Hi everyone,
My name is Nathan Hare, and Richard has asked me to write about the preparation process for moving down to El Salvador. So I’m going to do this in a list of questions.
Who am I? I am currently a senior at Nyack College in Nyack, New York. I will graduate in May with a Intercultural Studies (ICS) major and hopefully a Spanish minor if I can fit it in next semester. Shortly after graduation I’ll be flying down to El Salvador to work with Richard and Jen. I grew up in Connecticut and I have always loved adventure. I enjoy camping, hiking, playing the ukulele (eucalale), goats, and hammocks.
How do I know Richard? Earlier this year in March, I met Richard for the first time. I had just gotten out of a six week intensive language course in Costa Rica and then took a bus up to El Salvador to fulfill the internship requirement of my degree. I had never been on a missions trip before in my life and now I was helping run one. Short on translators, I offered to try, and all of a sudden I was conveying words of evangelism into another language to people who had never heard it before. I stayed in El Salvador for a month helping with a variety of tasks. Richard needed some extra help during the summer due to a big group coming down, and asked me if I could come back to fill that hole. I returned for another month to help with that group and the three groups after that. Over all the time spent in El Salvador I grew to be friends with Richard and his whole family.
Why would I move to El Salvador for two years? That’s a question I had to wrestle with for myself. Richard called me sometime in September and expressed his need for a long term staff and asked me if I would consider it. So I thought and prayed about it for about a month without much progress or direction. To be honest, the thought of moving down there for a year scared me, and still does in a sense. Two years is a long time, and living down there with only a few people that speak your native language can make it a lonely experience.
Earlier this month I attended the open house for the Broken ministry and got to spend a lot of time with Richard and his family. Earlier on in the weekend we decided that we should set a date that I had to decide by, because if I wasn’t going to be the long term staff member Richard would have to start calling some other people to see if they were interested. So we set December 1st as the decision date. Setting an actual date really got me thinking though. “What is stopping me from deciding now?” I thought about that as the weekend progressed.
That open house gave me my answer. Talking about the past summer and the Envision Wired ministry reminded me of all that was accomplished and all the good times (and bad times) that we shared together. It reminded me of our team. Then talking about the future of the ministry and what Broken is going to be made me excited to see it happen. Then I realized that this ministry is right in line with what I enjoy and what I’m passionate about. The chances of a ministry that better fits me, coming around in the next few months are slim to none. So I thought again about my deadline and realized that if I went home to think about it some more, I would end up making excuses for reasons I shouldn’t go. Even though I knew it is what God wanted me to do. So I told Richard on the last night of the open house that I’m in. Now the only thing left to do is prepare. I’ll try and keep everyone updated on that process as well. Thanks everyone for all of the prayers for this team!
-Nathan
