This past month, Ojos de Agua has been hit with a number of tragedies. There have been three attempted suicides, one of them a young girl of only 14 passed away after taking a rat poison pill. Her name was Norma and lived with her cousins because both of her parents left her and her four siblings, to go to the U.S. Two weeks earlier, her ex-boyfriend, Jonny, tried committing suicide by only taking half the rat poison pill, but by God’s mercy survived. Saturday, May 2, Norma was buried at 4:00PM and at 7:00PM Jonny’s schizophrenic step-father, Beto, shot and killed a 24 year-old young man named Manuel Calderon. Manuel was a friend of both Cindy and Camilo’s. He was an employee of the mayor’s office in charge of coordinating the environmental committee. Cindy worked alongside him in these matters. Manuel was quiet and never bothered anyone. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He left behind his wife and 8 month old daughter. We are stunned at all that has happened.
We pray:
-for strength for the suffering families
-that Beto will be found (he’s still on the loose and armed) and that justice will be done
-for the youth of this community and all of El Salvador that are suffering loneliness as a result of living in broken homes
-that parents would think twice about leaving their children behind as they attempt to seek a ‘better’ life in another country
-that the Lord would guide His church in Ojos de Agua in how to confront these situations and be a light to the lost
-that the Lord would use us to bring more people to His kingdom.
Will you please join us in praying these things too?
Construction Update
We are in the process of slowly raising funds for construction, if you would like to contribute, please let us know! These past few months, we have held all-church work days on the property. The church members have been helping in leveling out the foundations and filling in the ditches. We are thankful that many have come out and put in their time and effort into the construction! For two Saturdays we prepared and sold cow-foot soup (sopa de pata) for the church building project, everyone loves this soup here (except maybe the foreigners, well that means Cindy!).
In March the Blanco family purchased a used pickup to haul construction materials and bring people back and forth to church services. Camilo welded railings and added benches so people can ride in the back more comfortably. We are so thankful that we have a more economical way to move people around. We are thankful to our partners who faithfully donate to our ministry; we wouldn’t have been able to purchase this without you!
What came about after celebrating Lucas’ birthday…Indigo!
For Lucas’ first birthday we took him and another boy, Oscar to
Special visit from partnering church of San Martin
On Sunday, May 3rd, 30 brothers and sisters from a MCA church in San Martin came to Ojos de Agua for a joint church service. Cindy and Lucas led them on a walk to the church property to see the construction process, upon returning members from Ojos de Agua church arrived. The church service and communion was held at the Blanco’s home, and we still didn’t all fit! Pastor Salvador Perez shared the Lords message for all of us. His message was about the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-11). Without doubt God spoke to us that afternoon because we were all hurting over the terrible events that had happened these last few days. We are grateful the sacrifice this congregation made to travel all the way to Ojos de Agua, it is a difficult trip for some who are not used to the winding roads. We were very blessed and encouraged by their presence.
Activities with local MCA churches (Circuit 1:8)
These past few months we have been continually active with our group of MCA churches in the region, we have:
-Held joint church services in a number of different places, the most recent one was held in Las Cañas (finally Cindy got to see where Pastor Isaí Galdámez grew up!)
-Held joint meetings to pray for our Salvadorian missionaries and hear about new projects. The most recent was held on Saturday May 2, where we learned more about the missionary family of Julio Figueroa; they are planning to be missionaries in
-Assisted monthly meetings for pastors and wives where Camilo continues to serve as vice-president and Cindy gives the monthly devotional for the pastors’ wives group.
Cindy continues her studies
Cindy has begun studying for a Masters in Theological Studies through
Prayer Requests:
-please see requests mentioned above in bold letters.
-provision for the church building project
-a safe trip for Cindy and Lucas as they travel to the
