Festival Fun!

Today our team had the privilege of traveling to a community full of people with big hearts and great love for each other. We threw a festival and had tables set up with crafts, tattoos, stickers, and a group to play sports. I peeled back many tattoos and applied many stickers and it was such a simple gesture, but the amount of happiness this simple gesture brought to those kids was truly amazing! After all the fun, we set up a table and hundreds of people lined up to receive clothes, shoes, and toys. It created such a good feeling to be able to help the needs of these families and start a better life for them. Last, what impacted me the most, was walking around the community and being able to hand the families bags of rice, beans, and the needs to cook them. As we prayed for the comfort, safety, and health of these families I realized how blessed I really am. Today we changed these families, but they truly changed us even more. -Maddie HarrisToday was my favorite day out of this trip so far. I met this little boy named Jefferson last year when we came to Ahuacapán to build a home for a family. He lived right across from it with his mother, older sister, and 3 week old sister. Jefferson and I instantly had a bond even though I can’t really communicate with him. We played games together, chased each other, watched his baby sister sleep in a makeshift crib, do crafts together; basically everything. He was glued to my hip.

When it was time to leave that day, he told me he loved me and I said I will see you next year. He cried so much; I had never felt so attached to someone so quick. It was heartbreaking and so I gave him a bracelet to remind him of me and he gave me a picture he drew. I had hope that I would actually see him again this year.

So, today was the day we went to their village for the festival. I had absolutely no idea if I’d get to see my little friend again. I have been praying about it this whole week, and I even brought a picture of us two from last year to give to him. As soon as I walked through the gates to the festival, I saw his mom. I immediately said, “Oh my god, that’s Jefferson.” I dropped my backpack and ran towards him. I was so shocked and excited to see him. Jefferson couldn’t even look at me at first because he was crying on his mother’s leg so hard. He had missed me that much.

I gave Jefferson’s mother the picture of us and she was so grateful. We spent the rest of our day together. Doing what we always do, playing games, laughing, chasing each other-I’ll never forget these moments. It was truly the best day ever, and he’ll be in my heart forever. - Chanyng Floyd

Today was a day filled with lots of smiles and laughter. I spent my day at the festival applying tattoos and playing soccer with all of the kids. I have met so many beautiful faces that I will not forget. The littlest things made these guys days and I’m so blessed to be apart of it. This trip has taught me to count my blessing and many more. I can’t wait to come back next year.

-Sophie Cook

City on a Hill

Today has been a day with laughter and joy, but also lots of tears. We put the finishing touches on the houses, and we decorated the houses, with complete surprise to the families. We have spent the past 2 days with these families, and not only have they touched my heart, but I can tell that the team as an entirety has had emotional bonding to community. They have shown us how blessed we are and how grateful we should be, just by their actions. Some people would say that we have blessed them with material items, but honestly, they have blessed more than any item or amount of money ever could. The dedication of the houses was so touching, and it made me realize how much you can impact someone in such little time. Today will be a day that will always live in my memories, and I can not wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow meeting all new kids at the festival, as well as the activities planned for the rest of the week. 

-Makayla Brindley

Today was an absolutely amazing experience for myself and for the entire group. Watching Our Savior’s presence was truly mind-blowing, and to see the impact, hope, and love can have on such a precious community was heartwarming. I got very close to an 11 year old boy named Andres who spoke major volumes to me throughout the day. We were dancing, laughing, playing games, and he even was my mentor for Spanish, which I am very weak in. He kept repeating to me, “Mi favorite amigo y mi hermano.” This means “My favorite friend and my brother.” After I had a translator tell me what he was saying, I grew very close to Andres. Day 2 was extremely special to see the smiles on the faces of the families as they received their homes. It was so awesome seeing their expressions and knowing that the look they gave was because of you. 

-Cannon LaFont

Today has been one of the biggest days for blessing that we have here this week. Today we dedicated a record breaking 5 houses, that were built in one day, to 5 deserving families. It was a time of laughter and playing, but brought many tears as well. We started the day off by fully furnishing those 5 houses with a bed for each person, a table & chairs, a rocking chair, and kitchen supplies. After we had a cookout with the community and shared laughs over a few hot dogs and bags of chips. We got time for fellowship with the families and soccer games with the kids. Continuing our day we went to each house to bless them. There we prayed over the families and shared some beautiful memories of the house building. The family I️ got to dedicate the house too had recently lost a father and husband and were longing for some help. God answered the prayers of the family as they had been praying for something good for a long time. I’m glad our group were the ones to bring this blessing to these wonderful families. They may not have much, but they sure have hearts in pursuit of God. I️ think I️ Speak for everyone when I️ say we are the blessed ones.

-Delaney Darland

5 Homes in 2 Days?

We had our hands full today! God blessed us with the opportunity to provide five homes for families in need. We arrived at the village and immediately got to work. We built the houses from the ground up doing everything from foundations to roofing. It wasn't ALL work though... Of course we took time to play soccer with and paint the faces of the village kids! Everyone kept thanking us for what we were doing but in reality it was a huge blessing to be able to serve God in their community todayOur group is anxiously awaiting the dedication of the homes tomorrow when the families can officially move in! -Ethan SchaafToday our team had the opportunity to build 5 homes for families who had been living in structures made of sticks & makeshift tarps. This was definitely one of my most humbling and eye-opening experiences ever. It was amazing to see everyone come together, despite the language barrier, and complete such an outstanding task, in just one day! Not only were the families we built for extremely grateful, but the community as a whole, even those not receiving a new home. It was amazing to see God's love being spread and everyone supporting one another. I can speak for my whole team when I say, better things are yet to come! -Carly DickToday our group went to a community to build houses. This day was a really special day for me because last time I went on this trip we only built one house out of cement, today we built five houses. The children were radiating with love and laughter, just to be able to hold them and laugh with them is an indescribable feeling. 

I met this little girl named Catherine who loved to color, play fight, and look at herself on my camera. She was such a sweet girl and it just really impacted me that I was building a home for her to live in. I cannot wait to see what the rest of this trip has in store.-Emily Dew

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