Our partners had asked us to go to a home for abandoned, abused, special needs children. It turned out to be a center much like our Child Protective Services in the US. When children are removed from their homes or abandoned, they come to this center while their cases are investigated/evaluated. There serve children from birth to 21. It is not meant to be a long term facility; they remain here until it is determined whether they can return to their families, live with other relatives, or need to be placed in a more permanent situation.
There are several pregnant teen mothers at the center; there is a group of teenage girls who are receiving training in sewing while they are there.
There is also a group of multipli-handicapped children requiring very special needs. Our team split into two groups, one working with the babies and small children and the other ministering to the special needs children.
We really did know what to expect at this center, and it is rather intimidating and a bit frightening to walk into a group of severely handicapped children to know just what to do to serve them, but how the team rose to the occasion! What a JOY to see these students begin to reach out to these children, getting them to smile, laugh, blow bubbles (for those who could manage, or just enjoy seeing the bubbles!).
They got on the ground, patted hands and feet, talked to them (the language barrier didn’t matter), fed them bottles, and just loved on them. The awkwardness vanished quickly, and we saw the Lord in action through each team member.
One of our girls had the opportunity to share with the teen girls in the sewing program. Sharing from her own experience with abuse, it obviously touched a cord with these girls. It was a powerful time of sharing, praying and reassuring these girls that God truly loves them, sees them as beautiful and precious, no matter what has happened to them in the past. There were several girls that were obviously impacted by this; it was wonderful to share how we have a restoring God, a loving God who can make all things new!
This was our last night together with the team. The youth group will remain for two more days for a retreat, a time to reflect, spend time with the Lord, and begin to process what they have experienced these past two weeks. We are heading home to prepare for Kenya; John leaves next Friday and I take the US team over the next week. As we spent our last evening together, we got to share some of what God has shown us here in El Salvador, prayed and ended by having communion together.
We are moved by the gratefulness of those we work with here; to us, it seems like we have done so little, but they are so very appreciative for anything that is done to serve their people. We are constantly learning more about the importance of presence, the power of a touch, smiles, the huge impact of prayer. As Americans, we tend to be so focused on tasks, goal oriented, and wanting to scratch things off a to-do list, but God is more concerned about relationships than things, people than “projects.” As always, we feel that we have been blessed more than those we have served; they teach us so much. We all have a lot to pray about and process from our time here. Our prayer is that the Lord will clearly speak to each of us about how He wants to use this experience in our lives; we pray that the seeds we have sown will be deeply rooted and bear much fruit. We know the Lord is working in El Salvador; we pray for our brothers and sisters here, for strength, encouragement and the perseverance to continue in His work. We thank Him for allowing us to be a part of His work, even for a few weeks, and ask Him to remind us to pray for El Salvador and the wonderful people here, to remember their faces, names, and that His Spirit will work mightily in this nation.
Every Thursday those who minister with Global Action here meet to pray for Central America, El Salvador, the church, families and individual needs. This is always one of our favorite times here! As we gathered in the courtyard of the GA office and heard how God is directing individuals to step out to minister, we were convicted of how we need to do the same in our own country. These are just ordinary people who are listening to God, have their eyes open to what He shows them and make themselves available to be used by Him. One woman works in a number of schools to teach on abstinence, values, sexual abuse and does a great deal of counseling, just because God has given her a heart for young people. We have heard testimonies from some of these students about how God has transformed their lives as a result. One couple has targeted 17 needy areas here and routinely visit them, bring supplies as they can, pray and encourage pastors working in harsh situations as well as schools and needy communities. These are just a few examples of how believers here are responding to the needs of their people. Then these dear servants said they wanted to pray over us, individually and personally. There is nothing like being prayed over from your head to your feet! How little we seem to do that for one another. These were not surface-y prayers; these were powerful, passionate, personal prayers that touched each of us greatly.
We spent the afternoon at the Exodo orphanage on the outskirts of town. They have 48 children from ages 2-20 living in a home atmosphere.
There are four homes, each with house parents to give them as much of a family environment as possible. A group of the older kids had prepared a song/dance for us, which was a very “Texan” version of “God is good; all the time,” which made us feel at home. Then our group led them in singing, which they said was unusual for someone to come and sing for them. We had a great time singing, doing action songs/games.
Then came the big soccer challenge. I regret to say that they beat the socks off our team, even with our experienced players, but it was great fun. There was quite a face off on the basketball court as well. Even afternoon showers didn’t slow things down. It was a great afternoon spent with these young people.
A young college students from New York is working at Exodo for the summer. Her father is on the board of the home, and she’s been coming since she was 14. As a temporary house mom for the teenage girls, she’s been challenged, but loves being here. As in every place we’ve served, we are constantly thanked for taking time to love on people, whether they are old or young, reminding us that just “being” and expressing His love has huge impact. The team especially enjoyed interacting with these kids, working up quite a sweat in the process.
Tonight Ana Silvia, one of the founders of the Christian Deaf School, joined us for dinner and spent some time sharing with us about how God led her to start a school for the deaf and how He continues to work in her life. With only $57 and a heart to minister to the deaf, she and three other teachers started working with 7 deaf children, developing an entire curriculum (nothing existed here for them to use), learning to sign themselves, and literally starting from scratch; what dedication! Now more than 500 students have gone through the school. Many of them are now teachers at the school. Just this past week one of their students graduated from college here with an engineering degree!! As Ana shared, we were reminded that as millions around the world have yet to hear the Good News of salvation in Jesus, there are millions who have not heard just because they cannot hear! That adds a whole new dimension to the Great Commission, a lot to pray about.
