Howdy.
Here comes the first of the few posts I'm going to pour out.
Here comes the first of the few posts I'm going to pour out.
So let us dive into this.
As I prepped you in the last post,
the words that lay across this specific post are all El Sal,
God works on our hearts in amazing ways.
Well,
Up until the day I left (and the post I wrote) I didn't think much on the trip. Excited as I was, I wasn't consumed by what the trip entailed until I was sitting in LAX. Mentally preparing myself for this foreign "world" it would almost seem, my heart began to beat with expeditious speed.
Like a gazelle initiating its "flight" mode when face to face with the lion. I began to really start to grasp what this week would be. I longed for San Luis Obispo, family, and friends, and instead I was flying to El Salvador, to spend a week with people I don't know in an unfamiliar land (man, what the Israelites must have felt when they were wandering!). But sitting on the floor I told myself "Enough of ME!" and began to think of all that God could use me for, and it seemed almost immediately the Holy Spirt engulfed me and calmed my rattled heart. Removing my-selfish-self fromthis picture, and put to the forefront of my mind the people of El Salvador I would be having a chance to impact. And this "letting-myself-go" really did work for the good.
Saturday: It was the first day and we arrived in El Sal around 6 am (plane left at 11:45 pm, hour difference, and a 5 hour flight) so we decided to head out to breakfast before hitting the hotel. On the way to breakfast the Mini-bus broke down. Seemed like a good start, eh? It turned out well though, most of us were tired anyways. The rest of the day we just pretty much slept around the hotel.
Sunday: The one 'vacation' day of the trip. Beach day! We drove like 45 minutes towards the coast, Pacific Ocean side. Weather was absolutely beautiful, somewhere between 84-88, as a rough guesstimate. Couldn't think of a more perfect beach day. Well, after a few minutes of getting situated, I booked it towards the ocean. I was eager to feel the difference between Avila/La Jolla vs. El Sal ocean. Long strides brought me closer and closer, the last few strides bringing my legs hurling towards the water. As my feet broke the plane between air and water, a feeling of amazement overtook me. The water was so incredibly warm, yet so incredibly refreshing. It was just so incredibly awesome. Emphasis on incredibly, and AWE. The rest of the day involved swimming, laying and swaying in a hammock, drinking an El Salvador smoothie de Sandia, aka watermelon smoothie. Totally tropical. Totally wonderful.
Then to top it off we went to a Pupusaria, a place that specialized in pupusas. What are pupusas? click the word. :)
Monday: This was when the missions part of 'mission's trip' came alive. The most incredible part was that it's almost an exact replica of what I can, and should be doing here at SD. We went onto the college campus Evangelica, and went sharing. I was with Amy and Veekee (a native Salvadorian) Thank God for Veekee who was there to help me when I was blanking on Spanish. Spending time with students, doing solarium, and just sharing about our faith was incredible. It was surprising to hear that most all the students we talked to had some knowledge, or background of God and church in their lives, but didn't know what distinguished that between having a relationship with our great Savior. It was cool explaining that, and inviting them to Vida Estudiantil, an on-campus bible study that was just starting up. I don't know how my words impacted them, but God does. I'm faithful that God will move in those people because of the seed I could have planted. One of the more encouraging things that happened this day, was after each sharing, we asked to pray for them, and then we prayed. Most all of them asked us to pray for "family and studies" but nonetheless, laying hands on students and praying for them was incredible. Prayers in two languages to One Great God was just absolutely moving.
Tuesday and Wednesday: Since Obama decided to come to El Salvador the same week we did, students had no school on these days (just for Obama, how lucky!). Because of this, we didn't get to go on campus, well, I should say, we had no one to share with. So instead we had two service projects.
The first of which incredibly broke my heart, but encouraged me nonetheless. We went to an orphanage and spent the day there. There were young boys, young girls, teenage girls (abused, raped, with child...even a pregnant 12-year old) and the mentally challenged and handicapped kids. We got to go and show God's love to these boys and girls who had to deal with so much, without even being that old. I spend my entire time in the handicapped area. The area that most wouldn't choose when there were 'normal' kids you could choose instead. I fell in love with a young boy named Lionel. He was maybe about a year old, or somewhere around there. He didn't walk yet. My guess so his disability was down syndrome, yet he didn't have the typical face, and because I'm not a doctor, I can't tell you what was wrong. I held him for almost two hours, before he wanted to crawl around. But I couldn't leave him (and he wouldn't let me, every time I handed him to someone else, he'd cry) but he was just so cute, and I tried pouring out every ounce of all my love on him. I didn't care that my arm was getting tired from making him fly, hanging him upside down, and throwing him up in the air. The smile and the laugh just captured me. I did get to spend some time with other kids in the area as well. One boy (shown below) would always run up to me, hug and jump on me, smile, and I couldn't not enjoy it. Though his hand was covered in saliva, I didn't care. The joy I could sense in him overwhelmed any selfishness in me. There was also another boy, who, also pictured below (the baby), I spent some time with. Heart-wrenching story, was that, when he was born, he was a perfectly normal baby, but one night his father drunk and raging, through him against the wall, and when they took him to the hospital, the mother lied and said he fell, and then the next day the father did it again, and it permanently damaged the kid. Though I can't tell the story as moving as the carers, I was close to tears. The kid, having suffered so much already, almost never stopped smiling and wanting to cuddle up with you. Under the pictures I post some thoughts that I talked about at Crusade the other night, just what God taught me this day:
So these are the thoughts on the Orphanage. Take what you can from it.
- Picture of God’s love (how they love you without even knowing you) compared to God’s love when he knows ALL about you.
o God loves you the way you are, but refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus
o 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- The impact we have in LOVING others. The affect that that has. Jesus did the same thing. He came to love.
o Love is sacrifice; Love it thinking about others before thinking about yourself. Selfless, not selfish.
o Lay down your life for another. Even your enemies.
o Can’t get clearer than Romans 5:8. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- Now what?
o As Christians, we are called to leadership, to lead a lost world to salvation. How then can we not be prompted to action? We have the key to eternity, through our knowledge of Jesus Christ and so how can we standby while those around us die without Christ? Where is the love in that?
o Romans 10:14-17 "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without something preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
The second service project, on Wednesday, was we painted an elementary school. There's not much really to talk about, since we painted all day, but it was great to just serve a neighborhood school with a new look. And boy was I boss at painting.
Thursday: Our last "official" day in El Sal, was once again a sharing day. We went onto Evangelica again, and just shared with students we came across. But it was different this time around because we shared our testimonies, and for those of you who know mine, it's always hard for me. (if you don't, I encourage you to ask me, I would love to share). But people were so open and loving to me in the midst of my sharing. It was great to hear about peoples' lives in another country and be able to share mine, while tying the Gospel and the good news of Jesus in with it. The downside of the day was I was getting a bit sick from something I ate or drank, but I pushed through it (for a while). That night all the guys pushed our beds together (5 of them) to make the PANGEA bed, in which like 15 guys slept on. Interesting, to say the least.
There is SO much I'm probably forgetting that I'll add in a later post.
But nonetheless, I am so thankful to have been blessed with the opportunity to go on this trip.
I can't think of anything I would have rather done during Spring break. God called me out, and instead of making excuses, and accompanying my selfish side, I listened. So glad I did.
This is not one of those posts where I am to reveal a huge "realization" or something of that sort. Just want YOU to have a glimpse of what I did, and if you ever have the urge to go on a missions trip, I can encourage you and say YES DO IT.
Hope you enjoyed reading this monster of a post.
In all thankfulness for your care,
Danual
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