12. May 2012 by MullinaxFam.

We are currently in the middle of an evangelistic campaign in a town called Quetzaltepeque (yep, you can just say Q-town) which happens to be the darkest place we have spent a week reaching out. On the first day we encountered a 10 year-old boy whose parents had been murdered violently several months apart. Yesterday Richard was sharing the Good News in the home of a young woman who had given birth to twins at age 13. Today part of our group was told by our local church partner to pack up and leave immediately because of interaction with gang members — including one man whom a resident said was a contract killer. Needless to say, we could really use your prayers for boldness and courage tomorrow and Monday as the campaign continues. Then, after two days of other activity, we will come back to this neighborhood again Wednesday through Sunday of next week for VBS and construction.

Please pray for the group from Simpson University (Redding, CA) who are serving well during this intense week of ministy as well as our staff who are on the front lines for long hours. Please pray for a staff member whose grandmother died today far away. Please also pray for Melissa Lonas who arrived today from Boone, NC for 15 months here (yeah!) as she tries to adjust while jumping into the middle of a very intense time.

Through your prayers,
Mullinax Family

Posted in Prayer team updates | Print | No Comments »

9. May 2012 by AnnaV.

My heart is broken. But this pain is becoming familiar to me. God breaks my heart for the things that break His. The things that break the heart of God are too many to count, and thankfully, he does not share all of such with me. God began to show me things that are on his heart back in 2010 in Africa. God showed me things that have permanently implanted themselves in my  heart and in my mind. I saw a woman screaming in deep agony holding her dead new born baby in her arms. A scene that replays itself in my mind every single day. But her baby did not have to die. She had contracted malaria only a few days before. Malaria. When was the last time that you heard of someone dying of malaria in America? If there are any current cases of Malaria in America, they few and far between, and are rarely fatal due to our advanced medical care and prevention. While in Africa I was taking Malaria pills every day. But why was I allowed to have access to this life saving medicine and she was not? Why did she have to die before she was even was able to live? Questions like these still go unanswered, but they continually repeat themselves in different circumstances. Although this happened back in 2010, it changed my life forever. It was the beginning of a long line of heart breaks. My heart was, and still is, broken over the death of that baby two years ago. It still brings me to my knees in prayer and causes me to weep.  She mattered. And I know that she is in heaven with God, free from pain and suffering. I weep because she was beautifully created and loved by God, but this world’s cruelty touched her life before she even had a chance to understand what was happening. She was helpless. And there are so many like her. When I was in my early teens I came to God with a prayer. I asked God to give me passion. I asked Him to break my heart for the things that break His. I begged Him to make me passionate about something that He was passionate about. Now I wish that God would lesson this pain.. He has broken my heart. More than once. And not only that, but He continues to break me. He brings things to my attention and shows me how HE feels. He shows me things that break His heart, and in the process, He shatters mine. And in the midst of this continual pain of a shattered heart, I find more of Christ. I find more of His character. I find more of His indescribable love. And that love fills me. I find rest for my hurting, broken heart in God’s love.

With witnessing the death of the baby in Africa, along with seeing a massive amount of other children living alone and in poverty , God began to stir something within my heart. A passion was growing. God was at work. He was taking my heart and giving me His desires. He was preparing to break me. How He did this began with the revelation of a number. 148 million. A large number. 148,000,000. It is a number that in ingrained in my mind. I think of it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It will not leave my mind. This is the number of how many orphans there are in the world. And this number wrecks me. It tears my heart apart. It takes away my sleep. It consumes my mind. It breaks me because this is not just a number. It is children. Babies. Beautifully created and loved by God. Alone and helpless. But they are not just a statistic to me. They have names. They have faces and personalities. Dreams and desires. I have met them and I have loved them. They are real and they need help. God has shared this burden with me and He has shown me His heart for these children, His children. He has called me to stand for them and to rescue them and I WILL. THIS is the passion God has given me. THIS is what breaks my heart. THIS is what breaks God’s heart. And what an honor and a privileged to be able to share a piece of God’s heart. To share in His burden and feel a fraction of how He feels is a beautifully thing. This state of brokenness draws me closer to His heart. The constant pain pushes me to my knees to fervently pray for His children.

