visit jefferson

hello again. well now that we have internet we can actually communicate a bit better. you can expect the blog updates to come on a regular basis... but don't hold your breath. things never go that smooth in central america it seems! we know of a lot of people wanting to visit us this year. family, friends and many who want to minister to the poor of el salvador along with us. this is exciting for us and we look forward to it with great anticipation. in order to accommodate everyone, we need some info from you and to let you know our thoughts...

first, our questions:

1. we would like you to email us if you are interested in coming down. also, let us know a rough or detailed timeline of when you are thinking of traveling.

csmcalli@gmail.com

family@berstad.org

2. please let us know what you hope to do while you are here and why you want to come.

second, our thoughts:

1. we hope to establish a number of goals for ourselves over the next few weeks. we really want you to join in with us in that ministry. we hope that sharing our journey here will be what makes the trip special.

2. we would also ask each group to raise money to go towards building a home for a family in great need while you are here - we are asking you to ask others, not to pay more of the cost out of your pocket. the cost of a home is $2700. when you return home you will have lots of people who contributed asking how your time was and hear the stories about the family you helped. whatever you come up with financially is fine, we simply want everyone to do their best at trying to raise the funds. we will take care of the rest!

3. we are working on approx. costs for living expenses for visitors: accommodations, meals, transportation, etcetera... we would love to be able to foot the bill for all of you while here, but the reality is we cannot afford to host groups and cover those costs as we ourselves are living with help from others!

4. we are thinking that about a week plus or minus is a good length of time to come, so consider that when planning. let us know and we can figure just about anything out though!

finally, please know that we truly want lots of visitors. we look forward to sharing our world down here with all of you.

--

Kerrie with Jefferson and his mom

on another note, we just finished up five houses today. 5 in 3 days with a team of 10 people from BC. we were able to build for a family which has quite an amazing story so i thought i'd share that one today. Jefferson is a 9 month old boy who lives in the village of san antonia where we will be focusing our ministry this year. in november a team was here and left money behind to take him to the doctor because he has hydrocephalus (water under the skull). without the money to pay for medical care there was little doubt he wasn't going to make it too many more weeks. his head was easily twice the size it ought to have been. our friend pastor jorge took him in to the clinic here in town. here is the note he sent us back in november...

I would like to inform you that we took the 5 month old child to the Pediatric clinic for the consultation in San Salvador with dr. Fernando Moreira Mendoza who is the pediatric surgeon. It was a MIRACLE as we got their at 10am and he examined him immediately and spoke with us and also asked how we met Jeferson Antonio.

The doctor was touched by God and closed his clinic early to help out. He moves his other consultations to 3:00pm and he joined myself and Jeferson to the Benjamin Bloom hospital. He spoke with the director of the hospital and he ordered the operation for Jeferson on Tuesday November 23^rd.

The consultation cost was $100 but he did not charge us at all and he also said that he would take care of everything. We are grateful as this happened through the glory of God.

fast forward a few months and jefferson has had the surgery. completely successful! and too top that (if possible) the doctor paid the whole bill! not one penny spent to save his life. yesterday we finished framing his house, today and tomorrow they are working on the concrete floor. so i just can't help but think what a different story would have been told here without a bit of help from some regular joe's from canada who decided to take some time and some money, maybe even sacrifice some stuff or an all inclusive and help this family out. i can't help but wonder what kind of difference it will make to have a "non-dirt" floor and a 'non-leaky' roof for a 9 month old recovering from surgery on the brain! i have a hard time imagining... the things we never consider going without are commonplace here. doctors, medicine, surgery, shingles, floors... we are concerned with carpet or tile or hardwood, but never with the sub floor beneath it! so it was a good couple days. it's emotional to see that family working away on the blocks and concrete for the floor. their eyes are full of joy and hope. a good day. thanks for reading and letting me share this story. hopefully you'll get to meet jefferson this year if you're one of the ones hoping to join us this coming year! below is a picture of our door. drop by sometime! (just let us know when)

trent

this is a shot of the springs and frame of basilio's truck. he drives four guys and all the tools in it each day to work with us- half hour one way. amazing what rope can do! i think it would even be more amazing to see what a welding machine could do!