Roots

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.

He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit

Jeremiah 17: 7 - 8

Although only two weeks have passed since we arrived back in El Salvador, it seems like months.  And it feels like an eternity since I put pen to paper, (is this still the correct term when I actually put fingertips to little rubber squares?) so I guess it is probably time to catch up a little bit.

I have been thinking a lot about roots over the last few days.  Back in March, we purchased a piece of land here in San Vicente and have been busy clearing the 25 years of jungle and garbage that had accumulated.  In April we hired a local man named Morgan as our contractor and he has been directing his crew of 11 men as they build perimeter walls and the first stages of the house/multi-use centre that we hope to build.  When we first entered the property over a year ago, one of the first gems that we encountered was an old Tempisque tree in one corner of the yard.  Nobody is certain, but my guess would be that this tree was 300 to 400 years old.  You may have noticed that I used the past tense, because on closer inspection we discovered that some bee-like insects had built their hive in the center of the tree trunk.  As the tree was going to pose a danger to our house as well as our neighbours, we made the decision that it would have to come down.  After five days of work for a crew of six, 3 chainsaws and a plethora of machetes, all that is left is a massive stump (probably about 2 metres in diameter) and giant pile of firewood.  Now comes the big job of slowly unearthing the enormous roots of this old monster.

At the same time we have been busy purchasing new fruit trees that will eventually end up in the new yard. Oranges, avocados, coconuts, lychee, and guava will eventually fill the vacant space.  Carie, the kids, and I have transplanted these new purchases into plastic pots so that they can grow a bit before we plant them in the yard.  Carefully we unwrap the young root systems and surround them with new soil and fertilizer.

I guess I have been wondering about the roots in my own life.  About 3 years ago, God decided it was time dig out some roots that had become old and maybe dangerous for myself and those around me.  Maybe my life was hollow due to complacency, comfort, seeking after my own wants and needs.  I think He needed to cut away the dead wood, so that he could plant me anew.  He wants our lives to bear fruit, and provide comfort and shade to those around us, and blossom to show the beauty that is Him.  As we begin to see this place as our home a little more each day, we are thankful for the new roots that God is planting.  And our prayer is that we as individuals and a as a family continually send out these roots to the stream.

Life tends to accelerate for us here in El Salvador.  When we arrived two weeks ago, Carie and I already had a laundry list of things to focus on over the next little while.  Thankfully we have whittled a few things off the list including renewing our immigration documents, being able to inform 25 more families that Shelter will be able provide them with a new home over the next 3 months, starting the construction of a new sewing centre in Rio Frio, seeing Diego’s first runway show for his design school, getting the kids back into the swing of things at school, troubleshooting a few problems in the sewing centre here in San Vicente, and probably most important we have been able to spend some time with many of our good friends.  We are truly blessed. 

We also are beginning to plan and prepare for the season of teams that will be upon us sooner than we think.  In fact Carie has been busy getting the details in place for a group of ladies coming from Ontario to help teach small sewing projects in the community of Rio Frio.  They arrive in 3 weeks and we are both excited for ways that God will work through this week, and also a little nervous as this is the first trip of its type that we have been involved in.  This season we will see more teams than ever, we are reaching further into new communities, and we pray that more families (both Canadian and Salvadorian) will be impacted by God’s abounding love. We are confident that many good things will happen over this next year in terms of the home-building project, but we also have a few things on our radar that are in the early stages of prayer and planning.  We ask that you pray over these things as well so that we may receive wisdom and guidance:

