November 2008 Update

Construction continues

check out the latest photos:

Last week the men worked hard on the foundations and metal structure.

Welding work.....

Compaction of foundations.....

Please pray:

We've already installed to recieve electricity, but the Electric company needs to come and connect. They were supposed to come two weeks ago. Please pray that this happens soon, we can't continue most of the welding work and cement mixing without electricity!

Please also pray for

-the health of member, Alba Luz...waiting biopsy results

-upcoming surgery for her mother, Dina, Dec. 18

-member, Sara, large cysts on both kidneys

-our little Lucas, throat infection...he's on antibiotics now

-Cindy's mom, Mary's trip to El Salvador for Christmas

October 2008 Update

Construction

Now that the rainy season is over, preparing the land continues pulling weeds and more digging. We are still waiting for a consultation on the water problem. Unfortunately the engineer that was supposed to help us never did after many attempts to have him come. We are praying that God will provide someone else to give us wisdom on how to handle the problem.

Search continues for ministry assistant for Ojos de Agua

Roberto Lopez had helped us tremendously in the area of Evangelism and through him, God opened many doors to share the gospel in Cantón El Coyolar.
Unfortunately, brother Roberto is no longer a candidate for the position to help us permanently due to personal reasons. We ask for your prayers as we search for another person God is preparing to help us in the ministry.

Ministries

These last few months we have been teaching the church about spiritual gifts and the different areas were they can serve in the church using their gifts. As a result we have formed five ministries: Evangelism, Discipleship, Worship, Community Service, and Visitation.

Discipleship

Cindy has begun a series of workshops in the area of teaching children’s Sunday school classes. The goal is to train teachers to cover the needs of children from ages five to 14. We are thankful the five young women are interested in the area of education and have come to see if this is where the Lord is calling them to serve.

Visitation

The brothers and sisters that belong to this ministry continue visiting the needy, whether on their own or as a group. This month, we visited a woman with health problems named Gertrudis. She is a cousin to some of our members. We brought her the Word of God, an offering, and a prayer. We are thankful that her health is improving.

Cindy had been praying for a divine appointment from God to be able to share the gospel. Two days later she received a call from the United States from a sister in Christ from Ojos de Agua who lives in Los Angeles. She asked that we go and pray for her brother, Samuel who has psychological problems. Another group of Christians arrived to pray that were visiting from a Hispanic church in the U.S. Minutes after the prayer, Samuel got up out of bed (he had been bedridden for four days!). Not only did we go to pray for him, but it was a good moment to share God’s word with his father, Chepe Melgar. It was just a week before that Camilo and Chepe had a conversation about the Bible (Chepe is very familiar with Biblical doctrine, but the only thing that’s left is accept Christ as his savior). Please pray for this family that they can give their hearts completely to Jesus.

Community Service

This Saturday, Camilo and two other members of the congregation, will weld railings to put around Cantón El Zapotal School’s patio area. The school had money in their budget for the materials but not enough for the labor.

New Ambulance for Ojos de Agua
The local health clinic in Ojos de Agua has recently obtained an ambulance. Camilo is serving on the committee to help in the maintenance of the vehicle. As a church, we decided to donate monthly to the gasoline fund and Camilo is serving as one of the drivers. Now it won’t be necessary to use the Blanco Family’s car for emergencies. On October 30th Camilo took the ambulance on its first emergency to the hospital in Chalatenango. We are happy to be able to serve the community in this manner.

Vigil in San Martin

Friday, October 24, a group of 12 members from the congregation traveled with Camilo to San Martin, San Salvador for an all night vigil (church service) focused on missions. The group left Ojos de Agua at 5:00PM and returned at 8:30AM the next day. Camilo was one of three pastors invited to preach. The service included prayer for Salvadorian missionaries serving in various parts of the world and a challenge to the church to support missionary efforts.

Prayer Requests

-For a solution to the water problem on the church property.

