Al Regreso
Monday, February 2, 2009
 
Sarah and her cousin, Michelle, on Christmas Day.
Hi Team!! I hope that everyone is doing well. Well it’s 5:36 am and I’m in Charlotte, NC waiting for my flight back to El Salvador. I wanted to take minute to update you with what is going on. I know I’ll hit the ground running once I get back, so I wanted to share a few things with you. First of all, thank you for your continued support! I really appreciate it. I trust that everyone had a great holiday. I was able to go to Maryland and be with my family and friends for Christmas and New Years, then I went to visit friends, Lori and Mike Aird, in Richmond, and finally I went to Columbia, SC to take a bible class called “Strategic for Kingdom Advance.” On Christmas day, my cousin, Michelle prayed to receive Christ with me!! Amen! I was keeping in contact and sharing the gospel with her through email, and we were able to talk in person on Christmas day. Amen!! It’s amazing to see how God has been continuing to bring my family members to Himself over the years. I have full confidence that He will continue to bring more into His kingdom. Bay Area Community Church (BACC) had a lunch for me on January 4th, where I updated supporters and guests from BACC who wanted to hear more about the ministry in El Salvador. Also, I was able to promote our projects for 2009. Carolyn Sabisch hosted a reunion dinner for the BACC’s women’s mission group from last year on January 8th, so that was very special to time reconnecting with them (and of course promote another group for 2009). At the end of January, right before I went to CIU (Seminary), I went to Richmond, VA to visit my friends, Lori and Mike Aird. Lori, is a childhood friend who led me to Christ. Lori and Mike are part of the BACC church plant in Richmond. I connected with a few people, Brian and Suzi Hopper and Taegan Doyle, from the church plant. It was so encouraging to talk to them and find out more about how church planting really is. This is the vision of Great Commision Latin America (GCLA), the sister organization of GCM, namely to plant churches in all the major cities in Latin America. This is part of Jorge (my fiancé) and my vision for our future. Amen! Thank you to those of you who prayed for Jorge’s visa. For those who don’t know, unfortunately, he was denied his visa renewal. We knew that God was (and is) completely in control and we trust Him. We have learned so much more of what it means to trust God that He is sovereign. Sometimes our plans aren’t the same as His. We realized that He might have been using this to refine our character and trust Him more. He is worthy to be praised in all situations. We praise Him for His goodness to us. Not that God had to show us any reasons of why Jorge was denied the visa renewal, but He did. There were a series of events that happened in which it was key that Jorge was in El Salvador, and not with me in Maryland. His cousin, Arturo, had a stroke and in the hospital he asked to speak with Jorge alone. Jorge had been sharing the gospel with Arturo over the last few years, and he never wanted to accept the gift of God, but there in the hospital he accepted Christ. Also, Jorge baptized his niece, Maria Fernanda, and brother-in-law, Cesar, during this time. Well after a lot of prayer, investigating with visas, and counsel, we have decided to have the wedding in El Salvador. We can’t tell you how excited we are!! We still need to nail down a date, but we’re aiming for May 16th. Please pray for all our plans. What’s coming up next? This year, Iglesia Gran Comision (IGC) San Salvador (our local church) is promoting Service through Evangelism, which includes 2 projects: English Camp and Soccer Project. These two projects proved successful last year because English and soccer are excellent ways to meet non-believers and build relationships with them. We have 3 confirmed teams and 1 possible team for 2009. Our first team is coming on February 21 from New Life Church, Michigan. They will be doing the English Project where we will be working with university students from a college called, La Evangelica. This will be the first time to work with this university and are hope is that this project opens doors so that we can be on their campus on a regular basis to do bible studies, outreach, etc. This is part of Youth Group ministry that we want to develop, so our relationship with La Evangelica is key. Our next group comes in June from Cedar Creek, Ohio and they have not determined which project they will do yet. In July, Crossroads from Delaware will be returning for the second time to do the English Project. BACC is considering in sending a women’s group in August as well. Prayer Requests: 1. Finalizing Plans for mission group in Feb. 2. Effective outreach at La Evangelica University 3. Open hearts to the gospel at La Evangelica University 4. Coordinating for the rest of the 2009 Mission Groups 5. Wedding Plans with Jorge Thank you again for your continued support, love, and prayers. In Christ, Sarah Rom. 11:36/Col. 1:16