In El Salvador

October 27, 2009

So here I am in El Salvador, exploring what life might be like here in this country. I have been visiting in particular a ministry called "La Casa de Mi Padre" (My Father´s House). It works with children who have been pulled from their homes by the government for various family situations. But not only does it give a home and therapy to the children, it also works with the parents to restore a relationship there and equip them so that there children can return to live with them. I have been very impressed thus far by what I have seen. They seem to do a great job in restoring the lives of the children. And so I am praying about whether I might be able to work with them for about a year and learn from how they do things. Yesterday I went with the missionary, Kathryn, to a home about an hour outside of the city. Habitat for Humanity had constructed a house for the mother there and she has been learning how to read and write as well as basic life skills.

Tomorrow I will visit another ministry in the mountains of El Salvador in a community that is dark because of spiritual oppression. After talking with the LAM ministries director who is also here, I think that La Casa de Mi Padre would be a much better fit than the this place I will go tomorrow. But we will see what the Lord wants to teach me through the experience and how he wants to work through me. Today I also visited a Christian deaf school. That is another language that I should learn. It seems as if everywhere I go I am seeing efforts to work with children and their parents and I think that this is so important. To help one without the other is incomplete and when the two come together again, much will be lost of what was taught or previously gained.

I am staying with an El Salvadorian family. The couple have 4 children who all attend a German Christian school so they are trilingual (more or less). The mother is a massage therapist so I may have to give in and get a massage for once in my life. She went to Mongolia last year with a missions team and so she has a worship CD in Mongol (or however you call the language). I am listening to it in hopes of picking up a few Mongolian words.

This morning I went on a short run in the neighborhood I am staying in -- a neighborhood that during the war was occupied by the military. Having been mostly sedintary for 3 days, it was good to get out again. In reality though I think that running will be even more difficult here than in San Pedro. The driving is more difficult too since San Salvador is such a large ctiy. I will wait and see what the Lord says to me as I wrap up this trip.