1. A alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre in San Vicente.  Addictions are very visible here and we have been working with Oscar on the possibility of a location which would house 10-12 men for a one year period of recovery and restoration.  Our dream is for a holistic ministry in which those that commit to the program will leave with the right tools and hope to be a difference in their families and community.
2. High School in Rio Frio.  We know that education is important to combat many of the problems of poverty and delinquency we see around us.  The community of Rio Frio is one of 17 small communities in an area about 45 minutes away from San Vicente.  There is currently only education offered in the area up to grade 9.  Those that wish to continuing studying need to travel to and from San Vicente or Apastepeque each day which is a cost of somewhere between $3 and $5 a day.  This is highly unobtainable for most families in the zone, so the rate of continuance into high school is less than 30%.  We have been presented with a proposal to work with the community in creating and building a school that would service that entire zone, providing both academic and technical studies.
3. Bakery in San Vicente.  We have been working with a lady in our church to provide baking classes for groups of 12-15 people.  To date we have had 5 of the 3-week programs.  We would like to see how we can turn some of this into a sustainable business for some of the ladies that have taken the training.
4. Farming God’s Way program.  We are in the preliminary stages of connecting with a program that is currently running in Honduras under the guidance of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Mennonite Central Committee.  The purpose of the project is to improve farming practices to increase yields, improve land quality, and decrease reliance on expensive fertilizers and pesticides.  There may be a chance to visit the project in Honduras over the next little while, and see how it could function in our locale.
5. Connections with our local church.  We believe that God is working great things in the church we attend here in San Vicente.  We see a strong vision developing of reaching out to the community.  We are always looking for ways that we can help strengthen and encourage leadership, form greater connections between the groups that come and the local body, and help show the love of Christ in new and powerful ways.

I would like to close by answering a question that I have been asked many times: “How can I help?”  Our first response to this is always prayer.  We crave your prayers for us as a family; for safety, for guidance, for peace, and patience.  We ask you to pray for the people that we share our lives with here.  There are too many to list them all, but specifically over the next while we know that Hector and Veralis, Carlos and Yanira, Pastor Jorge and Maritza, Oscar and Jackie, Juanita and her family, Tomasita and her family, Maria Elena, Don Pedro and his family, the girls (and Geovany) in the sewing centre, Basilio and Veronica, Noe, Roberto, Miguel, Fredi and their families, the community of San Antonio.

Finally, one of the big ways that you can support us is by supporting the small businesses that we are working alongside here.  Specifically the sales of quilts, t-shirts, and handicrafts directly impact the lives of 12 families, as they share the profits from all of these items.  And not only do these create financial blessings for the women (and man) involved.  We have been told by more than one of these ladies that they now feel that they are useful and have a purpose, where before they didn’t see themselves as having any value.  We constantly reiterate to them that in God’s eyes they are all beautiful creations planned out before the creation of the heavens and the earth, but we know that God often uses physical examples for us to understand as well.  In this case it is the ability to see a well-crafted product at the end of the day.

So we encourage you to support these people through purchasing and word-of-mouth marketing for us.  If you have a design that you would like stamped on a shirt or would like to pick some fabrics for a hand-crafted quilt, please email us at csmcalli@gmail.comWe are also currently working on creating an electronic storefront to display and accept product orders.  If you are interested in donating towards the cost of this venture, please contact myself or Carie for more information or click on the Donate button on the right hand side of this website.

  

So long ago and reaping what we sew.

I am sorry that it has been so long since we last posted. I just went on the blog site today to see what picture I had used last and realized that the last time I wrote was January.

It seems like so much has transpired since my last post that I don't even know where to begin!

Rather than going back quite a bit, I will start with where we are now. The groups are all gone, the leaders meeting week was more than successful. We took a nice week off to hang out with Oscar and Jacky in Antigua Guatemala. It was a good time to get out of the heat for a bit and relax, and visit some of the old places that we visited when we were there doing Spanish school for 5 weeks. 

We also got a chance to visit with our friends Gina and Mark Schmidt. http://www.educatebv.com We met them at the beach when we were in Guatemala in 2011 and found out that they were missionaries from the States that were, at the time, building houses near Antigua Guatemala. They had been living there for a year and a half. It was really neat to see a glimpse into our future of where we might be in a year and a half's time. Now they have been there 4 years and have opened a school in the village where they are working. Really cool. God definitely put that family in our lives on purpose. 

