Hey there everyone! Sorry for the delay in the blog post but here it is. I have been in El Salvador for about three weeks now and things are finally settling in. My team and I live in an apartment with two other El Salvadorians. We cook and clean on our own. We have a couple of different ministries that we participate in. We work in a special needs orphanage, a baby orphanage, girls and young boys (under 12) orphanage and a girl’s prison. When I was first showed the schedule I was excited to engage in a lot of different ministries but once I started I found myself frustrated at the fact that I really wasn’t able to talk to truly get to know any of the kids due to the fact that there was a language barrier and we were so spread out. I was really starting to get upset because I felt like God was not using me the way he could be or the way I wanted him to be.
Then one morning after getting up at the crack of dawn to be ready by 6:15, so we could get onto a crowded bus to ride two hours, to get to the orphanage on time, once we got to the orphanage we learned that there was no power and that most of the people in charge of us were coming into work late. At this point I was frustrated. My teammate and I went off and helped out in the laundry room for a few minutes and then we went to find the rest of the group. When we found them they were all sitting on a swing set entertaining this one little kid named Jeremias. He was stubborn and because of his disability he couldn’t communicate well which just made him more frustrated and angry. Shortly after finding my team the physical therapist showed up and everyone in the group went with her except me.
So there I was, standing in front of a little El Salvadorian child. Neither of us speaks the others language and we were both frustrated. Through trial and error I found out that Jeremias wanted to be pushed really high on the swing. So about 30 minutes of pushing Jeremias my arms started to get tired but if he felt himself slow down he would say “Mas! Mas!” ( That’s about the only word I know in Spanish). At this point I was frustrated and tried. I started to question God about why he had me in El Salvador and whether I was really being effective in ministry.
As I continued on, God put James 1:27 on my heart, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” So that is why I believe that God has me in El Salvador, to love people in their afflictions. So as I move forward with that mind set please pray that God would reveal specific people that I could build relationships with.
Thank you so much for all your prayers. To God be the glory forever and ever amen.
