Ojos de Agua Community Church, El Salvador: August 2010

Greetings Mission Partners! These past two months have been full of blessings and lots of work! We are excited to inform you about the happenings...

Please pray: for our health and the health of Pastor Heber's daughter Raquel, for provision for our construction project, that in His timing we will sell our car, and Pastor Heber's truck with the goal to purchase more practical vehicles for where we live, for Camilo and Cindy's studies....thanks!

Church Construction Update

Most of the month of July was spent on installing the roof to our church building. The month of August has been spent compacting the floor with layers of a sand and cement mixture. With heavy rains, we have had flooding problems, but we have found that the layers of compaction are helping to prevent the problem. We have two teams coming to help us. One team comes from North Carolina in the month of October. The second team, from Tulare First Baptist will be coming in November. Both will be helping with the construction project. Please pray for their trip, provision and safety.

Barefoot softball, no gloves, and rocks as the bases!

Our youth group is slowly growing and has had the desire to serve the community and reach out to more youth. In July we held a softball tournament for young women in El Tablón's soccer field. The youth learned a lot about working together and planning a project, being their first time. Many invitations to schools were sent, however only two teams showed and a third team was formed by the "ex-alums" of the community. Still, the morning was a lot of fun. The theme of the tournament was, "Do you want to be a champion?" Cindy gave a short devotional based on Romans 8:37. The tournament's official tee-shirt, and a bat were given as first prize and a softball to the second place winners. A special treat was given to the team who showed the best team work. The youth, with the help of Pastor Heber's wife, Mercedes, sold food to raise funds. It was amazing to watch these girls play barefoot, stubbing their toes on the rock bases and try catching the ball with no glove, we were impressed. I (Cindy) am looking for donations for bases (like the ones used in P.E. classes) if anyone would be interested in looking into this, please let me know.

Our youth group is planning on holding a soccer tournament for boys and girls sometime before the year is over. We are continuing to look for more ways to connect to the youth and offer activities that promote a healthy lifestyle.
**please check out more photos from the softball tournament at the end of the post!

Camilo sharing his testimony

Visit from Maranata Church, Soyapango

Youth working hard in the Church building!

We had the blessing to host approximately 40 youth from a MCA church of Soyapango. The purpose of their visit the first week of August was to hold a youth camp and service project. They stayed in Ojos de Agua's community building. Groups of youth helped with digging in and around the church building and worked hard under the rain and in the mud! A team of youth also gave workshops to our Sunday School teachers and left us a huge blessing of materials to use with children. We learned new games, songs, crafts, and teaching techniques. Also, Camilo, Cindy, and Pastor Heber were given the opportunity to share their testimonies to the youth during devotional times. We are so thankful to the Lord for the sacrifices and efforts that these youth put into their trip to Ojos de Agua!

**please scroll to the end of the post to see more photos!

Sunday School End of Unit Parties

These past three months our children have been traveling on the missionary journeys of Peter and Paul through the book of Acts. To celebrate the end of the unit, we held special activities with the kids and awarded those that memorized the most Bible verses. In Ojos de Agua, the students dressed up like some of the Biblical characters, and "traveled" from place to place, from Jerusalem, to Antioch, to Damascus, to Cyprus, to the prison and more, reviewing what they had learned along the way. In El Tablón, Cindy tried to review a bit of geography of the missionary journeys in a form of a relay race. During both parties, the kids sang many songs, played games, and finished the morning off with awards and a piñata! We have started using new material called Mission Adventures, where the children will be going on different adventures through topical studies from the Bible with a focus on missions.

Sunday School students in Ojos de Agua

Sunday School students in El Tablón

Kids singing a new song that the youth from Maranata taught us!

**more photos at the end of this post!

Cindy shares about working with at-risk kids

At the end of July, the Missions Department for the Central American Mission (DEMCA), asked Cindy to share about working with at-risk kids to representatives from MCA churches in the San Martin / Suchitoto area. Cindy traveled to Jardines del Edén church in San Martín to share what she had learned at the WEC /Rainbows of Hope conference that she had attended in April about how to start a ministry for at-risk kids in a local church. It was a privilege to be able to share such valuable information and encourage others to reach out beyond the four walls of the church building to where there so much need.

Painting Poles to Promote Tourism
Ojos de Agua participated in the Pueblos Vivos 2010 (Alive Towns!) contest, in national campaign to promote tourism throughout the country. One of the activities that is ongoing is painting the light and electric poles throughout the community with paintings that reflect the flora, fauna, and culture of the region. Cindy has just started to get involved and has painted three poles. Starting next week, some of the members of the youth group will continue the work with her.