El Salvador Trip 2012
*Why: To proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ! *How: Prayer and humility
El Salvador 2012.
This January of team of 8 Biola Students went on a mission trip to El Salvador. This is an 8 minute edit of some of the footage I took there.
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We’ve made it home with a little of each of us left in El Salvador. Hasta Luego El Salvador
More rapidly then I would like we are approaching the end of this trip. Over the last week I have felt both a longing for home and the strong desire to not go back for a while. It is the people I love that make me want to go home and the love for the uncertainty of what each day holds that makes me want to stay. I simply hate the idea of going back into the routine of school and the city.
That was something I loved about this past summer I spent in the Redwoods. Although each day may have had a schedule, this factor of the unknown, who your campers will be, what they might say, what they might do and what God might teach me through them, was ever so present that a sense of adventure was never lost.
Over the past couple days I read a book called “Dove”, a true story about a sixteen year old boy who over the course of five years, sails around the world. I went into this book thinking it was a travel adventure. I came out realizing it was something more unexpected. It was a love story. The main character, Robin, sets off to sail the world but not a quarter of the way through his voyage, he meets a young woman who he falls in love with. The rest of his account is of his struggles and his moments of ecstasy as he time and time again leaves and meets up with this woman he has fallen so hard for. What I came to realize is that falling and being in love is the real adventure Robin finds he is on.
As I have watched the days remaining on this trip dwindle down I’ve grown anxious. This trip is what I spent my entire last semester planning and looking forward to. And now in just two days it’ll be over and I’ll be back to falling into the routine of things in Southern California. But when I think about it, if I were to go back and hold onto that perception, I’d be missing the biggest thing God is trying to teach me through this trip.
As I said before, what I’m going to miss about this trip is the factor of the “unknown” that everyday holds. The sense of adventure in not knowing what’s ahead. And when I look at Robin’s story in “Dove” I see that his real story of adventure is his story of falling in love. It is from these two things that I have realized this. Yes, the sense of the unknown, of only being able to live in the present, is what I love about traveling and where I find adventure, but how much more and exponentially greater is the factor of the “unknown” in the adventure of falling in love. And that for me this is in terms of falling in love with my father God, a savior so much greater, so much more vast than I, that I can define him better by what I do not know than the little I do know of him. And this is my Lord and God who calls me to him and who loves me more than I will ever comprehend. This love story is the adventure. This adventure is the one I want to be on for the rest of my life. This love story, this adventure, doesn’t end when my plane lands in LAX, and it certainly doesn’t start when a plane leaves a runway the next time I’m off to somewhere new. This story, this love, this adventure is only continuing in my routine whether that be at school, at home, or wherever else I may be. I don’t know what those day will hold, what conversations will be had, what people I may meet or what God wants to teach me in those time. But I do know one thing, It will be an adventure, an adventure that only with God’s strength, I will persevere through, and only through Christ’s love, an adventure I will thoroughly enjoy.
”
The past couple of days, we have woken up not knowing exactly what we would be doing. Really, the only thing that has been a constant is breakfast at 8:30. Our itinerary is flexible, and this week has been a lot less structured, but our team is good at rolling with the punches and having fun while doing it. We like to think we actually are at our best when we don’t have set plans. Personally, I think that’s one of this teams best qualities as a whole, our adaptability. In the past week, we’ve taken part in a variety of tasks, and I’m confident that God was present in each one in some way or another.
- We helped clean up the place where Christian Surfers meetings are held and then later that night got to pray over the men that are leading that chapter. It was cool to be able to pray and encourage them.
- We hiked to a waterfall with the Mayor of La Libertad (including his family and personal body guards). How that happened, we’re not really sure, but it was a great time and it felt like it happened for a reason…not sure what the reason was, but God knows.
- We were able to visit with the newest chapter of Christian Surfers in El Salvador. That was an incredible overall experience. The leader Fransisco radiated joy and led us in a time of worship I will never forget. He apologized, saying he only knew a few songs in English, but it turned out that every song he played in Spanish was a familiar song to us, so we were able to worship together as brothers and sisters in Christ in two different languages, but worshiping the same God. Absolutely beautiful, and a glimpse of the Kingdom on earth.
- We visited a local church that cooks meals for children and were able to help with the preparation as well as just hang out with the kids. At first it was slightly different than all our other interactions with kids here so far, because they were pretty relaxed and quiet. But a couple of bike races and rock pictures later, the kids seemed to warm up to us. I had a blast riding around on questionably stable bikes and having rock stacking competitions, I felt like a kid again.
