Me, Paula, Brenna, Cecy, and Gabita with 'crazy corn,' a Salvadorian snack.

About a month ago we had a 'fiesta de postres' in the girls house to gather students involved in VE. We are still trying to start a weekly gathering time, but between student breaks, midterms, and coaching visits for our team, we are looking at April being the start of weekly meetings. The ten of us know a lot of students on campus who are following Jesus or interested in learning about God, which is totally great. BUT many of those students have never had the opportunity to know each other. We can only do so much work from the outside of a culture. And thats what was so cool about the party, students interacting with each other. We brought together all of our friends, threw in some good homemade dessert (including my fav. blackberry cobbler), music, dancing, and a piñata. Before we knew it students from different campuses were talking, getting phone numbers, and even sharing what things God has done in their lives.





It is nights like these that get me excited for the future of college ministry in El Salvador. Here are students seeing each other, building community, and living life together. My team has built relatioships with them and seen how God is working in their lives. We tell them how God is calling students on their campus to Himself. Now they can see that for themselves. Now they can encourage and grow together. How much more can they do for their country with a common purpose than 10 wandering Americans? God has big plans. I can see them forming.

This is a garden area on campus and the architecture building. The brick is gone now, as Matias has undergone a recent makeover. We've gone professional with tan and cream paint.



And the main cafeteria. My office :]

After 5 months, my team is finally all on one campus! It has been so excited to be all together and has brought our team unity beyond what we could imagine. We have been really working on getting our name out on campus and reaching out to the freshmen. We set up a table near the biggest cafeteria on campus to let students know who we are. We also had a pizza party at the end of the first week and saw 150 students come to participate! It was awesome to look into the crowd and see some of our old friends from last semester, freshmen we met from the table, and Christians who were looking to help us in any way they could. This is the community that we are trying to foster on Matias. In that moment I saw just a glimpse of the things that God can continue to grow in the years to come!