Day 12, 13 & 14: Exhaustion

Bonjour!

Okay, so first, I'd like to apologize for not keeping you guys up to date but man, everyone has just been so exhausted coming back to the hotel late at night for the past days. We have been in heat so much and it just doesn't help the exhaustion but we are still VERY thankful for every place that we have had the opportunity to visit :) and the opportunity to pinch so many cute cheeks.

Day 12: Wednesday August 22, 2012
It was really really awesome to go back to the private bilingual Christian church on Wednesday morning and we just felt quite blessed and privileged to have the opportunity to be there again and lead their devotional. Like Tuesday morning, we had some people share personal testimonies. This time, we got to hear Natalia, Tuti (one of the fellow workers of YFC El Salvador) and Carla share their testimonies, struggles that they've gone through and how God helped them get through it. After the devotional, we got to spend time getting to know the students during recess and Joel (another fellow workers) got to show off his electric guitar skills. Allan and Karen got to give a girl some coins since she collects coins :) Afterward, we went to have some brunch and we also got to walk around the mall for a bit. In the afternoon, we went to a cute little tiny school close to Aguilares with only about 6 classrooms in total. The heat was extreme and the classrooms did not help at all but we had a great time sharing with the students. During the talks, most of them were really shy and quiet but when they got out for recess, they were a lot more relaxed and open with us. As for the night, some went out to eat and some stayed back at the hotel. It was a relaxing night for me, at least.

Day 13: Thursday August 23, 2012
Before going to the town that we had planned for that day, the team was a little nervous about the groups of students that we were gonna see. Sometimes, there is some miscommunication between us and the El Salvador team because of the language. So, to our understanding, we were gonna be facing students/teens that were being watched by the police because they have already been in trouble and the mayor just had this program for them, in order to keep them out of trouble. When we got there, the students were totally relaxed, kind and participated in everything we asked them to. We later found out that it's just a program to keep teens out of trouble but doesn't necessarily mean they were in trouble. We were able to see 4 groups of like 15-20 of them. Allan and Vanessa were the ones talking that day. Afterward, we went to have dinner at this yummy restaurant. The waiters were so kind. In the afternoon, we headed off to a tiny school in San Diegito, which is a school that we visited last year. Many of the kids remembered some of us and they were so cute. The talks went really well and the heat was terrible but since it was such a tiny school, it gave us the opportunity to connect with the kids better. At night, we just hung out at the hotel and made some piñatas for our big day today! :D Also, Thursday was our official last day of doing talks at schools.

Day 14: Friday August 24, 2012
All rightie! I apologize that it's just a sum up of what we've been doing but yeah, exhaustion has defeated us all and yeah, we just wanna appreciate the time that we have left. Okay, so today, we got to sleep in :D then we got to meet Natasha's sponsor child, the sister and the grandma :D which was quite exciting!!! Then we went to the mall for a while and every one did their own thing. At the mall, we met up for lunch and most people weren't hungry since we had just had breakfast like a few hours before. Then we went off to a place called Puerta del Diablo which is a place were you can climb hills and see the beautiful country of El Salvador and it's gorgeous hills, greenery, mountains and volcanoes. But unfortunately, it was waaaay too cloudy when we got up there :( but either way, there were some souvenir stuff hehe. Then we drove back, picked up Natasha at the hotel and picked up Miguel, our awesome driver. At night, we were off to a church again, because there was a kid's service and we had piñatas for them! I didn't get to see the kids hitting them and getting the candy but I did get to see a boy named Nelson, who I met last year. I spent a lot of time talking to his mom and it was just a blessing that they were there :D Everyone at that church is always so welcoming and they love us so much. It's a huge blessing! By the time we finished, it was already about 8-9 PM and we didn't get back to San Salvador until about 10 PM. We went off to a late dinner and then came back to the hotel, EXHAUSTED. But it was a blessed day and the Lord just continues to unite us and bless us and work in and through us :)

Tomorrow (August 25, 2012), basically today as I type this, we will be going to the beach the whole day. I can't wait for this huge blessing to relax and spend a lot of time with the team and God :D

In Christ,
Laura and the Team!

