This first week in El Salvador has been good. We climbed to the top of a volcano, ate at Chilies, and rode in the back of serval different types of trucks. We really didn’t get to do much ministry this week. We learned some songs and dramas and were able to go on some prayer walks through several communities.
I have really been enjoying our prayer walks. The first one we did, we found this church up on the top of a hill. We went in and just prayed the Lord’s blessings on the church an on the people there. Our second one brought us in contact with a bunch of kids and then we were summoned off the road to this house where we got to prayer with the family and give them some of the Spanish tracts we had. The third trip was around the town where we are living. The one today was the best one though.
Today we went to a disaster relief camp. In 2009, a hurricane hit hard down here and caused the rivers to flood and destroy many houses and killed many people. The US came and built these houses to help those that had lost everything. Now they are just poor houses. The people that live there have nothing. There are children everywhere and some of our team grabbed a ball and started playing soccer with them. Others walked around and prayed with people that God would provide for their needs. But I got to do something even better.
Hugh, Jen and I took off to the opposite end as everyone else and went straight to a family that was standing outside waving us over. The man was raised in the states and thus spoke very good English. He opened his heart to us and told us how he used to walk with the Lord and how he had gotten his heart broken and turned away from the Lord. He started drinking and partying and got into a lot of trouble in the states. He spent some time in jail and then was deported back to the El Salvador. Now he is unemployed and an alcoholic and wishes that God would hear his cries for help. We sat with him for an hour and were able to share our testimonies with him. We loved on him and I told him that God did hear his cries and loved him so much that He sent three gringoes from America down to El Salvador just to show him how much He loves him. We prayed that God would break the bond of alcoholism from his life and provide him with a job. We encouraged him to get his bible out and start reading it. We told him that he needed to start going back to church and when he felt like he needed an drink, he needed to grab his bible. We encouraged him to let go of his past; to forgive himself as Christ has forgiven him and to start new from this point. God is an amazing God and uses these hard things in our lives to bring glory to Himself and healing to others.
I am confident that God has a plan for this man. I know that if he will trust the Lord in this, God is going to use this man in a mighty way. He is known as the community drunk, but God can redeem and restore him and he can one day be known as the community pastor. God is SO Good! Please join me in praying for Hector. Pray that the Holy Spirit will rise up in him and break his bondage to alcohol. Pray that he will become a light in his family and his community. Join me in crying out to the Father for our brother. I know one day, his story will change the lives of many.
(Was so blessed! A week and a half after our visit with Hector and his family, they came to church! Our team also went back to his community and he translated a service for us! Most of all, he hasn't drank since we were with him and is in the word! GOD IS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!)
