6-10-08

7 am
Castillo del Rey base, El Salvador

Getting to know my team is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I got to talk to some of them on the plane ride and bus ride to the base. My cold is getting worse though. On the plane, my throat was burning, I felt like someone was trying to stick their fist sown my throat. Daniel and Natalie prayed over me, and to my amazement, the pain stopped. I’ve seen miracles of healing happen to other people, but not myself. It was awesome.
When our plane landed, I stepped into the tunnel leading to the actual terminal and smelt the air. Home. As we started to go though customs and immigration my voice went away. The pain never came back, but I now officially sound like a guy. Oh well… I just can’t wait until I can sing again.
I was so overjoyed when I saw our Castillo del Rey bus. All the memories of last year came flooding back to me. We had a two hour bus ride to their base. It was wonderful. Our bus driver is seriously amazing; he can fit our bus though any type of forest. I love it. It’s a lot nicer in El Salvador than I remember Nicaragua to be.
We’re starting “boot camp” today…exciting. We already ate breakfast. Same lame food as last year... nasty beans, smelly eggs, pre packaged toast and somewhat fresh fruit. I don’t know how long we’ll be training, but I pray my cold is gone before we actually go into the field.

12:35
Base, El Salvador

We just had lunch. The day has been pretty exhausting already and we haven’t even done much. We ate breakfast and had down time for a half and hour, them we had a devotional. Our leader, Liz, read Isaiah 40:30-31 which pastor focused on the Sunday before I left and I’ve held dear to my heart for a long time. It says:

“Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up on wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”

So we wait on him with expectations. Now I’m off to learn more dances and skits! I’m excited!

7pm
Base, El Salvador

Drained, but extremely overjoyed. Our dances are awesome. I learned on of them last year, it’s called mi rey Jesus (my king Jesus), but most of the ones we learned were new.
At one point it started raining…it was absolutely beautiful. I started to realize how much I missed rain. California doesn’t get rain, and when we do, it pours, there’s no such thing as a nice drizzle. Then I heard the most amazing thunder. I totally stood in awe, getting drenched with the biggest smile on my face.
We started learning skits… they are brilliant. God’s going to do so much this summer. One of the dramas really stuck out to me. Basically it’s a young boy whose mom leaves and his father’s an abusive drunk. The boy asks if there’s a special place where he can smile, where he can be happy too. Jesus comes and yeah…. You get the picture.
Another one is of the crucifixion, and Jesus looks back at the man whipping him and says, “this blood is for you.” Simon carries his cross and Jesus says it to him too. When he dies, the rest of us do our movements and pretty much tell the audience the blood is for them.
We’re about to head up to the “prayer tower”. I can’t wait to see what God will do.