York Alliance - El Salvador - July/August 2018

We begin the day with some rousing games. Here we're playing four square. We have some downtime throughout the day. We have made some beautiful connections with the children. It's a bitter-sweet feeling, to think we will have to say good-bye to the children soon. Then the day finishes up with a number of fun games. This is the infamous bobbing for berries challenge. This girl was determined to get that berry! At the end of the day we gathered, the children in the middle and prayed. At the end, we all held hands, formed a wall around the children and blanketed them in prayer. This was a deeply moving time for all of us.

A major goal for this trip was to bring the youth from York Alliance and the Church of Faith and Worship together, to strengthen and encourage each other. The retreat took place over two days up on a mountain. Memories were made and bonds formed. God's family is large and knows no boundaries, whether that be nations, languages, or cultures. Praise God! Mario's truck broke down on the way back, but they were able to get it running safely again and made it back to San Salvador. We were all glad to be reunited!

There is much that transcends the language barrier. Playing peekaboo! Duck, Duck, Goose with a twist. The goose gets a sponge-full of water on his head. Any game with water is great for the afternoon! Between water games, the leftover buckets of water get "dispersed". Everyone cools off. Thank you for your prayers!

Today we go downtown to visit the Cathedral, a stained glass church and a museum. Juan tells us how a lot of Salvadoran young people don't take pride in their country. "Not many have dreams here," he says. But today we get to see history and beauty. They are not necessarily the same thing. Horrible things have happened here. July 30th in 1975 is one of them. But there is also beauty here. In the people, like Juan and others. And there is beauty in the land. Here in downtown San Salvador there is beauty visible in their buildings as well. We visit the Catedral Metropolitana It is magnificent inside, especially in contrast to the apartment and neighborhood where we have been. But there seems to be an emptiness here as well. People pray and light candles, but I do not sense the Holy Spirit here like I did in the little cement block Church of Faith and Worship. Juan shares the story about the plaza. How the Army opened fire on the people and they rushed to get

Today we start gearing up for the children's camp. Colin and I walk down to Mister Donut, order breakfast and use the wifi to upload the blog for yesterday. I feel so adventurous going out in the city and using my limited Spanish skills to order breakfast.  We stop at Super Selectos (grocery store) and grab a few groceries. We get some oranges since they're out of bananas. We grab some more mint gum while were there. There are a few team members with queasy stomachs and achy guts. Chewing mint gum seems to offer some relief and we're going through the packs we brought pretty quickly. After paying, we grab my backpack left with the guard at the front of the store (no backpacks are allowed in the grocery store).  It's an gentle uphill trek back to the apartment. We pass dog's chilling on the sidewalks or sorting through the trash, parents walking to the hospital carrying children, and many little shops and venders selling everything from fresh plantains and