Click this photo to see more of Glad Tiding's TripOne of the biggest sacrifices for any missionary is saying good bye to family & friends.  Yet, as God calls, we follow—trusting that He will provide new friends and create a new family from his vast body of believers.  And God is always faithful to provide. Yet, it is a truly special gift when family & friends actually come to El Salvador, see the work we are doing and sometimes even work alongside us!  

 Shane Wimberly has been a missionary volunteer with ENLACE for almost a year and has been assisting with teams and project construction. In June, Shane’s parents Dueward & Sharon Wimberly brought down a small group from Glad Tidings Church in Texas to work in the community of San Antonio near San Jose El Naranjo.  Pastor Dueward shared a message with the community on Sunday and the entire team of 7 worked on 3 latrines. One of the team members, Sophie, also offered a hair cutting workshop to train some locals on some simple haircutting techniques, as well as offered free haircuts to anyone that wanted one.

 The team was a double blessing—offering encouragement and hope to the members of the San Antonio community that they served through their sweat and shoveling, but Shane was also blessed to have the opportunity to show family and friends how God is transforming impoverished communities in El Salvador through the daily efforts of the local churches that partner with ENLACE.  And sharing with people the truth about how God is providing hope, better health and better communities in El Salvador is one of our very favorite things to do!  Thanks to everyone at Glad Tidings!

Pastor Chris CoffmanTravelling hundreds of miles and sleeping in 4 different locations in 7 days, a group of 7 men from River West Church and other Portland, Oregon churches visited all of the communities that ENLACE works with in the beginning of May. That can be a pretty overwhelming journey—and half the team was missing their luggage the first half of the week! And yet this team came with hearts eager to see God working in El Salvador and brought a sense of joy, spirits of humility and a whole lot of prayer.  The River West team came to El Salvador to be an encouragement to local community leaders & members, but River West Associate Pastor, Chris Coffman, shares below what can happen whenever you carve out time to be with God and want to see what great things He is doing in His world

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect when I flew out last week. I knew going into this that folks back home were asking God to open new doors of opportunity. So I asked God to speak to me and allow me to see how he is working in El Salvador.
 
Having never carved out a week to travel to a country for the purpose of prayer, learning, and listening to God, I was a bit anxious about this trip. With each day that passed the dissonance of my own thoughts was replaced with the unmistakable presence of Christ’s voice—Everywhere I turned Christ was speaking. Through stacks of papusas and stories of unimaginable suffering. Through the beatitudes and the “numb-buttocks” feeling that comes from four hours expeditions in the back Land Rover. In the most unexpected places I found Christ at play in the people of El Salvador.

All in all, this last week was one of the best weeks of my life. By God’s mercy, I was given a front row seat to the kingdom of God in El Salvador. I will never forget what it’s like to meet people that believe that a life of justice
(justicia) is inseparable from the life of Jesus.

We are often amazed to see God work week in and week out, but we never put those exact words to it. “A front row seat to the kingdom of God!” That is a good seat to be in!

See photos of the River West Vision Trip.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A COPY OF OUR 2006 / 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

UW Students at the 2008 Pi Mile RunIt’s a new kind of math they are teaching at the University of Wisconsin! Apparently if you add an enthusiastic engineering student to a 5K run and promise people pie at the end of that race the aggregate sum is $4000 donated to ENLACE’s water project in Las Delicias. That’s math we can get behind!

On April 5^th, 255 students hit the streets of Madison, Wisconsin in the 2^nd annual Pi Mile Run to help raise money and awareness for the ENLACE water project in Las Delicias. Yep, that means a few hundred folks ran to help raise funds for ENLACE and then were promptly thanked at the finish line with a slice of delicious pie. Truly a win-win situation.

Ted Durkee, a mechanical engineering student at UW, volunteered with ENLACE two years ago and helped in the communities of El Tineral and San Martin. The relationships that Ted developed in Las Delicias inspired him to create the Pi Mile Run last year. After organizing a second run Ted explained, “The only organization I considered supporting was ENLACE. Having met and worked with people in the Las Delicias community, it was as easy to be encouraged to raise funds for the water project as helping out a neighbor or good friend."

Creating friendships and forging relationships is a time-consuming process but is the heart and soul of ENLACE. True and lasting change only comes as people listen to God and become connected to their neighbors. It is a great honor to see the impact that such a vision can have locally as well as internationally. As Ted noted in an interview after the event, "ENLACE...provides so many opportunities for people to connect with those in need. You're not just writing a check for some obscure project in another country, you're helping friends.”

The communities of San Martin that will be impacted by this donation express their gratitude to Ted and those at UW. They are also incredibly encouraged by the support of so many friends a world away. That is a gift that will multiply well beyond this year’s run.

To read more about the race, visit the UW website:

See more about Las Delicias and the water project.

 Support the water project.