When we moved to El Salvador, I pretty much knew that I would not be involved in the house building side of things. Along with Kerrie Lynn, we tried to think of something that could get us really involved in our own ministry. So we came up with a sewing centre for women producing products using recycled materials. Since then God has really blessed us. We now have over 12  people working in the sewing centre doing various jobs from cutting jeans to sewing quilts to fabricating t-shirts to silk screening on the shirts. Check out www.facebook.com/sowersofjireh (you can order online at www.sowersofjireh.com)We are also doing the Purpose Driven life series and a lot of the girls have really opened up and grown from our chats. When the all girls group was here on their mission week, the women from the sewing centre all took the day off to divide and distribute food in the community of Las Brisas. 

The other day I was reading in the Purpose Driven Life, on Day 32, talking about your "SHAPE"
Spiritual Gifts
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experience

"Your SHAPE was sovereignly determine by God for His purpose, so you should resent it or object it..... Part of excepting your SHAPE is recognizing your limitations. Nobody is good at everything, and no one  is called to be everything. We all have defined roles. Paul understood that his calling was not to accomplish everything or please everyone but to focus on the particular ministry God had shaped him for. He said, "our goal is to stay within the boundaries of God's plan for us."

The word boundaries refers to the fact the God assigns each of us a field or sphere of service. Your shape determines your specialty. When we try to overextend our ministry reach beyond what God shaped us for, we experience stress. ... God wants you to enjoy using the shape he has given you. The bible says (in Galatians 5:4) "Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else." Satan will try to steal the joy of service from you in a couple of ways: by tempting you to compare your ministry with others, and by tempting you to conform your ministry to the expectations of others." 

What does this have to do with anything? This really stuck with me. The first year that we were here, I tried to please everyone and everything. Spending lots of time doing things that I didn't enjoy because I had the idea put into my head that we were called here to serve and that meant sacrificing my joy to do what others thought serving meant. Since then, God has been speaking to me in ways like never before and guiding me into the ministry that he had already prepare for me long ago.


A couple of months ago we went to Rio Frio to deliver housewarming gifts to the 52 families that received homes during the summer. While we were there, the pastors asked us if they could show us their new sewing program. What we saw amazed us! There in a hot room were 40 students learning how to sew. They had each done practice samples of how to sew on buttons, zippers, hooks and eyes, ruffles etc. They were also sewing skirts by hand. But not out of fabric, out of Craft paper. They also had 5 treadle machines, but only one worked and they were all only being borrowed. The government is paying a teacher for 6 months to teach these women how to sew. Because of little to no resources, they all need to bring their own materials and if they can’t, they can not attend. The most impressive thing to us was seeing all these women sitting in the classroom, motivated to improve their skills and look for new opportunities in life. We remembered back to when we tried to put together the first baking class, and thought we had twenty people interested, and then no one showed up. We appreciate these moments of light.

This sewing school asked if there is any way that we can help with their program. Hand sewing with paper is fine for practicing, but at some point, if they plan to make a successful business, they are going to need to use fabric and a machine. They were also interested in continuing their lessons after the 6 month period, with the hope of learning to make products that are sellable in their community. I went home thinking about it, and wondering what I could do. Other than the quilts, I don’t really have that many skills, and there are some obstacles to teaching quilting in Rio Frio (a community that is nearly 1 hour away). Then God reminded me that we are not alone here and it takes the whole body to fulfill His vision. I put a little comment on Facebook about potentially doing a sewing mission trip in August, and I received some good response. My proposal was that we need to raise approximately $5000 to buy machines, fabric and all the necessary supplies. We will also need a team of people to come out in August to teach new sewing projects; possibly items that can be made out of scraps of jeans and other materials. This way we can use leftovers from the Sewing Centre in San Vicente.     

The response was amazing and I am so happy to say that right now we have a team of about 8 women coming to El Salvador the third week of August to do a week of workshops with the women, provide lunch and childcare for their children. The dream has gotten even bigger than I imagined. Yesterday Stuart, 5 girls from the sewing centre in San Vicente and I went to pay a surprise visit to the girls in Rio Frio. We brought them 2 brand new industrial machines and some roles of fabric that I was able to purchase inexpensively in San Salvador. It was so fun to see all their faces light up! Now plans are in the works to build a communal sewing centre that is secure and waterproof. Our hope is that the girls will be able to use the machines and when they start making money they will pay a small fee to use the machines and other items in the centre to contribute to the electricity costs and maintenance. 

