Today was our last full day in El Salvador. We visited a local market in the morning where we bargained for items to bring home.
In the afternoon we took a tour bus to see ancient Mayan ruins, Mayan pyramids, and a volcano. We climbed to the top of the volcano and looked inside of the huge crater. The scenery was amazing! It was a wonderful way to end this emotionally and physically packed week. It gave us a chance to breathe before heading home.
Today was bittersweet. We spent the entire day at Exodo finishing up work projects and our week of VBS. The work crew was able to build and tile bathroom vanities in all four houses, paint the outside of the four houses, pick up debris around the property, and paint 6 bathrooms. Amazing!
The children had so much fun and once again we thoroughly enjoyed being there. The time with them has gone so fast and we will miss them. Their director, Iris, is an amazing woman. She has such a vision for the orphanage and such a heart for God and the children. She is a strong woman with a gracious spirit. It has been such a joy and a privilege to work with her and serve the children of Exodo.
Our translators for the week were high-school students that volunteered their time, energy, and talents. We are so grateful for their hard work and assistance, as well as how they cared for and interacted with the children.
Our last good-bye for the day was a farewell dinner with the Disciples. We went to an authentic Salvadorian pupusas dinner. The food was great and we shared highlights of working together for the week. Many tearful good-byes as they have impacted our lives greatly. We will keep them in our hearts as we leave El Salvador.
Today was an all around great day! We visited the school that the children from Exodo attend. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by the children. They were lined up with welcome signs all the way into an outdoor amphitheater. Inside the amphitheater were tables set up with tablecloths and decorations. Their marching band performed, students danced native dances in traditional costumes, and they served us puposas and hot chocolate- both native dishes. All of us, students included, were blessed to hear one of The Disciples give his testimony. They also performed break dancing, a rap song, and beat box. After that we went into the classrooms where we shared about our experiences in El Salvador and also some of our home lives. On the way out the children flocked to us for our autographs!
In the afternoon we went back to Exodo to work more on painting the bathrooms, tiling the vanities, and having VBS for the children. Today we also celebrated all of their birthdays. The kids were so excited to receive monogrammed towels, cards, small packages with gifts of stickers, books, games, etc., and their tie-dye T-shirts. The children are so beautiful and full of hope. They have truly blessed our lives.
Today we left our hotel to visit and pass out food at a barrios called Las Victorias. It is one of the poorest communities in San Salvador where homes and boundaries are literally defined by rusted mattress springs and sheets or tarps. They are living where a garbage dump once was and the people there have used whatever scraps of wood, metal, and plastic they can find to build small one room homes. We met some children who had 9 siblings total and live in one of these homes. We passed out food to 75 of their neediest families. 5 lbs of sugar, 5 lbs of beans, and 10 lbs of rice.
At Exodo Orphanage the children performed dances for us from their culture, they were wonderful! The work crew scaled a few mountains and are well on the way to having the bathrooms up and functioning.
Today we visited Bloom Hospital for Children. This is a hospital that serves the needs of much of Central America like Riley Hospital in Indianapolis does for the Midwest. We had the privilege of visiting with some of the children and their families and praying for them.
This afternoon we went to Exodo Orphanage! Part of our team got to work painting the children’s homes while the rest of us had Vacation Bible School with the children. We played games with them, tie-dyed t-shirts, and shared a Bible story and snack.
The children of Exodo are just darling and so excited to have us here. We are here to bless them, but truly they are blessing us.
We started our morning by attending the CCI (Cetnro Christiano Internacional) church service that is held here weekly in the hotel. It was an amazing worship service with a powerful and informative message. The service was in Spanish and they had audio translators for us to wear. Here’s a cute picture of some of our boys during the service listening to their translators.
After church we drove to a shopping mall and had lunch with a group of young men called the disciples. The disciples are ex-gang members that are now Christ followers committed to sharing their testimonies and impacting their community through rap and breakdancing. A couple of them including Manuel (pictured below) shared their stories with us at lunch. The lady on the left is Janet. The disciples are a ministry of Bridges of Hope which Janet founded and operates.
Bridges of Hope is partnering with Hands of Hope on this missions trip. Below is a photo of our group together.
We arrived in San Salvador via Dallas without any delays or glitches. It is so humid, and as Americans we couldn’t wait for the AC to get cranked up in the vans from the airport to the hotel. It was dark here when we arrived this evening so we couldn’t see what the city looks like on the drive to the hotel. We are staying in a Holiday Inn not too far from the U.S. Embassy. It is a lovely hotel and the people of El Salvador have been warm and welcoming.
Tomorrow we will get up and go to church together and then spend some time at a nearby shopping mall before meeting to make final plans for Monday. Part of our group will be doing work projects for the orphanage in the afternoons while the rest of us are leading a VBS for the children of Exodo. We are excited and thankful to be here and are looking forward to seeing the children on Monday!
Tucked in for the night….
Hello Everyone: I arrived in San Salvador Saturday night and have been busy arranging everything in preparation for your Saturday arrival. God has already been working to open doors for us, has provided us a safe beautiful hotel and shown His favor in so many ways that affirm His presence here. Thank you for choosing to invest a week of your life and your resources in ministering to some of the least and most vulnerable in Latin America. For those of us who attend Grace, we will have the opportunity to see up close and personal what our Pastors having been teaching about over the last several months…stepping out of our comfort zones to bring the Kingdom into our world. We will be actively involved in visiting the orphan, feeding the hungry, caring for the oppressed and expressing the compassion and love of Jesus, restoring hope and bringing dignity and value to those in living in the cycle of generational poverty. I have been praying for many weeks for our team, and am confident your lives will be blessed in a significant way. See you on Saturday!
Exodo 2010 Team
Two days and counting! Our group was commissioned at Grace Community Church on Monday, June 14th for our upcoming trip to San Salvador, El Salvador. We are a team seeking to serve the orphans of Exodo orphanage by loving them, connecting with them, and teaching them about the saving grace and love of Christ. Our hope for the trip is not only to minister to these children but to grow in our individual walks with the Lord.
Please pray for the children of Exodo, for our ability to connect with them, for health and safety and ease of travel, and our families while we are away from them. Please pray for us as our hearts are stretched and we are challenged to grow beyond our world of Hamilton County, Indiana.
