Alive and kickin´

Hi all,

First off, I would like to assure you that I am still alive down here in Central America! Waiting for a less-busy time to update you has not been a good plan. Feels as if we´re always in the thick of it here at Envision Wired... I wouldn´t change any of it though!

One year ago, God brought about our friendship with Sam and Julie Hawkins. This beautiful couple arrived in El Salvador nearly 30 years ago taking a leap of faith, not having any idea what God had in store for them. They founded Love Link to help the large percentage of malnourished infants here have a chance at survival and a healthy life. Almost 1,500 babies have passed through their doors, and through love and care, 97% of them have recuperated and returned to their families.

The Hawkins also founded Project Metamorfosis - Vision:  See at-risk people and prison inmates become productive and proactive citizens of Salvadoran society through the success of applied discipleship, life training and employment. Mission:  Employ and disciple high-risk people in a self-sustaining prototype shoe factory. The majority of employees have been imprisoned in the past, and because of their history or involvement in gangs, finding work elsewhere is challenging. But those are exactly the people we want to reach! We have officially taking over leadership of both of these ministries, as Sam and Julie step down. It´s been a whirlwind that´s for sure!

We have been in crisis mode these past 3 weeks, working LONG hours to help save the shoe factory. The goal is 6,000 pairs of shoes by this Saturday! We were faced with the reality that in order to continue this ministry, we have to have a successful and efficient business. We were so far behind on several orders that our only buyer was going to have to take his business elsewhere. Thankfully they granted us a 3 week period to catch up. So, Wired staff have been there nearly every day of (an hour commute both ways!) to help and support the Metamorfosis employees. I personally have loved it - call me crazy but I like doing repetitious and detailed manual labor! I´ve worked several stations of the assembly line, but have settled into the quality control part! Add shoe-making to the list of ¨random things I´ve learned to do in El Salvador¨. :)

Aura and I making sure all the shoes that are shipped out are error-free!

Some prayer requests for the present would be:

  - For us to reach the goal of 6,000 pairs of shoes on time.
  - For God´s protection over everyone at the factory. There has been some major spiritual warfare going on at Metamorfosis over the past months, but definitely during these 3 weeks. God is working!
  - For our staff, especially Richard Mullinax and his family. For renewed energies and strength to make it through this crisis. And deeper trust and reliance in God our Refuge.
   - For relationships created with the ladies on my football team to deepen. (*check out my last post. We had our first game this past Sunday!)

Thank you so much for your support, love, and prayers. I am thankful for each of you.

Much love,
Melissa

A days worth of ¨lotes¨ ready to be shipped out. Each box holds 12 pairs of shoes.

Rainy season is coming to a close, but we´ve had a lot of big, last thunderstorms. Here´s one coming in over the city. Oh yeah, and did anyone hear about the 7.5 earthquake we had a few nights ago?!

What´s happenin?

Hello everyone!

Surrendering to the Lord takes on new meaning each day. He is worth it all!

This past month, I was Point for a group coming from a partnering church in New York. It was the first time out of all the times I have been Point that I relinquished control of many things and depended heavily on our highly capable Wired Squad. Again, that idea of surrendering things – letting them out of our control – is HARD but brings so much peace, takes away stress, and builds up/encourages those around you on whom you are relying! So why don´t we surrender things more quickly? It´s a work in progress! We as a staff, and the whole group, had a wonderful week. The group split in two: one group focused on construction at Wired, finishing dorm bathrooms and sheetrock upstairs and the other group did VBS at an ISNA (government-run) orphanage and a local after-school program. They also spent time helping at Vinculo de Amor.

You´ve all heard about the football league here, but you probably don´t know that they´ve started a women´s flag football club as well! And guess who´s going to be playing??! In the picture, our team was being introduced to the fans and men´s contact league! I laugh to think that I am playing football in Central America AND it´s the first time in my life I have been on an official sport´s team! Oh, the places God takes us and the things we do! I´ll keep you posted how it´s going. Please pray for deep, life-changing connections to be made with the women on the team! I have practice tomorrow...

Comida Salvadoreña

Every day I am intrigued and surprised by Salvadoran cuisine. Here are some pictures to give you a glimpse of some foods I encounter on a daily basis... Enjoy!

Coconut water... direct from the coconut. Hacked open with a machete.

Several Salvadoran traditional foods pictured here: a famous pupusa on the far left, pasteles and yuca frita, to name a few.