-For the search for a ministry assistant that will carry on the work of the church in Ojos de Agua

-For Chepe Melgar and his family

-For spiritual growth of three families in Cantón El Coyolar: Hermelinda Menjivar and family, Juventina and family, Ester Menjivar and family.

-For some of the church families that have lost their bean crops (too much rain) and rice crops(too much wind).

-That God will open doors in the area of community service.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Prayer Requests Continued Sept. 08

Please pray for the following:
-the search for a full-time pastor for Ojos de Agua

Our partners need your prayers too:
-Sharing the gospel isn’t easy in some parts of Chalatenango. Please pray for protection for our missionary friends in the southern part of Chalatenango from the Church of God congregation. They have experienced many forms of opposition. http://www.comifad.info/

-Pray for God’s will in Tulare First Baptist Church’s construction project. http://www.tularefbc.org/

-Pray for the purchase a church building for the Iglesia de Dios congregation in Tarzana, CA.

-Pray for the Lord’s provision of a new pastor for the Union Church of San Salvador. http://internationalcongregations.net/nic_openings.html

Thank you for your faithful prayer support!

Make a Smilebox photobook

June - August 2008 Update

Construction Update
There has been little advancement, but ditches have been dug for the foundation. While digging, the workers ran into a water problem. The rain water that has been absorbed from the surrounding properties accumulates above and underground. We are working with an engineer to solve this problem. Thanks to some very generous donations, we were able to buy a lot of basic building materials, trying to take advantage of prices as the price of steel keeps rising. We will wait for the rainy season to calm down and look to lay foundations in October or November.

(the photo shows the 2 m deep trenches filled with water)

Faith In Action: Tulare First Baptist Missionaries bless the Ojos de Agua Community
Members from Cindy’s home church joined us for a week of service work from July 14-24th.
Activities included:
-re-roofing a part of the home of Gilberto and Leonor Villegas
-welding protection bars and building new doors for new believer: Juventina
-two days of soccer clinics and tournament on third day
-soccer ball donations to participants and to local schools
-participation in church services
-Bible School lessons -children’s clothes donations
-home visits
The team also brought with them a large donation for our church construction work.
We are grateful to TFBC for coming for a missionary experience and for their continued support for our ministry.

(click on photos to see larger image)

Baby Dedication
Sunday, July 20 Lucas was officially presented to God in front of the congregation of Ojos de Agua, and missionaries from TFBC. Pastor Isaí Galdamez, Salvadorian from Woodville, CA, presented Lucas and prayed for the Blanco family.

Trip to California: a mix of emotions
After the mission team left El Salvador, Cindy and Lucas’ much awaited trip to the United States had come. Cindy’s parents had been anxiously waiting to meet their first grandchild. Carmen Elias traveled with Cindy to make the trip easier helping her care for the baby. Upon arrival to the Jones house, Lucas was put into his Grandpa Del’s arms and the two stared at each other and smiled. Two weeks later when Cindy was supposed to return to El Salvador, her father passed away. We are thankful that Del is no longer in pain, but we miss him terribly. Two major blessings resulted: Lucas got to meet his entire extended family, and Camilo was able to travel to the U.S. to be with the family. Camilo received an emergency visa from the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador to travel for 3 weeks. We are thankful to Congressman Devin Nunes and his assistant, John Gong, for making this happen. We are hoping that this opens the door for Camilo to be able to travel with the family at Christmas time.

(photo taken at McKinley Grove of Giant Sequoias in the Sierra Nevada Mtns.)

Prayer Requests:
-The enemy is attacking members of our church; please pray that the people may stay strong in their faith in Christ

-Pray that we may be guided by the Lord on how to handle current problems with the church property

-Pray for our health and protection

May Update 2008

Baby Blanco Update
As many of you have heard, our son was born on April 15. At 5:15PM he was delivered by c-section, weighed 7 lbs. 11 ounces. Cindy’s labor was induced that morning and after experiencing contractions all day and not dilating enough, the doctor decided on a c-section. We may have wanted a natural birth, but this was the Lord’s will, as Joshua Luke’s body was in an awkward position, and the doctor said he wouldn’t have been able to get out any other way. It has now been a month, and we are thankful that he is doing well and has been healthy. Thank you all for your consistent prayers and support. The Lord used you to bless us.

