alex (the worship leader), his wife, Elena, their son, Isaac, Elena's sister, Fatima, and Elena and Fatima's mom. Then the security guys, Julio (on left) and Denin (on right) walked us back to the hotel!! Such sweet people!! We are hoping to head out tomorrow...we'll have to see what the Lord does.

Tuesday, August 14th

Wow...what a day. On our way out of town we saw Carlos Alberto...he apologized for not calling us...interesting how God works things out!! We started walking earlier today, but it started sprinkling, so we quickly looked for shelter. We saw a building that was under construction, so we ducked under the roof. Right as we found a place, the owner, Carlos, and some of his friends pulled up in the yard. Then Miguel, Carlos's dad, walked up to where we were. We were able to share with them a bit. It turns out that Miguel is a member of the Full Gospel Buisness Men International, so he asked us to pray for the business that was going to be in that building. When we asked him what type of business it was going to be, he told us that God would let him know!

By the time we finished praying together, the rain had stopped, so we continued walking. It was a pretty uneventful day for about 10 miles. Other than Rene (a guy from Panama who lives in Los Angeles) and José (a guy from El Salvador who also lived in Los Angeles) who stopped along the way because they were shocked to see Americans, we really didn't talk to anyone. We were about 5 miles from San Vincente (where we thought we'd stay the night) when Filadelfo pulled off the road and asked if we wanted a ride. We told him where we were headed, and he was going that way. He told us that he was going to Merecedes Umaña, but we didn't have any idea where that was. As we talked to him, we realized that he just accepted Christ in March. His wife, Luisa, and their two children have not accepted the Lord yet. We assured him that we would pray for their salvation and that the family would be unified in serving the Lord. He ended up giving us a ride for a little over 30 miles. When we got out, I realized that he had taken us through the part on the map that I was concerned about...there's not much along those 30 miles...not even very many houses. Praise God for His provision.

We said good-bye to Filadelfo and kept walking. The next town was about 4 miles...but after we'd walked about 3 miles, a truck pulled off the road. It was Alex (the guy we met on Saturday) and his uncle, Nelson. They were working near there and saw us. Alex quickly offered to give us a ride into San Miguel which was another 20 miles down the road. We couldn't believe it!! So off we went with them.

They let us out at the road that goes to the border of Honduras, so we started looking for hotel, food, internet, etc. We went to 3 hotels and none of them were okay, so we just kept walking. We asked 2 guys standing in front of a motorcycle shop if we were on the right road. (Just to make sure!! No need to walk in the wrong direction). They told us we were okay, so we asked about a hotel. One of the guys, Boanerges, said let me make this easier for you, and he started speaking English to us! He told us about the hotel, but the price was ridiculous. I guess he read our reaction because he said, "It's just going to be tonight, right." We answered, "probably." Then he said, "I have a rental house. You guys can just stay there tonight and leave in the morning." We were pumped!

Boanerges drove us over and showed us around the place. Then he told us where a good place to eat supper was, we agreed that we'd see him at 8 am, and he left. We took showers and called Ross and Molly. Apparently Baby Addie is growing by leaps and bounds!! Right as I was talking to Molly, there was a knock on the door. Boanerges was back with his wife, Walquiria! They wanted to take us to supper at their house. We got to meet their boys, Andrew (almost 7 years old) and Ariel (2 years old), and their parrot, Bonito (Pretty)! What a sweet family! We had a lot of good conversation...we learned more about the civil war that was here in El Salvador, we talked about the Lord, they shared how Ariel was healed miraculously when he was 6 months old, and we shared testimony of God's faithfulness on this journey. Before we came back to where we were staying, Waquilia asked if we needed to wash clothes. Praise God...we were nearly in a desparate situation...our walking clothes stunk to high heaven!!!

Wednesday, August 15th

This morning, we washed clothes. Then we went with Boanerges to take Walquiria to work. We came back to their house, and Boanerges offered to give us a tour of the city! He took us to the main park, the catherdral, the governmental building, and the market!

On our way back, we stopped by Boanerges' sister's house. She wasn't there, but her husband, Sergio was. Apparently he's a new believer...he's learning to play praise songs on his guitar...the song he's been working on most recently is one of my favorites by Jesús Adrian Romero "Que Seria de Mi" (what would I be without Jesus).

This afternoon we are working on posting, journalling, e-mailing, etc. Then we are going to hang out with Boanerges, Waquilia, Andrew, and Ariel a bit more this evening. Not sure what the plans for tomorrow are yet, but we may be walking. We'll post again soon...we are only about 50 miles from the border of Honduras. God bless you and keep you! We love you! Keep walking for Jesus!

More scenery and flowers...the Porsche 912 belongs to Boanerges...he's restoring it!!