Tamales come either wrapped in banana leaves or corn husks and they´re filled with chicken, potatoes and corn.

Desayno típico (typical breakfast) of fried plantains, beans, cheese, cream and, of course, Envision Coffee!

Sopa de tortilla... YUM!

Salvadoran tortillas are much smaller and thicker than the Mexican tortillas that Americans are used to. Not much flavor, but with a bowl of sopa de frijoles, they´re perfect!

Chirimol (or just chimol) is El Salvador´s pico de gallo. Straight up: tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt.

Horchata is a Mexican/Central American beverage. In El Salvador it made out of the seeds of morro fruit (pictured below) and always has cinnamon in it. 

Morro tree

Ceviche is a beach day treat. Fish or shrimp ¨cooked¨ by the acid in the lime juice.

I can´t give you a food post without throwing in a few very different delicacies. The departments of San Miguel and Morazán are known for their iguana dishes.

Don´t forget the chicken feet! They are a must ingredient in the traditional sopa de pata (loosely translated: foot soup).

Everyone loves ´em some chocobananos. You can buy them at most tiendas.

Elote loco! You can get it year-round, but it is particularly popular during the ferias (think state fair).

Ahh the delicious fruit of Central America! Papaya and mangos (pictured below) are probably common to you, but some of these others might be new...

Green mango in a bag with lime juice, salt, and chile (hot sauce) is a favorite treat

Nonas

Jocotes and mamones (below) you just peel, pop, suck off the fruit, and spit the seed.

Marañon - the fruit is edible and is good for juice. For those who didn´t know, this is where cashews come from. Just be careful, you have to dry them first. Raw cashews are poisonous.

Last one for now... Loroco is found in lots of recipes, from pupusas to soups. I´m still deciding if I like this or not... :)

Busy seasons

First of all I would like to humbly ask forgiveness from all of you who love and support me.  It has been selfish and rude of me not to put updates, of what is happening in El Salvador and in my life, as top priority.  It is easy for me to blame the busyness and the constant activity at Wired for my lack of contact, but that's not an excuse for keeping you, my faithful friends and family, in the dark. It's never been my intention and I'm the one missing out on the blessing of pointed prayer and I'm keeping blessing from you on what God is doing here!

So, I guess, my first prayer request comes out of my weakness: please pray for me to stay in better communication and contact with you.

Everything is moving fast at Wired! We're in the middle of group season now. I have about 5 weeks until the group that I am leading comes. They will be doing construction and VBS, but because of recent security issues, I'm not 100% sure where we will be working.

We finished up staff training "the Wonder Games III" earlier this month pumped and ready to go for the summer. It again was a wonderful time to be together as staff and learn how we can better work as a team. There are 5 new interns at Wired: Hannah - returned for a 2 year commitment in May. Anna - is here for her 3rd internship. She'll be serving until the end of July. Ada - is here for the whole summer to help with groups. Alexa (my NC buddy) - is here for a month from Winston-Salem (originally VT). Rachel - is here for 3 weeks this month looking into a longer internship. I'll post a staff update with pictures this weekend so you can see who you can find around Wired these days!

With group season, most of my time is spent working with them or preparing for future groups. Last week, however, I was able to step in and be with the Mullinax kids all week, while Jen was in charge of her group from Montana. Their family continues to bless me. I've found great friends and mentors in both Richard and Jen. And of course the kids and I get along pretty well...!

Much has happened in the past few months to further the Broken ministry. God has shown us that Broken is already happening in El Salvador, through many well established ministries. Our partnership with Vinculo de Amor (clinic for malnourished babies) and Metamorfosis (shoe factory/new beginnings for prisoners and gang members) has turned into two ministries that WE will be taking charge of. The couple who began these two ministries are retiring and, after much prayer, we know that God has definitely placed us here for "such a time as this"!

I have continually felt drawn to helping the women of this country. I'm still not sure in what exact way, but a few opportunities I have had lately were sharing time and a bible study with a group of women who are homeless or who have come out of prostitution. And during the football games (yes, there is a American football league in El Salvador! 6 teams this year!), I enjoy connecting with the wives and girlfriend's of the players and a few of them are interested in coming to Hungry (a church for people who have been deported).

Writing these things down, I am humbled by how God is using me and our team at Envision Wired. Thank you for praying. If you have Facebook, look up the "Broken Campaign" and "Envision Wired" pages for pictures and updates on what is going on.