Construction Update
The past few months we have been busy preparing the church property for construction. As mentioned in the last update, we have been working closely with engineer Fabio Mejia and an architect in the plans (see pictures: top left: main entrance, bottom left: front view). Right when we were about ready to lay out the measurements for the construction, we ran into considerable differences in the level of the floor of the church building and the level of the road. A “caterpillar” was hired to dig out the land to make it close to the level of the road. After 18 hours of digging, the land has been lowered about one meter. God provided this machine for us to rent. It happened to be working on another project in the area. So Camilo hired them to work nights. The last night of work (May 14) was 15 hours without stopping; Camilo was there to watching the work and only got a couple hours of sleep! We are a couple weeks behind schedule, but we are confident in the Lord’s timing.

Sunday school Program and local boy blessed by a generous donation
We are extremely grateful to the parents of Benjamin Nielson (Tigard, Oregon) who have generously donated to our ministry from their son’s memorial fund. We received the donation through our friend, Tina Anderson, of ENLACE. The family asked Tina where in El Salvador they would be able to help children and Tina considered us.
The money is being used to purchase much needed Sunday school materials, such as curriculum, a whiteboard, tables, chairs, craft supplies, and more! Another part of the donation is dedicated to a boy from Ojos de Agua, Cantón El Sitio. Danilo Cesar (see photo to the left) is a young boy who is malnourished, unable to walk and has respiratory problems. Camilo and Cindy have been donating medicine and monthly trips to Benjamin Bloom Children’s Hospital in San Salvador. The funds will help cover these expenses. We are extremely grateful to the Nielsons, they are blessing many children of the Ojos de Agua community!

Mission team to arrive in July from U.S.
We are preparing to receive a team of short-term missionaries from Tulare First Baptist Church. The team will be here to support our ministry work from July 14 – 24. Their activities include: church construction, Bible lessons and crafts for kids, children clothing donation, soccer clinics and more. Please pray for this group of 16 that will be coming and for all the arrangements that are yet to be made.

New member of our leadership team to begin working with us soon
We are in the process of contracting a pastor to help in the ministry in Ojos de Agua. We have a candidate that is going to start in June to help us part-time the remainder of 2008. If this is the person the Lord wants to use in Ojos de Agua, then the plan is by January 2009 we will contract him full-time. The goal is to establish a leadership team with pastors Camilo, Cindy, candidate Roberto Lopez, and other members of the congregation. This would be a team that would begin small group meetings in homes throughout the various villages surrounding Ojos de Agua. Our desire is to incorporate Roberto in every aspect of our ministry including the work with the congregation and community service. Roberto has served in El Puerto de La Libertad Church (Mision Centroamericana) for more than 15 years in various ministries and church leadership (he was Camilo’s Sunday School teacher!), currently he is in his third year of studies in the Salvadorian Bible Institute, and is working on a church plant in Tamanique with his home church. His wife has also been active in church leadership. They have two children.

Please pray for…
- May 15 we are moving back to Ojos de Agua after living for two months San Salvador. Please pray for smooth transition for mom and baby.
- the construction work, and the Lord’s provision of time and finances.
- the team from Tulare First Baptist as they are preparing their trip to come in July
- Roberto Lopez, his recovery from a recent operation, and for confirmation on the Lord’s will as to work in Ojos de Agua
- the family of Vilma. She recently passed away and left behind young children to be raised alone by her husband.
- Cindy’s parents

March / April 2008 Update

Baby Blanco Update
-We’re still waiting on our son’s arrival! We were given one more week before the doctor will induce labor.
-We are so THANKFUL to the Lord for a recent donation from World Challenge (www.worldchallenge.org) which will cover all that is left of our upcoming hospital bill! Thank you to everyone that has been praying and supporting us in this area!
-Thank you to the women of the Association of Pastor’s Wives of the Misión Centroamericana who gave Cindy and Camilo a nice baby shower on April 1. Not only has our baby been blessed, but we have as well by your prayers and words of wisdom.

