Day 7

Today we wrote the final chapter to our week long mission trip in El Salvador. We concluded our trip with a day of rest… some souvenir shopping, a scenic hike to the top of a volcano, and eight hours at the beach, playing volleyball in the pool, napping in the hammocks, breaking bread together, and sharing by a bonfire on the beach. All in all, it was a perfect ending to an amazing week.

The week has changed us in so many ways.

This week Mr. Dave (Scimio) led our devotion time each evening. He walked us through chapters 12-16 of the gospel of John. We learned about Christ and the promises he makes us... promises of honor, blessing, peace, and joy. We also learned about the three als... the vertical, the horizontal, and the personal... we learned that we must continue to work on our relationship with God (vertical), with others (horizontal), and with ourselves (personal). Through our discussions we discovered that the realization of these blessings and the three als grows out of service... as Christ served others so shall we.

This week we worked as a team. Not only did we bond, but we developed life-long connections and friendships... and we tackled some incredible challenges... moving 1,000 pounds of sand, gravel, and dirt. Everyone pitched in and encouraged each other.

This week we will remember...

We will remember Kevin... the five year old boy who left his family of 9 to work... who gave .25 of the .75 he earned washing buses back to his mom so the rest of his family would have food to eat... who was given booze by his boss for entertainment... who smiled and hugged us when we came to spend time with him at CIPI.

We will remember a 17 year old girl... who was abused by her father... who became pregnant... who was forced to give up her baby... who wants desperately to be reunited with her child... who was happy that we took the time to make her feel important.

We will remember Stanley… who we met at CISNA last year… who was abandoned by his family… who ran away this past year and tried to make it to Mexico… who got caught at the border and was sent back to CISNA… who will be kicked out of CISNA in a few months when he turns 18… who was thrilled to see us… who showed us his art work… who is talented and smart… who we pray will get an opportunity.

We will remember the pastor and his wife... who have seven children... who make 1-2 dollars per day... who lead a congregation of 100 plus people in his small rural town... whose house and connecting church (barn) was damaged by the recent mud slides... who cried when he told us his story and gave us a flag of El Salvador… who has been praying for the clothes and shoes we brought him… who dreams of buying his wife a dress… who hugged us as we left… who gives people in his community hope.

We will remember the homeless... who we fed one evening… who ran up to the truck from their hiding places… who thanked us for a meal… who are going through some difficult times… who need a helping hand.

And we will remember Christ… and what he did for us… sacrificing himself on the cross so that we may live… who desperately wants us to love others as he loves us.

We are changed and we remember.

Dave

Day 6

This morning everyone had the exclusive El Salvadorian cuisine of bagels and cereal for breakfast. After breakfast, we all left to go work on the pastors house. As luke hobbled down the steps with his sore lower back side, everyone worked hard on their jobs. The bucket bragaid (Gravel movers) were tired of the enless climbing of steps, so Drew had a brilliant idea to do the work better and faster. It failed miserably. The work was still tiring so a new plan was made. In this plan everyone took a spot on the steps and passed the buckets down the hill. The cement was also made today and placed into the ground. When the work was done and we were sipping coke out of a plastic bag, we knew that we had finished all of our work projects in El Salvador. Our dinner was even more authentic than breakfast. It consisted of a meaty pancake like food with Chex Mixtm. Last we went home and went to bed thinking about the sand wedgies we will get tomorrow.

-Drew Myers and nathan scimio

More Pictures!

Pictures!

