I think I'll do it again one day!

SAN BLAS ISLANDS PANAMA CENTRAL AMERICA

My last week in El Salvador

picture courtesy of Missionary Kristal Holtzclaw


picture courtesy of Missionary Kristal Holtzclaw

We had an awesome week with staff, interns and the World Warriors doing programs in the town and a "Vigilia" all night prayer meeting with hundreds of Salvadorians. We also did ministry in the mountains in the clouds.

Sonsonate, El Salvador

Today, Tuesday, the World Warrior's are joining up with the interns to work in Sonsonate, El Salvador, on the western side of the country to help train local castle teams and we will be doing street ministry till Sunday the 27th. On Tuesday June 29th, I will be heading to Lafayette, La.

Photo by Kristal Holtzclaw of woman's conference

My sister

The Crossroad's team!



Up the mountain

The Crossroads team has left and ...

... this next week i will be going out visiting the incoming teams and helping train them. Most of the interns here are assigned to incoming teams except for a couple of us because they have teams coming later. The next week we do this thing called an 'intern bus' and we will go to churches and train some of the leaders to do programs and then go out and do them with them.
Having our Crossroads team here was fun. The best part was this womens service we had for some of the women from the church it was so cool.
i just moved into the intern dorm last night in the rain haha. Today was good. We trained then went swimming in the pool and ate mangos from the tree on the grounds. That was the first bit of fruit i've gotten so far. I want more!

Nueva Esperanza, El Salvador

Pictures taken by Missionary Lisa Sears http://www.recklessfaith.org

Made it!

Made it to El Salvador & where's the first place we eat? Wendy's ... Frosty & fries, yummm!

El Salvador here we come!

GOING TO EL SALVADOR FOR 24 DAYS!

Im blessed to be able to go with Crossroads on a Missions trip to Kings Castle in San Salvador, El Salvador. I will be extending my stay a few weeks to participate in an internship there. I will be working on a team which will be doing evangelism and training other Castle teams at local church. This has been an unexpected opportunity for me. God is full of surprises!


This is the campground where Ill be staying

The campground is on a crater lake called Lake Ilopango

These are the awesome leaders that we will be working with (NOT including my mom ;-))

Kings Castle logo
http://www.kingscastle.org/

East Coast Tour

Our team of 7 flew from Romania into Indy to meet up with the rest of the East Coast Tour group that came from Lafayette. Our next stops are Baltimore and Bensalem, Pa. were will will be doing Sidewalk Sunday Schools, community outreaches and youth services. We will be starting our way back home on Saturday May the 6 and arriving on the 8. Pray for us! You can find more info on the East Coast Tour on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100000872870068&ref=ts

Each picture say a 1,000 words

1/2

Pastor Shawn Marcell reported today
"We were able to get 8 people home today... well they are in transit. The other half leave on Tuesday and i leave on Wednesday. Today the team hit the streets to pick up trash in the city in honor of earth day. The students had the opportunity to meet the major of the city we are in and team member, Erin Thompson, was interviewed by the media."

Not leaving till Tues April 27 but until then.....

"We got to see God in action today. We held a get together at the house we are staying and invited as many English speaking Romanians as we could. We had a great turn out. We made connections with some people and had great conversations. You're so right God is not surprised. he has us where he wants us we are only to listen to Him. The people here are all craving something and we can be that light..... its been amazing." Erin Thompson

We made it on the news..... we are practically famous!

http://fwix.com/lafayette/share/a1adc84d55/local_missionaries_stranded_in_europe

Watch the video!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100418/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_iceland_volcano_136

and

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/scitech/2010/03/21/volcano-erupts-iceland/?slide=4

Not coming home!

I would have been home tomorrow, then quickly washed clothes and then left on the MC East Coast Tour on Monday but because of the delays in Romania I will be coming home later than expected. Instead, I will be flying straight from Romania to Detroit, Michigan where I will meet up with the MC East Coast Team. This makes my arrival back to Lafayette some time early May. Fun times!

Lufthansa says....

No Lufthansa flights worldwide on Saturday, April 17th

Please read the latest updates on the flight status here on this page.

Like all other airlines, Lufthansa must comply with directives issued by ministries and air traffic control. Many European airports have closed. In Germany, the airports in Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Hof, Leipzig, Munich, Muenster/Osnabrueck, Nuremberg and Stuttgart have shut down. All arrivals at and departures from these airports have been cancelled until further notice.

As the German aviation authority (DFS) has closed German airspace until Sunday, April 18, 2am local time, Lufthansa has cancelled all flights worldwide scheduled for Saturday, April 17th. Passengers whose flights have been cancelled are kindly asked not to travel to the airport.

