my team and three of our ministry hosts in El Salvador (left to right: Amy, Casey, Alys, Rose, Stacy, me, Jen, Suzy, and Cindy)
I love El Salvador. There is such a peace here that was not present in Guatemala. When I talked to my squadmates about this peace that I’ve been experiencing since we’ve been in El Salvador, it was interesting to find out that they all have also felt so much more peace since we’ve been here. There seemed to be a heavy spiritual darkness in Guatemala. Our ministry contact in Guatemala told me that Mayan witchcraft is still practiced in Guatemala, even by some people who call themselves Christians. She said that it is such an issue that even some Catholic churches mix witchcraft into their doctrine. It is scary stuff and probably has a great impact on the spiritual darkness that we all felt in Guatemala. Please continue to pray for the people of Guatemala!
But here we are in El Salvador, and it is so different! Our ministry hosts this month (Cindy, Jen, Suzy, Bea, and Amy) are wonderful!! They all are amazing women of God with a passion for working with youth, homeless people, people with disabilities, and people with addictions. We are staying in a house right outside San Salvador that Cindy’s parents own that she shares with her brother and his wife (who is expecting a baby in April!). Jen and Suzy stay at the house with us most nights too. God has blessed us so much in providing this place for us to stay!! Some of us even get to sleep on beds (They are letting us stay in one of the rooms in the house and in their back bedroom this month)!! We also have a sink in the kitchen this month, which makes washing dishes go so much faster!
It was difficult adjusting to ministry this month. Last month we lived at the orphanage where we worked, and there was always work or ministry to be done. It was difficult to even spend time alone to read the Bible or pray without feeling guilty that I wasn’t cleaning, working in the field, helping the nannies with chores, or spending time with the kids. We were busy almost nonstop from 6:00am (sometimes earlier) until at least 9:30pm. Needless to say, by the end of the month we were exhausted.
This month, on the other hand, we have a couple of hours of ministry each day and are given the rest of the day to spend time with the Lord (in prayer, reading/studying the Bible, singing worship songs, etc.), talk with teammates, or rest. At first it was weird adjusting to this schedule because rest was so hard to come by last month. I was frustrated by the schedule at first because I felt like I was not making the most of my time here in El Salvador. But after almost a couple weeks here, doing ministry and spending one-on-one time with the Lord and my teammates, I am realizing that having a more restful month has been beneficial and necessary. My times spent with the Lord have revealed to me areas in my life that I really need to grow in, and I’m able to daily to put time into focus on growing in those areas. Having extra time has also allowed my team to become much closer. We are realizing that part of our ministry this month is to each other, helping one another as we grow in our walks with the Lord. One of our ministry hosts said that one of the first things she noticed about our team when we arrived in El Salvador was that we looked tired. We didn’t even realized how worn down we were. But God knew, and He gave us a month that would allow us to be refreshed.
Let me tell you about some of the ministry we are doing this month! Every Tuesday and Thursday we go to a place for people with cerebral palsy. The people there range in age from toddlers to elderly. While we are there we help the people with their physical therapy exercises, feed those who can’t feed themselves, play with them and show them love in whatever way we can. Yesterday we got to play soccer with some of the nurses for a half hour! I consider myself so blessed to have worked with the disabled kids at the orphanage last month because I am now so much more able to know how to interact with the people with cerebral palsy.
A couple days a week we do evangelism downtown or in the neighborhood where we live. We’ve also visited a couple schools and talked to the kids about God and what He has done in our lives. This past Wednesday we visited a kindergarten class in a public school in a dangerous neighborhood of San Salvador. Our ministry hosts told us that most of the parents of the kids in the class are in gangs. We prepared a funny skit for the kids and performed it for them. We also prepared and performed a fun dance to a song in Spanish by Hillsong called Cristo es Mi Superhero. Then one of our ministry contacts stood up front and talked to the kids about what it means to have faith and how to pray. It was so incredible to be able to talk about God in a public school and see the kids show so much interest in God!
One last comment: It is 25 to 30 degrees warmer here than it was in Guatemala! A couple weeks ago I couldn’t sleep well some nights because it was so cold, but it’s been so warm here that I haven’t needed to sleep in my sleeping bag at all since we’ve been here. I haven’t had to use my sweatshirt or long-sleeved shirt a single time either since we’ve been in El Salvador. A benefit of the warmer weather is that I haven’t been sick at all since I’ve been here (I had a cold the majority of the time we were in Guatemala). However, with the amount I sweat here, I definitely can’t get by with changing my underwear every three days anymore like I did in Guatemala.
