Jordan Rippy

Air travel isn’t what it used to be. Everybody knows it. It starts with the undressing in the metal detector line. Belt, shoes, jacket…Then there was the disappearance of meals. Last year I flew eight hours to Russia (on Delta) and it was miserable. The flight attendants were crabby and inconsiderate, and there was no meal served.

We flew Continental to El Salvador and I was pleasantly surprised by their service. Four out of four of our flights left on time and arrived early. In a season where nearly 80% of all flights are delayed, that’s a huge accomplishment. Not to mention there were meals, and very friendly flight attendants.

I’ll be posting more on our trip, including some pictures, later today.

Today was our last day of ministry in El Salvador. We´ve had a great trip. I got a little sick last night, but I´ve been feeling great today! Top ten things I have enjoyed about El Salvador (In no specific order):

1. The El Salvadorable children
2. 1st missions trip with my wife
3. Pollo Campero (a chicken restaraunt)
4. Swimming and bathing in the Chaletanango River
5. Eating lunch at the Pacific Ocean
6. Doing an impromptu crusade at a carnaval
7. Buying 28 ice cream cones for under $4.00
8. Passing out close to 8,000 copies of the Book of Hope to school children
9. Speaking to ministry worker´s about the importance of using young people in ministry
10. Relationships - Pastor Oscar, Julio, Little Ricky, and Isis    

Another great day! We spent a lot of time traveling to schools. The schools that we visited were on the outskirts of El Salvador. In fact, we were less than a mile from the border of Honduras. This is by far the most rural Book of Hope trip I have been on. The Book of Hope director said that they were having a hard time getting teams to come this far out. It´s great to be in a place that has never heard the gospel.

All of our school presentations went really well. Aaron, Mitch, and I got ice cream for the all of the kids in another park today. We were so high up in the mountains. It was beautiful, but a bit scary at times. I´m thankful that it wasn´t raining today.

Highlight of the day was a local carnival. We were on our way back from the schools when we passed a large carnival. We had some time, so we stopped and got a Coke, and observed for a few minutes. As we were leavign we all started talking about how we should have asked to speak on the main stage. Our driver turned the van around, and we talked to the owner, to see if he would give us a few minutes on the stage. As it turns out, his wife knew who we were from our distributions. She told him to give us some time, so we spent ten minutes doing an impromptu crusade!When we finished the entertainer who we had interrupted got on the mike and said, “That was not a planned part of our program, but when a word from the Lord comes, we have to acknowlege it and allow it. We are blessed that they came today.” Talk about favor!

Tonight we are hosting a showing of The Godman…The Godman is a film version of the Book of Hope that is use sometimes instead of crusades.   

We’re safe in San Salvador, about to head to the village. More to come…

UPDATE - As I said, we made it safely to El Salvador. We had great flights the whole way. We arrived in San Salvador around 11:30am on Friday and then ate a great lunch at Pollo Camparro. Pollo Camparro is a very popular chicken restaurant here in El Salvador. Then we took about a two hour bus ride to Chalatenango, the village where we will be ministering until Wednesday. Kristin and I slept horrible on Friday night, even though we were extremely tired. Our air was either freezing cold…or off. I´m a fan of cold sleeping, but only when I have a blanket. All we had was a tin sheet. 

Saturday we had a great day. The team practiced dramas and school presentations all day while a couple of us spoke at a ministry worker´s sonference. I ended the day with a talk on Mobilizing and Multiplying the Next Generation…Using young people in ministry is obviously something I believe in. It was a long, but productive day. I feel like so much fruit comes from pouring into ministry workers.  Also, we bought a blanket and had an amazing night´s sleep!

Sunday we got to sleep in a bit, worked on our presentations and then went to church. Kristin and I sang in the service, and my dad preached. I love going to church in foreign countries. There´s always such a sincerity and passion for God.

Today (Monday) was our first day in the schools. It went really well. My favorite part was our lunch break, though. We had a two-hour break that we spent in a local park. A ton of kids were playing there and we started playing with them. Then Aaron and I decided to buy all the kids ice cream from a local vendor…Twenty-six ice cream cones for $3.84!!! Then, our interpretor and driver took us to a local river wheer we swam (and bathed).

The food has been good…The pastor´s wife has been cooking for us, and we eat all of our meals at there house. She has cooked things that we like - hamburgers, chicken, pepper steak, pancakes, and cereal. I´m very thankful for that. The only draw back so far are our accommodations. They definitely leave something to be desired. I can deal with poor accommodations, but the worse part is…No hot water. In fact, no cold water either. Only freezing water.  Everyone is doing great though! Keep checking back. I won´t post any picture until we get back because it takes too long. Keep praying for us!     

