San Marcos, El Salvador (Friday)

By -

Today we visited a child development center supported by Compassion. Each project is a church because everything supports the ministry of a local church.

 I was greeted by Karla with a sign with my name. She's 13 and has been sponsored for 8 years. Her friend Merlin and she danced with the group during the opening program.

The worship band was student led and sang in Spanish and English ("how great is our God"); there was a drama from 2 Samuel about Mephibosheth welcomed to the kings table and a reflection on the passage by a student.

We toured the different workshops which equip children with skills: computer, sewing backpacks which are sold to the other centers, mixing liquid soap, music, and English class where we played twister in English with the kids.

Lots of time to visit with the children and hear the story of Nelson, a gang member who eventually came to Christ because his daughter was being cared for by the church. I sat with him and two current gang members who are fulfilling their community service working at the church but are not tryt Christians.

They talked about life in the gang. You start out as nothing and rise in power and money. Coming to faith has great consequences, and actually experience dramatic change because they are willing to lose their life, respect gang authority (now pastor authority) and are incorporated into a new family. 

Pastor Edwin Steve and his wife Sonia told us their story. 20 years as an Assemblies pastor, 12 years began this church with Compassion because of their passion for children and students, and had their first graduates this year.

They discovered the area was surrounded by gangs and was inspired by David Wilkerson's The Cross and the Switchblade, going straight for the gang leadership. The first boss became a Christian and now a pastor.
 
Sonia said, (paraphrased) "It Is such a great blessing to the children and for the church able to be at the front end of transformation. We could have a different church in better neighborhood, but its a gift to work with gangs. We are called to preach to everyone. We are human and sometimes worried. Thank god he's always comforting us. The One who invited us is faithful. Proud to be his child. Not easy but God has given my husband favor."

We ended our time laying hands on the Edwin, Sonia, Nelson and the two gang members.
 
We spent a few hours at the national HQ of Compassion, listening the director Guillermo share his passion for changing the reality of El Salvador with the prevalence of gangs, natural disasters and poverty, which he defines as a lack of opportunity.He tearfully shared how his son had a dream, rather announced his dream, at eight years old of being a doctor. His son is now a doctor because he had the opportunity to go to school and fulfill his dream. Those stuck in the cycle of poverty have no hope of the future because the choices are not there.  

The staff was so welcoming, competent (administration, child-sponsor letters, special projects, etc), committed and accountable for the spiritual, social and physical development of 46,000 children in 183 projects in El Salvador. 

Awesome.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cappadocia

By -
Image
Amy and I have traveled to Turkey twice before, but this is our first time leading a group into Cappadocia.  What an amazing way to start our 14 day pilgrimage on the footsteps of Paul. It feels like we're in a different world. The landscape is more like the moon or a scene in Star Wars.  Hittites, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks all passed through and conquered. First century believers returned here after Pentecost and Peter wrote his first letter to encourage them in their persecution and suffering. In the fourth century, Simon devoted 42 years of his life in isolation on top of a fairy castle, seeking time alone with God. People brought him food and were drawn to his way of life and stayed. The soft tufa volcanic stone allowed for monks and whole communities to create monasteries and homes hidden inside whole mountains.  We visited a handful of those 365 churches (one for every day of the year) that once existed in the Goreme and Zelve valleys.  It strikes
Read more

Camino de Santiago Day Thirty-seven and Thirty-eight: We made it!

By -
Image
A Salceda to Santiago de Compostela We decided to walk 22km to the outskirts of Santiago and walk the last few kilometers in the morning. Neither of us could sleep, so we got up, packed our mochilas for the last time and walked to the old city at 5am. It was dark and rather than being joined by other pilgrims, we passed a few late night partiers and a woman walking her dog. It's not the entrance into Santiago we pictured, but we were all alone in the Praza do Obradoiro in front of the Cathedral. It was June 17 — thirty-eight days and 780 kilometers since we started May 11, in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. We were two of the first ten pilgrims in line for our compostelas , which meant we got tickets for a free lunch at the historic parador. Peter from Australia showed up and introduced us to Michael and Linda from Washington DC, who also got the lucky tickets. Peter also knew Ted and Darlene from Winnipeg, and gave them contact, since my phone died and we cou
Read more

Camino de Santiago Day Thirty-four to Thirty-six

By -
Image
Gonzar to Melide to A Salceda Today we completed two 30km days in a row and we are within 25km of Santiago. We've walked over 700km from Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, for more than a month.  And after two days of rain, the sun came out and the sky was clear and blue.  We stopped in Melide for the night where we found an amazing vegetarian-vegan restaurant Casa Alongo run by Concha. She was happy to speak English and share her passion for fresh, local food. After a Camino of meat and typical pilgrim meals, it was a great find. She served us grilled vegetables with avocado aioli and  tostada de pulpo-- Galician bread toast with local cheese and octopus. . One bar along the road has bottled their own La Peregrina lager and invites pilgrims to write something on the bottle and decorate the patio. We walked our second to last day with friends we met a week ago--John, Norbert and Agnes. We talked about our families and what it's like to make friends on the Camino.  Everyone is a
Read more