In order to do this, we need your help!! We have seen how in the past donations to get our programs up and running have hugely benefited to a point where we are now self sufficient and don't need to ask for more, and I am asking the same for this. If it is on your heart to donate toward giving a better life to some women who are already motivated to see this happen. Please contribute. You can donate online by clicking on the link at the top of this page on the righthand side where it says Donate then scroll down to PayPal and then "This button is for El Salvador Projects" You can put in the note that it is for the sewing centre. You have the option to pay by credit card even if you do not have a paypal account. If you wish to donate my other means, please contact me at by clicking here.

Thank you so much in advance for your continue support in everything we are doing here.

In a side note, but equally exciting, we have purchased a piece of land here that we are planning on using for our house and ministry and the Sewing Centre in San Vicente. Please pray for us as we go ahead with the building of it.

Carie

Swinging in the NEW YEAR!

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what is it to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether we fed or hungry, wether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Wow December went fast! It seems like just yesterday Valerie and Dennis came to stay with us for three weeks. Valerie brought me a book called Calm my Anxious Heart, it is a 12 week bible study that we had planned to do in 3 weeks. Well to give you an idea about what life is like here, we did half a week! Nevertheless I am now just trying to read the book my self and contemplate on what is in it. The first chapter is so chocked full of goodies that I think about it almost everyday. The above verse from Philippians is in it and it tells the story about a woman who has a prescription for contentment. Here it is.

1.Never allow yourself to complain about anything -not even the weather

2.Never picture yourself in any other circumstance or someplace else

3.Never compare your lot with another’s

4.Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.

5.Never dwell on tomorrow - remember that (tomorrow) is God’s not ours

This women possessed a peace separate from her circumstances. Most of us base our contentment on our circumstances, on our feelings or on other people. However, true contentment is separate from our circumstances. Contentment is state of HEART, not a state of affairs.

I think these are my new New Years Resolutions, and I will strive to make the above verse my motto this year. Quite often we wonder why the people here are so content with the little that they have. Maybe they live by this verse too and I for one have something to learn from them.

I was going to divide this by struggles and successes like Stuart does every month, but right now I am feeling like all of our struggles are in some way successes as well.

Stuart and I were able to get away on well needed, little refreshment break thanks to Valerie and Dennis. We went to San Salvador and stayed at a hotel for two nights while the kids were kept very busy the whole time with crafts, games, painting nails, going to parties etc. We are so thankful for the two of them. The kids are off school for summer vacation right now and I would be going bonkers if I didn’t have people like Valerie and Dennis in our lives, not to mention someone we can completely trust with our kids. We were also able to do a medical clinic in Jiboa 2 seeing 300 patients. And a very successful Christmas store in Nueva Jerusalen thanks to them and all the people that brought clothes and shoes with support from their churches, friends and families in Canada.

We celebrated one year of Jacky and Oscar’s Pastorship on Day of the Pastor. We had a surprise party for them in our back yard. Many many people came together to help with the food, decor, transportation guests, etc. It is always really cool to see people collaborating for a common good. They were surprised and there was laughter and tears. All together a good evening.

This year, in conjunction with Primer Templo Christiano, we decided to do a Christmas event on the 23rd for the children in the morning, and everyone in the afternoon. Thanks to support from home, we were able to rent bouncy houses, eat ice cream and buy 200 children a gift. The youth from the church organized the whole thing and dressed u as clowns performing and singing for the kids. Later that day we had a church service and made 225 buns stuffed with chicken, lettuce, tomatoe, radish, beets, avocado, eggs, mayonnaise and a herb that we don’t have in Canada. We ran out of 

food, and the church was packed to the street!

Last month Stuart wrote about the bakery program. We finished the 3 week course. We are not sure what is going to happen next, but we do know that by the end of the course, there were close to 20 people, including some neighbors of Hermana Marina that she invited to join. In the past,her neighbors would choose whether they would return her waves and salutations. They decided to come to the course. In our church we have started home groups on Monday night. Marina was talking with her neighbors and they decided to go to that as well. They accepted Christ. Lots of tears were shed. We are thankful that we had this opportunity to show the love of God through the baking program.