One last prayer request, would be for continued financial support for myself. I currently have enough for the next 4 months, but not past that. If you would like to contribute, here's the link: https://secure.cmalliance.org/give/ and enter "Lonas, Melissa 1-47609-49-12". 

I love you all very dearly and pray that you are doing well.

Love,
Mel

Shared my 26th birthday this year with little Raquel who turned 4!

At the women's outreach (for homeless and rescued sex trade workers).

Football, baby!!! I finally understand how to play now. (You can hear my Dad cheering after all those years of trying to explain the rules of football...)

I'm back!

 Just a quick update to let everyone know that I made it back to El Salvador safely yesterday! I was met at the airport by several wonderful friends! The afternoon was spent reuniting, unpacking, and then sleeping (after being up for almost 20 hrs)!

I, literally, have not been able to stop smiling. :) :) :)

Vlady and Priscila (pictured) as well as Patty and Victoria were my welcoming commitee!

A lot of changes have happened at Wired since I've been gone, so I foresee this week being even more of an adjustment/transition than merely culturally. I greatly appreciate your prayers. I'm jumping right back into work this week, finding my niche at our new office (several staff are now working in a different location for space reasons) and enjoying being with the Mullinax family again!

That's all for now. More later!

Fund raising with a hammock

Sunday evening was a great time with the Alliance Bible Fellowship Youth! They are an amazing group, more than that, an amazing family to me! Lots of them entered the raffle for a Salvadoran hammock to raise $191!! Congratulations Josh Blavatt!!

The winner!

Visits

Only a week left folks! One week from tomorrow I'll be leaving on a jetplane - headed back to my other home! The time at home (in NC) has been wonderful! Full of busyness and challenges, but more importantly full of time with the Lord and people I love and have not seen for a long time. Below is just a sampling of some of those people I got to spend time with!

Tomorrow morning at my church, Alliance Bible Fellowship, we will be serving Envision Coffee in the Commons area for the first time! Since I'm still here, I get to stand behind the coffee pot as people go through the line and tell them about Broken and how drinking Envision Coffee supports it. www.envisioncoffee.org A huge thanks to everyone, especially the missions committee at ABF, for supporting and promoting the Broken ministry in this way. If your church is also interesting in buying or selling coffee to support the ministry let me know!

Fundraising is still going slow. Thank you for all your prayers. Tomorrow night at our youth groups Super Bowl party we are raffling off a Salvadoran hammock to help send me back to El Salvador! The drawing is at halftime! If you are interested in supporting me financially, you can give online at https://secure.cmalliance.org/give/. Go to the "Give to international workers" box and enter "Melissa Lonas  1-47609-49-12".

Hannah Johnson - my most recent visitor who drove down for the weekend from Richmond, VA! She has become a beloved friend since we first met this summer in El Salvador, when she came as an intern for 4 months. She will be returning for a 2 year commitment this May! God really used her this weekend to encourage me. :)

This is my bro and one of my neices, Canaan. My mom and I drove to TN to visit their family a few weekends ago. It was a great visit! Those little ladies sure do grow up fast! I'm glad we got to squeeze in a little more time with them. For those who don't know my brother, Justin, and sister-in-law, Rachel, they're pretty amazing!

My dad and his sista, my aunt Janet. The 4 Lonases took a trip to Georgia the last weekend of January to visit several relatives. 

This is Uncle Bill! He and many of my cousins came up the mountain right after Christmas. 2 of the cousins that came are missionaries to the deaf in Chile. It was quite exciting to speak Spanish with my cuz'n Becky!

Not often do we get to see the Wright twins, Kari and Janell! But usually around Christmas we all seem to be around and get together. These women are some of my role models, including that cute one on the end (my sister Caroline)!

Surprise and slightly spontaneous trip to Minnesota in December. Liz, Becca, and Anna have all interned at Wired in the past 2 years. Anna (the far right) will be coming back for the 3rd consecutive summer this May! I love these friends!

Yes, this picture does not follow suit with the rest, but the weather in Boone and Blue Ridge Mountains lately has been a bit cooooold! This wasn't even the lowest one night. It definitely got down to -7 with windchills up (or down) to -16. I had prayed for lots of snow and cold... God answers prayer! The only problem: living in a tropical climate for 18 months made me a wimp when it comes to cold temperatures now. Thank you Lord for warm socks, fireplaces, hot coffee and thick blankets!