And We're Off!

Well it took a little while to get going but we did arrive. After receiving an email at 2:30am to tell us that our flight was cancelled, we managed to get onto a direct flight that had us arrive in El Salvador just 2 hours later than we had intended...we can live with that! I had prepped my young travelling companion the night before we left that one of the important characteristics of international travel was patience, as things often don't go quite as you except. She did great and endured a long day with grace (note the picture...yes she's sleeping on the airport floor; she was there for almost an hour...).

As soon as we reached the hotel the rest of the leaders had just started their first round of meetings. I was just on time to lead the devotion. While these kind of meetings are not my favourite thing to do, it is always a privilege to connect with leaders from across our country who share a deep passion for the Lord and for the needy people of El Salvador. One thing you realize quickly with this group, is that their involvement in El Salvador is an extension of what the Lord has been doing for many years in their lives. What a blessing to glean from their experience and their commitment to serve the Lord.

Throughout our flight down I read an excellent book called "Friendship at the Margins". I'll likely share a few quotes from it, in this space over this week and probably beyond. Here's the first:

"We've discovered that commitment to community building requires fidelity over time...the work is slow, small and often undramatic...it takes years to build the kind of relationships that result in transformation."

This quote reminds me that it is so important to identify the "agents of change" that the Lord has established who are committed to serving a local community over a long period of time; once they are identified it is then crucial for us to listen and learn from them so that anything we add is in the context of their perspective and benefits to the whole community over a long period of time.

That's why I keep coming back here and that's why it's a privilege to be part of this group of people! Thanks for your prayer.

Deve

A Great Hope!

As a church family we've just finished one of the most inspiring periods of time that I can easily remember! Today we finished the Lenten theme of "Be Great" with a focus on "Our Great Saviour", Jesus Christ. It's been energizing to see the Lord bring New Life to some, challenge some and grab the attention of others....sometimes it is hard to leave!...This evening I sit in my hotel room getting ready to leave for El Salvador. I realize now, that the more I personally recognize the extent of Jesus' love for us, the more I need to be part of communities of people where His love is being shown to others. I am thankful for how the Lord is changing lives in like manner at home. I am also thankful for the growing number of communities that I have the privilege to serve among. There is so much to learn and so many to love. May God, who gives us victory through Jesus Christ, indeed be our Strength, our Wisdom and our Love as we serve Him this week, whether at home in Sarnia or in El Salvador.  Thanks for praying for us and journeying with us!

Others have said it so eloquently

I just read the most recent blogs from Tracey, Amanda and Coby and I cried the whole way through. I couldn't have said it better, although I thought I would sit down now that we're home and try to add something more. They have said it so eloquently that I can only say I ditto that ! Thank you for putting it into words so beautifully.

Perhaps I will add a few more "capsules" if I may.

I want it all to stick like the mud stuck to our shoes!

I haven't been able to get the image out of my mind of the building of houses 4 and 5. The mud was a foot deep in places and was actually more like quicksand or cement. I felt so bad for the people who were building those houses. The mud was so thick on their shoes and up and over their shoes. I really didn't think they would be able to put up a house at either of those sites, because it was also a very tight space. I say "they" because I spent most of my time sitting on the rocks around the site,  drawing with the children or playing frisbee with them, while the others sloshed through the mud in a very tight space, my heart shuddering all the while that someone would get hurt on that construction site.
Whenever I started feeling like I was too hot and dirty for my liking, I only had to look over at those doing the slugging work and feel like I had the easier job for sure. But also, I was so pleased and honoured to share in the dreams and hopes of these children to have a dry house in their very near and real future.

I hope that all of the trip sticks with me, and never fades. As I sit in the comfort of my own home on a comfy couch (which is nonexistent there), I hope their beautiful smiling faces will always remind me that a little love can change a life and that these "poor people" on the mountain are not necessarily as poor as those of us with much. I think about the Beatitudes, and Jesus' sermon on the mount is most apropos.

The Orphanage! All God's children.
Wow what a beautiful site. I hope this image also sticks with me as we had an opportunity of a lifetime to "visit the fatherless". They are not forlorn, depressed or feeling sorry for themselves, but rather their smiles and hugs and laughter were beyond description. They were like fountains bubbling over with happiness from the time we arrived to the time to the time we left. So happy to be visited by people trying to be like Jesus. I hope they saw Jesus in me, but the paradox still remains that they seem to give far more to me than I have given to them, As someone who grew up in Sarnia abandoned by a father, the children in El Salvador have shown me that God wraps his arms around the whole world and is a loving Father who does not forsake his children.

May all this and more stick with me forever, but may my heart continue to be broken so it moves my hands and feet, perhaps to return to the country of El Salvador, but also right where I am.
Joan