Day 11: God has a purpose for every thing

Hola a todos! (Hello every one!)

As you can tell, we were able to get the blog up to date tonight :D yay! Since the internet has been awesomely good today and it hasn't died out on us or anything and it has been pretty fast, despite the fact that it's raining quite hard right now. Actually, I am scared the power might go out and the internet will stop working but I really hope not.

Anyway! It has stopped raining a little and the internet is still working yay! :D Okay, so today, we had to opportunity to go back to a private Christian school named En-Hacore. As always, the principal, teachers and students are so welcoming. We were asked to lead a service in the morning and we gladly accepted it :)

David started off by introducing our team and Allan opening up for us. We also had Carla (an ex-student of the school and also a volunteer for YFC El Salvador) do the open prayer. Vanessa, Joel and Amanda (holding the mike ;D) led us into some worship time which was really awesome. Then we had to great opportunity of hearing Sara's testimony and everything that God has taught her through difficult times. Afterward, the brave Natasha read some verses in SPANISH. Yes, I said it, in SPANISH. And she did quite a good job! Kirsten also shared her captivating testimony of how the Lord has always been there to protect and be with her through difficult times. Winston and I (Laura) had some time of prayer, in which we asked the students if they had some prayer request and a few students were willing enough to share with us their worries about their family members and health. And last but not least, Abby (one of our fellow YFC El Salvador workers) shared her testimony about how God restored her health :) It was really great to have one of the members of the El Salvador team speak because it's not just about us speaking but as well as their team sharing their lives with the youth.

After we finished, we got to spend some time getting to know some students since they had recess and then we went off to brunch. Something really exciting happened after we ordered our food during brunch. I saw a childhood friend walk by the restaurant, so I ran after her and was able to say hi! It's always quite funny and cool to see the reactions people have whenever I am back in the country and they don't know.

Since we still had a lot of time ahead after brunch, we headed off to the market for people to be able to buy some souvenirs! We spent quite some time there getting bracelets, shirts, etc, many gifts for our friends and family members :)

In the afternoon, we headed back to the same school we went on Monday and we had some talks again. The 3 groups split off into different classrooms and from what I heard, everything went quite well with everyone. I think it's always nerve racking to go into a classroom and speak to a bunch of students that only know Spanish but thanks to God, anything is possible and we just have to be willing to be led by His Spirit.

We finished quite early today again and spent some time making piñatas at the hotel. Well... some of us went off to sleep as soon as we got to the hotel hehehehe... myself included. And we had some dinner at the hotel, quite relaxed and just hanging out with the El Salvador team. And that was our day! :) please continue to pray that we be filled with strength, love, patience and just everything that we need to be equipped with for our last days. Thank you for keeping up with us! :D

In Christ,
Laura and the Team

Day 10: Trusting God

Today was a pretty relaxing day. We had our morning off, so everyone got to get some rest and catch up on their sleep, even though some of us got woken up by people trying to do dance dares while we were sleeping. We got our laundry back, so we sorted out or clothes. We went out for lunch at Pollo Campero which was delicious. In the afternoon, we went to a public school to do our talks again.

It was a little nerve wrecking for some of us, having to go back up in front of a whole class and speak but we trusted in God, that he would help us and it all went great! I even volunteered to do some translating for Sara – something I never thought I’d have the nerve to do. That was a big step for me, and this whole trip has just helped me overcome my fear of public speaking. After we were done at that school, we went to a mall to do some shopping which was pretty fun. Dinner came after shopping not gonna lie; it was pretty funny, yet extremely embarrassing at the same time. It was a great day for all of us, so I thank God for giving us another amazing day full of funny stories and memories we can look back at. The trip is slowly coming to an end, and it’s pretty sad but I’m just so thankful that I’ve been able to spend this time with such amazing people who have become close friends. They are all blessings in my life.

