Aug. 6-7, Mision Cristiana Nuevo Pacto, San Salvador, El Salvador; www.misioncristiananuevopacto.org
Friday midnight: I am catching a midnight flight tonight, Sacramento to Atlanta, and then making a connecting flight, Atlanta to San Salvador. I should arrive around noon on Saturday, Lord willing. This will be my first time to El Salvador. I’m speaking Saturday evening, I think it’s the last meeting of a conference, and then am staying over to do Sunday morning with the host church. Here’s their site: www.misioncristiananuevopacto.org. Because of the timing of flights, I will not be able to depart for home until Monday 1:00 p.m.
Saturday 3 pm: Greetings from my hotel in San Salvador. Looking out my hotel window, I have a nice overlook on this corner of the city. On the other side of the valley, clouds are engulfing the top of the mountain. It’s obvious that clouds often hang low in the sky here in the tropics.
My hosts are Guatemalan by nationality. In 1986, they came to El Salvador as missionaries—with nothing. They had no support from Guatemala, so lived by faith literally for every meal. Now, they have a hundred churches here and around the globe. I look forward to hearing more of the story. This is a week of national holidays, so the conference is timed annually for this week. Folks have gathered from many nations and churches in the nation, and they said close to 2000 are at the meetings today. There’s a 2 pm service today, and then I am speaking at the 5 pm service. And then again Sunday morning. They became familiar with my ministry through my online presence and books, hence the invitation to be here.
Saturday 10 pm: I’m back from tonight’s service. We attempted a sound check in the between-service break at 5:30, and honestly, I thought it would never work. I thought it would be impossible for my translator to hear me. When I got up to speak, it was very hard. But we kept chipping away at it. We turned off all the fans, and then turned off all the air conditioning units in the building. And finally we were able to tweak a sound level that could work for both me and the translator. The sound team worked so hard to make it right! And by the time we had come to the close of the session, they had found a real workable setting, it seemed, for everybody. Wow. A miracle. The Lord enabled me in speaking, and there seemed to be a very warm response to the message. These saints are just about the most expressive I’ve ever encountered. They go ballistic in praise, and they weep profusely in worship. Just amazing! They throw all their heart, soul, and body into their praise, worship, and prayer.
Sunday’s service order has been switched. Since it’s necessary to turn off all the air conditioning units while I speak, they have moved me from second service to first. That way, I’ll be speaking in the cool of the day. Smart. I think I’m changing my message for Sunday morning.
Sunday 11:30 a.m.: I am back to my room already, after ministering in the early service. The room was engaged, and even though the sound system challenges were strong, the message seemed to come across and be communicated in a way that everyone got the message. I changed my message for today, and spoke on being a friend of the Bridegroom. The Lord’s grace helped me to deliver the message, and I believe helped the people to hear.
I will be collected after second service, and will join the pastors for lunch. Since I was moved from the second service to the first service today, it turns out that I could have made today’s departure from San Salvador (Delta has just one departure daily, at 12:50 pm). But we didn’t know that in advance, and I didn’t feel to go to the hassle of trying to switch my departure to today. So now I will have an entire day in El Salvador, to relax and enjoy the tropics. My Monday 12:50 pm departure means I should get home by midnight, if the flights are on time.
I get home Monday at midnight, and then have a 10 a.m. departure the next morning for Jackson, MS. So I’ll be back in touch again Tuesday morning about that. It will be a quick overnight trip.
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