From church to the Streets

Like a usual Sunday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and went to church. The only difference was we were in El Salvador and this church didn't look at all like the churches we attend in the States. 

Before church, some of the ladies and I sat down and they attempted to teach me some Spanish. I'm a little on the slow side, but we did manage to write a song in Spanish with a scripture from Psalm 100. 

"For The Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations."

  When we got to church, the pastor opened the service by having us all stand and open our Bibles to (you guessed it) Psalms 100, and read the exact scripture that we had wrote the song from that morning. After that, we worshiped with our Salvadorian brothers and sisters and it was truly amazing. Even though I didn't know hardly any of the words, I felt God's presence in the service more than I have in a very long time. Susan Ackerman also shared her testimony and it was a blessing to see all that God has brought her through. 

We then went to the Sunday school classes that we were assigned to and taught the kids. Lilly, Kenny, Kenya, John, and myself were with the middle school and high school. We taught about aligning your dreams with God's dreams and the Kids all shared what their dreams were.

After church, we went to an orphanage with kids ranging from infants to 18. The kids were all very friendly and hungry for relationships. We played soccer, sang songs, and got to pray with several kids who were eager to hear of God's love for them.  

When I walked into the room with the toddlers, one was crying very loudly and it became so real to me that these kids had no mother or father to comfort them when they cry. No one to tell them how beautiful they are, to cuddle with them at night or take them out for ice cream just to make them feel special. Though their basic physical needs were met  for the most part, it broke my heart to see that a mother's or father's love was absent in their life. As I held the little girl who had been crying, she cuddled into my shoulder as if that was the exact spot she was created to be. She was so satisfied with just being held. 

After we left the orphanage we came back to mission house and prepared meals to go out after dinner and feed the homeless. The streets of El Salvador are full of hundreds of homeless people. We prepared around 150 meals and set out around 9:30pm. With 10 people packed into the back of a truck we drove down the streets of El Salvador to find people to feed. It ES amazing that some would just hear Kurt's truck and come running. I guess they had grown to associate that sound with the hope of a meal. We gave every meal out and ran out before we fed them all.  I often complain about some of the stupidest things but these people's faces lit up with joy at the though of a bologna sandwich. It definitely put things in prospective for us all.

Jonas Neihoff