- Gabriela and the Team

Day 9: Cute Smiley Dancing Kids

Today we woke up early and went out to visit our first community. 

The first community is one that we also visited on our trip to El Salvador last summer, and it is most memorable for the giant spiders that hang from all the trees (I’m serious right now!). It was a very hot day, and we were all super excited to spend the morning with all of the children and youth. When we first arrived at the church, which is in a very isolated community, the children all came running to our bus as we pulled up, lots of them calling us “Gringos” or “Chelitos”, which is basically El Salvadoran slang for Americans or white people. After introducing ourselves, our entire team split up into several different stations of activities for the children to participate in. 

There was a station for distributing and explaining our Salvation bracelets, which has five different coloured beads which all have a significant meaning in our walk with Christ. First is the black bead, which represents the sin in our lives. Then comes the red bead, which represents the blood that Christ shed in order to save us from our sins. Next is the white bead, which represents us becoming pure through Christ. After that is a green bead, which represents our growing relationship and love with God and with Christ. Lastly is a yellow/gold bead which represents our eternity and life in heaven. Another station was for showing the kids pictures of Canada and also listening to Mr.Day’s talk. Another station was for playing guitar and listening to songs of worship (of course you could sing along too J). The fourth station was games, and we played a few really intense rounds of link tag. 

After visiting this community, we went to Pollo Campero for lunch. We then drove about an hour through pouring rain to get to our next community church, and played the same games and stations with the children and youth there. We also handed out a massive load of candy. We listened to a short service before that. We had lots of fun laughing, singing, dancing, and playing with the children and youth there. Overall, it was a very fun and exciting day. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

In Christ,
Kirsten and the Team

Day 8: Piñata Fun for Everyone!

Hi everyone!

It’s nice to have the opportunity to update you all on what the team did on Saturday.

After an amazing day of waves and sun, we headed back to work on Saturday.

During the morning, we had the opportunity to do something a little different. God works in ways sometimes we cannot even imagine. During our visits to the Goldtree Liebes school, one of the staff members came and talked to us about going to work with a nearby community (in Panchimalco) also teaching how to make piñatas and talking about God and our work here. So we had the chance to do this Saturday morning, it was different because of the ages of the people we were working with this time, they were all 20-years-old and up, but they were all happy to be there with us, learning how to make the piñatas and learning more about what we had to share with them. It was such a blessing. They all had a great time hearing our stories about Canada and had many questions of their own. It was a great start to the day.

In the afternoon we had the opportunity to go back to one of the orphanages the team had visited last year. The heat was giving us a bit of a hard time at that point of the day, but we were static to be able to spend some time with the kids and sharing not only God’s love with them, but also sharing how much we all also love them.

We set up different stations so that they could enjoy many different things, we were making piñatas with them, salvation bracelets, sharing some music with them and also just having some girl time with some of them, doing their nails and their hair, etc. Mostly, we were just glad to be there and enjoy their smiles, their energy and just to be the ears that listened to their amazing survival stories, they all have gone through very difficult times, and yet, they still manage to be so loving and kind. It was very difficult to have to leave the orphanage, it never feels like we have enough time, because we are just having so much fun, time goes by really fast. On the way back, many of us were feeling very emotional and reflective, after having spent some time with all of those amazing kids.

I ask that you keep them in your prayers, as well as the rest of the amazing people that we have met throughout this journey thus far, God has a purpose for them and no matter what difficult things they go through, with him by their side, they will be more than triumphant.

With love,
Karen and team.

Day 7: Fun in the Sun

Hello Everyone!

Sorry we've been unable to update the blog lately. We had a thunderstorm that knocked out power to the hotel and it's only been tonight that the internet came back.

