Post Trip- Day 1

The boys took the day off to recover from the main trip. They spent the day with the Calix family in Juayua (pronounced: WHY-YOU-UH) a festival town with great food, festivals and beautiful waterfalls. Here are a few pictures sent to me by Sonya Calix of their day! 

Last Day-Volcano!

Day 10

Today was our last "work" day of the trip. We finished the retreat today, and we'll climb the volcano tomorrow! 

The day started with a 4:00am run to the beach, explaining the need for them to bring the light into dark places (their community). Everyone completed the run, and we celebrated in the ocean! We also were able to be witness to several of the participants making the decision to be baptized! What a beautiful sight! 

We drove back to the retreat site for breakfast and a "Next Steps" session before beginning the final competition: the infamous obstacle course!! 

Abbie M's team was crowned the champion team (again!) and we loaded up the bus/truck and headed back to the gym for a final closing session before heading to a celebration dinner with the champion team! 

Tomorrow, we conquer the volcano! 

Day 9

Day 2 of the retreat was a total blast! The morning started with breakfast, then a leadership session before a soccer tournament! (Jordan L and Abbie M's team are leading the weekend competition at this point). 

It has been exceptionally hot the last couple of days, so the afternoon pool competitions were a hit! Lots of swimming, splashing, and competition. 

After dinner the camp gathered with popcorn and lounged back for a showing of "McFarland, USA" where the group picked out examples of courageous love, the theme of our weekend. 

It is an early night tonight as we have a VERY early morning tomorrow with a run to the beach before sunrise. 

Day 7

What a great day! We started the day early by driving Jordan M to the airport, we were so blessed he was able to join us for the first half of the trip! 

We caught the sunrise on the beach and hung out there awhile before meeting up with the Calix family for breakfast. We ate at a pupusaria known for their world record for largest pupusa... And they were amazing! 

After breakfast we headed to a beach property owned by a friend of the Calix's, and spent the day lounging in hammocks, swimming in the pool, playing on the beach, and eating a fantastic meal prepared by Sonya. 

We've been amazed that the team hadn't been hit with a monsoon rain storm yet this trip, but the drive back from the beach proved the perfect occasion. We headed back to the gym and spent some beautiful time in worship and prayer for the country and its people before heading out for a quick bite to eat (unexpected wifi access). Tomorrow begins our weekend leadership retreat! Keep us in your prayers! 

Day 6

Our day started bright (or dark) and early with a 5:00am breakfast at our chefs house. From there the boys dropped the girls off at the gym and headed back to the juvenile detention facility. The girls spent the day preparing everything for the retreat that we'll be running this weekend. They went shopping with Omar, Sonya and Ana (our chef) at PriceMart (a Salvadoran version of Costco), unloaded, packed supplies and did laundry (in the bathroom sink!) Omar and Sonya took the girls to a restaurant called "States Diner" where they saw the very type of youth they served yesterday (orphans, abuse victims, runaways) being trained in life & vocational skills by an American missionary couple that was moved by the plight of those youth in this country. Check out their website to learn more (www.statesdiner.org) 

The guys came back from their day totally fired up about how amazing the day was. They really connected with a lot of the young men, and had a blast spending two days serving them. Their two-day program was very similar to "Camp Stength" so the team was able to play the role of facilitator for a program they went through themselves. Derek's team came in first place, and a lot of really cool stories came out of today... I'm sure you'll hear all about them! 

Tonight we went to the famous Mexican restaurant with the amazing frozen drinks and celebrated the birthday of a dear friend of ours down here, Ingrid. It was a blast!! 

Here are a few pictures from the day- wish we could share more with you! 

(Just a reminder that we likely won't have Internet access tomorrow through Sunday, so don't be alarmed)

Day 8

Surprise! We had a moment of wifi so I could upload our last few days of posts! (We've NEVER been able to update this often! So great!) 

We had such a great first day of the retreat! Part of the team ran ahead to set up the camp, the rest rode up on the bus with the kids and got them fired up for the weekend! 

Day One included the tire competitions, small groups, and leadership sessions! The cutest part of the day was once the competitions were over, the neighborhood kids who had been watching started to play on the tires! They pulled Tyler across the field, laughing. It was a perfect teaching moment for the teenagers: your community is watching you. They are following your example. Will you lead them to do good? 

The day ended with worship lead by Jordan and Yaneth (a Salvadoran friend) and we had some free time to socialize before heading to bed! What a great day!! 

Continue praying for us and we'll continue to update you as we can! 

Much love! 

Day 5

Hi families! It's hard to believe that a week from today we'll be on our way back to the States. Our time here in El Salvador is just flying by! Today the guys all went to run programming at a male juvenile detention facility with boys generally ranging from ages 12-18. They had a fantastic day, things went very well, and everyone is looking forward to being back in the same facility to run a second day of programming with the same kids. 

