For the past few weeks we’ve been doing various ministries. Right when we got here we were mainly just going to church services, it was pretty slow. Everyone wanted to do more “hands-on” ministry. To be honest we were all pretty much thinking “Why did we come all this way to El Salvador just to go to church services?” I had to keep reminding myself we’re here at these services for a reason that maybe we don’t see right now but we should constantly be honoring Him here. Then of course we get our “hands-on” ministry . The church we’ve been going to needed help cleaning up the new location they have so we were picking up all the trash and sticks, using machetes to chop up the branches. Its cool that we were able to be apart of that because soon they’ll hopefully have another location for their church and different sports fields, like a soccer field.
Then we started doing kids ministry. There we mainly sing songs but sometimes we’ll play games, too. Its so fun to see all their sweet smiling faces. I made the mistake of spinning one kid around when I got there which means the rest of the kids run straight to you and let me just say I was super dizzy by the end of it. Then the church starting asking us to lead sermons and worship, share our testimonies on stage. It weird how the Lord provides in those times. Most of us are so nervous at the beginning then we get up there and He just keeps giving us the words to say. Its so cool to see that. We’ve also been able to work with kids that are blind, deaf and with autism. The church has so many different branches that they work with. Its so great to see how much they care for all of their people.
Then we ended up doing homeless ministry. It’s called Pan y Chocolate and most of us loved that. We split off into different groups and I was with Brady and Jenna. We were able to go see some homeless kids. It was great to love on them but it’s just hard to see children my brother’s age having to fend for themselves and take care of their younger siblings. The past few times we’ve gone there’s this fourteen year old boy who’s very timid. Brady got a chance to talk to him and ended up finding out he’s been living on the streets for three years because someone murdered his parents when he was eleven. Stories like that are so difficult to hear. I just want to bring all the kids home with me. It breaks my heart to see kids that age that have no one to love and care for them. In those moments you start reflecting back on your life and what you have at home. Its silly some of the insignificant things I would get upset about like my sister eating my ice cream…well that is crossing the line. You should never take someone else’s ice cream. But seriously the Lord just keeps reminding me in those times that He’s given me the things I have for a reason and given them the things they have for a reason.
The hardest thing we’ve done so far is probably going to the Children’s Hospital, this is where they send the kids right before they’re going to pass away from cancer. We go to pray for them, talk to them for a little bit and give them toys because who doesn’t like toys? This one little boy Brandon was so happy, you couldn’t even tell he was sick. Right before we left he gave me the tightest little hug, it made my heart melt. The one family I got to talk to the most had a son named Jose with cancer spreading throughout his back and arms. His head was all swollen from all the steroids they’ve given him. He started tearing up when I was praying for him, he was in so much pain. We went back a week later and found out he passed away. He was so young. Its difficult to comprehend how sick the kids are because some of them seem so happy. The Lord has such crazy plans that we aren’t able to understand right now. I can’t tell you why children that are only 4, 5, 6 years old get terminal illnesses, but God can. His plans are always so much bigger than we see. Even though its so hard to see in such dark situations like that. But stars can’t shine without darkness. We just always need to remind ourselves to press on towards Him during the hard confusing times. He cares about what hurts us. Cry out to your Father when you’re going through pain like that, no one will ever love you as much as He does. I keep asking the Lord to break my heart for what breaks His and He certainly has.
