And so begins 2018 Mission Trip Season! MCHS to El Salvador!

On February 13th, 2018, Starfish Orphan Ministry sent off their largest mission team yet! With 44 McCracken County High School students and 6 adults, the team headed out to serve orphans in El Salvador...

After a few hours rest in Nashville, they boarded their first flight early on Valentines morning...

The students may have looked tired, but not their fearless leaders!

After loading all 50 team members and 150 pieces of luggage onto the bus, they made a quick stop at the souvenir market. They'll be so busy the rest of the week, this was their only opportunity! 

                                           You'd better share those fried plantains!

Wednesday evening the team settled in at the mission house and prepared for the week ahead. We hope you will join us in praying for this week's crew. Building 5 homes in 2 days, feeding the homeles each night, putting on a village festival, parties at orphanages... This will be an exhausting week, but worth 100x the effort! Please pray for safety, for rest, for patience, for cohesiveness and most importantly, for the children and people they are there to serve! This week will not only bless the children of El Salvador, but change the lives of these students! We hope you will join us daily, on this week's journey! 

Here's a note from student Mary Ceglinski, on her experiences today...

"The first night of our trip I got the privilege of going out to feed the homeless. When you hear that phrase, a lot of scenarios pop up into your head, or at least they did in mine at first. This experience was something that I was not expecting at all. When we rode around, we all sat in the bed of the truck to easily hand out the bags of food we had made. As we saw people on the streets we would stop and give them food. This was so eye opening, these people were barely clothed and starved, as you could see their ribs. You would stop and people would flock to the truck, some running and others crawling, because they didn’t have enough energy to stand up. This sight is not something you get to see everyday in Paducah and my heart breaks for them. The feelings of this experience were mixed, sadness filled my heart but also just shock, I️t made me sit back and just think, “Wow. This is crazy.” Not even 24 hours in El Salvador and I have already been blessed to help people in need and have made memories and seen things I will never forget and for that I am truly grateful." -Mary Ceglinski