Daniela had her quince años. This is like a mix between a bar mitzvah and a wedding. Part of me doesn’t understand how, when only within this year, Juanita and her family hit bottom and were being throw off their land, were now throwing a party for 300 people. Juanita’s extended family encouraged her to have the party because they were all going to be in town and they were all going to help pay for aspects of the party. Where were they when Juanita needed them most? As the party got closer, there were a lot of tears because the family that said they could help started saying they couldn’t anymore and Juanita got stuck with all the bills. To top it off, more than 100 people didn’t show up and she had food for all of them. Why then did I put this under successes? Because during the time of preparations for this fiesta. Daniela, Diego, Juanita and my kids came together to prepare. Daniela and Diego were able to show their creativity making all the centre pieces to save money. Diego also designed the dress for both Daniela and Winnie, and they all spent countless hours practicing 4 dances with an instructor for the night of the fiesta. People also did come forward in a show of support for Juanita, who remembering what a great husband she had wanted to honor him in this way. Lastly, I truly believe that Daniela has matured through all this and got to have a special time only for her. Something that doesn’t happen too often in a family with 6 kids and 8 grandkids living here in El Salvador.

We have had countless teenagers in our house crying this past month. I am glad that they can feel comfortable in our home, to let out their feelings and share with us, but they all seem to be along the same lines. These are kids that we’re helping to support to go to school and their parents are mad because they want them to work and bring home money or they say that they are not spending enough time in the house. In most cases, they just can’t see past two days into the future unlike there children who see that there can be a future. It is tough to know what to say.

We got the website up and running thanks to both Darron Froese and Amy Lotis. Please check it out at www.sowersofjireh.com It is still a work in progress, but at least we can see it up now. Diego has received a few orders of 10 purses and more

The kids are enjoying their time off of school and have taken up bead making, creating earrings, necklaces rings etc. They are hoping to sell them. I think earring are $1! We are so thankful for Deigo and Daniela this month as well. Our house is pretty much like a summer camp with them as the counsellors coming up with new crafts to do and games to play.

Hopes

A repeat of what Stuart said last month ... As we see success in the sewing centre, t-shirt stamping, bakery, goat farm, etc. we know that God is moving these projects forward, but the goal we hope to achieve is to see all of these as self-sustainable ventures.  We want to hand over more and more of the control to people involved in the each project, and hope that our role becomes more that of a cheerleader and spiritual, mental, emotional supporter.  In saying this we realize that we are not at this point yet, and there are significant cultural hurdles that will need to be crossed.  Our hope is to keep moving forward, but only as quickly as God is leading us. 

We hope to continue on with the bakery project and see where it takes us with the next step, and that we can get something off the ground that is both beneficial to the lives of the participants and is spiritually fulfilling

We hope to see more bulk orders for Diego’s bags, quilts and t-shirt orders.

School begins again on the 14th and Daniela and Diego will be in afternoon classes while Kade, Winnie, Ellis and now Keyri and Violet will be going in the morning. As we change schedules, we hope that the kids adjust well and still get to hang out with Daniela and Deigo

Prayers

1. Less stress, more peace that passes understanding
2. Safety and protection
3. The people that are working with us will stay on a straight path
4. That the Lord will have us see through his eyes they things that he does
5. That we may be His hand and Feet
6. A time set aside to dwell in His presence
7. Patience with the children
8. Health
9. That we may see fruitful evidence of the groups presence here

If you would like to help us with any of the work we are doing here. Please click on the Donate Here button on the side of this page. We would love to partner with you.

Stuart's December Report

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

On this second Sunday of Advent we anticipate the birth of our King. We await the God who reaches out to be and live among us. And we remember that we too are to be and live amongst. We anticipate on a daily basis the God that does the impossible to be with us, to love us, to mold us, and perfect us. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

 Here is an update of our lives over the last few weeks. Thank you for following along with us.