Because Kristin and I are leaving (way too early) for El Salvador. I may not be blogging for the next week or so, but you can keep us in your prayers. We’ll be ministering in San Salvador and in a small village about two hours outside the city. Here are a few things I’d love for you to remember in prayer:

• Travel
• Favor in the schools
• Good response to evening meetings
• Ministry worker’s conference
• Health
• Team unity

Tony Morgan got me thinking about the major U.S. cities that I’ve never visited. I consider myself pretty well traveled. I’ve been out of the country over a dozen times and traveled all around the United States. That’s why I was surprised how many major U.S. cities I’ve never visited. So here’s the “Top Ten” (in no particular order):

1. Boston, MA - So close, yet so far away. Every year since I was young my family has visited my uncle in Litchfield, CT. Kristin and I are going to Connecticut the first of the year…We’ll have to make it happen!
2. Houston, TX - I’ve actually never been to the longhorn state…I’ve passed through the airports, but that’s it.
3. Dallas, TX - Again, never “Messed with Texas”. I recently almost missed a flight out of Dallas. We actually only made the flight by 60 seconds.
4. Chicago, IL - I’ve had a connection with this state ever since Bozo the Clown.
5. San Fransisco, CA - I would love t o see the Golden Gate Bridge in person. I hear San Fransisco is beautiful, and I believe it. Plus, I really want to see the Tanner’s town house from “Full House”.
6. Phoenix, AZ - No real reason, just want to go. I’d love to catch a Sun’s game.
7. New Orleans, LA - I’d love to check out the jazz scene. There’s nothing better than sitting in a little whole-in-the-wall listening to some unknown totally rock it.
8. Detroit, MI - I’ll go in the fall, when it’s not quite so cold.
9. Miami, FL - Quite honestly, I don’t have a huge desire to visit Miami. I just feel like it has to make the list because of it’s status.
10. Honolulu, HI - Never been to Hawaii, but I love the water so I’m sure it would be amazing!

UPDATE - Apparently I’ve been to Dallas…At least that’s what my dad says.

Seven hour ride in this with 3 people, 3 guitars, 1 keyboard, 1 amp, 1 pedal board, two suitcases, backpacks, and bedding….

Wednesday morning me, my sister, and Kristin went to the church where the funeral was held to sound check. On a side note, the church staff was amazing and extremely well prepared for the funeral. When we finished I overheard my dad asking if anyone had a video camera, because they wanted to video the funeral. Apparently my brother forgot to bring his video camera…So, I offered to make a quick run to Wal-Mart and purchase a video camera. At this point, the funeral is supposed to start in about 25 minutes. I ask the sound guy for directions to the nearest Wal-Mart. He says, “It’s kind of far away. You need to get on 240 and head north and then catch I-40 heading west, take the first exit and turn right.” So, I follow his directions only to find out that the Wal-Mart is a little further off of the exit than he said it would be. I run in and buy a video camera and then ask the lady if she knows the quickest way to get back to Butterfield Assembly of God. After all of the twists and turns I was a bit unclear on how to get back. She says, “Oh sure, just take a left out of our parking lot and it will be on the left in about five miles.” That’s right. Five miles. The sound guy sent us in a complete square around Ft. Smith in torrential rain to get to a Wal-Mart that was five miles up the road. At least we made it back in time! After the funeral the whole family had lunch at Ed Walker’s. Ed Walker’s is the home of the five pound hamburger…Five pounds. The food was really good.

Then some of us went across town to my great aunt DoDo’s pie shop. She doesn’t own it any more, but they still use her original recipes and the pies are still amazing.

After the pies, we took Zack, Ashley and Bobby to the airport. We dropped them off and then took Taylor to ride the train. A local park has a pretty cool train that circles the park. My nephew loves trains (understatement) and asked about it all week. We rode it three times. Later that afternoon Kristin and I were delayed out of Ft. Smith. We literally made our connecting flight in Dallas by 60 seconds. At least that’s what the counter lady said. It was crazy.

This week Kristin and I made a very quick trip to Ft. Smith, Arkansas, to be a part of my great grandfather’s funeral. I am really glad that we were able to go. We flew out Tuesday and had to be dressed and ready for the viewing. It was a non-stop two days, but we fit in a lot of great family time. On Monday, I realized that we needed to carry-on everything that we had, so I went out and bought some top-of-the-line luggage from Goodwill. I got a pretty sweet rolling carry-on bag for only $6.00.

The next morning we were on our way. Tuesday we woke up in Lakeland, ate breakfast in Tampa, lunch in Dallas, and dinner in Ft. Smith. On the flight I was reminded of some of the amazing products available only in Sky Mall magazine. Check out this toaster that cooks weenies and buns at the same time!!!

It was a long day. As soon as we arrived in Ft. Smith we went straight to the viewing where we spent about two hours with family and friends. Then we had dinner with the family. Kristin, Ashley, and myself squeezed in a quick late night practice. We were asked to sing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” at the funeral on Wednesday…We finally got to bed around midnight. I was delighted at the air conditioning in our hotel room…It was freezing!

Well, as you know last weekend Kristin and I took a trip to Montgomery to visit my family for labor day. We had a great time. We hung out at the pool with Taylor and Charlotte and the whole gang took a much-needed trip to Bruster’s Ice Cream! The kid’s loved it. Especially Ashley. Ashley is my almost 24 year old (pregnant) sister, but she got the most childish ice cream of all. It was some sort of cotton-candy concoction that was multi-colored, full of candy, and topped off with a gummy worm. At one point we were all talking and all of the sudden I hear this curious crackle. I look over to see my sister with her tongue out, “There’s pop rock in here!” She exclaimed. It was quite comical. Here are some pics of Taylor and Charlotte:

THEN this weekend Kristin’s family made the trip over to Lakeland for a weekend-o-fun. It was unfortunate that due to my crazy weekend schedule (and the CLAST test) I barely got to see everyone. Luckily I was able to get in several invigorating games of Hungry Hungry Hippo and some tastetacular lasagna (thanks Mel Cell). I found out after they left that the whole family was pretty much freezing the whole time they were here. Kristin and I keep the house fairly chilled.

LR: Cade, Melony, Madison, and Billy