2000 Overview

Posted: March 07, 2021

First Trip to San Juan Opico, El Salvador

This is the word the Lord gave Greig Detering, which summarizes the purpose of the mission to which he was called.

In September 2000, he had a stunning vision: An image of Central America with a small, highlighted country bordered by the Pacific Ocean; he went to the globe and found that the country in his vision was El Salvador. Everywhere he went, the subject of this country came up.

A few days later, as Greig looked at a map of El Salvador, it seemed as though his eyes were guided to the little town of San Juan Opico. He began to pray about this town and, as he prayed, God gave Greig amazing confirmations that He, the Lord, was indeed calling Greig to leave his engineering job of fifteen years and go to San Juan Opico. The Spirit of God directed Greig to ask another brother in Christ to go with him on his first trip. Greig asked his trusted friend, Ed Araiza, to go with him; Ed said he would be happy to help.

The Holy Spirit gave Greig two other visions before the trip: First, a little town on top of a giant hill with mountains in the distance. Second, the top of a dazzling white church building that had domes like an Islamic mosque.

On December 1st, 2000, they packed their bags, flew to El Salvador, and asked the Lord to guide them strongly and to quickly reveal the purpose for their trip.

The next day, they went to San Juan Opico; a little town on top of a giant hill with mountains in the distance. As they reached the center of the small town, they came to a dazzling white Catholic church that had a dome, which looked like an Islamic mosque. It was, without a doubt, the church and town in Greig’s vision. Greig was so excited! He said, “Even if nothing else spectacular happens on this trip, I don’t care! I’m just so thankful that God has confirmed to me that He has me exactly where He wants me!”

Altough he was excited, by the third day, Greig still did not know why God had sent the two of them there and he was getting a little frustrated. That evening, on a bus back from San Juan Opico, Greig heard the Lord speak so strongly to him that it almost seemed like an audible voice. “I have called you here to unify my body.” The experiences over the last couple of days now made sense: Since arriving, they had found that the many churches in the area were unaware and uninterested in each other.

They spent the remaining time following the Holy Ghost’s leading to various churches. They had many wonderful experiences meeting people that the Lord just seemed to put in their path. Ed, whose Spanish is much better than Greig’s, was a tremendous blessing as they talked to several pastors and elders. They found that many people attend worship services 4 or 5 days a week but could not afford a Bible. So Grieg and Ed felt that one of the ministries’ main objectives would be to get the Word of Life into their hands.

Many amazing things happened while they were there. They had a whole new revelation of the protection and provision of The Lord Almighty after their first trip.