Successes

1. 1)  We finally managed to get our baking classes up and going. We had been working with a lady in our church named Marina to get classes going through a hotel here in San Vicente. Carie mentioned last month, that those plans fell flat, sending us, along with Marina, back to the drawing board. She took the initiative upon herself to purchase a small used industrial oven, and decided to offer a course out of the garage of her house. We assisted with some of the start up materials, and now we have had 2 weeks of classes, with an average of 12-15 women and men showing up every afternoon. Carie thought she would go observe for the first class, but being the keen student that she is, she has attended nearly every one. In fact tomorrow she is going to teach a class on making banana bread and brownies. We are excited for where God will take this program, and view great potential to create some employment and hope here. Marina is a strong leader, and will be able to offer not only physical leadership but spiritual leadership as well. We feel blessed to have met her.
   
2. 
   
   2)  As we enter December, we find ourselves with a bit of a break from teams. In fact we will not see another group until the 5th of January. We are looking forward to the this month, as we will have the ability to focus on a few things that were put on hold over the last couple of months. But in saying this, we have had a great time with the groups that have been down over this past month. We had a group from St. Catharines earlier in the month, under the leadership of Dennis and Valerie Nikkel. We also had men from our home church in Calgary, come for a week, under Jake Fluker’s guidance. Jake stayed on with us for a week after his team left, and we were able to experience a few new things in El Salvador, that the structure and business of a team week does not allow. I am thankful for all the good friends that we have been given. I am thankful for all the people that have moved 24 families into safe and healthy homes. I am especially thankful for Jake and depth of the connection that God has allowed us. Good friends are ‘importantisimo’.
   
3. 
   
   
   
   
   3)  We celebrated the end of the school year this month, as well as Ellis’ graduation from kindergarten (this is a much bigger deal here than in Canada). The kids have enjoyed working with the teams or just inventing games to play with Diego andDaniela in the backyard. One day last week that decided that it would be a good idea to have a water fight with a couple of the hoses for the entire day (as Carie and I were out of the house). Water only flows into our house 2 days of the week, so when they drained our 100 gallon cistern in its entirety, we were left without water for a couple of days. Jake and I were pretty excited to come home after mixing concrete all afternoon at a house in San Antonio, to find that all we had to clean ourselves with were the couple of mouthfuls of water left in my water bottle. I love my children.

4) Finally we continue to see positive development in the lives of many of our friends here. Carlos has nearly 3 months without drinking. God has touched his heart. Hector is becoming more confident, and is beginning to see that he has value as a son of God. I am proud to work alongside of him while he is translating for the teams. Esmeralda’s husband  Miguel has been excepted into the police academy (he just needs to pass some medical tests). Carolina (a single mother from Las Brisas) has built her own tortilla stand, and is earning a bit of money each day. Previously, we tried to help her in a number of different ways, always to see these things fail. Wilfredo, a young guy that we took to rehab a couple of months ago, only to see him leave the following day, has been clean for 3 months. God is working and moving and changing hearts. Sometimes he calls us to be a part of the plan, sometimes we don’t know that we are part of the plan, and sometimes we get to simply witness his power and glory.

Struggles

1. 
   The level of poverty and hurt in this country never seems to end. As we make small steps in some communities, we quickly realize that there are thousands of other communities in the same or worse situation. I feel that there are two dangers for us in this situation. The first is that we become too overwhelmed with the level of need, and resign to the fact that nothing can ever be changed. The second is just as dangerous in that we become to numb to the needs here, and cease to moved to action. We pray for wisdom. We pray that God changes our hearts of stone for hearts of flesh, and that we are allowed to see this world through his eyes.

Hopes
1) As we see success in the sewing centre, t-shirt stamping, bakery, goat farm, etc. we know that God is moving these projects forward, but the goal we hope to achieve is to see all of these as self-sustainable ventures. We want to hand over more and more of the control to people involved in the each project, and hope that our role becomes more that of a cheerleader and spiritual, mental, emotional supporter. In saying this we realize that we are not at this point yet, and there are significant cultural hurdles that will need to be crossed. Our hope is to keep moving forward, but only as quickly as God is leading us.

