The Immeasurable Love of Jesus

 This is my second trip to El Salvador. It is also the second time I have found it very difficult to write a blog post. This will surprise all of those who know me, as words usually come easily (sometimes too easily) for me. But the experiences and emotions of this trip somehow go beyond what I am able to describe. The words I choose don’t seem to fully capture the things that are most meaningful. 

To say I feel blessed to get to take this journey with my husband and two oldest children is an understatement. Watching their passion to help others. Watching my children’s joy in building connections with locals. Listening to their stories of the people they met. All of this fills me with a gratitude that is indescribable. 

Words also can’t explain the feeling I had

yesterday when building our fourth house this week. The mother, Rosa, sat with me, held my hand, and told me that she had prayed three years ago for a house, and that we were the answer to that prayer. She told us her story, shared her faith, and told us she will pray blessings for us, our children, and our children’s children every day for the rest of her life. We cried together, prayed together, and talked about our families. Yes, I felt joy, compassion, love, and so many other emotions. But what I really felt goes beyond that. The best I could describe it is that I felt like I saw Jesus in Rosa that moment. Her deep faith, gratitude, and openness made me feel overwhelmed with love. As Chelsea so beautifully expressed in our morning meeting, sometimes we get caught up in the thought that we are going to show God’s love to the people we are building for, but they can also be the hands and feet of Jesus towards us. Rosa expressed Jesus’s love to me yesterday in a way that transcends the words that usually come so easily to me.  

I will forever be grateful for these moments and what they have taught me about myself, my family, and the immeasurable love of Jesus. 

This is my second trip to El Salvador. It is also the second time I have found it very difficult to write a blog post. This will surprise all of those who know me, as words usually come easily (sometimes too easily) for me. But the experiences and emotions of this trip somehow go beyond what I am able to describe. The words I choose don’t seem to fully capture the things that are most meaningful. 

To say I feel blessed to get to take this journey with my husband and two oldest children is an understatement. Watching their passion to help others. Watching my children’s joy in building connections with locals. Listening to their stories of the people they met. All of this fills me with a gratitude that is indescribable. 

Words also can’t explain the feeling I had yesterday when building our fourth house this week. The mother, Rosa, sat with me, held my hand, and told me that she had prayed three years ago for a house, and that we were the answer to that prayer. She told us her story, shared her faith, and told us she will pray blessings for us, our children, and our children’s children every day for the rest of her life. We cried together, prayed together, and talked about our families. Yes, I felt joy, compassion, love, and so many other emotions. But what I really felt goes beyond that. The best I could describe it is that I felt like I saw Jesus in Rosa that moment. Her deep faith, gratitude, and openness made me feel overwhelmed with love. As Chelsea so beautifully expressed in our morning meeting, sometimes we get caught up in the thought that we are going to show God’s love to the people we are building for, but they can also be the hands and feet of Jesus towards us. Rosa expressed Jesus’s love to me yesterday in a way that transcends the words that usually come so easily to me.  

I will forever be grateful for these moments and what they have taught me about myself, my family, and the immeasurable love of Jesus. 

Tara