Our First Week

Well we have been in El Salvador just over a week and boy how the time is flying by.  Based on everything we have been doing if feels like we have been here much longer.  Things take a lot longer to accomplish here so basic daily living can sometimes be challenging.  We are still living out of a one, no window (and not much air flow) room with our 10 suitcases at the Envision site while we search for a home.  Realtors and house hunting is definitely an experience down here and much different than the states.  We have been fortunate to look at several homes before today but none of them right for our family.  Our biggest request is security/location and a place for the kids to be kids.  Today we may have found the one!  We have an offer in but are waiting on some other details to be worked out.  We trust God has the perfect place for our family and know He will provide it at just the right time.  Please continue to pray for discernment and patience as we move forward in the process.

Days here seem to go by fast...the sun rises early but sets early as well.  It is the rainy season so most days the sun is out and hot in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon and rainy at night (sometimes afternoon too).  The rain comes down hard and sometimes with extremely loud, earth shaking thunder.  The average temperature is mid to upper 80's...although our first days here were in the 90's.  Night time cools off a bit especially if it rains and is around low to mid 70's.  Mosquitoes are pests and can be annoying at times but not as bad as they could be (we haven't had to use our mosquito nets over our bed yet).  We have been fortunate not to have seen many exotic bugs so far....a few cockroaches a couple inches in length and a few lizards and salamanders is all.  Thank goodness none of them were where we are staying, however, we do know they do an extinguishing of cockroaches every other month at the Envision site which we have not experienced yet.  I assume they come out of hiding in the walls and then die.  Let's just pray we are out and in our home by then :)

God has protected us from any major illness so far.  The girls had a day or so of being under the weather but bounced back quick.  Not sure if it was the heat or the food.  Please continue to pray for protection and mindfulness as it is an adjustment getting used to the extra precautions we have to take with the food and water.  Overall, we are doing well and getting excited to find and get settled into a home here.  We are so grateful for a place to stay but it is really made for short term living and can weigh on you after awhile.  Please pray we can endure the length of time needed to stay here while living out of suitcases each day (so thankful to be living out of 10 and not 20 :)  Because of all the interns here and there being only one washer, we have to make the best of sharing our time and hanging our clothes on a small line.  We ended up hanging lines in our room and hanging our clothes there for lack of space.  The other night someone upstairs was taking a shower which backed up and flooded the floor.  It happened to be right above our room and water leaded through the ceiling onto the bunk above where I was sleeping.  So glad it wasn't over all of our stuff since the mattress absorbed a lot of it.  These are just some of the things we experience in a day but really very minor.  Oh the conveniences we have and how we take them for granted.  We see how some have to live each day and as we are reminded of that, we give thanks to God for what he provides and how he chooses to provide it.  We are blessed...it is all perspective!

Please pray for the kids as school registration and orientation is this week.  We are visiting the international school and trust God will guide our steps as we explore new territory.  I am learning the areas I still want to control which are only motivated by fear... the very things God is using to humble me, deepen my dependence and glorify himself.

We had our first church experience last Sunday.  We attended a small Bible believing church spoken in english.  So thankful that in the midst of the vast darkness, a small ray of light exists where we are able to worship with God's people in spirit and in truth!

Thank you for your continued support and prayers!  We thank God every time we think of you and remember you in our prayers humbled to serve the Lord with you.

For the Sake of His Glory,

The Schuenke Family

Raeleigh with a talking parrot teaching her some spanish

Our sweet girls

James and I enjoying a moment

Elijah and Sharla (Envision Site Associates)

Dinner with some of Envision Wired Staff  eating "pupusas"

Being entertained by spanish musicians

A beautiful view of San Salvador at night

One of the oldest streets in San Salvador

Skyler under the weather

James cleaning the living space outside our room

Hanging clothes to dry in our room while a little one is sleeping

Makai thrilled he found a McDonald's

Union Christian Church entrance

The beauty of the Lord