2) Dennis and Valerie arrived yesterday to spend 3 weeks with us. They offered Carie and I the chance to go away for a couple of nights, and refresh as a couple. We know the importance that this plays in our lives and our marriage. We were truly thankful for this opportunity. We are happy to report that the kids didn’t drive them insane.

Prayers
1) Wisdom and discernment
2) A greater definition of our direction and focus
3) Peace and patience and joy in our family
4) Continued protection and safety for our friends and family
5) A movement towards peace in El Salvador
6) That our lights shine in this community
7) God’s continued presence in the lives of the many people we come in contact with 8) Healing for Maria Elena (a lady we met a couple of weeks ago with kidney failure) 9) That we can celebrate the birth of our savior in a meaningful way

Stuart McAllister
(on behalf of the McAllister family) 

Ps. Our website for the Sewing Centre will be up and running any day now. Please keep checking www.sowersofjireh.com to see what's new, what's for sale and information on how to order a quilt, purse, custom t-shirt etc.

The Plans I have for you..

Since we are find ourselves pressed for time these days, but still would like to keep everyone updated, we have decided to put our monthly updates onto the blog and just add pictures. If time permits I will update the blog more often,

“11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord - Jeremiah 29:11-14a

For the last two weeks of this month, we have had Laura (and Jim Noble) here with our family. Laura shared her story with me and the ladies in the sewing centre. She shared that the verse above has helped her in her life to remember the Lords plan for her life. I too have been given peace by these verses. And a reminder to Seek First the Lord in times of struggle.

We have started our season of teams and we are into our third week right now. It is actually the fourth team down here, but we only saw the first team at the beach, so I don’t really count that.





Successes

1) My successes may be a little different than Stuarts. We made it through the school year here! The kids are graduated and they will have a month and a half off of school. (This may also go under struggles!!) We will let you know in the next update. Ellis is graduating from Kindergarten and had to buy a suit. We will go to see the special service on the 16th.

2. 2)  The girls in the sewing centre. We are working on The Purpose Driven Life book and the girls are finding it life changing. I have seen much growth in them in the last few months and they have been able to share things that they were never able to in the past. They are also doing amazing work at quilt making and the quality of their work is second to none. Also Laura was able to spend some time in there and help get everything organized making it easier to see what we have and what needs to be done.
   
   
3. 3)  I am pleased to announce that even though in the last e-mail Stuart listed this as a struggle, it has now become a success. Carlos has been clean and sober for over a month. Stuart has made a promise to him to visit at least once a week to spend time in the Word just with him, and he has been doing well. It feels like God was saying to Stuart that he put one of his sons in his path for him to love and care for as though it was his own and Stuart is listening and the results have been obvious.
   
4. 4)  I asked the kids what they thought that God showed us this month that was positive. Kade replied that we found new communities that were really poor and he showed them to us so that we could give them food this month.
   

Stuggles

1) We got really gung-ho about putting on a bread course to create jobs and new skills for women. We discovered that if we could get a list of 20 people, then the OEF Hotel, along with a government career training program would put on the course for free, so we found 20 people. We set a day and asked them to come to the hotel to register with their identification. Well, no one showed up! Back to square one. This was really frustrating for me, but I know, that I can’t hold their hands and force them to do anything. I was really feeling like God was telling me that we were going to do something with a bakery. We are going to look at this again, but might approach this from a new angle. Stay tuned.

2) We have been having some issues with Daniella and Diego, and school. For those of you that don’t know, Daniella and Diego are Juanita’s youngest two children. Diego is now 18 and Daniella almost 15. Last year the Berstads and our family decided that we would sponsor them to go to the same school as our kids. They were doing really well there until recently. There was a facebook site put on the web, making fun of some of the teachers. A lot of the students were saying it was Diego, and the teacher told Diego that she went to the Police and the Police also knew it was Diego. Of course that last part was not true and I knew it because... Diego leaves his computer at my house. Also when he is at my house, he is either working on homework or making purses. And he is at my house almost every moment he is not in school. I think that the big problem is that the kids and teachers in their school are jealous that they are being sponsored by us. So they become an easy scapegoat. Not saying that they are perfect, they are still teenagers. Stuart has sat down with the teachers and told them that we don’t want any special treatment for either our kids or Daniella and Diego. But Daniella and Diego are really down about it. They were finally at a place where they thought they were making friends.

