I started telling about my trip to El Salvador earlier, and while I meant to continue the story in country, it didn’t happen. But, long awaited… here’s the rest of the adventure of Mission: El Salvador, and some of my favorite photos.

Day 2:
The doctors and nurses arrived in San Salvador. We also tried to find weights for the jib, since we didn’t want to pay to bring 350 lbs of weight on a plane. We didn’t succeed in finding any, unfortunately. Most of today was spent going through all our gear, getting ready for the days ahead, and trying to solve any minor set-backs.

Day 3:

Brian and I accompanied the medical team to the ocean for a day of prayer, bonding, and planning for the days ahead. We interviewed them and talked with them about what they were expecting, and how they got involved in helping out with this effort. The team is a group of really great people, and it’s been very good to talk with them and get to know them.

Day 4:
Today was the first day of the medical clinics. The medical team, some of the worship team, Ryan, Eric, and I went to the clinic. We were set up in the middle of a community that is built of trash. The houses are built of sticks and branches, and then covered with garbage bags, sheet metal, old billboards, and cloth. Around 1500 people, whole families, live there with little protection against the wind, the rain, and the sun. These families are often too poor to buy enough food, let alone visit a doctor when they are ill. There is water in rain barrels around the community, but it is not safe to drink. The people have many medical problems due to the conditions.

In this community we set up to have the doctors examine those that needed help. We brought food, medicines, and also prayer to these people.

Ryan, Eric, and I teamed up with Joy, who interpreted for us, to be able to talk to an old woman. She is 89 years old, and her name is Clara. She is beautiful. We talked with her for several minutes. We were able to give her some food and she took us back to her house. We walked though the barbed wire yards, and through the side-streets to the corner of the cardboard city.

She lived in a small hut, divided into two rooms by a sheet. The house was built of wooden sticks and poles, with corrugated sheet metal for a roof. In the front room was the make-shift kitchen area, and in the second room, an old thin mattress, with tattered sheets on top. There was a small, lopsided dog barking on the floor.

We talked with the old woman about what her life was like, and we were able to talk with several of the women who live beside her. It is a very hard life for them, and they wish that there was more help.

As we were leaving, a woman pointed across the road to a structure that was being constructed. Poles were in place, and a portion of the roof was put on. The woman said that her husband was building a church. She told us that currently many people meet with several pastors who come to visit, but they meet in someone’s house. Since the houses are so small, not many can come hear the pastor. By building a larger church building, she said that over one hundred people would be able to go to church together.

This was very overwhelming to us. We were surprised to find such love for God among people in such hard conditions. We prayed with our sisters, asking God to send them the help and encouragement that they needed, and to draw all the people of this cardboard village to Himself.

I got up at 3:30 am today. Well, to be honest, I got up, hit my snooze button, and then got up again at 3:39 am when it went off again. I hate that infernal beeping.

I had all my stuff packed and ready to go in my small camera backpack and in my carry-on bag. It was beautiful. Thanks, onebag.com for helping me to be rational.

One of my co-workers picked me up and we headed to the airport. Josh was already in El Salvador, along with several other team members. On Friday and Saturday we will be holding a giant Richard Roberts Healing Rally in the National Convention Center in San Salvador. Prior to that, there are going to be several medical and humanitarian aid work days, working among the poor in El Salvador. This is my first mission trip in which I am a staff member, so it’s going to be slightly different than anything I’ve done before. I’ve also never been to any of the Healing Rallies before, so another new experience.

We flew on Continental to Houston, and then on to San Salvador, El Salvador. Both flights were fine, no problems.

We headed to our hotel, the Radisson in San Salvador. It’s a very nice looking hotel, and I bet the rooms in the main area are very comfy and nice. Most of us are in the second building, which houses the suites. This is so we have lots of room to meet, store equipment, etc. It’s also nice, but the beds are very hard. I hear that the other beds in the main section are much softer.

We ate at a few places that were close by, both were very good. I especially loved the plantains. Mmm.

Now, I’m off to get some sleep. We’ll see what kind of adventure tomorrow holds.

I took a weekend trip up to see my best friend, Lisa, who is studying at Asbury Theological Seminiary in the heart of the Bluegrass state: Kentucky. It was my first time in Kentucky, other than at the Cincinnati airport. I flew into Lexington, which looked like a nice city, and is only about half an hour drive from Asbury. The little town of Wilmore is for the most part two college campuses. The Theological Seminary, and Asbury College. They both used to be one college, but along the line they split into two separate entities.

Lisa gave me a tour around the campus, which was pretty. You can see that the chapel is pretty and quaint.

Then I got a chance to meet John Wesley, the famous circuit-riding preacher. Honestly, I was very disappointed. He was a very small man. Since he has had such a large influence on Christianity, I thought that he might be large and imposing. Obviously, he was not highly regarded because of his size. He was shorter and skinnier than I am, with a tiny bone structure. I guess it was the Holy Spirit and the power of God that caused his great influence, which is a very good thing.

We went to a park, with another of my college friends, Seth. There we got to experience the changing leaves of Kentucky.

This next photo was also at the park, but I’d like to point out the factory on the horizon. It’s really disappointing, but all along the rivers in Kentucky I saw these huge factories, pouring out smoke. From the air you can really see how many of them there are, and it’s gross. Maybe they don’t pollute too much, maybe they do, but either way, they are ugly and ruin the scenery.

After our jaunt in the woods, we picked up some dinner at one of about 3 restaurants in town. That evening I played Cranium with a group of Lisa’s friends. It was very fun and funny. The interesting thing about Lisa’s friends were how intellectual they all were. We were laughing and joking, and it was a good time. I thought that it was because only intellectuals go to grad school, but Lisa told me that there was no lack of anti-intellectual people at grad school, too. Sigh. My greatest disappointment with higher education.

