Wednesday, January 18, 2017

PRACTICES




When I think about the word practices, I can’t help but to think of an image that I see regularly in Salvadoran life near the coffee farm filled mountains. 

 Coffee plants require shade trees to shelter the valuable plants from receiving too much sun and drying out as well as to shield them from breaking in the high winds to come in the winter months.  But with these shade trees come fallen branches that need to be cleared from the forest floor. 

Coffee farm owners often allow workers permission to come in and clear these fallen branches with a mutual understanding that the payment comes not from the owner of the coffee farm, but from someone in town who is willing the purchase the wood.  It’s somewhat of a copacetic relationship because the farm owner needs someone to clear the fallen branches and the person clearing the branches needs them either for personal firewood or to sell to provide income.
 

Coming up or going down the mountain road, it is very common to see a wood cart parked beside the road, signaling that someone is inside the farm collecting wood.  Once the fallen branches are gathered, they are loaded onto the cart and then driven down the steep mountain road and pulled further into town where someone is willing to buy wood to fuel their fire for cooking dinner.  After selling the wood, the cart is then drug back up the back up the steep mountain road that my car affords me the luxury of climbing with ease in a matter of 20 minutes so that more fallen branches can be collected, yielding more income at the close of a sell.  This type of work requires serious commitment to complete the task.  

 The person clearing the wood and filling up his cart does this practice regularly, not because he enjoys the challenge of the hunt or the exercise of the climb...but because his family will not survive without the yield of his work. 

Am I that committed to the practice of filling my “cart” 
with spiritual fuel found in God’s living 
Word?  Do I allow myself to live in a way in which I am 
daily dependent on the Holy Spirit?

In sincerest honesty, one of my biggest struggles as a missionary is keeping myself challenged to dig into God’s Word.  To seek nourishment…not just snacks from His truths.  

In my first few years of living in El Salvador, people would often ask me what I miss most from my home in the United States.  Honestly, the thing I miss the most is Bible Study Fellowship International.  While living in North Carolina, God blessed me with a very disciplined Bible Study community.  Each week I was challenged to dig deep into God’s word and soak in all that it offers.  My soul was filled on a weekly basis for seven years.  I grew comfortable in a rhythm of weekly practice of studying God’s word.  

When I first began attending this Bible study, I somehow knew that it would only be for a season.  That I would have to reap from it what I could in the time that God allotted to me in that space.  I sensed something else approaching my horizon.
While making the transition to life and ministry in El Salvador, it was immediately clear to me that God had intended the lessons I learned at Bible Study Fellowship to prepare me for my new normal.  I have thanked Him so much for those years of studying His word within a community intentionally designed to equip leaders to shine His light into the world by owning the truths within His Word.  And for giving me friendships with faithful women who lived out the truths of His Word in their daily lives.  

Yet, almost four years later, I still find myself hungering for that specific community.  realize how very rich I was in resources of Spiritual Practices while living in North Carolina.  It was something that I took for granted.

I also took for granted having study resources, worship resources, and Jesus-centered fellowship available in my native language.  While I am growing stronger and stronger in my Spanish language and communication skills…I don’t know all the worship songs by heart in Spanish as I once did in English.  I don’t have scripture memorized in Spanish the way I did/do in English.  My native language is a huge avenue through which I receive spiritual nourishment.

Maybe I struggle with the practice of digging into God’s word because I make it too difficult.  During my season in NC of digging deep on a weekly basis, God was preparing me for a particular time of drought.  I believe the Lord knew that I would need a period of time of simply soaking in all of my surroundings.  Being filled up with His Word allowed me to see those circumstances through the lense of the truths I had learned in that intense time of filling up.  Time to very simply BE STILL. 
Now as I am more settled in, and life is no longer still, I realize that I have allowed myself to get comfortable again with a form of unsatisfied spiritual hunger.  Not because I don’t have the ability to seek the Lord to fill me up in a way that quenches this hunger… not because the Sunday worship available to me is in Spanish… not because my local BSF group is an expensive plane ride away…but because I’m too lazy to do it for myself without the accountability of a group of ladies expecting me to participate in the weekly discussion.  

