God is so faithful.
I remember arriving in El Salvador and being greeted by our sweet ministry hosts. Knowing that we only spoke a little Spanish, they brought a 16 year old girl along who knew some English but not enough to translate conversations between us. We were nervous what the month would look like with the language barrier and how we would communicate with the people we were surrounded with. That night we prayed as a team that God would bring us a translator who would not only help with the language barrier, but someone around our age whom we could connect with and build relationships with.
We went to sleep and woke up early the next morning to find that God answered our prayer almost instantly. Our new friend Raquel was sitting on the porch with a bright smiling face eager to meet us and join us on our ministry outing. Since that day Raquel has taken us on many adventures, drove us around singing throwback jams, and made us laugh more than you could imagine. Even when she couldn’t physically be with us, she was texting us, encouraging us, and helping us daily. Raquel is about to embark on her own 10 month mission trip to Spain, where she will study bible translation and minister to the people in Spain. We are so excited to see how God uses her and ask for your prayers during her upcoming transition.
The next blessing we received was our sweet friend Salvador. After spending a full day at work, Salvador would come to the church almost every day to help us with our children’s ministry. I had the privilege of getting to serve alongside him in my classroom as he continually encouraged me and lifted me up. And even though he won’t admit it, he has such a gift when it comes to working with kids. All of the children absolutely adore him and his joyful spirit keeps them all smiling. Sometimes he has mishaps with American slang, which usually leads to me turning red and covering my face. He blushes almost as much as me when he gets embarrassed and he loves to pick on us and make us laugh. He’s sweet, caring, and definitely has a servants heart. He took us out to eat, brought us yummy treats, spent time getting to know us, and even bought us medicine and pedialite (so nasty, but super helpful) when we were sick in bed. He took such good care of us, but always made sure to knock us down a peg when we got too sassy.
Salvador quickly realized we would really benefit from a second translator. We were split into different classrooms during church and needed a translator in both of the older classes. His friend Harold began coming with him and instantly became one of us. I don’t think I have ever seen Harold without a smile on his face and it’s so evident his joy comes straight from the Father. He’s kind and goofy and always keeps us laughing (like when he tries to compliment me by saying me my hair looks like noodles from chicken noodle soup…). Harold delivers the sass and treats us like his little sisters, which includes making fun of us every day and making laughing every time I tripped (which was way too often). I loved that we were able to bond over silly things like our love for One Tree Hill and Serena Van Der Woodsen as well as have deep conversations over what the Lord was doing in our lives.
Friday we had to say goodbye to these sweet friends of ours. As I hugged them, memories with each of them flooded my brain. I thought about where I saw the Lord in each of them, and how thankful I was that the Lord saw it fit for our paths to intertwine. They were an answer to our prayers and I don’t know what we would have done without them. They loved us and served us so well and we will never forget the love and generosity they extended toward us. El Salvador would not have been the same without these precious souls to share our experience with. Thank you Lord for translators, friends, and your continual blessings.
Joyfully His,
Liz