The next day Lisa, Jaime, Seth, and I were going to go miniature golfing at this Bible-themed course. I was so excited. You get to putt through the parted Red Sea, and up onto the top of Mount Sinai, and so many other fun themed holes…
but it was closed for the season.

Instead, Lisa, Jaime, and I went bowling. Seth headed out to get some homework done.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. I love getting to spend time with Lisa, but it always ends too soon. It’s really difficult to really stay close when we are so far apart. We’ll do our best though, and hopefully this summer we’ll get to spend some time together, too.

Ah Paris! Josh and I ended our trip with a two day stop in Paris. We left the cruise as soon as it docked in Istanbul, and flew straight to Paris. It was a whirlwind trip, but I got a taste of that great city.

Our first stop was The Louvre. I was so excited to see it, and it is a very imposing structure. It is U-shaped, with incredibly long wings, and four stories high. There were four levels, three above ground and one underground level. I cannot even begin to describe what is in there, or how large it was. You must visit yourself.

We picked certain areas that we wanted to visit, and tried to head through or past the other sections as quickly as possible. There was no way we would be able to take our time and still see all that we’d like to. I would adore working in a place like that, or living nearby. It’s the kind of place that you could go a million times, and still learn something new.

Venus de Milo

Venus de Milo

The Code of Hammurabi

Mona Lisa by Leonardo

Magdalena Bay by Auguste François Biard

I saw more masterpieces than I could’ve imagined in one day. It was like seeing my art history book, the entire thing, in person. There are many more pictures in my gallery.

The next day we tried to fit as many of the other sights in as we could find time and energy for. First stop: Notre Dame Cathedral.

This is a church to be proud of. Sometimes I wish that churches would be so dedicated to glorifying God in their buildings that they would build something as majestic as this today, utilizing the best in architecture and sculpture to connect with people now. Notre Dame is a glorious church. Every part of it is amazing, from the large to the small scale. For example, above the doorways are three arches. Inside these arches are hundreds of relief sculptures. I can’t imagine how long they took to make.

Notre Dame

One of the three relief archways, each of those people are unique.

One of the many stained glass windows

Inside the cathedral.

Josh and I spent some time inside Notre Dame. We even paid to see the treasury. If people accuse televangelist of making too much money, they should visit the Papal treasury. There were crowns that were covered in jewels and diamonds. Communion cups of solid gold, with jewels adorning them. There are some pictures in my gallery, but they can’t do it justice.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

After Notre Dame, our next stop was Sir Eiffel’s Tower. It’s quite the process to get up inside it. There are two separate elevators: one to the first level, the second to go from the first to the second level. You pay admission, and then you wait in line forever to get onto both of the elevators. It’s quite the structure though. You get a great view of Paris from the top.

Eiffel Tower

I might fall!

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower at night

Another thing Josh and I did was go on a night dinner cruise, to see the sights of Paris at night, all lit up. It was too reflective to take good photos from inside the boat, but it was a nice time. It was really hard to tell what some of them were, we got a little lost trying to keep track of where we were, but we floated on the Seine, like millions of people before us, to see Paris from the water.

When Josh and I decided on our Honeymoon trip, going on a cruise was recommended, and it was an excellent idea. It was wonderful to be able to unpack our bags and move into a hotel room, and yet see many different places. It was like staying in a resort, but having the experiences of a multi-country trip. All in all, cruises are a great vacation idea.

We were on Norwegian Cruiseline, on the Norwegian Jewel. Our captain was Norwegian, and loved to come on the loud speaker in the morning, before we woke up, and say, “A verry verry good morning to you all, Ladies and Gentlemen… this is your captain speaking…” Then he would give a few announcements. Next would come our cruise director, Paul. He would repeat whatever the captain just said (in case we couldn’t understand his accent?). Occasionally our cruise’s activities director would come on and say, “Does everyone know what time it is? IIITTTT”S  BINGO TIME!!” Another reason these announcements became so funny is because we had some members from Second City onboard to entertain us, and they made up a great skit about a man trying to propose, and every time the mood was just right, one of these announcements would come on. Hilarious.

On board we had lots of things to do. Our favorite: eating!

The main dining room: Tzar’s Palace

The main dining room: Tzar’s Palace

We also enjoyed watching the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea.

Or swimming in the pool and sitting in the hot tub.

Pool

Waterfall at the pool

Josh and I spent some time playing cards in the game room during our sea days.

Library

Game Room

One thing that was awkward when we first arrived was how narrow the hallways are. They are very repetitive, and confusing at first. After a couple of days though, you might not get lost anymore.

Hallways to cabin

Our cabin

Our cabin

Our bathroom

Shower

Everyone has to do a safety drill when they board! It helps us know what to do in case of emergency. In a real emergency, everyone would panic and chaos would ensue, but we can pretend that people would act with good judgement and all meet in the places they were supposed to.

The Casino

A bar

One of the many lounge areas

A restaurant

The cabana band playing some tunes

The Japanese specialty restaurant

Sushi bar and lounge are below

The Karaoke Bar. Josh didn’t let me sing, but we did play Who Wants to be a Millionaire there.

The Auditorium, during a musical show

One of our favorite onboard activities was the game-show nights. Josh and I went to all of them, and we almost always got to play. It was fun, and we were pretty good. They also video-taped some of them, and Josh’s lack of trivial knowledge amused the whole ship for several days. Luckily, when it was my trivial knowledge, they didn’t record it! For the record, international traffic signs are cicles. America is once again, NOT international in its customs.