Today we visited with two rural schools in very poor communities; one near the volcano and one on the outskirts of town where there is increased gang activity and lots of problems.
One of the workers here, Morelia, has been working in these types of schools for many years, spending time with the students, teaching abstinence classes and sharing Jesus at every opportunity. I admire her greatly; she takes the risk to go to areas where few would be willing to go to share the Lord.
We have been to the Volcan school several times, but it is a joy to return. We got to go into eight classes, singing, sharing the gospel, doing crafts, laughing and just loving on the kids.
Some of the team got to join in recess (wasn’t that always one of our favorite times?) for a pick up game of soccer (football here) and found that these little kids could really play and give them a run for their money.
Jeremy had quite the following as he played his guitar and let some of the kids have a try at plucking the strings. All the team had an instant gathering of kids around them, and what fun they had.
The principal has served here for 11 years, is a believer, and has invested himself greatly in this community. They are so grateful for any encouragement/help, and it was just a great morning. We were able to leave some school supplies with them, which they greatly appreciated, and gathered around the principal to pray for him, the students, staff, and community. It was a joyous time! There is nothing like children’s smiles and the delight of their laughter!
In the afternoon we went further out to a different school, new to us, which we were told was in a “bad” area where gangs have taken hold and violence is all too prevalent. The principal here is very concerned about the students, seeing some of the middle school kids being drawn into this kind of activity. She is so grateful for Morelia’s visits and prayers.
It’s a pretty large school, so they had an assembly of the 4th-6th graders outside in an open courtyard where they also had a stage area. The team sang songs in Spanish, led action songs, and presented the drama of Jesus walking on the water. Zack shared his own story of coming to know Jesus and gave a clear gospel presentation and prayer, inviting the kids to put their trust in Jesus. The principal asked for prayer specifically for protection for these students and guarding against the evil forces at work here, so we closed by praying for these requests, trusting that God is at work in this community, knowing that He can and will intervene.
We are inspired by the people here, like Morelia, Naomi, Minina, Ilsa, and others who volunteer their time and resources to reach out to those in need materially and spiritually. They aren’t a part of a “program;” they aren’t paid to do these things; they are just responding to needs the Lord puts before them. What examples to all of us! How may the Lord be calling to each of us to respond to needs around us at home? How can we best encourage the believers here in their work, now that we have experienced it? These are the questions we are praying about, asking for His special word to each of us, and that we would hear it clearly and obey.
Since the Christian deaf school was closed for the flu we changed our schedule and made our trek to the local market to see/buy handicrafts and souvenirs. The team got to exercise their bargaining skills and found interesting things to bring home.
After lunch we went to a government nursing home for about 200 elderly people of ages 75 +; one lady is over 100. We had prayed specifically against feelings of awkwardness as we often have with elderly people, especially those who don’t speak English, and how God answered those prayers!! What a sweet time we had!!
The director greeted us, gave us some background on the home and guided us to a porch area of the residential buildings.
Several residents were sitting there in their wheelchairs, and we started to greet them, shake hands, share cookies, and sing. We moved indoors to where several blind ladies were in their beds; some of them were terribly frail and obviously failing, but they smiled as we talked with them and prayed for them.
Music is always an instant draw, and as the guys played and the group sang, more and more people appeared. Some of the ladies left and came back with more residents who clapped, smiled, and even attempted to sing along.
The team spread out to interact with these dear folks and really stepped out of their comfort zones. Dina and I got to talk with Mr. Joaquin, a dear old white haired man who just wanted to talk. He told us about his life, how he was as a young man before he came to know Jesus and how his life changed when he accepted the Lord. Now, even though he is the only one of his family alive, he spends his days praying and praising God. He had cataract surgery on one eye and is set to have surgery on the other eye soon, so we prayed with him for a successful surgery and good eyesight.
There were two special ladies, Consuelo and Lydia, who instantly grabbed the hands of some of our young men and proceeded to walk them all through the compound; these little ladies had quite the grip! Consuelo is not much over four feet tall, was barefooted, but determined to escort the guys around to meet her friends.
Lydia, also tiny, latched onto John and seemed to enjoy following us everywhere. She said she liked tall, strapping Anglos; there’s a morale booster for you!
It was great to see the team respond to these elderly people, in spite of their condition and appearance and inability to communicate. How they loved having the young people there!!
They smiled, sang, clapped, kissed hands, thanked everyone for the visit and did seem encouraged by it all. The home is in a beautiful setting; lush gardens, lots of space to walk/wheel around and didn’t have as much of an institutional setting as we often see in the US. They lack a lot of resources and have sparse dormitory-type rooms, but it was clean, and the director, who has been there 18 years, seemed to truly care for them.
As we reviewed the day, everyone on the team said they really enjoyed being with these elderly people, loved to make them smile, pray for them and just bring them joy. You’ll have to see the pictures to see these precious smiles for yourself. How tenderly God works!!!
