El Coco, El Salvador (Thursday)

By -
Yesterday 7 pastors and three Compassion International staff flew from Hawaii, Southern California and Colorado Springs to Houston and then on to San Salvador for a church leaders trip to discover how Compassion addresses children in poverty.

We had a great day visiting a project/church site with 213 children that was started 1 year 3 months ago. We were the first visitors to the site and we were all impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the pastor and staff.

The children greeted us with "Da me la mano" and a young girl escorted me into the assembly room and sat with me. The whole program was led by children leading other children and guest in singing.

Hugs are big. Few recieve affirmation or touch from parents. homes are mostly single moms. i met a mom who was so appreciative of the project where children get training in computer, basic subjects, and each has a file with their progress physically, emotionally/socially, intellectually and spiritually. 

We visited the computer lab, where I met Darwin. He was learning the paint program. He loves computers. We also dropped into a class where the younger children were drawing their own hands and learning about hygiene and the importance of taking care of their bodies. We played soccer with the boys while children were cheering us on and waving their sword, dog and flower balloons.  

We had lunch at a home of a six year old boy David Josue (who is not yet sponsored) and his family: mother and father, older sister (sponsored) and brother, and his aunt. They live in an adobe brick three room house surrounded by about one acre of maiz. Whole family has come to Christ since he started three months ago. They were so moved we were there. The father leaves at 4am for work in the city of Santa Ana, makes $5 daily and is glad he can arrive home at 4 to be able to participate in church life.

 We stood in a circle and prayed for the family, especially for the oldest teenage sons who don't yet know Christ.

Later we returned to the church and prayed for the staff and pastor. David Josue's tutor was in tears, I imagine overwhelmed by the appreciation and love.

The blessing was mutual.

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

Edinburgh and the Northumbria Community, Part 2

By -
Image
The Village Cottages on Iona Hi there it's Amy here…I'm going to try my hand at the blogging this week. I think we left off at Iona… well we went on to Edinburgh by way of 2 ferries, a long bus ride, and 2 different trains. It was actually our hardest transition yet. Maybe it's because we have had a long string of traveling, maybe because Mike's allergies were the worst they have been so far, maybe it's b-cuz we paid double the fair for the bus ride as we should have (and couldn't get the refund), maybe it's b-cuz when we checked into our hotel in Edinburgh they had not received our online confirmation so we had to pay the higher price, or maybe we were just tired; maybe all of these! Anyhoo, we spent a few moments pouting …then pulled ourselves together and went out to tour the beautiful city of Edinburgh with our walking shoes on and our rain jackets handy. Amy in the Prison of War Edinburgh is a great city, one of my favorites so far, wi
Read more