Thursday - If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat.

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The kids know now to expect a presentation when we arrive at school, so they were ready and waiting for another Bible lesson. Today it was the presentation of Jesus walking on the water. The team acted out the miraculous story, complete with a blue sheet sea that flapped wildly as the storm. It's always interesting to hear the impressions of the kids after the story. They love to summarize the whole story! As Tim gave another gospel presentation, they heard how the power that calmed the storm is the power that raised Jesus from the dead! Along with the lesson, we did some action songs, which even though they couldn't "hear" the songs, they really enjoyed following all the motions. For a craft, they made gospel bracelets with the colored beads that tell the gospel message. Dina, one of our wonderful interpreters, helped me write out a gospel presentation to share with Mario, the young man who said he's like to hear more about Jesus. Using the evangecube, I pointed to the pictures and then followed the Spanish explanation written out on paper for Mario. He paid close attention. At the end, we wrote down the question, "would you like to accept Jesus as your own Savior?" When he read this, he shook his head "yes." What a joy to see this young man begin his new life in Jesus! We prayed with him, encouraged him to read the book of John (he said they had a Bible at home), and continue his new walk with the Lord. Sharing the gospel with a deaf person was a vivid reminder that we have to be prepared to share in a manner that can be understood. We learned years ago not to depend on written materials, like tracts, or show them scriptures, because so many people we encounter cannot read. Last night I was scouring the internet looking for written materials in Spanish for Mario to read; all that I found were tracts for sale, but not written out, but predominantly, videos presenting the gospel in Spanish and other languages. This would be great for those who can't read (at least the audio could be used for those who are blind), but they were pointless for these students. So we had to write out our own gospel message to share with Mario, and praise God, even with the difficulty of language barrier, God allowed him to understand and accept His loving gift!

Each day brings new joys; the team members showing compassion and love to these children, working so hard on the grounds to provide a safe place for them to play, persevering the heat/humidity to serve others; the smiles on children's faces, appreciation from the teachers, and seeing moms pitch in to labor right along with us to make things better for their children.

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Tonight we are having dinner in the home of one of our ministry workers here whose son, Andreas, has also been helping us with interpreting. They are going to demonstrate how to prepare pupusas, a favorite El Salvador dish. It will be a great time of fellowship and a chance to celebrate Tim's birthday today! Though he's far away from his wife and little daughter, we'll do our best to make it a great celebration for him.