Whoa, so here we are on day 5. This week has been such an adventure. Today we were working on fixing up a home on a mountain side that had taken damage in the most recent El Salvador mud slide that took place about three weeks ago. The family who resides there is a pastor with 7 children. We set out at our normal take off time of 8:00; it was about an hour drive.
The roads we travled on took us through a beautiful mountain area, we were up high enough to get incased in the clouds. When we arrived there were huge piles of sand waiting to be carried to the home in buckets. What we didn't know was that from there to the house we had to walk down an 100 foot, mud covered, steep, bambu stair case! The other work to be done involved a lot of digging.
The bucket team (as we soon called our selfs) started strong, but as the day went on the work took it's toll. It was hard to keep motivated, but when I thought of who we were doing this for, a young family with such sweet welcoming children. They needed and deserved this. And as far as I was concerned we were giving it to them.
The day grew hotter and the hours longer, but we were detirmined to get this done. Rachel and I created a rotation so that we wouldn't get tired out to fast..... and let's just say we didn't have any trouble keeping everyone in they're correct spot :) gotta love italians!
It was tough (notice how I am sure to express that) some of us had cuts and bruises on our legs from carrying the buckets. Some of us had swallen legs from going up and down the steps so many times, a few of us feel while carrying the sand..... ok the last too only apply to me :)
Ben was running up and down the steps, I'm not sure if that was an attempt to get more done or if he was just going crazy.....
We ended the day by playing tag with some of the neibor kids. It was so fun to hear them laugh. Then we headed home and tried to get at least ten people in and out of the shower in 20 minutes. Good thing there's three showers. Though a couple people ran out of water (thank God it wasn't me). We were then off to the Snyders for dinner. Danillie prepared a lovely dinner for us and I ended up at the kids table with Tori and I.J. Tori and I wrapped up the rest of our time with a game of Futbol. The score was 10-6....... Tori....... I need to work on that.
We shared some laughs in the truck on the way home and were happy to rest after a long day. There's only a couple days left and tomorrow we are finishing our work at the pastor's house. I am only left with thankfulness. Thankfulness for the Snyder's and all that they do for us, thankfulness for the ways we've been able to serve and all of the amazing experiances, thankful for all that I have and for my friendship with Tori and Ian. I pray and trust that God will protect and lead us safely through the rest of the trip.
With love and attitude from El Salvador
Sarah :)

This day was awesome! At first we went to Cisna. We got to see many kids, chilled out, and had a monster soccer game! While leaving Cisna they didn't want us to leave so a few kids held on to the front and back of the car! After leaving we went to McDonalds. When we got back to the house we made bagged dinners to feed to the homeless. We created an assembly line in which each person had a task. When that was finished we went to the YWAM base. We went around looking for homeless people and brought them back for a shower, food, and new clothing. It was great to see how appreciative they were and saw how we made a difference. We went back to the house and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. After that we went out on the back of the truck to hand out the bagged dinners for the homeless. There were 106 people we fed and 42 were kids. It was hard for the group to see how many kids didn't have a home but we were happy to help.

June 21

This morning we got up and prepared for our first work day. We arrived at Cipi around 8:30 am and began working right away. The object of today was to get the garden done, which we able to accomplish. The main trouble with the garden was the many ant hills that we stumbled upon. We all got our fair share of being bit; needless to say it hurt very badly. Before going to lunch we were able to get the ground prepared for the handmade in El Salvador (by us) boxes to place the flowers, and fruit and vegetables seeds in. Finally Dave must have been able to hear some of our stomachs growling and decided it was time to head towards Wendy’s, where even the smallest members of our team was able to eat as much as Rachel (who needless to say can eat and eat and eat.) We finished lunch with a nice, cold, smooth and creamy, frosty of our choice (chocolate or vanilla) which was a special treat for us from David. Having a full stomach we had to head back to Cipi and finish the project that we started. At this point we knew exactly what had to be done, and got to work as a team. Even though we smelled like a mixture of dirt and sweat, and looked like we haven’t showered in weeks, we went to the girl’s part of the orphanage and performed a skit for them in Spanish and passed out candy and bracelets. We came back to the house to have a delicious homemade dinner and quickly returned back to Cipi for the last time to watch a movie with popcorn. During the movie we were able to spend some special moments with the girls that we got extremely close with. Two in particular were named Veronica and Katherine. Rachel, who on the first day of meeting Veronica gave her scarf to her which quickly started a bond that will last forever. Near the end of the movie both Rachel and Veronica were drenched in tears. Katherine, who on the first day of meeting Brandi gave her volleyball flag to her. During the two days Brandi and Katherine spent with each other they grew a strong friendship that will never end. These are just two prime examples of the difference you can make while working through God.
Rachel, and Brandi <3