El Salvador has stolen my heart. Plain and simple. I don’t think I have ever fallen in love with a place so quickly. I have discovered that this beautiful corner of Central America is filled with beautiful people. These are people I now consider family. For starters, our host family – the Santos – are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life. Our team has cultivated such a great and joyous relationship with them. Already, I feel so close to Alberto and Mariela, and have become great friends with their kids: Cristian (19), Tania (17), David (15), and Danny (11). We attend church with them and have experienced the ministries they have and are currently helping one of their church plants by working on a small building that will become the Sunday School for kids on Sundays. We live with the Santos in their home – a charming house in a colorful and delightful gated community. We have gotten to know their friends who live here in the neighborhood as well.
Specifically, I want to write about my new friend Vincent, or as I have taken to calling him – Vinny. I also want to add that he has great taste in music, and we both share a particular fondness for “Of Monsters and Men.”
I first met Vinny when we were all participating in a ministry called “Pan y Chocolate,” which serves the homeless in San Salvador by providing dinners and sharing Christ. As we were praying for some of the homeless people, he looked at me and said: “This is what breaks my heart.” He motioned to the stuff piled haphazardly around us: “This is all they have. I wish I could do more for them.” I saw a glimpse into his kind heart that night, and he so reminded me of the kids back home at CCC in the High School Ministry.
Last Thursday night, when our team and the Santos decided to head into San Salvador to go to the mall for the evening, Vinny got to tag along with us. We got to Starbucks to take advantage of the Wi-fi and I offered to buy him a frapp. After that, we joined the others and sat on some couches where my teammates were getting in touch with family for the first time in a while. I put my phone away, sensing that this was a great opportunity to be present, since I had had the opportunity to get in touch with people already. I am SO thankful that I did – because what followed was a night that I will never forget…
Vinny began to open up about his life a little bit. We about his love for fiction and he told me about some stories he was writing. I was blown away by his imagination and creativity – wanting instantly to read his work. As we continued to talk, he began to share more, and opened up in a way I wasn’t expecting. He told me about some heartbreaking things he had gone through, and my heart was breaking inside of me. I was in awe of his trust in me, and encouraged to see that despite it all, he had the capacity to love and care for those around him so deeply. There were was one instance in particular where I felt it was right to ask a deeper question. Without hesitation, he prefaced his response by telling me: “You’re a great person, so I’m just gonna be honest with you…”
His honesty touched me so deeply. Here was a young guy, so full of talent [seriously though, he beat-boxed for me earlier in the day, and I didn’t know it was possible for a human to make those sounds], so full of kindness, and so full of ambition to follow his passions. Here was a young guy that has been beaten up by life, but who has taken on pain with bravery. He told me: “The pain, it just makes you stronger…if I could rewind my life, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Here was my new friend Vinny, ready to share with a sister in Christ that he had known for literally two days, some of his deepest pains. Words cannot say how honored I was to be that listening ear. That’s really all I was, but it rattled the very core of me. During the drive back, I thanked him for sharing, as I knew now how I could specifically be praying for him. The rest of ride, we shared his iPod, as all 11 of us were crammed in the back of Alberto’s pickup. I looked up at the sky full of stars. I was amazed at how the same God who placed those stars in space, placed Vinny and I in the Starbucks in a shopping mall in San Salvador. He knew that I would be blessed by his story.
It wasn’t until we were back home, when my squad leader Kathryn mentioned that she was encouraged to see me in deep conversation with Vincent throughout the night, that I broke and began to cry. I cried not just because I was saddened by the things he had gone through, but because I was overwhelmed by the Lord’s faithfulness to orchestrate everything about that evening.
Ministry here on the World Race is much more similar to ministry back home than I thought. It’s still about loving, listening, and encouraging. I am overwhelmingly thankful for Vinny, and how the LORD used him to bless me. It’s been awesome to get to know his younger sister Sophia as well and to hang out with them and all their friends. I ask that you all pray for him as well, as I firmly believe that he is going to be a force to be reckoned with. I told him that nothing can stop him, and I know that nothing will.
I still got a little less than 2 weeks left in El Salvador, but I don’t even want to think about saying goodbye yet. But I do know that this will not be the last time I will be in this beautiful country. I’m already looking forward to coming back someday.
Please keep the Santos, Vinny and his family, and my team in your prayers as we continue to do life here. Thanks for checking in! Que Dios los bendiga 🙂
