The End of Our Journey Here

Our last week in El Salvador and on the campus was just incredible. I had really been praying for God to do some awesome things the last 4 days of campus ministry. One of these things happened through a message on facebook I got from a guy at Matias who said he recognized me and was wondering what all of us from the U.S. were doing there. I told him about our ministry and how we love Jesus and that we had weekly meetings on campus. He was thrilled to hear that we were doing that there, and wanted to meet up with me and talk about it. When I talked to him in person on campus, I could tell he is a solid guy and really values his faith and wants to be more involved with VE. This was just totally a God thing for me. I didn't even have to find this guy myself while talking to students on campus. I believe that it was definitely a divine appointment for him to randomly see me on facebook.

The rest of the week continued to bring just more blessings, and God really poured into us during the rest of our ministry time. I had more really great conversations with students, including this awesome guy involved with VE named Juan Carlos. At our weekly meeting on campus 2, there was a great turnout again. There were more students that came who are really passionate about Jesus or are earnestly seeking spiritual meaning and truth and are thrilled to be connected with a Christian community at their own school. Another huge blessing was a farewell party we had that afternoon with all the students and staff from both Matias campuses who had been involved in that ministry. Several people from our team got to share encouraging stories in front of the group of different ways they had seen God's spirit really move and change the hearts and lives of students they had talked to, as well as of themselves. We also were told by several students and by Manuel and his wife Ceci how profoundly they had been impacted by our experiences together and how much they deeply appreciated and loved the work we had done and the time we spent in El Salvador. This all just gave me an enormous amount of joy inside. The whole project had been super rewarding, but it was at that point that I realized that it was much more worth it than I can express. Even through the days I didn't feel like talking to students or was tired or had a less than ideal attitude, I was totally sustained through dependence on my savior. Our whole team was in agreement after our time there that all our hard work had really yielded change and many touched lives. I really feel like I'm a different person in significant ways because of this trip. To top off a tremendous day, we had dinner that night with the STINT team of 7 students who had just flown in from the US to stay here and pick up the ministry where we left off. It was so great to talk with them, hear about how they had come to commit a year to missions in El Salvador, and share our wonderful experiences with them.


The Summer Project and STINT teams combined!

Friday through Sunday night, we stayed at a hotel in a different city for our debriefing. As a team and as individuals, we got to process through all that we had done, and all that we had learned from God about Himself, us, and other people. We were instructed on how to best prepare ourselves for the transition back into our once familiar lives in the States, and also on how to most effectively apply our experiences to our lives and continue with what we had learned.

If you would like to hear more about this trip, don't hesitate to ask me and I will tell you as much as you want to hear!