Let's start off with last Friday. Friday was our day of rest after a long week of energetic schoolkids. We took a ride to a hotel resort which was supposedly close to the ocean. It was, but unfortunately it was under construction and there was no sand on the beaches. Seeing that it was too rocky, we headed back to the van and drove off to a different beach. When we arrived, we saw a beautiful resort that had 3 swimming pools and a restaurant. The weather was perfect and super sunny. It felt as though God smiled for us on that day. As I looked out into the ocean, it was awe-inspiring to think that God had made such a huge body of water. We ordered our food and switched into ocean-playing time. Playing in the waves was nothing short of amazing. The sheer force of the waves knocked us off our feet and caused us to perform underwater cartwheels and acrobatics! Four of us lost sunglasses and 2 cameras got splashed! How powerful is the Lord.

The rest of the day was spent bonding with our fellow team members by having lunch, enjoying the pools, sharing about our lives with one another, talking about the week, things that went great and things that could improve and just spending some time praying together. It was absolutely beautiful to sit by the ocean, hear the waves hit the shore and the warm breeze brush our faces.

We ended the day by going to another cell group that David leads in Tuti's (another fellow helper from the YFC El Salvador team) house but this time, another family opened up their home for us. It was a short time for prayer and a little bit of sharing since every one was so tired and we didn't have that much time left. Afterward, we have a time for refreshments and to get to know the people that were there.

It was a lovely day and we are so thankful that we got to spend so much time together, resting, that day.

In Christ,
Laura and Winston

Day 6: A Bittersweet Goodbye

Hello again everyone!

Today was the last day that we would be spending with the kids at the school. It was quite bitter to say good-bye and we definitely miss every single one of them. It was a blessing to have been at the school for four days straight. But we definitely know that there will be a lot more ahead as well as a lot more cute kids!

Sara: It was a good day but I found it really sad when we had to leave the kids. I cried a lot and got lots of hugs from the kids I got really close to. I’m really going to miss seeing their faces light up when we walked into the school. Besides that, we had a good lunch and our dinner was really beautiful. We ate it on a balcony on the side of a building and the sunset was very pink and so pretty. I just wanted to say hello to my family. Hola mom and dad, hi auntie, kimmie, jade, crystal, Jessica, Shawna, kelsy, the babies. I love and miss you all so much!!

Amanda: i had such an amazing day. It was so enlightening to see the joy that the piñatas brought to all of the kids. I also got to paint a lot of the girl’s nails. They enjoyed it so much.  I understood what they wanted when they first came up to me, asking me to paint them. The girls were so cute and some of them were helping me translate. It just goes to show that even if there is a language barrier between people that is still possible to communicate and have a good time. I made some good friends with the little girls and we played hand games and tickle wars all day. It made me feel so good just to watch these kids have such a good time. I am also shocked to learn that i ate a massive burger for dinner at Tony Roma’s. The burger was bigger than my head. Everyone thought i couldn’t finish it but I showed them. I ate the whole burger and also all of the fries that came with it. This trip has been such an enlightening event so far that i can’t wait to see what the next few days have to bring.

Natasha: Today was a powerful day. As always God was beyond amazing and good. He allowed us to spread his love to children through all kinds of different forms. It is amazing how much you can be used by him when you open up your heart and let him do his work. I was blessed with meeting a girl who needed to be shown his Love. She taught me an important lesson of being able to rely on God to provide the things that we need in Life ... like Love and affection. In far too many cases people are neglected by the people who are “suppose” to show them these things. The girl that we met today was in that situation. Myself and some of the other girls were blessed with the opportunity to provide her with examples of this. We hugged her, prayed for her and made sure she understood her beauty. She was a sad girl in the morning but when we returned in the afternoon she was a happy child again beaming with joy and excitement. To be used by God to turn that one day around for her was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. To be able to share the gospel with her on a personal level allowed us truly show how amazing our God is.  Not only does this teach us that God will provide us with the people in our lives we need to be built up but also the importance of an individual. Being able to spend so much time with one girl allowed us to pour so much into her all at once and truly show her the Grace and Love of our amazing God.