Construction Update
-Thank you to Peter Biller and Sean & Jennifer Nelsen of Tulare First Baptist Church who recently sent a very generous donation for construction materials! The building process will soon be able to begin!-Camilo is working closely with engineer, Fabio Mejia (once employee of Samaritan’s Purse), to assist with building design details. Pray for Fabio as he is still looking for a full-time job after the Samaritan’s Purse’s office closed here in El Salvador.

Prayer Requests:
-For the short-term mission team that is planning a trip to help with construction from Tulare First Baptist, for their financial provision, health, and team unity. The dates of the trip are: July 13-24th.
-Economic provision for church construction.
-A healthy delivery for both Cindy and baby
-We are still not in the new house. Pray that the workers can finish their jobs quickly so we can be somewhat settled by the time of the baby’s arrival.
-Keep praying for the health of Cindy’s father and physical and spiritual strength for her mother.
-For the provision for all the Salvadorian employees of Samaritan’s Purse, because the office recently closed, many are without work.

March 2008 Update

Construction Update:
We have officially paid off the church property, Praise the Lord! Thanks again for all of your donations and prayers!! We will be going through the legal processes soon in order to get the land in the name of the church’s denomination, Misión Centroamericana.

On Monday, March 3, a soil test (see photos) was conducted to determine the resistance of the ground to the metal structure that will be put up to frame the church’s building. We’ll receive the results by the end of this week.

Service Ministry:
We’ve begun a Service Ministry within our congregation. The purpose of this ministry is to show the love of God visiting the sick and needy in the community (believers and non-believers) to pray for them and give them a special offering. The Ministry’s group gets together every two weeks to assess the current needs of the community, pray for them and plan the visits.

Work with Circuit 1:8 (La Cruz):
Once a month pastors and their wives meet to report and share about their congregations, projects they would like to complete, and how, as a group, they can help one another. One of the urgent needs is to help a church from Misión Centroamericana in the La Cruz village of La Nueva Concepción. Currently this church is without a pastor after certain problems. To see that the church members don’t disappear, three pastors, Osmin Corleto, Anibal Arías, and Camilo have taken the initiative to help care for this congregation. Once a week they are meeting with members of the community to determine the roots of the problems. We pray that the community can stay strong in their faith focusing first on their own personal relationships with Christ and then on the search for a new pastor.

Working in the Community (Cindy, vice-president of the board of the Environmental Unit):
At the end of 2007, the municipality of Ojos de Agua along with the mayor formed an Environmental Unit. They elected a board to help with implementing decisions to protect the environment. The board includes Cindy as vice-president and other Christian representatives: Alba Luz Calderón and Berta Luz López. We hope to have an impact on the community educating them on the importance of caring for God’s creation. The first project of the Environmental Unit is to determine an effective system to collect trash for recycling and compost, and put up signs in areas where people dump their trash warning them of strict fines (in the creek areas and along the cliffs).

Baby Blanco is very blessed!
Our baby has been so blessed. We are so thankful for the sisters of Circuit 1:8, Brisas del Edén Church in Ayutuxtepeque, and a group of friends in San Salvador that planned very nice baby showers with showers of lovely gifts for our baby. Thank you so much! May the Lord bless you!
Cindy is in her last month of pregnancy and the baby is already in position for departure. She is living now in San Salvador with missionary, Tina Anderson of ENLACE in order to be closer to the hospital. As a family we are so thankful to Tina for offering us a home during this time!