There are only two full days left for us here. It’s bittersweet. Well, more bitter than sweet actually, we have all fallen in love with El Salvador and the people here. Leaving will be incredibly hard, especially since I won’t be able to deny the fact that a part of me will always be here. So today, we’re off to surf and return to the orphanage :)
- Megan
On thursday my brother asked me where I found hope in El Salvador and how he could be praying for me. The rest of the day I kept it on the front of my mind. Once again, on thursday we had the chance to visit a local beachfront to run another surf camp. When our surf camp turned into a beach futbol game, I observed something quite interesting. While my experiences of playing hispanic soccer teams in high school told me that the game was going to be a very individualistic game, I was quiet surprised to see this game go very differently. In fact, this soccer game seemed to shed light on the work of Christian surfers in El Salvador. I watched as Angel (one of the christian surfers) lead the charge in a passing oriented game. The game ended and we managed to surprise our Salvadorian friends with our futbol skills but it was much more than that. I realized that in the soccer game I found my hope for El Salvador. Angel is one of the local christian surfer leaders. He’s 19, married and has a 5 month old son Jacob. His commitment to the kids is seen in many long hours, money and sacrifice, but Angel like Marcello and some of the other Christian surfers are committed to this community and have proved themselves to be in it for the long haul no matter what. Angel is not alone. Angel is a part of a much larger team, a team that we play a part in, a team that is God is fighting for. Like I said before in one of my previous posts, this trip is not about starting something, but more about continuing what has already been going on. I pray that the Christian surfers continue to support one another in all of their endeavors and continue to play as a team. And, I don’t expect things to change any time soon.
-Zach
(photo taken by Christa)
We spent another day at the orphanage. We put surf boards in the pool and played with the kids. It was hard to leave them but we trust that God will use this small act of love to impact their lives. Even though it was difficult to part with them we have faith that God holds them and although we don’t know all of their stories we know that He has a plan. He will restore what has been lost and will use their testimonies for his glory.
- Alisha and Christa
Today we took a break from our surf camps to spend some time in a local orphanage down the road. One of the things that we as a team have been truly amazed with is the heart of Salvador (our host) and his son, Marcello. By all means they are the definition of local heroes. For instance, one of the first days we were here, we found out that Marcello is one of the best surfers in all of El Salvador, but despite being a heart throb, his gentleness and humility is beyond words. Today when we walked into the into the orphanage all the kids came running up to Marcello. While Marcello’s surfing antics are enough to give himself a significant reputation, the greeting at the orphanage is just one example that has proved that his commitment to serving selflessly in the local community rather than promoting himself. As Ann noted the most amazing thing about the Castellanos family is that time and time again they prove themselves to be a family that isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty and do the hard work it takes to serve in the local community of La Libertad. And so, We as a team have realized that we aren’t in El Salvador to start a new work, but our job as a team is to come alongside and partner with the work that God is already doing with a strong foundation of men and women who are committed to doing the work of Christ in El Salvador and especially La Libertad. Please continue to keep us in our prayers and pray for the local Christian surfers team who continues to support the local community.
-Zach
this picture is of Marcello getting airborne and doing an ally-oop this morning at a local break called Zunzal.
Welp, this is our host for the two weeks while we’re in El Salvador. I think he’s as stoked to be in the water and teaching kids as we are. We had another really good day today. while the guys got some waves in this morning the girls met up with some of the mom’s of the christian surfers in the area. In the afternoon we worked with a different group of kids and helped push them into waves. It was a blast. Anyway the second shot is of the sunset tonight which was incredible. Already El Salvador is a place that absolutely blows me away.
peace and love.
-Zach
Tonight, we were able to go to the Christian Surfers International meeting. We were greeted by two adorable boys who literally couldn’t wait for us to get out of the van and opened our door and jumped right in. One of the first things they said to us, in Spanish, was “Are you Christians?” When we replied with a joyful “Si!” they replied with an equally joyful cheer. The meeting was incredible, I’ve always loved hearing the Bible being read in a different language. It reminds me of how big God is. There is not language barrier with God. Although our cultures and lives are totally different from the people of El Salvador, we share the common bond of a love for our Savior, Jesus Christ. And no matter what differences we may have, that commonality will always be enough. Add a love for the ocean and surfing on top of that, and you can form instant friendship. It’s a beautiful truth :)