The girls went to a female juvenile center for runaways, orphans, and children of abuse/neglect. They performed a drama, gave testimonies, painted the girls nails, brought a piñata for the kids, and spent time just talking to them and hearing their stories. It was a powerful day for everyone. 

Unfortunately we are unable to take pictures in these facilities, so we don't have pictures for you today

P.S. Starting Friday, we will be running a retreat at a gated (i.e. very safe) retreat center, but they do not have wi-fi access so you will likely not hear from us via the blog between Friday and Sunday. Tomorrow we will getting things ready for the retreat and Thursday is our beach day (no wifi). The team will be able to make calls home, but dont be alarmed when we go several days without a blog update! 

Day 4

Greetings again from El Salvador!!

A quick update on our day! All the guys spent the day running a program in one of the prisons! It went great and they are exhausted from working (and playing!) their hearts out!

After breakfast at Omar's home, the girls went with Sonya (Pastor Omar's wife) to a local hospital to visit and pray over an adorable 4 year old boy. Then they met up with some young women that will be going into the prison tomorrow with the ladies to plan the program and practice a drama to perform(!!!!) After that we grabbed some piñatas to bring to the children in the prison tomorrow, then headed to join the boys for dinner!

All is well here! Praise God, Jordan is feeling much better!
Missing all of you! We'll update you again when we can! Keep us in your prayers 😊

Day 3

Day 3

Good morning families! Today was another great day! Our day started again at 5:00am with getting our sleeping areas clean and heading to breakfast, this time at Mister Donut, a local breakfast place somewhat similar to a Duncan Donuts. We sang happy birthday to Omar Jr., and headed to church to hear Omar Sr. preach. 

Our original itinerary had today slated as a day off after church, but in Salvadoran style, our plans got changed and today we facilitated Day 2 of our school outreach program! It went great! The team is doing as amazing as ever leading their groups in the competitions. The language barrier hasn't been much of an obstacle as the team finds new ways to communicate, and everyone loves them! Lots of hugs, high-fives, and Who-Rahs going on! And since the prison team joined us today, we had extra help making a total of 220 sandwiches! 

The champion team of the two-day camp (Abbie M's team!) was treated by to a dinner with us at Pizza Hut (a big deal around here), and we had a great night hanging out, celebrating and building relationships with them! 

Weback early enough to take some much needed time for silent reflection, and then headed to bed early to prep for tomorrow's excitement! (The girls actually REQUESTED giving up the only air conditioned room, and giving it to the boys, who gratefully accepted) 

That's all for now- we've been so blessed with the ability to update you with each day's activities, we hope we'll continue to get wi-fi access regularly! If not, we promise to post as we can!!! 

In the meantime, here are a couple shots from today: 

Day 2

Day 2 

Wow, we got a great nights rest and woke up ready for the day! Tyler, Jordan M, and Adam headed back to the prison for another great day of programs with the isolated sectors, and the rest of the team headed to the Injuve Gym to run Day 1 of the School Outreach (very similar to the Camp Strength many of them attended last summer). It was awesome to see the team step up as leaders and coaches to facilitate the competitions and energize the kids! 

After sharing lunch with the group, we jumped in to more competitions, small groups, leadership talks, and just having a blast! 

The prison team joined us in the afternoon where Jordan L lead a huge conference of people in Spanish worship songs! It was amazing! 

We grabbed an early dinner, then went out to debrief over ice cream! 

Missing you all! Prayers for Jordan L as he overcomes some sickness!

Day 1

Day 1

We landed safely, and after a late night and early morning, the trip is already in full swing!

After breakfast at our amazing chefs house, the "soccer team" (Jordan L, Jordan M, and Adam) left with Tyler to head to the prison. The rest of the team was asked to run a half-day program for 50 students from a local high school. The team did an AMAZING job! We're so proud of them already! 

We had a fabulous lunch before heading back to the gym to organize supplies and take it easy for the afternoon- but some unexpected friends showed up in the form of a girls soccer team hoping to spend the afternoon with us. So our team, with amazing upbeat attitudes, sacrificed their precious nap-time and swung into action throwing together a program for the team complete with a talk, reflection, and soccer game! 

Things with the prison team went great as well, they spent the day visiting with a sector of isolated inmates, and really enjoyed building relationships with them!

We reunited for an early dinner and frozen drinks, and headed back to the gym to debrief, plan for Day 2, and get to bed early! 

We will do our best to continue to keep you posted here, and we're working on getting active cell phones to start calling home! 

Keep the prayers coming for our team!! 

Here are a few pictures from today's school outreach! We love you all! 

Halfway There!

Made it safely to Houston!!! We're about to board for San Salvador! Hugs to everyone! We'll keep in touch!! 

P.S. HUGE thanks to all the parents who brought us to the airport this morning!!! 

Adiós!

On our way!!!