Our needs:
Praise the Lord we have been able to complete the payments for the hospital (for a normal delivery). Thank you for your donations! We are still looking for donations for the doctors’ fees and other exams for the baby once he’s born.
-doctor’s delivery fee: $750 ($1,130 if it’s a c-section)-pediatrician’s fee: $250
- metabolic test on baby, epidural if necessary and other proecedures: approximately $1,025
If the Lord puts it on your heart to help us in this way, please email us: camiloycindy@gmail.com


Prayer Requests:
-Economic provision for church construction. The price of iron is going up every moment.
-For the Service ministry to have a strong impact for Christ in the community.
-Restoration of health for sisters, Alba Luz and Vilma.
- For the brothers and sisters helping with Sunday School while Cindy is away, that they have confidence in themselves and that they prepare well to work the kids
-A healthy delivery for both Cindy and baby
– Provision for the expenses of the delivery
- We are still not in the new house. Pray that the workers can finish their jobs quickly so we can be somewhat settled by the time of the baby’s arrival. Right now we are staying in the little room of the church.
-Keep praying for the health of Cindy’s father and physical and spiritual strength for her mother.

January / February Update 2008

January 14 – 18: Visit from Tulare First Baptist Church
We had the privilege hosting Pastor Daniel Elías and Missions Chairman, Fred Speckman. The purpose of their exploratory trip was to make plans for a short-term missions trip with TFBC. They also brought us the church property/construction donation which ended up totaling $10,000! Praise the Lord! This is a sufficient amount to pay off the land and begin a phase of construction! During the week, Daniel and Fred shared the Word of God with members of our congregation. It was a blessing and a wonderful time of fellowship with these brothers. Again, thank you everyone for your efforts, donations, and prayers for this project!

January 17: Work begins on the church property
On Thursday of the week that Daniel and Fred were visiting, they, along with some members of our congregation broke ground for the construction project. After a word of prayer, the guys got to work preparing the land for construction, moving rocks, taking out dead trees, etc. Now the men are leveling the ground and the plan is to construct a storage shed for the construction tools and materials.

January 27: Pastor’s Day Celebration
The brothers and sisters of Ojos de Agua church held a special service to celebrate Pastor’s Day. They gave thanks to the Lord for sending their pastors, Camilo and Cindy, to Ojos de Agua to preach the gospel. “I thank the Lord for these servants that God has sent us, because we were lost.” (Dina)

January 29 – 30: Two delegates from Ojos de Agua church attend the National Convention of the Central American Mission
At the end of January, Camilo with Ángel Ayala attended the National Convention of our denomination. The purpose of the convention is to hold a meeting with representatives of all the churches in El Salvador to present reports from 2007 and plans for 2008. This time also included elections of new board members. Please pray for the leadership on a national level of the Central American Mission.

January 31 – February 1: Visit from Church of God, Tarzana, CA
Last week we had the special opportunity to have Pastor Rodolfo Alatorre and his wife, Maria del Pilar Alatorre with us in Ojos de Agua. The visit was a quick one, but we had a wonderful time of fellowship with them. We shared the areas of Ojos de Agua where we are working and they were able to meet some relatives of their members in Tarzana that are living in Ojos de Agua.

We are thankful for:
-Your prayers and financial support for our work and for our personal needs.
-We are going to be able to move at the end of February! Thank you for your prayers!
-In February we are going to receive a generous donation to buy Sunday School materials, and a donation to help out two handicapped boys from the community! (more information on this in the next update)

Please pray for:
-A member of our congregation, Alba Luz, for her many health problems.
-New believer, Vilma, for her health, she will be operated in the National Hospital Rosales.
-Our health- Camilo, Cindy, and baby
-Economic provision for the expenses of the birth of our baby
-For Cindy’s dad’s health

January Update 2008

Thank you Tulare First Baptist Church!

We just received word that our church family in Tulare just finished raising $9,800 to help us finishing paying off our church property and build the temporary church structure! Praise the Lord for the very generous brothers and sisters who, by their donations are partnering with us in the ministry! God bless you!