For so long, I thought the study I was doing in an intense accountability group was my solid food.  But now I realize it was my spiritual milk.  I was still relying on an outside source to force me to do the work of digging deep.  

I believe I am in a season of life in which I need to implement the practices God set before the Isrealites when he sent manna to the desert.  He instructed them not to pick up more than their fill, because he provided for only one day at a time…anything more gathered would spoil and rot. 
 
Lord, help me not be overwhelmed by the task of practice.  Help me to simply come to you hungry each morning, allowing you to fill up my cart with your supply for that day, trusting that you will provide what is needed for tomorrow when tomorrow comes.  Give me the same drive that the firewood man has to pull his cart, fill it up, and then drive it back down the mountain – day after day after day. Help me not seek my filling up in outside sources, but in YOU alone.  

Lead me day by day, by day, by day. 
In Jesus’ name.  Amen.


*Written in response to the weekly word prompt provided at The Grove at Velvet Ashes. http://velvetashes.com/

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Trying to end a long silence....

UGH...sometimes it's hard to keep in contact with the very people who are my support and strength in the work that I do.  I'm sorry that I have not been incredibly good at keeping y'all updated on everything. 

I'm going to try something new.  I'm going to try blogging each week based on a theme from a website titled Velvet Ashes.  It's a site specifically for female missionaries.  To encourage them in a variety of ways and in a variety of aspects of missionary life.

Thanks for loving me through the silence...I promise to type more in 2017!

Update from Your Missionary in El Salvador





Grace and Peace in the name of Christ, Jesus! 

It is with a happy heart that I write to you today!  But, first I must explain my long period of virtual silence.  I have been horrible at keeping you all updated during the year of 2016.  It was a whirlwind year for me.  I was asked to help the church by teaching English at the Methodist School in Ahuachapán.  So, I have been a first-year teacher for the second time around!

 
Summary of 2016
The Methodist School (Colegio Metodista) is about a five-minute walk away from my home.  Last year, 2016 was its third year in existence.  Colegio Metodista served 139 students in the 2016 school year.  The school years here in El Salvador run from mid-January to mid-November.  So, it’s on the cycle of the traditional calendar year.  Which was strange for me at first, but actually pretty great!!!

The school currently doesn’t have a specific curriculum for English, so I basically made things up as the year went along.  I used a lot of videos from YouTube to teach songs and explain vocabulary.  I served students from grades Pre-K through 5th.  During the year students learned vocabulary for basic getting acquainted conversations.  Such as – What’s your name?  My name is ___.  How old are you?  I’m ___ years old.  Where are you from?  I’m from ____.  How are you today?  I’m _____.  They also learned vocabulary for talking about the weather, as well as animal names, numbers 1-100, colors, and quite a bit more.  At the end of the school year, I was truly amazed by how much they had learned and retained from our lessons together.  Even the youngest children in the school (4 year-olds) learned quite a bit of vocabulary.

In 2016 I also continued with my responsibilities of serving as Christian Education Coordinator for the Evangelical Methodist Church here in El Salvador.  In this role, I serve 11 church communities in developing Sunday School Curriculum and equipping church leaders to put that curriculum into use within their local church settings.  In 2016 I led two Sunday School teacher trainings and provided them with 6 months of curriculum.  But mid-year, the weight of being a first-year teacher caught up with me and I had to step back to regroup in the area of writing curriculum.  I plan to pick that up again this year.

Me with some of my students on the last day of the 2016 school year.
Dreaming into 2017
In just one week, school will begin once again.  Students of Colegio Metodista will begin on January 23.  This year we have expanded the school building by added a second story – housing three additional classrooms and office space.
In the 2017 school-year we will serve 250 students in grades Pre-K through 6th.  We are adding a second classroom of Kindergarten 5 and Kindergarten 6 (an extra year of kindergarten before entering 1st Grade.) 
I’m excited to be serving the students for a second school year.  I was a pre-k teacher when I felt God calling me to serve my local church in NC as Children’s Minister.  I cried and cried over leaving the classroom setting.  I am so thankful that God has now given me the opportunity to serve in the classroom setting again.  Not exactly as I had planned, but His plans are ALWAYS so much better than mine!!!

