We
are sorry for how long it has taken us to get our blogs up for you, but
we have found that it is going to be a little challenging this month to
find a period of time with consistent internet access. We will do our
very best to stay in touch as much as possible, and please make sure
that you check out the blogs that our teammates post to get a glimpse of
our story from a different perspective. Their links are to your bottom
left. We love you, and we miss you very much, and we continue to crave
your prayers every day.
are sorry for how long it has taken us to get our blogs up for you, but
we have found that it is going to be a little challenging this month to
find a period of time with consistent internet access. We will do our
very best to stay in touch as much as possible, and please make sure
that you check out the blogs that our teammates post to get a glimpse of
our story from a different perspective. Their links are to your bottom
left. We love you, and we miss you very much, and we continue to crave
your prayers every day.
We
discovered shortly after posting our last blog that we were not going
to be serving in Guatemala this month after all, but instead we would be
the only team getting to go back to El Salvador. We were all really
excited to head out on our own and to see what the Lord had for us in
His new plans. We left Antigua for San Salvador on Wednesday the 6th
from Guatemala and survived our first travel day.
discovered shortly after posting our last blog that we were not going
to be serving in Guatemala this month after all, but instead we would be
the only team getting to go back to El Salvador. We were all really
excited to head out on our own and to see what the Lord had for us in
His new plans. We left Antigua for San Salvador on Wednesday the 6th
from Guatemala and survived our first travel day.
We
had a van pick us up at our hostel around 11:00 am, crammed our packs
and bags in with us and off we went. We had a very scenic drive,
including many vendors selling fruit, meat, chicken feed, etc. on the
side of the road. Chickens, cows, pigs, and goats walked across the
road at leisure, expecting cars to stop for them, which we did. We had
to stop at the border crossing, praying for a smooth transition into El
Salvador, and got across without any big problems, especially since the
immigration officials charged the white people an extra fee to cross
(essentially a bribe). We were just thankful that it was so easy.
had a van pick us up at our hostel around 11:00 am, crammed our packs
and bags in with us and off we went. We had a very scenic drive,
including many vendors selling fruit, meat, chicken feed, etc. on the
side of the road. Chickens, cows, pigs, and goats walked across the
road at leisure, expecting cars to stop for them, which we did. We had
to stop at the border crossing, praying for a smooth transition into El
Salvador, and got across without any big problems, especially since the
immigration officials charged the white people an extra fee to cross
(essentially a bribe). We were just thankful that it was so easy.
We made it into San Salvador, capital city of El Salvador, but since we
had changed drivers since departing our hostel, the driver did not know
the location of our drop off point. He took us to the tourism office
several times for help, and every person on the street acted as if the
place we were trying to find did not exist. After about an hour of
searching and finally getting a hold of our contact, we finally pulled
up to a beautiful church called Templo Cristiano at 5:45 p.m., and it
was a sight for sore eyes.
Up
until this point, we did not know what to expect, if they remembered
that we were coming or not, what kind of people we would be with, or if
they really wanted us to be there. Our hearts were a little anxious,
but we were confident in where God was taking us. God went above and
beyond making us feel we were in the right place. The first thing we
heard in English when we pulled up to the church was a woman who said,
“Take it easy, you are at home.” We were welcomed into the building and
given a tour of the church before we went to the Teen Challenge
building, where we will be serving at all month, which was located
across town.
until this point, we did not know what to expect, if they remembered
that we were coming or not, what kind of people we would be with, or if
they really wanted us to be there. Our hearts were a little anxious,
but we were confident in where God was taking us. God went above and
beyond making us feel we were in the right place. The first thing we
heard in English when we pulled up to the church was a woman who said,
“Take it easy, you are at home.” We were welcomed into the building and
given a tour of the church before we went to the Teen Challenge
building, where we will be serving at all month, which was located
across town.
The
cook at Teen Challenge, Carlos, translated between us and Oscar, one of
the head pastors for Teen Challenge and also our host for this month.
We all settled in for the night at Oscar’s house ready to wake up the
next morning for a day of planning our activities and preparing for the
next week. We are so excited to get started, and we cannot wait to
continue to build relationships with Oscar, who told us some pretty
unbelievable stories of how he was called by God to work for Teen
Challenge, and his wife, Jackie.
