El Salvador Day #19

Day #19 Monday, January 21, 2013

Today was our last full day in El Salvador. We woke up early at the resort for a delicious breakfast and then laid out by the beach and pool until it was time for lunch. Then we all gathered at the burger bar and filled our tummies with delicious hamburgers. We enjoyed our resort for a little while longer and then packed up and drove down the road to a public beach. The resort had strange check-out hours, so in order for us to get a full beach day we split it between the resort and the public beach. After the afternoon at the second beach, we were all burnt and ready to get back to Ahuachapan. We all went out for dinner at different places downtown and then met back up at the house. 

Juan joined us after dinner and spent some time answering some questions we had about how the church in El Sal works and what his job includes. He told a story about going to a church that used to be in the center of a community filled with multiple gangs. He had a boy that was 9 years old come up to him and show him a shotgun he had in his clothes and tell Juan that he was going to shoot him and the men that came with him if they wouldn't give him their camera. Juan reacted by telling the kid why they were there and telling him about their work with the children in the church and inviting him to come. The kid did not know about Jesus and said that he did not want anything to do with Him because anytime he prayed to Jesus, He never answered. Juan was able to tell this boy that Jesus loved him and cared about him. Even though Juan ended up having to give the kid money for him to drop the threat, he was able to tell this child, this young boy caught up in a very deadly and sinful lifestyle, about Jesus Christ. I have so much respect for Juan and how he handles his job. He is the President of the Methodist Church of El Salvador. He is over all 13 Methodist churches in the country and he is a pastor. He also is a husband and a father to a teenage girl and a baby boy. He also shares his home with his parents, brother, aunt, and groups like us that come and stay at the mission house. There are so many incredible things to be said about this man. I am very thankful to have been able to spend time getting to know him and to see how the Lord is using him to make a difference in this country.