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.
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