I love getting to know the students and seeing them grow in maturity as well as in the English language skills.  For children in El Salvador, education is a hope for a better future.  Colegio Metodista serves many children from families who have little hope for the future.  Like all parts of our current world – darkness fights to stifle the bright possibilities of the future for our youngest treasures.  With an education, children have a chance at getting a job outside of gang-life.  And with English skills, they have a chance at an even better job that may provide for the family.  Family life here it tough.  I will try to expand on that concept in my next update.

Also, for 2017 I am dreaming about creating more Sunday School curriculum and serving the leaders in that ministry with more training and equipping events.  Sunday School is such an important ministry here because it is another means in which we can talk with children about hope for a beautiful future.  And that hope is found alone in our risen savior, Jesus Christ.  Children have such joy, but it can easily be quenched by the harsh realities of everyday life…no matter where you are located in the world.  But here in El Salvador, children deal with some pretty ugly truths daily.  Hunger, murder, and the circumstances of extreme poverty.  For example:  I am completely baffled by the fact that so many people in the country have very limited access to drinking water.  It’s just shocking to me.  And it seems the main reason is because of corruption passed down from many generations.  Without accessible water, what chance to people have of ever getting ahead?  So much time is spent on securing water for the household. 
The truth of murder is a direct impact of gang-life here in El Salvador.  Currently, the police and gangs are at “war” with one another.  It is not at all uncommon for murder to touch the family life.  One 6-year-old recently said to me, “I hope my mom is safe at work and hasn’t been murdered.”  Not a statement I have ever heard before.  But a good indicator of a common fear among children living in El Salvador.  

With that said, I feel generally feel very safe here.  I am careful about which communities I enter and with whom I enter into those communities.  The general public of El Salvador, even within the gangs, are good, friendly people.  People who must make difficult choices to simply survive.  I have most certainly met a few angels here.  We had some wonderful neighbors who recently moved to another community.  This family extended God’s grace and love to me daily.  And we rarely ever talked about God or religion.  

In closing, I’m so sorry for my long silence.  But, I am so thankful for your continued support as I journey this life as missionary serving in El Salvador.  I love my work and love my place of assignment.  I am continually thankful for your support in so many forms.  You guys are my encouragement on difficult days.  Thank you for the ministry of supporting me in ways that are so much greater than the limits of finances.  You pray for me, you pray for the people of El Salvador, and you live life in a way that brings God’s Kingdom here on earth.  I believe each time we gather in His name, we are helping to bring His Kingdom closer to this earthly home.  

Thank you for all you do in Jesus’ name!

With hugs from El Salvador, 

Your missionary, Ellyn Dubberly

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Sunday School Teacher Training/Retreat January 2016

Here are a few photos from the most recent Sunday School Teacher Training/Retreat.  We met Saturday and Sunday at Sinoe, a retreat center in Ahuachapan, El Salvador.  The retreat center is located on Lake Espino where there is a beautiful volcano view.   There were around 30 teachers present, representing 10 of the 12 Evangelical Methodist Churches in El Salvador.
Opening Prayer

Each teacher present received a book with 10 new lessons as well as a bag filled with resources to support the lessons.  The beautiful bags were sent with love by Central UMC in Laurinburg, NC.  The teachers LOVED them!!!
Our first activity of the weekend was to create this mural together as an example of an activity teachers can do with their students to help them learn Psalm 119:105.

During our relaxation time, we took a boat ride around Lake Espino.
This new unit of lessons is titled "Palabras Para Mi Corazon" (Words for My Heart.)  Each lesson centers around a particular memory verse and includes games and learning activities to help students plant the seeds of God's Word in their hearts so they are ready to face the good and bad days with God's help.

Lake Espino with view of volcano.
My mom attended the Training/Retreat also.  Isn't this place beautiful?