The Sweet Taste of Visible Fruits

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, so I want to take a few minutes to catch you up on how I see God at work in my entrusted ministry in El Salvador.  You probably know my work is in the area of developing Sunday School curriculum for the twelve Evangelical Methodist Churches in El Salvador as well as training and encouraging the teachers of each of those churches in using the curriculum.  If I’ve had any extensive conversation with you since moving to El Salvador, you also know that writing curriculum is not something I have ever imagined myself doing.  But I am so in awe of how God works and how He has woven together years of experiences into a beautiful design that has prepared and equipped me for this very task.

Writing curriculum is something that is a healthy challenge for me…keeping me interested in the work and continuously grateful for the ways God reveals himself to me through the task.  The last few weekends have been especially wonderful as I have visited area churches who are using the curriculum.  I have enjoyed seeing how God has gifted them in the work of teaching and want to share with you some of the things I’ve had the privilege to see while visiting.  

As a children’s minister in NC, I remember sharing with teachers on many occasions that the seeds we plant in the students we teach may be ones in which we never get the joy of seeing fully developed, but we can be assured that God will continue to grow those seeds and will see the harvest.  I am so thankful that for my encouragement in this task of developing curriculum, God has allowed me to “taste and see” some of the fruits of my labor thus far.  Reminding me of the scripture “taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”  Psalm 34:8

The current unit being used in each Sunday School Setting is a series of 9 lessons from the book of Joshua.  If you've studied Joshua, you know that this is a book full of many battles.  So, you understand that I struggled in writing these lessons for kids.  But I felt convicted that is was the direction in which God was leading.  And was happy with the way He helped me frame the lessons in ways that will hopefully be applicable for the kids.  But I was so done with Joshua once I finished writing.  Getting to see these lessons alive has brought renewed excitement and conviction for me in the assurance of God's direction in this unit!  God is sooooo incredibly good...all the time!

 

This picture is from Los Horcones Methodist Church.  They are doing a memory verse activity with 12 paper bag stones.  This goes along with the story of when Joshua and the Israelites crossed over the Jordan River into the promised land and God instructed them to collect 12 stones from the bottom of the river bed to serve as a reminder to all generations of the great works God had done, is doing, and will do.

Los Horcones - Preparing to cross the Jordan River.

Los Horcones - The activity was intended to help kids act out the Israelites crossing of the Jordan River with two jump ropes.  I love how this creative teacher added blue water in between the two ropes.  And it was cool to visit with them the following Sunday and hear the excitement the children retained from this lesson.

Los Horcones - a new faith community for the Methodist Church in El Salvador.  The kids are so excited about Sunday School.

Los Horcones

This is the preschool class at La Providencia Evangelical Methodist Church.

Both of these teachers are fairly new to teaching Sunday School.  The book she is teaching from is the curriculum I wrote and shared with the churches.  I love getting to be a first-hand witness of the teaching of these lessons and how the kids receive them.

La Providencia Preschool Class

This is the intermediate class at La Providencia.  And this teacher is very special to me because she was one of the first children God used in El Salvador to capture my heart and to place a call on me to serve here.  I am so happy to see her now teaching Sunday School and sharing what God has given here.  In this lesson about Rahab's faith, Wendy encouraged her students to grow in the faith so that they too could one day pass it along to younger generations through the ministry of teaching.

El Shaddai Evangelical Methodist Church - Crossing the River Jordan

Seasoned and professional teacher at El Shaddai, reviewing the lesson about the tabernacle, as special place for God, from the week before.  I loved how she used some pictures she had in her supplies from lessons she had taught many years before.

Preschool class at El Shaddai - this teacher is fairly new to teaching Sunday School, although she has been a faithful leader and servant in the Sunday School ministry for a few years now.  She did a great job of wrangling the attention of these wiggly preschoolers!

Los Horcones Methodist Church - I'm really proud of these two young ladies and the ministry they are building with their parents.  Their father has been sent out as the pastor of Los Horcones to grow a thriving ministry in this community.  They started as a family close to two months ago.  Dad and mom lead the adult study while the daughters teach the children.  In a matter of weeks, they have grown to  a very healthy size of 25-30 kids each Sunday. 

I was excited to see this activity in action.  It was a review game of the previous lessons in the book of Joshua.  The kids did a great job of placing the photos in the correct order. 

Los Horcones  - I was thrilled to see the teachers encouraging the older students to read from the Bible.  A teaching method I stress in training sessions as a way of encouraging students to have comfort in dwelling in God's word.

Las Chicas Lindas de Los Horcones - The joy of fellowship I witnessed in this new faith community was truly contagious.  The girl in the striped shirt and blue skirt was here for her second Sunday with her older sister who attended the adult class.  I had time to talk with her sister and she told me that they had been invited by the pastor and a group of North Americans who came to share a bag of food with her family.  She had not been attending a church before this, but was very hungry to be in the Word of God.  She expressed joy in feeling a part of the great, big family of God.  I wish I had a picture of her to share.  Christ shines through the beauty of her smile!

I will be visiting more churches in the upcoming weeks and will share with you more photos so you can get to know the Sunday School ministries of each of the twelve churches a little better.  I am currently developing lessons on the Fruits of the Spirit.  Please pray that I will be obedient as God leads me in writing these lessons.  And that I will be open for the Spirit to lead the way. 

