The Journey Begins by Makensie Ellermann

As our team began the journey to El Salvador, we knew we would experience and witness many incredible things throughout the week. Although there were a few bumps in the road during our arrival, we immediately began to see God work through us when we took our first steps, as a team, into the Mission House. 

Our first night here, we all got onto a bus and went out to feed the homeless. Within 2 minutes of the ride, we were stopped with people crawling out from under any sort of cover up they used to keep warm, to come to the bus and get a bag of food. Inside the bags we gave the people a bologna sandwich, chips, cookies, an apple, a juice box, and a t-shirt. It may not seem like much to us, but to the people in El Salvador that live on the streets, it's one of the best gifts they could ever receive. 

The famous quote, "People say actions speak louder than words," has never been more true than it is on these mission trips. Most, if not all, of the team members do not speak Spanish and need a translator to communicate with the people here. On our first full day in El Salvador, we attended their church service and helped with the children's Sunday School. Their service was in Spanish, where we all got to sit and watch the true cultural experience of a church service in El Salvador, occur. During the service, we were able to stand and hear worship songs that we know in English, but listened to in Spanish. In Sunday School, we gave the children a craft that helped them learn and discuss bible verses. All of us gathered around with the children and involved ourselves in the project. The quote comes in because even though we couldn't have a full conversation, the amount of thank you's we were told shows that actions speak louder than words. 

The second half of our first day was spent at an orphanage, CISNA, which had about 27 teenage boys. At this orphanage, our team split up into three groups. One group for playing soccer, one group for playing volleyball, and the third group for doing crafts. We spent about 3 hours playing with these kids, enjoying their company, almost, if not more than they enjoyed ours, and ended the day giving them a pizza dinner and treat bags. In the last few moments of our visit, an orphan that Starfish had previously built a house for, came up to Laura and said thank you along with giving her his craft that he tried so hard to make. Moments like these make us realize how blessed we truly are, and how much these children can change our lives in just a short amount of time. 

Thank you to those who are following us on our journey. Please continue to send prayers our way and for the people in El Salvador. God bless each and every one of you.