May 2009 Update

Tragedies in Ojos de Agua
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!).

New Transportation

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 La Palma with the purpose of buying Lucas and Oscar little guitars in the artisan market. We took the time to visit Semilla de Dios Artisan workshop and Co-op, where famous Salvadorian artist, Fernando Llort began teaching his art to the locals. Later we went to the main market and to the little shop of a woman named Santana to buy Lucas’ and Oscar’s guitars (she had made a diaper bag for Cindy about a year ago). Camilo asked Santana’s son about learning how to dye clothes with the natural dye Indigo. He told us that the next week his mom was going to give classes! We took advantage of the opportunity and attended two days of the workshops the following week. What resulted is the desire to start an artisan workshop here in Ojos de Agua, starting with our church members and then expanding to the community. We have the church board’s approval and have purchased the materials to get started, and we also have the approval of the mayor. This will be another attempt to try to create a source of income for this poor community. Please pray for us as we embark on this endeavor this coming week with our first workshop on Wednesday. We will be learning the process of cultivating the plant and then using it to create the dye. This is a process that goes back to the ancient Mayan civilization that is currently making a comeback in Central America. We pray that this not only will serve the community in meeting their material needs, but also we want to use this project as a way of demonstrating the love of God to others.

Special visit from partnering church of San Martin

On Sunday, May 3^rd, 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 Iceland.

-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 Vision International University. This is an online program. Please keep her in your prayers that she will manage her time well to complete the program.

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 U.S. May 12^th – May 31^st.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

December 08 - January 09 Update

Construction Update

Praise the Lord the electricity has been connected on the church property and all last week we were able to run cement mixer to get the foundations complete. The metal structure is almost ready to be installed. We will now be raising more funds to be able to install the metal structure and build the walls. We need prayer for the Lord´s provision. Church members are having bake sales weekly to raise funds and we are planning to travel to local partner churches to look for donations. Our goal is to raise $3,500 for this phase of the construction.

National Convention

On January 30, Camilo and sister Leidy Marquez attended Central American Mission´s Annual National Convention. The theme for this years convention focused on meeting the needs of the community through the church. Annual reports were given and new members of the Board were elected. The next day, the majority of Ojos de Agua church members traveled to San Salvador´s Sports Palace for the conclusion of the convention. It was a special time of fellowship with the majority of churches in the country gathered to praise the Lord

Baptisms and a joint church service

On January 17, 2009, eight people from our congregation were baptized in the Lempa River near Nueva Concepción. These are the brothers and sisters who publicly testified of their faith in Christ (in order as you see them in the photo): Roberto Galicias, Gloria Calderón, Dinora Jordán, Antonio Salinas, Yesica Calderón, Jocelyn Galicias, Xiomara Liquez y Sara de Lue. After the baptisms we enjoyed time together as a church family relaxing by river. Later in the afternoon, we traveled to Nueva Concepcion and joined all the churches from Chalatenango (Circuit 1:8) gathered together for a church service. What a great day to have everyone together!

Children’s Sunday School Classes Expand to El Tablón
On Sunday, January 25, children’s Sunday school began in Cantón El Tablón. The day before Cindy and her assistant teachers, went house to house inviting children. The next day twenty energetic children arrived eager to learn more about God. Cindy will help teach the class, which is being held at the Blanco Family’s property, every other Sunday. On the Sundays that she is not in El Tablón, she will continue work in Ojos de Agua’s Sunday School Program. The teachers are still in training. Please pray for these young girls that want to be teachers that they remain strong in their faith as they face many challenges and temptations. They are: Beatriz, Yeni, Leidy, Martina, and Xiomara

Christmas in Ojos de Agua
In December we were blessed with a visit from Cindy’s mom for Christmas. This was a very different Christmas for Mary and Cindy, but we all enjoyed our time together!

Christmas Eve and New Years Eve Services
On Dec. 24 we celebrated the birth of our Savior with the entire congregation together in the Blanco family’s home. We began with a service at 10 AM and finished with a chicken sandwich lunch. It was a nice time of fellowship and great moment to share the message of Christmas to everyone including our neighbors. On the 31st at 7:00 PM we celebrated the coming of the New Year by giving thanks to God for the many blessings in 2008 and we were challenged to continue serving Him in 2009 with the goal to continue sharing the gospel. We ended the time of fellowship with banana bread and coffee.

Environmental Committee holds recycling campaign

In the beginning of December the environmental committee Ojos de Agua held a plastic recycling campaign. Cindy along with community members divided up among the various neighbourhoods and collected many trash bags full of plastic bottles. They even climbed through pastures to reach plastic that had been dumped! After the Christmas and New Year’s vacations, they got together to begin smashing the plastic to be sold. The money raised will go to Ojos de Agua Health Clinic.

Prayer Requests:
1. Praise the Lord the electricity has been connected on the church property and all last week we were able to run cement mixer to get the foundations complete. The metal structure is almost ready to be installed. We will now be raising more funds to be able to install the metal structure and build the walls. We need prayer for the Lord´s provision. Church members are having bake sales weekly to raise funds and we are planning to travel to local partner churches to look for donations.
2. Pray for the health of: brother Orlando who will need to undergo a third brain operation, and sister Alba Luz who has undergone treatment for uterine cancer and will be checked on in 6 months
3. Pray for the new Sunday School teachers, that they may stay strong in their faith and their commitment to serve the Lord this way.
4. Pray for the Lord´s guidance as we serve the community this year, we are looking to complete big projects as a church and need His wisdom.
5. For our (Blanco Family) health, protection and perseverance as we serve the Lord.

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!