Passengers can keep up-to-date with the status of their flights via:

Arrival & Departure

For code share flights operated by a partner airline, please check with your operating carrier. These flights have the following flight numbers: LH1400 - LH1729, LH1910 - LH2629 or LH5050 - LH9999. If you are not sure if your flight is operated by a partner airline, please refer to your booking confirmation.

Passengers travelling within Germany can switch to a journey by rail with Deutsche Bahn, if their flights have to be cancelled. For that purpose, they must exchange their electronic ticket (etix) for a travel voucher at a Lufthansa check-in machine at the airport. Alternatively passenger can buy a Deutschen Bahn AG rail ticket. In this case the flight ticket price can later be refunded*.

Passengers whose flights have been cancelled will be rebooked in the same booking class free of charge on other flights (which must be flown by 31 May) subject to availability. Alternatively, if they wish to cancel their ticket, they will receive a refund. The change in booking must take place no later than three weeks after the original flight.
Further information is available from the Lufthansa Service Center or out of Germany toll free under 0800 8 50 60 70. Due to the exceptional circumstances, customers may face longer than normal waiting times.

At present it is not possible to predict how the air traffic situation in Europe will progress. Lufthansa is keeping a close eye on developments and is in constant contact with the relevant ministries, aviation authorities, meteorological services and airports.

* non-flown tickets will be fully refunded. Partly flown tickets will be refunded pro-rata

Flights Canceled due to Iceland Volcanic Eruption and Its Ash

It seems like our flight will be canceled due to the massive ash cloud that is slowly moving across Europe due to the volcano that erupted this week in Iceland.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE63F1UQ.htm

Posted by Nichole on Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Mission-Romania II


The last few days have been very full with ministry!

Micro Kids went very well. It was so good to be ministering to the children. They were so excited.

We have continued to do work on the home for abused women that we are opening. The house looks amazing.
We ministered in two church services (Pastor Gigi's and Pastor Mihaj's church). God truly moved during the services. There were deep times of worship and prayer. The church is alive and well, but struggling here. So we encouraged them and saw many people set free and delivered. We also met with each Pastor and their families for many hours speaking encouragement to them.
Today we are going to some of the poorest homes in this area and delivering food and preaching the Gospel and praying for the families.

Tonight we will be doing training with the leadership team of the church here.

And tomorrow we head to another city to do evangelism and preach in the church there.

The Romanian team has been wonderful organizing things for us and also in ministering right along side of us.
But this morning one of our team members was hit by a car (a hit and run). She appears o.k.....but we are awaiting her x-rays to see if her legs are broken. So please pray for her. The man who hit her has been caught.

Sunday

Today was really good. We went to a service this morning and Pastor Shawn spoke and tonight we did a service at another church. They were both really good. Tonight we did two dramas and Pastor Shawn had Erin, Stephanie, Gammon and me speak. Sarah did the song she wrote too.
I also did Liz's engagement pictures today. i think they came out cute. It was so fun! They are soo cute together!

Crosstown meets Romania

Today we did Crosstown (Micro Kids Programs) in at 3 different locations in the cities of Targoviste and Doicesti. It was crazy! We went to some of the poorest parts of town. It was so good though and so much fun. I got some really good pictures!

during the last 2 days...

... was spent in a home filled with girls that have been rescued from sex trafficking.
The stories are tragic. The scars, both physical and emotional, are quite evident.

Tomorrow will be spent doing construction on the home we are opening for women and children who have been abused or abandoned by their husband.

Details

- helping opening a home for women and children who are victims of domestic violence or abandonment. this is needed b/c lots of abuse exists and there no place to leave the situation behind and start over in safety. In other words, no place for them to heal. A missions organization Crosstraining International started by Pastors Sahwn & Nichol Marcell a non-profit missions organization which they started back in 2002 heads up this home. We will be working along side a Romaninian woman of God, Nici, who is the hands, feet, and heart of that ministry home.

-visiting girls coming out of sex trafficking that our being housed in a transitional home. And we look forward to seeing what God will have us do in this great need.

-encouraging the members of the church Pastors Shawn and Nichol started in Romania

-working in Gypsy villages

-street evangelism

-preaching the Gospel

-being the Gospel

One more sleep until Romania!

Driving to New Orleans tomorrow at 7:30 am to take our plane to D.C., Munich and finally arriving to Bucharest, Romania on Tuesday. Once we land in Romania we will be picked up by a local pastor and his team to drive approx 2 1/2 hours Northeast of capital, Bucharest, towards the mountains to the city of Targoviste. There we will be ministering in churches, the city, villages and doing some construction work. Im very excited about the opportunity to helping in the beginning stages of launching a girls home in that area and also working with an new women's shelter.