Okay, okay, okay. I know I’ve been terrible with this whole blog writing gig this month. If it means anything, I have written a thousand of them in my mind over the past 3 weeks!… I’ve just lacked the capability to get those profound novels from my mind to my phalanges and into a word document. But, don’t worry! My moment has come and I’m now going to try and sum up a few of those books in a few consecutive blog posts for your personal enjoyment. So…. deep breaths and…. Here. We. GO!
First, I feel that I should explain to you what on earth my team has been doing over the past 3 weeks.
This month, my 6 brothers and sisters and I were sent to live in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. We were given a beautiful home to stay in – that of the lovely Tatyana. This woman is amazing. She loves God, loves people, and is freaking hilarious. She has a little fluffy pup named Nina and owns her own salon that resides in the front room of the first floor of her home. She pretty much handed her home over to us – completely trusting us to honor it and take care of it as if it were our own. Her trust in us has been so humbling for me… I honestly don’t know if I would be able to hand over my home to the care of a group of crazy, young adults. However, her faith in God is bigger than material things… and that has been such an inspiration to me.
We have a shower. We live in a pretty nice part of town. We have been fed well. We have one bed and a mattress to share amongst ourselves. We have had quality family meals every day. We have had dance parties in the salon. We have had plenty of drinking water. We had a gym within walking distance that we only had to pay $15 to use for the whole month. We have had plenty of good internet access. We have been blessed.
In this place, we have mainly been living and working with three amazing young women – Jenny, Susy, and Bia. These three girls live, study, and/or work in the capital. They have become our sisters, our family.
Throughout the month we have had a good handful of ministry opportunities.
- We have spent time hanging out at a center for children who suffer from brain paralysis. We prayed with them. Sang with them. Danced with them. Played computer games with them. Held their hands. Let them take us on tours around campus. Taught them how to play the tambourine. Wiped the slobber off of their faces. Told them how beautiful they are. Told them that God loves them. & Most of all, we have been blessed by them.
- We also spent a few days working with a teacher of a kindergarten class in a part of town that some would say is a little bit less safe than the one we live in. Although these kids were out of control little terrors, we had a good time with them. We sang with them. Danced with them. Shared Bible stories with them. Hugged them. Held them. Played games with them. Let them take pictures with our cameras. & Gave their teachers a break.
- We spent a few days going down to one of the main squares in downtown San Salvy, just outside of the San Salvador Cathedral. Here we walked around and talked with/prayed with people. It was crazy sweet to see how God worked in those situations.
- We also partnered up on the weekends with a group of young adults our age who have recently started meeting together with the intent to “take the church outside of it’s four walls and onto the streets”… and take their faith to the streets is exactly what they do. These people are amazing. They are real with their faith in God. They are sick of the box the church has put itself in and of the restraints that come within that box, and they are ready to be the change… in fact, I think they have already started to be the change. It was so sweet to be able to walk alongside of them in that, even if only for 3 weeks. We would meet with them on Saturdays to hang out, worship, and talk about God. Then on Sunday nights, we would legitimately take it to the streets. Seriously. We visited the homeless and sat down with them to feed them, hear their stories, and pray with them. The cool thing about this is that the group’s main intention for visiting these people is so that they can connect those with addictions to a rehab center they also partner up with (which we also visited one night). These people come with an intention to help these men and women come out of the destructive state they have found themselves in and they do this good work for God’s glory.
- Mostly, though, we have learned to rest. We have had a lot of down time in this place. Having so much free time thrown onto our laps was difficult at times. I really will only speak for myself, but my United States, productive mindset sometimes didn’t know how to handle so much unplanned time. I keep myself so busy back in the States that I have mostly forgotten what it looks like to just chill. However, I’m extremely thankful that this month was the way that it was. Because we had so much space and time to ourselves, the seven of us grew pretty with each other, extremely fast. We were able to simply relax and enjoy each other’s company – with little room for other obligations to get in the way of that. We truly became a family. We laughed together. Got annoyed together. Sang together. Danced together. Went to the gym together. Ate family meals together… and most of all, grew together. Each night we would have hour long (at least) conversations about things we can work on in order to become better people. We lovingly called each other out on our crap. We encouraged each other. We prayed together. We fought for each other. It was (and still is) beautiful. I’m 100% convinced that God put us at this place in San Salvador for a reason, and that reason is this: so we could relax and grow together as a family. Without having the bond we have created over the past month, we would not be as useful in the upcoming 9 months… I’m stoked to see how He is going to use us as a family in the months to come. J
And that, my peoples, is what on earth we have been doing here.
We move on to Guatemala tomorrow – what daaaa?! Time is flying faster than a pterodactyl.
Get ready for some more blogs.
Peace, joy, and sushi.
– Em
