We left for El Salvador bright and early Friday morning right on schedule. We traveled to Houston where we had a five-hour layover. Everyone made the most of it with lots of joking around. There was a businessman sleeping in a chair and some of the group took turns sitting next to him and getting our pictures taken. The airport employee driving the passenger cart around and very loudly saying “car” which we thought was “horn” was a lot of fun to watch. We saw him quite a few times during our five-hour wait. Some of the group passed the time with various cards and games.
We arrived in El Salvador at about 8 pm on Friday night. A group from Kings Castle along with a yellow school bus greeted us at the airport. Instead of heading to King’s castle, we where taken to an area in San Salvador where a large worship service was going on. Twice a year there is a Victory for Christ service and it just happened to be the night we arrived. It was a lively evening highlighted by music, worship, and preaching by Don Triplett. We worshipped with the El Salvadorians until about 11 pm and then crossed the parking lot to our bunkrooms to spend the night. We needed to get up the next morning at 5:00 and had a very long day already so was looking forward to a bed. Our bunkroom held over 125 people and was very hot. The loud music lasted until 3:00, so not the most sound sleep if any.
Saturday morning, we got back on the bus and headed for Kings Castle. Made a quick stop for breakfast and then about an hour and half ride to our home for the week. Kings Castle is in a very beautiful location across the road for a large deep lake. The men headed up the hill to the men’s dorm while the women headed to theirs, which lucky for them was a little closer to the dining hall and gym. After we picked a bunk and threw our suitcase on it we changed into some shorts and started our day of training. I’m thankful we had already learned one of the hardest songs/dances since there were still about five more to learn. We worked on these outside till lunch and then moved on to the gym. It had started to rain so this worked out well. In the afternoon we learned four skits that we would perform throughout the week.
Sunday was a very nice and somewhat relaxing day. We went to church in the morning, which lasted several hours. We performed two of our dances for those in attendance. We had a little time to play soccer on a very nice field, which is mowed by the eleven horses that roam the grounds. There was no running water the first several days so each night we got to clean up in the lake, which was very refreshing. Because of a earthquake in 2005 the lake dropped 10 ft which really didn’t matter much other then the shore line since the lake is still over 1300 ft in places. There was a trapeze swing extending off the dock and was about 20 ft up there. This made for a lot of fun and some exciting wipeouts. No one got too hurt other than some red skin.
Starting with Monday, the weekdays were all very similar. We would start our day with breakfast at 6:30 and then jump in the bus. We were working with the pastor of the local church so we stayed within a 20-minute drive of the camp. Most teams go to San Salvador, which is about 90 minutes away. Some times we would go to a school and perform and other times we would stop in a rural neighborhood. The whole idea is to do several fun energetic dances and skits, mainly for children. Then we would do a serious skit and the members with us that knew Spanish would take over and share the gospel with the group. It was amazing how many people would come to watch the white people dance. We usually did two performances in the morning and one or two in the afternoon. With the heat and humidity it was very tiring. We would get back to camp about 4:30 and most often head down the hill to the lake to cool off and clean up. Supper was at 5:30 and by 7:00 we started our devotion service and review of the day. Most evenings we would talk some in our bunkrooms and be asleep by 11:00. This was different then past trips in that we had very little free time in the evenings.
One evening Robyn, myself, Stacy, Kelly and Jeremy went to the Prayer Fortress. It was a very deep experience and Gods presence was certainly there! The third level has maps to pray over the nations. This area was helpful for the five of us that were looking for guidance in that area.
Most everyone who went on the trip had some side effects from either the water we drank or maybe the food. Even though people felt sick they had great attitudes and never really complained.
In all we did 17 performances in front of 1045 people. Amazingly 380 people accepted Christ during the week. This made everything we endured so worth it!
If you ever get the chance to travel on a mission trip you will never regret it. It is better than any vacation possible. You come back more relaxed and charged up than you can imagine. And, it WILL be a life-changing experience!
We arrived in El Salvador at about 8 pm on Friday night. A group from Kings Castle along with a yellow school bus greeted us at the airport. Instead of heading to King’s castle, we where taken to an area in San Salvador where a large worship service was going on. Twice a year there is a Victory for Christ service and it just happened to be the night we arrived. It was a lively evening highlighted by music, worship, and preaching by Don Triplett. We worshipped with the El Salvadorians until about 11 pm and then crossed the parking lot to our bunkrooms to spend the night. We needed to get up the next morning at 5:00 and had a very long day already so was looking forward to a bed. Our bunkroom held over 125 people and was very hot. The loud music lasted until 3:00, so not the most sound sleep if any.
Saturday morning, we got back on the bus and headed for Kings Castle. Made a quick stop for breakfast and then about an hour and half ride to our home for the week. Kings Castle is in a very beautiful location across the road for a large deep lake. The men headed up the hill to the men’s dorm while the women headed to theirs, which lucky for them was a little closer to the dining hall and gym. After we picked a bunk and threw our suitcase on it we changed into some shorts and started our day of training. I’m thankful we had already learned one of the hardest songs/dances since there were still about five more to learn. We worked on these outside till lunch and then moved on to the gym. It had started to rain so this worked out well. In the afternoon we learned four skits that we would perform throughout the week.
Sunday was a very nice and somewhat relaxing day. We went to church in the morning, which lasted several hours. We performed two of our dances for those in attendance. We had a little time to play soccer on a very nice field, which is mowed by the eleven horses that roam the grounds. There was no running water the first several days so each night we got to clean up in the lake, which was very refreshing. Because of a earthquake in 2005 the lake dropped 10 ft which really didn’t matter much other then the shore line since the lake is still over 1300 ft in places. There was a trapeze swing extending off the dock and was about 20 ft up there. This made for a lot of fun and some exciting wipeouts. No one got too hurt other than some red skin.
Starting with Monday, the weekdays were all very similar. We would start our day with breakfast at 6:30 and then jump in the bus. We were working with the pastor of the local church so we stayed within a 20-minute drive of the camp. Most teams go to San Salvador, which is about 90 minutes away. Some times we would go to a school and perform and other times we would stop in a rural neighborhood. The whole idea is to do several fun energetic dances and skits, mainly for children. Then we would do a serious skit and the members with us that knew Spanish would take over and share the gospel with the group. It was amazing how many people would come to watch the white people dance. We usually did two performances in the morning and one or two in the afternoon. With the heat and humidity it was very tiring. We would get back to camp about 4:30 and most often head down the hill to the lake to cool off and clean up. Supper was at 5:30 and by 7:00 we started our devotion service and review of the day. Most evenings we would talk some in our bunkrooms and be asleep by 11:00. This was different then past trips in that we had very little free time in the evenings.
One evening Robyn, myself, Stacy, Kelly and Jeremy went to the Prayer Fortress. It was a very deep experience and Gods presence was certainly there! The third level has maps to pray over the nations. This area was helpful for the five of us that were looking for guidance in that area.
Most everyone who went on the trip had some side effects from either the water we drank or maybe the food. Even though people felt sick they had great attitudes and never really complained.
In all we did 17 performances in front of 1045 people. Amazingly 380 people accepted Christ during the week. This made everything we endured so worth it!
If you ever get the chance to travel on a mission trip you will never regret it. It is better than any vacation possible. You come back more relaxed and charged up than you can imagine. And, it WILL be a life-changing experience!
Will you go?
Paul
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