And this month, God brought Lidia into my life, and my heart again has been broken. Lidia is 13 years old. She is a beautiful, petite young lady. She is caring and compassionate. She is quite and calm. She has a great sense of humor and has an contagious laugh. Lidia has HIV. She can hardly hear anything. She does not have the use of 1 lung and 1 kidney. You can hear her struggling to breathe all day long. She has brain damage and learns things at a shockingly slow pace. Lidia’s parents both have HIV and they are not capable of taking care of her right now. She has been placed in an orphanage called Esperanza y Vida to recover and receive treatment. Lidia has captured and broken my heart. I have and still continue to wept and wrestled with God over Lidia’s current state of suffering. I do not understand. I do not understand why she has to live the way she does. God has broken my heart for her, and I have set my heart to fervently pray for her healing, no matter how long it takes. She is only a girl. She should not have to suffer the way she does. I literally am in deep emotional pain just thinking of Lidia. I have not known her for a full month yet, but I love her. God loves her. And I don’t understand why she has to suffer from HIV and I don’t. I am in anguish wishing I could take her place instead so she could live. I simply don’t understand. But in this state of heart break for Lidia, I find more and more of God’s love. He breaks me, and then fills me with more of His love that I am then able to pour out on His children. It is a beautiful, but painful process. And then there is Veronica. Veronica is 4 years old and she is one special little girl. Her little voice alone makes you smile. She is spunky and she is giggly. She is VERY ticklish and she loves to color. Veronica’s mother did not want her when she was born, and was given away to another woman. She lives at Esperanza y Vida with the rest of her sisters as well. As I hold this gorgeous little girl I can not wrap my mind around why someone would give her away. It tears my heart apart. But she is one of the few fortunate ones who had someone to take her in. There are still 148 million girls and boys, babies, teenagers, who have no one. They are alone and they are helpless. They need love. God’s love and ours. I pray that 148 million will not just be a number for you, but that you will have eyes to see them in their distress and ears to hear their cries for help. And if God does not call you to action right now, I pray that He will call you to your knees in prayer for them. Pray for Lidia. Pray for Veronica. The things they have been through and deal with are unimaginable. Please join me in prayer for them. Ask God to share in His brokenness for His children. Because it is in the brokenness that I find the most beauty.

Posted in Wired life | Print | No Comments »

7. May 2012 by nathanhare.

I leave home and fly to El Salvador in 1 week. It’s finally almost time to go and do what I have been telling people about for the past 6 months or so. Now that I have graduated from college, all I have left to do is pack and say my goodbyes. Up until this point I have just wanted to hurry up and get school over with, but looking back on it now I am grateful that I had that preparation period.

Over the last couple of years I have had a lot of questions about my faith. I have gone through a struggle of making it my own, and not a replication of what I grew up doing. I didn’t know why I believed what I believed or even how to believe it.

This past year has been a major turning point for me. My faith was made real. For the first time I truly began to understand things in a real way and learn from the experiences of other people in their faith. I began to enjoy studying the Bible and searching for answers to my questions. God put people in my path to help nurture my faith and grow it.

I have never liked school, and probably wouldn’t have gone to college if my parents didn’t insist on it. So when I made the commitment to work with Envision Wired last October, I wanted to skip the final year of school and just start working. But I now realize why waiting was so important. God used this last year to prepare me for the missions work I will be doing in El Salvador. He taught me to seek him first, and only after I do that will the rest fall into place. Thank you for all of your prayers for me and the rest of the team. They’re working!

