It is unbelievable that we are leaving El Salvador tomorrow, perhaps forever. It is heartbreaking to think that we may never see these people again. The people here are responsible for making this short month here one that we will never forget. From the moment We were pick up from the airport we have felt blessed. My team came to El Salvador to serve. We thought we knew what serving one another meant, but the people of Templo Cristiano have shown us every day the meaning of putting one anther first. The honor they have shown us has been repeated cause for amazement. They call us their brothers and sisters and have told us many times we are a part of their family. Every time we visit a home or a church plant we are brought nearly to tears from the kindness we are shown. We came hoping to bless them, but they have blessed us more than we could have possibly imagined. They have changed our lives.
Here are a few people would like you to meet. We have had the privilege of working with almost every day. We could not have gotten through this month without them!
PASTOR EDUARDO: He took seven people who he had never met before (and who didn't even speak the same language) and made them a part of his family. He gave us a place to stay in his own house, even though there were already five people living there already. He welcomed us into his church and showed tremendous trust in us when he gave us the liberty to run nearly every church service for a month before he had heard any of us preach. He drove us to Wendy's and Starbucks the first week we were here so we would not be homesick. He prays so passionately for our mission and greatly honors all we have left behind and prays for our families frequently. We have come to love him and his family dearly and do not take lightly all he has done for us.
KAREN: She is the 10-year-old daughter of the pastor and love to show us off to all her friends. She gives us giant hugs everyday and will take every spare moment we can give her to play games. She gave up her room for us girls for a month so that we could have a place to sleep.
ROBERTO: We call him the El Salvadorian Flynn Ryder (from the movie Tangled). Roberto goes with us everywhere to make sure we stay out of trouble, and lets us take over worship every Sunday when he willingly hands over his guitar. He waits patiently with the boys while the five of us girls get ready to go, which can sometimes take up to an hour. No one is better at talking to us without using words than Roberto. He will dance in circles until we understand him, although he usually just ends up banging his head against the wall because our Spanish is so bad. He has taught us useful things like the word for booger in Spanish and will do anything to make us laugh.
MILTON: Milton cheerfully works along side us nearly everyday. He always has a huge smile on his face. When we go into the city we always have either Milton or Roberto with us for safety. Milton will pick up a paintbrush and get to work quicker than any of us. He uses every word of his small English vocabulary to encourage us. I also know that there isn't anything Milton wouldn't do for us. When we didn't have enough beds the first night we arrived, Milton threw his in the back of the pick-up truck and was prepared to sleep on the floor for the next month. He slept outside our door the first few nights so that we would feel safe and would cook us dinner cheerfully until we moved into Pastor's house.
ROSA: Rosa is a single mother who works as a housekeeper for the pastor. She has definitely had her work cut out for her having seven extra people to clean up after and cook for. She washes all our dishes and clothes by hand and will not let us lift a finger to help her. One day we bought her lunch and spent the day cleaning up the house. She was reduced to tears and told us she wanted to tell us a story. She began to tell us a heartbreaking story about a girl whose life has been stricken with loss and abandonment. The story was Rosa's journey to God and how she works so hard so that her children can have a different life then she had. She is so full of joy and love despite everything and is an inspiration to each of us every day.
GERBER: Gerber was the first person we met in El Salvador. He threw all of our bags in the back of the truck at the airport and brought us to our new home in Lourdes. Gerber goes grocery shopping for us every Saturday and takes Wednesdays off of work so that he can drive us where we want to go on our free day. He has sacrifices his time and his family so that we can get where we need to go. We all love talking to Gerber in our broken Spanish and he laughs at all our jokes even though they don't translate very well. We will all miss him very much.
OSCAR: Oscar is our translator, but has become so much more than that in the last month. He is the honorary eighth member of Team Tharros, and we would take him with us if that were possible. He is our link to these people and makes sure we always understand what is going on. On top of translating our sermons to the congregation and translating the Pastor's sermons to us, he works full time and does children's ministry on the weekend and can rap in Spanish like a crazy man. Every day we are amazed at all he does. He has become a brother and a friend to all of us. He brings so much joy to our team and we all love Oscar like he is one of us. I suppose it's because he is one of us.
