San Salvador Mission Trip with SHIP {part 2}

We began Tuesday morning with Steve’s devotional about busyness.  He reminded us to choose the most important tasks which means we may not get all our work done each day. This is true in America, as well as San Salvador.  Busyness can overtake our day so we don’t hear God’s leading.

After devotions, we were told about one of the neighborhood moms.  Dora is Marcella’s mom.  Dora recently had a mastectomy and needed $500 for future cancer treatment.  We began praying for Dora’s healing and for money to cover her medical bills on Tuesday.  More on this story next time.

Now, it’s on to our projects.  Mine were English class & organizing the storage room.

Each morning, some of the orphans come to English class in our big room.  (There are 2 buildings in the compound: the orphanage & the learning center/ housing center for our group)

I helped Miranda with English class as we reviewed English-Spanish flashcards. The kids worked on their English, while Miranda & I worked on our Spanish.  Then we  read The Little Red Hen.  Miranda read a page in Spanish and one of the kids read the same page in English. We were learning together.

After English class, we had many bags of clothes to fold and store in the storage room.  Folding, sorting, organizing most of the morning.

We took lunch to the work crew at Juanita’s home.  What a transformation.  Work was moving on.

Juanita and her daughter-in-law, Yessenia, made homemade tortillas on their grill.  Wow!  Hot & yummy!  They sell each tortilla for five cents.

These are not your normal tortillas from the grocery store. They are about 1/3” thick and 5” in diameter. Oh so good…

In the afternoon, the neighborhood kids arrive like clockwork.

Two of the boys, Luis & Melkin, need new shoes. We look through our stash for a pair that will fit them, but can’t find a pair for Melkin. All we can find is a pair that looks like girl shoes.  He even remarks those are girl shoes.

All of a sudden we find a pair we missed seeing.  They fit and Melkin is all smiles.  He makes me smile.

Eventually, Lupe (one of the moms) tells her 6 year old daughter, Yancy, that she needs to do her homework.

I happen to be sitting next to Yancy so I try to help her.  Since she is in “prepator class” (kindergarten) I can point & help with my very little Spanish.  She is working on syllables & eventually finishes (so/ma, su/pa, etc)

I meet Yessenia later in the afternoon and she becomes my friend for the week. She colors a picture for me that is hanging next to my computer. A fond reminder to pray for her family.

In the evening, we have a birthday dinner & cake for Jocelyn and Juan Carlos. Both are teenagers.  We have a ‘muy delicioso’ chocolate sheet cake. I’ll be baking that chocolate sheet cake recipe from Pioneer Woman –  for our next get together.

I was touched to see smiles on Jocie & Carlos as we sang Happy Birthday & Feliz Cumpleanos.

By now, you may be wondering what type of mission work are we doing.  You haven’t read anything about Vacation Bible School in the area or evening church services.  Where’s the Bible study?

One reason Steve & I were attracted to SHIP is they work with the people of the area, building relationships.  Through those relationships they share the work of God in good works and good word.

I found it quite interesting that in my personal devotions at San Salvador, I read:

… establish you in every good word and work. 2 Thessalonians 2:17

When you work with side-by-side with the neighborhood people, you earn the right to share Jesus Christ.  They listen to you because you are meeting physical needs (shelter, food, clothing).

A few weeks before our trip, one of the moms accepted Christ and glowed the entire week.  She was listening because she had a relationship with us.

Question: How can you involve your kids with meeting needs and sharing Jesus Christ at the same time?
How can you build relationships & eventually share the Gospel?
You can leave a comment by clicking here.

You can read the rest of the story here:

San Salvador Mission Trip {Part 1}
San Salvador Mission Trip {Part 3}
San Salvador Mission Trip {Lessons Learned}
Good Words, Good Works

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