Posted in Wired life | Print | No Comments »

2. May 2012 by MullinaxFam.

We are weeping with friends who are hurting this week. John — who welded the first beams of our second floor in early March — went back home to PA and had a face-first fall of over 30 feet at work resulting in severe injuries about two weeks ago. He initially had some amazing answers to prayer in his recovery but returned to ICU this week after some things went downhill. John’s hard work, heart to serve, and passion to be involved with the future Broken ministry endear him to us and our ministry staff.

On Monday we got news that some friends in Fort Wayne, IN were hit by a drunk driver on their way home from a home-group meeting on Sunday. Two of their young children were severely injured and their 3 year-old son, Ethan, was killed. We are heartbroken with and for them.

Please lift up our friends in prayer in the unique way that only the Body of Christ can.

Through your prayers,
Richard, Jen, Alton, Felice, Arrow & Raquel

Posted in Prayer team updates | Print | 2 Comments »

25. April 2012 by MullinaxFam.

We are more than a little leary of people who brag about numbers of people touched by their ministry. King David, after all, faced pretty tough consequences for counting. At the same time, we are blessed by God’s faithfulness and his mighty movement in the evangelistic campaign last week in Santa Ana and feel compelled to share how God is answering your prayers. The small team of just 7 people from Missoula was able to go to about 70 appointments (some with multiple people in them) and saw over 30 people make important faith decisions regarding following Jesus. Amazing!

Please continue to pray that these people’s lives will change as the become disciples who follow in the lifestyle and actions of Jesus. Please also pray for our efforts with the construction project. 5 people from Eagle church (near Indianapolis) land Saturday to try and move the work along some more. We need a big push over this next week! And we need you to pray in some more workers to come and finish up.

counting on you,
the Mullinax 6

Posted in Prayer team updates | Print | No Comments »

18. April 2012 by MullinaxFam.

Last Saturday Alton went on the very first evangelistic appointment of the campaign in Santa Ana to serve as translator. One of the people at the home they visited said that she had had a dream that three strangers were going to come and talk to her about God and, indeed, decided to follow Christ during the visit! Later on that first day two more of the people visited said they had dreams preparing them for the visit. The team from Missoula Alliance Church continued ministering in the same powerful way right through the completion of the campaign yesterday and now our local church partners need your prayers as they commit to disciple the many new believers.

The group of seven men from across Montana worked incredibly hard and accomplished much on the ministry center with a new second floor, kitchen cabinets made, one apartment almost completed and too much eletrical work to tell you about! Please pray that God will raise up more workers — groups or individuals — who will volunteer to come and finish the work that has begun. We really need you to pray this help in as we only have one more construction group scheduled and LOTS of work to be done.

We could also use your prayers for the health of our family. Something nasty has been running through us and taking us down hard.

Through your prayers,
Richard, Jen, Alton, Felice, Arrow & Raquel

Posted in Prayer team updates | Print | 1 Comment »

13. April 2012 by MullinaxFam.

For the third year in a row our faithful friends from Missoula have arrived to minister in El Salvador. In 2010 they helped us turn a karaoke bar into a new church building for CDA. Last year they launched our first full-scale CPE campaign AND built an apartment in our Ministry Center. This year they are doing another evagelistic campaign in a town called Santa Ana AND adding apartments and a kitchen to our ministry center.

Please pray for success in both efforts over the coming days. The construction work is pressing as we have definite needs in our facility. Additionally, every time we “push back the darkness” with an evangelistic effort, the darkness tends to push back.

Through your prayers,
The Mullinax family

Posted in Prayer team updates | Print | No Comments »

12. April 2012 by sharla.scheidler.

This is my first official blog entry as my husband has taken on the writing process for us so far.  :)  I struggle with knowing where to begin in writing a blog as my mind is swimming with so many things I could share or write about.  So, I will do my best to pick a topic and save my other thoughts for another time.