Vanessa: This day was incredible, in many ways. It was finally time for the kids to break their piñatas, and it was like feeding frenzy in the shark cage :D I almost got trampled several times. The kids had so much fun and we had almost more fun watching the chaos. After only four days at the school, we bonded with so many of the students, even though a lot of us didn’t even speak their language! It was amazing to see how powerful smiles, laughter, music, and love can be – they connect us all no matter what language we speak. We made many friends, and were able to reach some of the kids on a deeper level – it was really incredible to see God work through us, and through them. God used all of our talents throughout our time at the school. When it was time to leave, there was a lot of sadness. It’s always hard to say goodbye; we felt like we knew the kids even though we had only met them four days earlier. As we were leaving the school, I looked around at every face and found it awesome that God has a plan for each and every one of them, a future full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11). We ended the day by going to a church group in a local house – all the people from El Salvador are so welcoming, so of course we felt right at home. This day was also monumental because it was the day Natasha and I found Perfection and Flawless (inside joke - and just so everyone knows, you can buy happiness). Overall, our YFC Canada team bonded today, and it was a powerful day for everyone.

Natalia: We had our last day at the Goldtree Liebes school and the whole 4 day experience was wonderful. It was completely different from what  I was expecting because I thought that we would be giving talks to the classrooms everyday along with making the piñatas.  I was already tired of the talks even after one day.  On our last day at this school all the kids had the opportunity to break their piñatas. The sight of the kids getting ready for the candy to fall and then screaming and pouncing was completely wild…they were wild and it was such a funny sight to see. During the four days I also had the opportunity to talk one on one with some kids and make friends with them. I made friends with a boy named Misael and on the last day we found out that we had the same last name. I think he had a little crush on me because he gave me a little heart engraved with his name and his/my last name on the other side. It was something that he already had but he wanted me to have it. I really love it and I am now wearing it proudly around my wrist.  It was really sad to leave because we had gotten to know the kids and see their faces everyday and the thought that we wouldn’t see them again was upsetting. I just thank God for simply giving us the opportunity to talk to the kids and play with them but at the same time sharing the Gospel.

Thank you for reading! :D
Please pray for energy, strength, love, patience and grace. That we may just glorify the Lord in everything we do and as the days get longer,  that we have the energy to do many things. We thank God for everything He has given us! Not sure about other prayer request, but even when we don't know what to pray for, the Lord always knows every detail!

In Christ,
Laura Veronica

Day 5: Angry Birds and Cute Little Herds...of Kids!

Dear family, friends, and loved ones,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

We survived another day! Hooray! As I am writing this right now in the living room, half of the team ss with me on their laptops catching up with people (and I suppose checking their email/Facebook inboxes). The other half is completely exhausted and has gone to bed. “Wow” you must be saying, “what the heck has happened?”

Well, the good news is that this exhaustion the happy kind that comes from a full, fun filled day with the beautiful children of El Salvador. As usual, we began our day with a delicious and nutritious breakfast graciously served by the hotel staff of Hotel Mediterraneo. At around 7:30am, we were picked up by David and drove up the mountain to the school with the El Salvador YFC team (Joel, Tati, Tuti, and Abbi).

The piñatas that the children made yesterday had only completed the first step and by today the glue has hardened into a shell. Today we were to teach and help the kids glue on coloured tissue paper in order to decorate the piñatas. The finished product would end up looking like the red bird from the popular game app Angry Birds. Armed with cups of sticky homemade glue, we taught the kids. At the same time and during recesses our team handed out the salvation bracelets. This again would cause a ruckus on the schoolyard with hordes of tiny cute kids mobbing those of us that had the blessed opportunity of handing the bracelets out. The kids were tested on what each bead on the bracelets symbolized.

The gospel was presented to these kids in the simple form of five coloured beads: black for sin, red for the blood of Christ, white for being washed clean, green for growth in Christ, and yellow/gold for Heaven. Surprisingly enough, many of the kids were able to repeat the meaning of the bracelets, earning themselves a nifty bracelet of their own. According to Mr.Day, one girl was even spotted sharing with he two friends the Gospel as presented by the bracelets. Praise God for using us to speak into the lives of these kids via these bracelets! May the seeds fall on fertile soil.

