Feliz Navidad friends!
I hope that this Christmas, wherever you were, was filled with so much joy and so much hope and so much thankfulness that Jesus came. What a glorious day. What a glorious time of year.
I’m here to give y’all an update on life here in El Salvador! It has been such a great month and I will be sad to leave this place and these people come Saturday. This has been my favorite month so far, and I have seen so much of the Lord through His gifts, His creation, and His people.
This month my team and I got to partner with a ministry called YWAM (Youth With A Mission). I had heard so many great things about this organization in the past and was so excited at the opportunity to serve with them! The moment we walked into the door I knew it was going to be a good month. I immediately felt this sense of “home” and peace. The staff that makes up this YWAM base is INCREDIBLE. They have been the biggest gifts of this month by far. The leaders of the base, Fran and Judy, are a married couple (with the CUTEST little four year old girl) that desire for their staff to be a staff that communes with the Father before they do anything. Before they serve, before anything, they come to the Father and seek intimacy with Him. Now THAT is a ministry that I can fully get behind.
This ministry does all kinds of relational things and I have loved every part of it. They have a relationship with a slum community in San Salvador where they minister to the families there. They have a bible study for the adults and the kids, they have a feeding program for the kids, they do street evangelism, and have a ministry for prostitutes and transvestites. We have gotten to partner with them in all aspects of ministry and it has been my favorite. I love people and I love loving people. So, this month I came alive.
I got to see Jesus in the faces of the kids we played with and fed. I saw Him holding the faces of the broken-hearted and homeless as they lit up by simply receiving cookies and coffee. I saw Him through the pain and heart break of talking to men that dress like women and believe their worth is found through sex. I saw Him through the love of the staff at YWAM. I saw Him in the breathtaking mountains and the vast ocean. I saw Him in the cross-cultural wedding we randomly attended. I saw Him in the beautiful celebration of Christmas alongside my team and 35 El Salvadorians/Colombians/Americans. He is everywhere and in everything. His love overflows.
When I stop and think about this month, there are so many things that I have loved, seen, and learned. Mostly, I think about how much I desire for Heaven to come. I long for Jesus to return and rid this world of the evil that is so rampant. Seeing so many people that are hurting and deceived and lonely and forgotten just breaks my heart. It’s crazy how this month has been so full of love and joy, yet so full of weight and sorrow. This month has reminded me of the urgency of the Gospel. Hope is here and we as believers have it. We carry it. And the world needs it. So my prayer for myself and for all of the believers out there is that we would love fiercely. That we would share the hope that Immanuel has come. That we would long for Heaven.
As we leave and head to Africa on Saturday, I want the fact that I carry the greatest news that their has even been to be my heartbeat. What a gift it is to share the hope of our Savior.
I hope y’all have a fabulous New Year. Much love for all of you. Thanks for being the best support system out there!
Xoxo,
Court
