El Salvador – Overview
I can’t believe over a week has gone by since we landed in San Salvador and it was 93 degrees. Our host took us thirty minutes away to Puerto de la Libertad, where we are staying at a children’s development center. In the back is a small tilapia farm and garden, which we help tend. The other day, we went up a really steep mountain – quite akin to San Francisco – and installed the first of many fish tanks at the home of a church member. Next door is the church, with Sunday and Wednesday services. We help clean it sometimes, and we help out Saturdays with the youth group. We cleaned out a room in the front to serve as the carpentry shop for the bed ministry. This is the dry season, but in the rainy season, people who sleep with mattresses only get wet and sick. We are helping with making bed frames and taking donated mattresses with them to needy families.
The development/nutrition center is our primary ministry. It operates Monday through Friday. Each day, we have to get up, store our belongings in the office, and clean and mop. Then, when the teachers arrive, we help them cook lunch for the children. The kids start to arrive later in the morning. Some are more outgoing and pull us aside to play. With others, we have to initiate conversation. They go through classes, which we help with, and sometimes we teach the lessons. One of the best aspects of the nutrition center is that it is the healthiest, fullest meal that most of these children will eat all day.
There is a lot of need in this country, both spiritually and physically. The people here are extremely nice and generous – quite literally giving you the shirt off their back if you need it. They will give even when they won’t have enough for themselves. Also, a lot of people are taught a works-based salvation. Please pray for open hearts to the Gospel – not by works, but by unmerited favor.
More stories soon!