Baby Shower

Cindy went to Tulare, CA for Christmas to be with her parents, brother and soon-to-be-sister-in-law. During her visit some ladies from the Tulare First Baptist Church held a nice baby shower for her. The afternoon included games, special devotional time from Nona Wilson and Jennifer Marroquin, prayer, and gifts. Cindy was given the opportunity to share about the work in El Salvador as well as the cultural traditions that Salvadorians have regarding pregnancy and childbirth. We are thankful for all the women who were able to attend and appreciate TFBC for its continued support of our work and their commitment to caring for their missionaries!

A visit to the Church of God, Tarzana

Upon arriving to the U.S., Cindy had the opportunity to share about the work in Ojos de Agua to the Church of God in Tarzana, CA. We were first introduced to this church body when we met brother José Melgar in Ojos de Agua. He was visiting his hometown and was looking for an evangelical church and found Camilo. Brother José converted to Christ after moving to the U.S. and now his entire family attends the church as well as other extended family members. The majority of the church members are Salvadorians and the rest from Mexico or other Central American countries. During Cindy’s visit, she shared a video about the ministry and then shared from the Word of God. We are so thankful for our partnership with this church family!

Word of Life Youth Camp… December 17-22, 2007

While Cindy was in the United States, Camilo took a 5 young men, Francisco Mejia, Diego Melgar, Antonio Rivera, Pedro Villegas, and Nixon Lopez to Word of Life’s youth camp. The week was filled with competitions, Bible Studies, and guest speakers. The guys had a great time, Diego was voted best camper, and ... Praise the Lord two boys, Pedro and Nixon, accepted Christ as their Savior! Pray that these boys keep seeking the Lord.

Baby Blanco Update

Many are asking, where are we going to have the baby, and will he be able to travel, etc… We are planning on having the baby in San Salvador’s Women’s Hospital (Hospital de la Mujer). As soon as the baby is born the plan is to report the birth at that U.S. Embassy and apply for his U.S. citizenship, which includes getting his passport. So the baby will have dual citizenship. If mom and baby are healthy they plan on traveling to the U.S. for Cindy’s brother Brett’s wedding at the end of April. Please pray that all goes well so we won’t miss the wedding!

What’s coming up this month…

- January 14 – 18 Pastor Daniel Elías and Fred Speckman, President of the Missions Committee of Tulare First Baptist Church will be coming to Ojos de Agua for an exploratory visit. We will be making plans for a future short-term mission trip and spend time in fellowship with the congregation. Please pray for this trip, for Daniel, Fred, and their families.
- January 22 – 24 Camilo and Angel Ayala, will be attending the Central American Mission’s National Convention in San Salvador.

News on the house

Many of you have been praying that the Lord provide a new home for us to move in to. Praise the Lord, it looks like we’ll be moving into a house in February! The landowner has some finishing touches to do, so we’re hoping it’ll be ready to go in time. We would like to be settled before Cindy has to move temporarily to San Salvador in March, before the baby is born (due early April). Thank you for keeping this in your prayers.

Our needs

Some personal needs we have include paying for the hospital expenses that will be coming.
Some of the expenses include:
-three more monthly payments of $125 to pay for basic hospital stay (if it’s not c-section).
-doctor’s delivery fee: $750 ($1,130 if it’s a c-section)
-pediatrician’s fee: $250
If the Lord puts it on your heart in helping us cover these costs, please email us and let us know: camiloycindy@gmail.com

Prayer Requests

- For the two young men who accepted Christ at the youth camp, Pedro and Nixon
- For Cindy and baby’s health, a healthy delivery and that they will be able to travel to the U.S. to Cindy’s brother’s wedding.
- For Pastor Daniel and Fred’s visit in January.
- That we may be able to successfully move in February
- Economic provision for hospital costs
- For Cindy’s father’s health.