Our
main ministry that we are working with here in San Salvador is called
Teen Challenge, which is an organization that began in New York City and
has now been established all around the world. It gives people a place
to go who are struggling with drug, alcohol, or any other addictions.
The Teen Challenge program in San Salvador is a group of all men, and
their ages range from 17-60 years old. It is a year-long program, and
all of the ‘students’ are there voluntarily. They have prayer every
morning and afternoon, and during the day everyone goes out to sell
cookies, pastries, or T-shirts that they create to support the ministry.
Then, every evening they have worship and a service which we will be
very involved in while we are here.
main ministry that we are working with here in San Salvador is called
Teen Challenge, which is an organization that began in New York City and
has now been established all around the world. It gives people a place
to go who are struggling with drug, alcohol, or any other addictions.
The Teen Challenge program in San Salvador is a group of all men, and
their ages range from 17-60 years old. It is a year-long program, and
all of the ‘students’ are there voluntarily. They have prayer every
morning and afternoon, and during the day everyone goes out to sell
cookies, pastries, or T-shirts that they create to support the ministry.
Then, every evening they have worship and a service which we will be
very involved in while we are here.
While
we will be involved with Teen Challenge in the afternoons and evenings,
we will also be doing several other forms of ministry in El Salvador
during the day. We began our first day of ministry on this past Friday (the 8th),
and all we can say is that God is so good. Throughout our planning, we
had many concerns about all of the different things that we were going
to try to do and how effective we were going to be, but God provided in
huge ways on our first day.
we will be involved with Teen Challenge in the afternoons and evenings,
we will also be doing several other forms of ministry in El Salvador
during the day. We began our first day of ministry on this past Friday (the 8th),
and all we can say is that God is so good. Throughout our planning, we
had many concerns about all of the different things that we were going
to try to do and how effective we were going to be, but God provided in
huge ways on our first day.
Our goals for today were to go the Children’s Hospital here in San
Salvador, evangelize on the streets with prayer and some tracts, and to
distribute information to bring awareness to Teen Challenge. We split
up and one pastor took all of the girls on our team up to the cancer
ward of the hospital, and the men stayed down to pass out flyers and talk
with the people on the streets.
Before we saw the children at the hospital, we prayed for miracles to happen…and they did.
I (Traci) went with two other girls to different rooms in the hospital
to pray over the children who are battling cancer and for their moms
that sat by their side. Our limited Spanish did not seem to bother them
as we came in and asked in broken Spanish how they were doing and if we
could pray for their children. Everyone was so grateful to see smiling
faces and a willingness to pray over their sick children. We
spent a lot of our time with a 24 year old mother, Marcella, and her
one year and five month old son, Fernando, who is battling leukemia.
Fernando
was a beautiful baby boy with curly black hair, lots of energy, and a
huge smile. We asked his mom if we could pray over him, and as we did,
he wrapped his tiny hand around my finger as we prayed. I will never
forget how he held my hand and smiled as we prayed for God to heal his
tiny body and that he would grow up strong and healthy. Again…we prayed
for miracles.
was a beautiful baby boy with curly black hair, lots of energy, and a
huge smile. We asked his mom if we could pray over him, and as we did,
he wrapped his tiny hand around my finger as we prayed. I will never
forget how he held my hand and smiled as we prayed for God to heal his
tiny body and that he would grow up strong and healthy. Again…we prayed
for miracles.
We
played peek-a-boo with Fernando and talked with his mom as much as our
Spanish would allow. I had the opportunity to ask if she was a
Christian and she responded, a little embarrassed, that she believed in
God but did not go to church very much. I remembered that Oscar had
given us New Testament Bibles that were in Spanish and English. I
immediately gave her a one, and she accepted graciously. We talked and
played with Fernando for a while longer and then said our goodbyes. We
met up with the other group at the hospital and as we were leaving…my
miracle happened. I glanced over to Marcella and Fernando’s room and
she was bending over his bed, reading the New Testament to her baby boy.
played peek-a-boo with Fernando and talked with his mom as much as our
Spanish would allow. I had the opportunity to ask if she was a
Christian and she responded, a little embarrassed, that she believed in
God but did not go to church very much. I remembered that Oscar had
given us New Testament Bibles that were in Spanish and English. I
immediately gave her a one, and she accepted graciously. We talked and
played with Fernando for a while longer and then said our goodbyes. We
met up with the other group at the hospital and as we were leaving…my
miracle happened. I glanced over to Marcella and Fernando’s room and
she was bending over his bed, reading the New Testament to her baby boy.
Miracles
do happen… you have to look for them and pray for them, but God
listens to His children and answers their prayers. Our prayer for
Fernando is that he is healed and he gets to grow up like any normal
child. Pray that he meets Jesus. Pray for Marcella as she has another
child she does not get to spend much time with because she is in the
hospital. Pray that she spends time reading the Bible and seeing Jesus
work miracles in her son’s life. To be continued….
do happen… you have to look for them and pray for them, but God
listens to His children and answers their prayers. Our prayer for
Fernando is that he is healed and he gets to grow up like any normal
child. Pray that he meets Jesus. Pray for Marcella as she has another
child she does not get to spend much time with because she is in the
hospital. Pray that she spends time reading the Bible and seeing Jesus
work miracles in her son’s life. To be continued….
Check back and read our next blog to find out the miracles that God was doing through our men at the same time.…
