Compassion Week

If you're reading this it's likely because you either have a previous connection to our relationship with the people of El Salvador or you have a connection to the people involved in this next trip/adventure/learning experience.

Let me tell you two (of many) reasons why I'm excited about what the Lord has in store for our church family this week:

1.  This trip is a tangible expression not just of "giving" but of "generosity". Over the course of the last five years, people in our church family have been sponsoring children in El Salvador (and other places) through Compassion Canada.  How many kids we never really knew? But each year when our work team would head down, those who remained would sponsor children, making a monthly monetary commitment to a Christ-centred care ministry.  There is a team of 16 people who will have the opportunity to meet their 14 sponsored children!!  More than that, there are an additional 12 children that will receive a gift box from their sponsors!!  The Lord is at work moving us from being a "giving" church family to a "generous" church family. Sacrificial generosity reflects the character of God and it's humbling to see it in action. Many of the people on this trip wouldn't necessarily be able to participate in a "work team". This trip allows them to continue to feed our desire to enter into the mutually beneficial cross cultural global relationships. I look forward to learning from this team!!

2. This team is an intergenerational team. It's reflects one of the consistent themes that we have been addressing over the course of a number of years: At the SEMC we do life, together!!  There are people in their teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and yes 70's part of this team...what a testimony to the way in which Our God is seeking to reveal His love for us and others.  They will go through the week together, pray together, share together, experience so many new things together and have a lot of fun in the process.

I could go on and on...but let me invite you to pray consistently and earnestly for this team; they are unique people called together for a unique purpose and God will not only bring change to their lives, but will also use them to continue to change our lives to glorify Him!

Lord willing, you will hear/read a little of their experiences throughout the week in this space.

May the Lord bless you for sharing the journey with us,

Deve

Leaving

Well, we're boarding in under 5 minutes to go back to Canada…so I guess I should complete a blog post while we're still in El Salvador!

Feeling sad to leave, but happy to return to my family.  (Miss you)  I don't have any amazing parting thoughts, perhaps that's why I left my blog post till the last minute.  I just know that we got to see the power of God's love shine into both my life (and the team) as well as the El Salvadorians here.

I think the most emotional moment for me was leaving Basilio's house the other day.  The relationship that our team has built with him over the years has really translated into a love for one another, and God's plan for houses to be built and the sharing of Jesus to El Salvador.

Talk to me about the trip when I get home…too many words to try and put in a blog.  I promise to talk more than usual!

Albert

It's just one week

It has been just one week. That's all. 7 days out of a calendar year. A small measure. Some might even say insignificant in comparison to the passing of time.

Our team might have another view of what a difference 7 days can be.
Tonight we had our last team debrief, sharing answers to the question: "What is one thing you are hoping to take home from your experience here?"

There were some excellent responses to that question. Ask us sometime.

We ended where we began, by reading Philippians 2. It's a reminder of our attitude - to think like Jesus Christ, and our actions - to humbly serve others like Jesus Christ, because God's ultimate desire is that every person would worship Him.



Over these last seven days, we had the privilege of understanding those truths in new ways and in deeper ways.

Thanks to the many who have shown interest in our trip, supported it through prayer, donations, encouragement and finances.

Thanks especially to our church family, the SEMC, you're partnership and passion for engaging the world-wide mission of God, continues to be a significant strength to us.

These have been 7 extraordinary days!


Lord willing, we'll see you soon.

Deve