Sent

This morning I was sent.  

Sent by my husband to pay bills. 

 I left the house with a plan.  First to the power company, then to the cell phone office, then to the water company, and then to the post office.  All four offices with-in a rectangular radius of two blocks from one another.  The furthest being no more than five blocks from my house.  So I figured I could get all these errands done in an hour or less traveling by foot.

When I arrived at the power office, I walked in, went straight up to the counter and paid the bill.  All within a matter of ten minutes after leaving the house.  As I stepped out of the power office and glanced down the street toward the water office, I saw a long line out front.  I thought I’d walk by and check it out, and determine whether or not I had time to wait.  

As I crossed the street, I bumped into one of the ladies from the church we attend.  We greeted with a hug and how are yous.  Of course, she wanted to know what I was out doing.  (I love that the ladies of the church feel responsible for my safety and whereabouts!)  I told her I was paying bills.  She told me she was doing the same.  And that she had just left the water company where she had waited in line for an hour.  Oh my!  We said our good-byes and God bless yous and went on our separate ways. 

As I walked passed the water office and got a closer look at the line, I decided to travel to the cell phone office first with hopes that the water line would be shorter upon my return.  I said hello to a girl from church who was waiting patiently for her mom who was waiting in line to pay her bill.

At the phone office I walked right in, straight to the counter, and paid my bill in a matter of a few minutes.  As I stepped out of the cell phone office, I decided to cross through the park and visit a friend who owns the ice cream store and buy some water from her to make my wait at the water office a little more pleasant.

 In the ice cream store, I chatted with my friend for a few minutes talking about our need for more exercise and the battle we face with getting up early to walk at the stadium or staying out late for the community running group on Tuesdays and Fridays.  We gave each other encouragement to keep pressing forward and she complimented me on how my Spanish is continuing to improve.  We exchanged our good-byes and take cares and I was ready to face the long line at the water company.

This time, the line looked to be the same distance.  I thought about returning a different day, but ultimately decided it would be nice to stand in line for a few minutes to let my mind wander a little. 

Fortunately, I was prepared with my cold bottle of water and my umbrella that I keep in my purse.  I never know when I will need it.  This time of year, it’s not for the rain, but to block the hot, scorching sun.  

The line seemed to move at a steady pace.  But when I reached a spot where I could see the door, I noticed that there were some people who walked up, walked right past the line and somehow made it inside.  The more people I saw do this, the more frustrated I became.

I started to notice that they were all older people.  Grandparent material.  Some were great-great-grandparent material.  

Finally I reached the door, but an old man edged his way in front of me.  Who did he think he was?  I tried to block him, but he was persistent and got in front of me anyway.

As I made it into the five-times-as-long line inside, I saw that the man who pushed past me went straight up to the counter, by-passing the line all together.  I just shook my head and figured it’s just one of those things I have to let go.

As I waited and waited and waited in the line, I noticed this happening again and again.  Older people were being ushered in past the line all together and delivered straight to the counter by the security guards.  No one in the line seemed aggravated by this.  I finally realized that this was their system of hospitality.  

Each of these people that were ushered past the line were considerably old.  Like 80s or 90s.  (I know, that’s still young for many people.)  But when I started thinking about the distance these people may have walked to come into the water office, I didn’t want them to have to stand in the hot sun either.  They looked incredibly frail.  All with very weathered, dark, leathery skin that represented the many years of hard physical labor they had put in caring for their families, just managing to scrape by. 

As I had time to stand by and watch the hospitality of the security guards, I began to appreciate their kindness towards and respect for these elderly people.  And I also had time to appreciate that they were still out and about taking care of business, despite their obvious sum of years.

I realized that it was God who nudged me to take the time to wait in the line this morning.  Not because I didn’t have other things to take care of, but because He had a lesson for me there.

You see, I believe that being sent has a lot less to do with the abilities I have as it does with the lessons God has for me to learn.  He has sent me out to serve Him, not because He thinks I already know everything I need to know to get the job done.  Not because He thinks I am already equipped with all the tools I need to accomplish the work He has for me.  But because He knows that it is in the willingness to go and be open to the lessons that He can teach me, empower me, and equip me to do the work that He has for me.  

I have been sent to live with a people that once seemed foreign to me.  To learn from them.  To build relationships with them.  And to do Kingdom work with them.  So that “them” gradually becomes “we.”  Not because of anything I have done or will do, but because of EVERYTHING He HAS done and WILL do!

The whole act of being sent starts with a simple willingness to go.  To be open to the unknown that lies ahead.  The curves and stops along the way are often the most beautiful parts.  And the unexpected and at times mundane “long-line experiences” are often the tools God gives us to equip us for His work.

Once I finally arrived back home (two hours after leaving) I realized that I had accomplished what I had set out to do – which was to pay the bills my husband sent me to pay.  I also realized that wasn’t the real reason I was sent.  I was sent out this morning to greet and hug a sweet sister in Christ on the street.  I was sent out this morning to catch up with a friend in the ice cream shop.  And I was sent out this morning to see the beauty of Salvadoran culture and the way respect for elders is lived out…not just talked about.  I returned home different than I left.  Tired and hot from the journey, but full and renewed from the lessons.

I pray that God continues to keep me open to His unexpected teachings along this journey.  And that I don’t rush through things, while missing out on the lessons that await me in the long-line moments.