We would really just love for this family to have some peace.

Hopes
1)To spend more time in the Word for ourselves and with our children and making that more of a priority

2)To get the silk screening up and running including finding work here in El Salvador and contracts at home in Canada, as well as, find a person who is able to teach how to make a good quality t-shirts with the machines we have, employing a minimum of three more people.

3)To continue to find work for the sewing centre, whether that means individual orders, contracts for companies or on-line sales. We hope to get the website up and running so we market better. Check out our facebook page under http://www.facebook.com/sowersofjireh and soon our website www.sowersofjireh.com

4)To find a new place to have the Bakery program. Maybe in the community of Rio Frio.

Prayers
1)Protection for the teams and our family as we travel and work in this county
2)Peace for Juanita’s Family
3)God to continue to be part of and guide what happens in the sewing centre
4)A feeling of not being so overwhelmed by my children and life here.
5)Wisdom and Discernment

6)A new place to that the Lord will choose for the bread program
7)Boundaries
8)That we would always remember to put God first no matter what we are doing.
9)Health and opportunities to rest.
10)God continues to work in Carlos’ life that he stay sober.
Thanks Carie 

Here we find ourselves once again.

Hi All, It has been a long while since we last met. After spending 3 1/2 months back in Canada having a rest and visiting with friends and family, we returned to El Salvador on August 1st. 15 hours of fairly drama free traveling, we arrived at the airport in San Salvador to an entire bus full of friends from the village of San Antonio. It always amazes me, what care and love the people of San Antonio have for us. They spend what little money they have to rent a bus to come to the airport, all for the sake of being the first faces we see when we arrive. It really touches my heart. We also arrived to Pastor Oscar and Jacky in our freshly cleaned, freshly smelling pick up! We spent the night at the OEF hotel where they had put 6 beds in one room especially for us!


The next day we began a search for our house-to-be. We went to one place to get the owner to let us in and upon seeing us, they decided that the place wasn't for rent anymore! We proceeded to another place where we waited for the owner to come and meet us. This house we knew was for sale and the owner wasn't sure that he wanted to rent it. After seeing this place, we knew that it was the one we wanted. First we were led into the yard, I repeat - yard-, where we feasted our eyes on numerous fruit trees. There was a mango tree, mandarin tree, lemon tree, banana tree and avocado trees. There is a nice kitchen with an oven. At least two of the rooms have air conditioning. There is a BBQ pit in the back yard and a 2 bedroom guesthouse! We talked it over with the owner and explained to him exactly what we are doing here, and he decided to think about it. We decided to leave it at that.


Our friends in San Antonio invited us for lunch and spent an amazing couple of hours visiting, helping to make lunch and feasting on carne asada, rice, salsa and tortillas. Then Stuart visited the goat farm. Man, is it hot here. We needed to return to our hotel room for some reprieve from the heat!! After we cooled down, we went to visit with our friend Dr. Carlos. He showed us another house that he knew was for rent. It was nice, but nowhere as nice as the first one we looked at. We went for Pupusas for supper.


The next morning Oscar called the owner and he decided that he would rent to us for 10 mos. PTL!! He named a price that was about double what we were willing to pay :( We thought for sure it was done.  Then when we said there is no way we could pay that and were about to leave, he said "Wait, how much can you pay?" We gave him our top limit and he said ok!! We move in tomorrow. Pictures to follow.


Today we visited with our friends Pimpa, Esmeralda and Wendy in Las Brisas. They are all doing pretty well and Pimpa made us rice pupusas and they were amazing!! We came home and got cleaned up and headed to church where we were greeted enthusiastically by the church members. And for supper??? Pupusas! Are we sick of them yet? Not on your life. We are happy to be here and are excitedly awaiting the next chapter of our lives in El Salvador.





Please note that the Sewing Centre is still up and running. We are looking for stores to market our quilts in and more orders. Please check out our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sowers-of-Jireh-Sewing-Quilting-Centre-El-Salvador/313629872010400 to find out more details.