Many pictures were also taken today with the kids, capturing our precious, precious moments with them. This would be our second last day with them. Near the front of the stage, you could see Laura and Amanda sitting happily as they painted the tiny nails of little girls, all the while holding conversations with them. Joel, David, Karen, Tuti and Tati were vital translators for us, making sure that the kids understood what we were saying, both in conversations and instructions. Sara and Vanessa played beautiful worships songs with their voices and an acoustic guitar. Mr. Day and Kirsten handed out bracelets to eager children and taking many snapshots of grinning faces. Natasha had become a sort of mother-hen figure for the team, making sure everyone had been accounted for. Later in the afternoon she would be found walking around cradling an adorable baby girl. I myself had the honor of practicing some breakdance moves with some energetic teenagers! Some of them were even able to walk on their hands for short distances! The piñatas we’re finished by the end of the day and some of them were ridiculously well made. Impressive.

Today the team functioned harmoniously as each person brought out their talents to serve others. God is doing great things with this group as we patiently and joyfully learn each day how to depend on the strength on the LORD. He is neither lacking in wisdom to teach us well on how to function as the Body of Christ.

Tomorrow will be our last day at this particular school and we will be going out with a celebratory ‘bang’ by filling up the piñatas with candy and breaking them (piñata party!). Please pray for us and the energy levels we will have to sustain. Please pray for our safety as we travel through El Salvador in our glorious white bus/truck thing. Driving in El Salvador is no piece of cake and I cannot even begin to express how thankful we are for amazing drivers such as the likes of David and Miguel. Please pray that we would continue to press into God and persevere through pangs of apathy and fatigue.

Also, you can now watch our YouTube videos here.

God’s peace and blessings be with you all,

Winston and Team

Day 4: Piñata Party!

Hello everyone! 

Honestly, I'm sitting here and don't know really know what to write hehe but not because nothing happened but because so much has been happening during these couple of days! Plus I never know how to start these posts!

On a lovely morning, meaning Tuesday morning (August 14, 2012), our team headed back to Centro Escolar Goldtree Liebes. It is a blessing to be greeted by tiny students with big smiles on their face. (Well, not all of them, some of them just stare at us very seriously hehe). During that morning, we were starting to do the piñatas with the students. We had the newspaper, balloons and the glue ready to go. We set up some chairs and had the student pair up or be in groups of 3 or more.

We spent most of the morning doing the piñatas with the kids since it's four layers of newspaper that needs to be put on the balloon in order for it to harden it and have a shape for the piñata. While doing this, the team was blessed with a lot of time to get to know the students. There were many conversations happening everywhere. 

The whole day was spent to get to know the students as well as give out bracelets and explaining the meaning behind it. It was really really really great to talk to the students and I think I speak on behalf of the whole team that the students were so welcoming, friendly and energetic. For lunch, we drove back to San Salvador and went to a restaurant called, "Pollo Campero" which is like the KFC version for Salvadorans. It's really yummy chicken! which also had free wifi ;D

A lot of the time we spent it on handing out bracelets. The kids LOVED the bracelets, maybe love isn't the word to describe it. I don't know how many bracelets we gave out but we definitely ran out of them by the end of the day, and we had to come back and make some bracelets that night. 

I hope you guys enjoy the photos :) I know there is not that much details of what we did but that is basically what we did the whole day. We spent the whoooooooole day with the students at the school and just building relationships with them, getting to know them instead of just having them ask us questions. It was truly a blessing that God placed us at this school, with this children that are so open and lovely with us. It's amazing to see how God works through each of us in the team. He has such a different and perfect plan/purpose for everyone. He is so sovereign and great!

Thank you for your prayers and for reading our updates :) I apologize for the delays again, but the internet at the hotel is not so great and is quite picky on who to let use the internet. Please pray that the Lord continues to work through us by giving us patience and love for these children. We really must not rely on our own strength, only God can give us the perfect strength that we need. May we love these children like Jesus' loves them and let Him shine through us. 

Thank you :)
In Christ,

Laura Veronica and Team