El Salvador Mission: Day 13 - Tia Ana's Orphanage and another Prison

Today was quite the experience for both the girls and guys. The guys were given the opportunity to go to another prison here in El Salvador which is home to a relatively small number of inmates, all of which are 18th Street Gang members. There is a very special young man named Christian from the community we are partnered with that is incarcerated there right now. As painful as it is for the community to be without him, it has been a huge blessing to have someone behind enemy lines, so to speak. We are told that the inmates see him as a pastor rather than as one of them. The guys were given the opportunity to go in and bless him with some clothes that would allow him to go into other sectors to preach.
As the guys spent their day in the prison sharing the gospel, they watched in amazement as a gang member wept while they prayed over him as he accepted the love of Christ. Brandon was allowed to bring in a camera, with the restriction of not being able to take pictures of anything structural or of any inmates faces... here are some of the beautiful shots he captured. (The first one is of Marito when he saw Christian. His face says it all.)

Because the women are not allowed inside the prisons, they stayed back to spend the day at the orphanage. What a joy-filled day! Tia Ana is an amazing woman who currently cares for 16 children, many of which are the children of prostitutes who have been abandoned. Ask the team members to tell you her testimony, it is a powerful one!

The team came with bags full of clothes, shoes and crafts (which ended up making the living room look like a craft store exploded). We wanted desperately to find a way to get to the store to buy some food for them, but without transportation, it was pretty much impossible. But God, in his infinite and glorious wisdom provided perfectly... another American mission team randomly stopped by to drop off a huge van-load of food. While speaking to the team, they mentioned that they were fretting because they had just run out of shoes and clothes, so they didn't know how they would provide those to the orphanage. God never ceases to amaze us with His provision!