Elijah and I have gone through a lot of change in the last month.  We have changed jobs, countries, the language that surrounds us, living quarters, the people that surround us, the personal belongings we have access to, weather, cleanliness, security, and communication with family and friends- to name a few.  I strongly feel that due to the prayers of others, we have been blessed to handle all these changes with peace and ease.  Yes, there are things that are more difficult than others.  However, the process overall has been much better than expected.  We can feel your prayers.  One day in particular last week, I felt an extra strong sense of the peace of the Lord.  I cannot say that I have ever felt a lack of peace since coming to El Salvador, but on this day I felt a VERY clear sense of peace all day long.  This is the first time I can say that I have ever been so clearly aware of the peace of God for a whole day and in everything I did.  Your prayers matter and made a difference.  Thank you for praying.

One beautiful thing that has come to my attention through all this change, it the fact that God does NOT change.  Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  This not only gives me the ability to cling to the Lord through change that is difficult, but it gives a fresh beauty to the fact that God is a God of ALL cultures and people.  Sometimes it is easy for me to forget that people in all countries and languages worship God just like I do.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Being surrounded by Salvadorian believers has enabled me to embrace and appreciate the fact that God not only doesn’t change through the events in my life, He doesn’t change just because I am in a different culture.  I may not understand the language in which worship is rising to God, but He is not confused.  He knows all and doesn’t change at all.

Not only does HE not change, His love doesn’t change.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  ~Romans 8:35, 37

What an amazing comfort!  This passage goes on to say that NOTHING in all creation can separate us from the love of Christ.  Not only are we not separated from His love through our experiences, we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS.  His love empowers us to more than overcome!

In my reading of this passage the other morning, I put it in my own words:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall accidents or heat or dirt or new foods or air drying laundry or danger or mosquitoes?  … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Since coming to El Salvador, I have not felt a huge threat on my understanding of God’s love for me.  But the reminder of His never changing nature or love has brought me great joy and peace through the change.  Take joy today knowing that none of life’s change can separate you from His love.

~Sharla

Posted in Wired life | Print | No Comments »

11. April 2012 by escheidler.

Moving to El Salvador has been a huge adventure and, as with all adventures, it has had its ups and downs. Some of the positives have been meeting the team here at Wired and the Mullinax family: great people all. The Wired team is such a great bunch of people and we’re growing together daily. The Mullinax family–Richard down to Raquel–have been so much fun getting to know. The kids, while a little shy at the beginning, more than make up for their shyness after about…the first three minutes after having met them. We’ve only been here about three weeks, but with all the experiences and fun times we’ve had, it feels like we’ve been here three months (in a good way, though!).

Other huge positives of our adventure have been the countryside and food. The beach is only about 25-30 minutes away and you can swim, surf, boogie-board, fish and do a whole bunch of other stuff if you like. The food is pretty sweet, too. Lots of fruit that is super cheap, pupusas, local dishes, and lots of “American style” food to pick from, as well. Everything is fairly inexpensive, really, and even if you’re a picky eater, you have quite a few options to choose from.

Some things that have been kind of tough to adjust to have been the cultural things. First on the list has been a lifestyle of interruptions and a lack (what I consider, at least) of consistent order and process. Everything appears to be helter-skelter in the community and no one seems to care. I realize that this is cultural norm for the people of El Salvador, but it certainly winds up grinding on my American sensibilities. For example, Sharla and I went to Subway and stood in line for about two minutes waiting to order and the girl behind the counter wasn’t doing anything. Nothing. Just standing around, shuffling stuff around on the counter, not even cleaning. Then, when she came and took our order, she made Sharla’s sandwich completely, took off her gloves, pushed vegetables back into their trays, came to the other end, put on a new pair of gloves (with painful attention to how they fit on her fingers), made my sandwich with studied indifference, and then settled up with us at the cash register. All total, it took about 15 minutes to get our sandwiches from Subway…and Sharla and I were the only people there. There was NO rush: not from customers or on the part of the employee serving us.

