Goodbye El Tunco! Goodbye to the little tourist town we have called home for the last 4 weeks. Over the last week we have slowly said our goodbyes. First to our host church La Red and the students in the English class, second to the surfing missions’ media crew, third to kids we watch during the women’s ministry, fourth to the kids at the orphanage Remar, and finally to our wonderful host Andrea and her parents. It crazy the friendships you can make in 4 weeks.
So Goodbye El Salvador! There’s so much I have learned over the last 4 weeks. I learned that living in community is really hard. Surfing is a lot of fun. The ocean is beautiful. Pizza pupusas taste delicious. Salvadorians have a hard time pronouncing my name. A couple of the girls at Remar thought my name was Taylor. Caleb – Calo – Kaylo – Taylo – Taylor. I don’t know. The Lord is good; we may not see the impact we have had on the community, but we know that God has used us to do work for the Kingdom here at La Red.
This month has been a lot of fun. There are so many things we have done. We play a lot of cards at night. We ate supper at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. We swam in natural/manmade salt pools were the waves would crash up and over the pools. We learn how to surf. We played with kids for ministry. We were filmed for a short promo video about Surfing Missions, El Salvador. We visited kids at an orphanage. We made short videos highlighting so of the ministries going on at La Red. We created an operations manual for Surfing Missions, El Salvador. We made English lesson plans. We helped some local students learn English. We slept in a loft. We cooked our own meals 3 times a day, 7 days a week. We learned how to make pupusas. We visited San Salvador. We went to Crater lake and rode jet skis! We worship on the beach as the sun rose. We did a lot this month.
Just wanted to leave El Salvador with this final thought about the ocean. Everything about the waves is beautiful to me; the calming sound as the waves crash to shore, the way the wave breaks, the lulls, the sets, the foam. The crashing of waves on the shore never ends. Sometimes it lulls, but it never stops, one after another after another. It’s consistent. It’s repetitive. It’s never ending. It’s a constant reminder of the command the Lord gives us—to meditate of the Word of God day and night and to pray with ceasing.
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”
— Joshua 1:8
This repetition eventually wears sharp jagged rocks smooth, it’s like iron sharpening iron.
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
— Proverbs 27:17
Wave after wave, tide in, tide out, day and night. It never ends. We are to continually meditate on God’s Word, and to rest in the Spirit every day. We are to speak words of encouragement to one another in order to build up the body of Christ. Thank you God for teaching me about strength of the waves, the consistency of the waves, and to always be prepared for when the Spirit speaks. I am excited to see what God has in store next month.
Our sleeping area, aka the Loft
The Salty Pools
