Let me paint a picture for you
As I write this I am sitting under a beautiful lime tree, surrounded by thick green grass and the gentle wind that blows through my hair carries the scent of the ocean, which is about 20 yards from where I lay. The songs from strange birds fill the air with the occasional interruption of laughter from one of my teammates, and I find myself rendered almost speechless in a few moments of tranquility in this tropical paradise.
Our contact took us to a bit of an oasis for out last free day in El Salvador, and we are all enjoying the peace and relaxation. We are at something called a 'barilla', a place where a river meets an ocean, and the beauty is incomparable. The grass is lush and well manicured, the breeze is gentle and there are plenty of large, tropical trees to shade us from the heat. Our tents are set up in a tight circle (We're a close group, no one ever wants to be too far away :)) and the team is in various places- throwing a baseball around, going for a swim to cool down, or enjoying a nap in the shade. It truly is, as I said before, a paradise.
It's a stark difference between from our day to day lives in San Vicente. Ministry here is beautiful and encouraging and such a good experience all the way around. But we go hard every day with not much time for relaxation. Wake up, walk half an hour to a school, play 'mika' (tag) for an inhumanely long period of time, go into classrooms, teach, love them, show them Gods love, walk home, walk to a different school, teach English, walk home, go to church, play basketball with the locals, sleep, repeat. All of this we do in upper ninety degree heat with high humidity. Trade out some of the school visits with visit to the local nursing home or some sort of evangelism and you've seen the majority of our ministry here. It's a lot. So naturally you'd think that this time away from the city and busy life would be a welcome break.
But you'd be wrong.
We LOVE our busy days
We LOVE the sweet children we have the blessing of playing with
We LOVE teaching
We LOVE LOVE LOVE our church services here
We LOVE spending time with the locals playing basketball
We LOVE our ministry here
And I guarantee if you ask any member of our team if they would be willing to pack up now and head back home in time for church and a late night basketball game, they would pack up cheerfully and look forward to the night ahead of them. Because although it's nice to get away and have a break, it's there, in the heat and chaos of the day where we find The Lord. We see him in the smiles and laughter of the children, we feel him in the gratitude of the elderly, and we meet him in our little church in San Vicente. God has called us to live extreme lives that are often uncomfortable and tiring. But He never, not once, leaves us unsatisfied. We go to bed at night tired, but our hearts are full.
Our time in El Salvador is coming to an end, we leave the country at this end of this week and then we head to Costa Rica for the next part of our journey. All of our hearts are heavy when we think about leaving this place. The leaders and youth of the church, the children, and many members of the community have become some of our dearest friends. Saying goodbye will we hard, but we are all excited and ready to see what God has in store for us this next month.
