I am settled in to my apartment here in the suburb of San Salvador known as Santa Tecla. I live with a great gal named Tina who has been here for about 8 months working for Enlace and doing a lot of the media needed for the organization. We get along very well and it is so nice to have somebody to come home to. It makes the whole experience a lot less lonely.This week I was working with the team that came down from Vanguard. It was led by John Mark and Cristina Robeck who have been good friends of mine for quite some time. The team they brought was working in the community known as Las Delicias which is about 45 minutes away from my house. They built mitigation walls on a hillside so that when the rains come (which they do EVERY day) the hill does not come sliding into the people's house below.
The walls were made out of used tires and packed dirt with a cement seal at the top.
It was pretty backbreaking work but the team were such good sports and didn't complain at all.
I was just trying to get a feel for what exactly I was supposed to be doing. I was there to translate and help in general. On Tuesday I woke up with a high fever and I took some advil hoping it would break my high temperature. It broke about 10 am and I just laid in bed and sweat the rest of the day.
By Thursday I was back in the swing of things and was feeling like I knew what I was supposed to be doing.
Thursday was the hardest day for me though because I just felt an overwhelming sense of how difficult life is for so many of the people that we work with. Living and working in a country
like El Salvador challenges you to not become hardened by the poverty that is all around you but also to not be totally reactive. That tension is always there and on some days, because I can be so sensitive, it really gets to me and I have to hold on to the Lord during those times and turn that sadness and overwhelming sense of uselessness into a time where I draw nearer to Him and to His voice and His plan for me.
This next week there is a break in teams and Tina and I are go
ing up to the Northern region of San Salvador to visit a friend of hers. We might also head over to Honduras for a night or so.
It will be a nice way to recharge before the next team comes a week from Monday.
Tonight Shane came over and we had tacos and sat and talked for a while. The best part about being here so far has been the built in community that exists here because of Enlace. I have people all around me that are ready to talk and share and just hang out. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to serve so far and see what God has for me during this time.
1 comment:
Truly the feeling is mutual! It is so great to have someone to talk to, pray with and really share in life here. So much is going on around us and it can be truly so overwhleming to negotiate the way here. In El Sal, we can see the very literal reason why God calls us to community because we actually need each other. We need to be sharing both the weights and the joys of our life in Christ. Otherwise we just go loopdiloop.
And I was getting mighty lonesome, and then God sent you to El Sal for the summer. That you are sweet and funny and smart and just a kick a## girl is just a lil bonus! I am so looking forward to a great summer adventure together in Christ!
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