Wednesday July 15

Wednesday we were back at the Sonsonata Deaf School continuing to do yardwork and giving the first presentation of our Bible skits/discussions to 40 elementary students in the morning and 16 high school students in the afternoon. We started with the “J Team,” Jeremy Traf and Jeremy Tagoo, playing guitars and leading “We Fall Down” while Mariah did the signs. The Old Testament (OT) team then did the story of the Fall from Genesis 3 with Jeremy Traf as Adam, Alex as Eve, Andrew as the serpent, Mariah as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Kathryn (OT skit team leader) as narrator, and Jim as the voice and presence of God. As mentioned, we had two translations; from English to Spanish to El Salvador Sign Language, so timing was important. The ES students had some good inputs (a couple of lively talkers/signers in each group—as in any group) and our students asked some application questions. Kathryn shared some of her personal story with the elementary students and Alex shared some of hers in the afternoon (on short notice, good show of courage, Alex!). Personal stories are powerful and cross cultures. Both presentations went well and the students gave us applause, which in sign language is raising one’s hands alongside one’s head with forearms parallel to the ground and moving hands back and forth. After the stories, the ES students did a craft related to the skit assisted by some of our students (Alex is crafts coordinator, also thanks to Kara for her advance work with Alex).

We worked on picking up trash and cutting down brush and hedge plants. Zach took clippers in hand and cut leafy plants around the playground/eating area from five feet to half that in no time with the assistance of some mothers of deaf school students who bagged the cuttings and carried them to the growing pile of brush. These moms bring their elementary children on the bus and stay at the school all morning to save the money required to return home and come back to pick up their children. They also watched our presentation. While we can fall into the trap of stereotyping other cultures as waiting for teams to come in and help, we have found the people here eager to work alongside of us. Among other projects in the yard, about half an acre, were moving piles of stones to the fence line and weed-whacking done ably by Jared, Tim and John Crews, and carrying limbs and brush away. Casey, Kathryn, Alex, Jeremy Traf and Andrew attacked the sloping, overgrown back yard of the school to pick up (lots of) trash with enthusiasm and without complaint. They pulled 5 trash bags of stuff out so far.

One humorous divine appointment was talking with Ruben, who looked like a resident standing in the doorway of a “basic house” just behind the school back fence. When we mustered up our basic Spanish to ask him how he was doing he said “Fine, how about you?” in English. Turns out he lives near LA and is visiting his mother in Sonsonata after his father passed away a few months ago. We had a chance to pray for him and he for us.

Our students were dribbling (soccer and basket) balls around with the ES school students. They like basketball and really know how to dribble the soccer ball. The school basketball backboard and hoop are non-operational at present, but perhaps we could help with that at some point depending on funds available at trip end. We hope to help fund a roof repair for the school which John reports is needed for about $100 as well as purchase a part for the water tank mentioned earlier.

After going out for Chinese food, in the evening we had our team meeting to go over the day; discuss our devotional (devo) topic, Compassion, and get ready for tomorrow, when the New Testament team will lead the Bible discussion. Team members are working hard and a mattress and air conditioning in our hotel are not luxuries but enhancers for our focus and labors in the heat. The hotel experience is new for many of us used to much less on missions trips, but it is very reasonable, very basic, and very appreciated—as are your support and prayers for the team. We will have many experiences and pictures to share.

Praise for:
- A smooth day, hard work, and evidence that we are making a difference.
- Open doors for the message of the Gospel at the school.
- Team safety (Jeremy is feeling better, thanks for your prayers)
-Good team attitudes (personified by our students who came up and said “What needs to be done I can help with?”)

Requests for:
- More divine appointments and the internal heart response of those we are with.
- A friend of a Luis, Christian 20 year old ES school student who was communicating with Diane Crews by writing on the white board . Luis brought -this friend to her and the friend indicated he wanted to talk about trusting Christ. Diane is looking for some Spanish material online; please pray for her time with him on Thursday.
- Changed lives and hearts in and out of the team. We are not aware of any other student or staff believers in the school but our message has been graciously received. Pray for them as we share.
- Continued humility, good health, good attitudes, good relationships.