This is when I have to remind myself that the girl behind the counter wasn’t being rude, backwards, inefficient, or doing things wrong–she was just being El Salvadoran. That’s not derogatory, it’s a fact: this young lady’s “El Salvadoran way of life” met my “American way of life” and I found out that my cultural expectations did not mesh with hers. I am very certain that she didn’t feel frustrated in any way (unless she was put off by my HORRIBLE Spanish skills). However, I found a little flame of frustration growing inside that I had to intentionally address because she wasn’t performing to my cultural expectations.

The other portion, that of interruptions, has been a little more difficult to deal with. I am used to working in an office by myself, focusing on one thing at a time, head down, no interruptions, for hours at a time. Here in the Wired office a long period of time to go without interruption is about 5-10 mins. Like the above example with the young lady at Subway, these interruptions are not good or bad, right or wrong, on their own, but according to the way that I am used to working, these interruptions kind of wind up grating on me. I will have just got into the zone, will be working on something, and one of the staff will ask for me to come over and look at something, give them a phone number, talk to them about something important, but then start talking to someone else who has interrupted them while they are talking to me.

Here’s the good part in the middle of this: I can speak very openly of the frustration that interruptions cause me (even while knowing my teammates and boss can read this and more than likely will read this) because I’ve already told the team here and Richard. They understand that I’m adjusting to a new way of life, and I understand that we are an interdependent team and rely on one another to be able to complete our jobs and do them with excellence. We’re all growing together, it’s not just me or them changing. When I shared my frustration in staffing, my frustration was met with understanding and grace. Not only so, but some of my coworkers evaluated their habits in the office and determined that they could do a better job of checking whether or not the person they are getting ready to ask a question of are in the middle of something before they ask a question. Double win! I’m growing into what it looks like to be a part of an interconnected, actively engaged team, that is communicating, shifting, operating, and moving forward in real time…AND…the team here that is already walking this lifestyle out, are growing in how they can do this with one another better, more efficiently, and with a greater awareness of interpersonal relationships and their effects on the team.

Win/win: we’re growing as a team! It’s not just me growing, or “them” growing: we’re growing together. Being a part of this, getting to see how those around you are ministering to your needs by considering your needs more important than their own, while at the same time being drawn out into the new and unknown, is an exciting process. Though it may seem like an oxymoron or a paradox, even while being uncomfortable, different, and grating at times, it’s a very enjoyable season.

Heads up, friends: change can kind of grate on you. There is always discomfort, stretching, aches and pains involved in growing. You can’t grow without going through some season of discomfort to one degree or another. Things are different in El Salvador, they don’t immediately mesh with a familiar way of life, but I came here for growth. Knowing what is bothering me, why, and how to walk forward into positive growth is way more than half the battle of embracing positive transformation. Don’t expect an idyllic environment of giggles and sunbeams, friends: expect an environment of change, stretching, pain, growth, and transformation.

In other words, expect an environment of awesome instead. Expect something real and lasting that will serve as a tool to craft you further into the image of Christ.

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philip 2:5-11)

Posted in Wired life | Print | No Comments »

6. April 2012 by MullinaxFam.

We probably don’t say thank you nearly enough for giving to the Great Commission Fund that pays our salary, rent, puts gas in our car, and puts our kids through school, etc. Recently the Wired staff met with the leader of a Salvadoran organization called “Life and Hope” that helps children with HIV with both spiritual and physical means. During the meeting the thought occurred to Richard that if not for the GCF we probably would not have time to make these life-giving, meaningful connections with Salvadoran organizations who are doing incredible good but, could use our help. The time and energy we save by not having to constantly round up support frees us up to do valuable ministry. One more significant way that the GCF is saving and changing lives.

Thanks for praying for us regularly. If you don’t already give to the GCF would you consider sending support to our National Office marked “Richard & Jen Mullinax support” in the “For” line of the check? If you do already give to the GCF we want to say thanks again — and we hope to say it more often in the future.

Gratefully,

Richard, Jen, Alton, Felice, Arrow & Raquel Mullinax

Posted in Prayer team updates | Print | 1 Comment »