A dynamic and dedicated group of 13 youth and 4 leaders traveled from Timberline Church in Colorado to spend a week encouraging Pastor Santos and the congregation of Tabernaculo Biblico Salem Church in El Espino. On Sunday, the team presented a children’s ministry workshop for the Sunday School teachers and church leaders of El Espino. The team also taught a few games, which helped break the ice on the first day as everyone played and laughed together. For the rest of the week they joined volunteers from the church and community to help complete the final phase of a perimeter wall for the public school. With so many kids around the work site, team members couldn’t help but join in games of soccer, jump rope, and tag. In addition to participating in the Sunday service, the group also attended a midweek service where many team members shared their testimonies. One of the team leaders, Maura Buckner, shared the great impact of her trip to El Salvador the year before. She recalled the story of how Nuria Reyes, ENLACE Church Coach, told the team that for three years she had been praying for the church that would accompany the church in El Espino and that they were the answer to her prayer. Maura was shocked that someone had been praying for her trip to El Salvador for three years–even before she attended Timberline. She said, “My world expanded that day. My understanding that God is so much bigger, so much more intimate, and so much more in control than I had ever understood…I feel like a little part of my heart is now a part of this church and this community and it is now yours. God so changed my life because of the prayers of people here. People who didn’t know me then but whom I now consider part of my family.” At the end of the week, the team, the school, and church and community members all celebrated with a special dedication. The school’s band played and the students gave the team cards they had made. A note, outlined by a heart, written on the board in a classroom expressed thanks saying, “Thank you for your visit. You will be in our heart. PLEASE PRAY FOR EL SALVADOR. We need it.”
Click here to see the Picture Gallery
“We all thought we would be coming to change peoples lives, but in reality it was quite the opposite, they changed our lives and gave us an experience we will never forget”-Justine Phillips. Service, prayer, faith, were some of the lessons each member of the team could learn during their first mission trip to El Salvador in La Estancia. Despite the fierce heat, every team member did their best to join the church in building a health clinic that will serve around 2000 families, and bringing transformation to an entire community. The strong relationships created during the week impacted the team as well as the community involved in the construction. As Justine said, their lives and the community will never be the same.
