Day 12 - Church and Beach / Kelly's Birthday

Today was a building-relationships kind of day. We had no real service responsibilities, we were just able to spend the day with the people from Aposento Alto and enjoy each others company! The church service was beautiful, and the church members gave gifts to each of the team members to thank us for our time and service to them. It was so touching to be so blessed by the people we came to bless (welcome to the missionary life...always seems to happen that way.)

After church, we headed to the mall to pick up some items to bless people with (such as closes for an inmate Tyler has become very close with), then grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to pick up some of the people from Santisima to take to dinner out at the beach as part of Kelly's birthday surprise (that particular beach holds special significance for her, it was the she went to on her very first El Salvador trip back in 2008, and it's always been her favorite, but she has never had the opportunity to go back until tonight).

After an afternoon and evening of fun in the sun and some bonding, we headed back home (during a monsoon, of course, and got some rest for a big day tomorrow.

Prayer request update: The water purification system hasn't made it into the country, so tomorrow the women will be spending the day at Tia Ana's orphanage, cleaning it and spending time with the kids, while the guys go visit Christian in another prison. Please be praying for the men's continued safety, for their conversations with Christian, and that the administration of the prison be receptive to receiving teams in the future based on the outcome of this visit. For the ladies, prayer that despite exhaustion, that they be fully able to enter in to the time in the orphanage, that they be able to serve there as if it was our sole mission for coming, and that they open their hearts to Tia Ana and the kids. Thanks! We love you all.