The rest of July was spent with the teens from my church in El Salvador! It was a good trip, and I’m thankful I did not get the team cold until after returning home.
Left, you’ll see a photo of me with several homeless people from El Salvador. It was difficult to understand the gentleman who did not have teeth! We played a few rounds of Mexican train. One of the guys asked me to pray for him and I also got to share John 3:16 with him. On Tuesdays afternoons, the homeless come to take a shower, trade in their clothes, socialize over games, have a meal and listen to a reflection.
That is just one of the many ministries the Salvadorians are involved in. We visited a boys orphanage, a girls orphanage, did a VBS in the barrio, and also built a house in the barrio – extreme home makeover style! Jessica, a single mom with two kids, was overjoyed when we showed up. After tearing down her house that had bugs and such in the poles, I got to help dig dirt for underneath the new cement floor as well as replant a few aloes after we finished building the 20×20 aluminum house.
Through the team devotions each day, the teens (and adults) were encouraged about basis principles of ministry. Things like “Stop and Pray”, planting seeds in people’s lives, learning where your treasure is, and the impact of Christ’s light in our lives – shining like stars in the Universe. Needless to say, those were very encouraging.
Also, as our team came back we are doing a re-entry book and being encouraged to see how God wants to change our lives here as a result of all the things that we learned and experienced overseas.
You can read about each day on the thrive youth blog:
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