We just returned from our August mission trip and we had a great experience!  A team of 12 from three churches left to minister in two locations in El Salvador.  If you would like a quick video of the trip click here:

2016 Aug El Salvador Trip

Here’s just a brief summary of what we did and lots of pictures!

Day #1, Saturday, July 30, was a travel day.  After a flight to Miami and then to San Salvador, we had our first meal in El Salvador and then a 2 1/2 hour bus ride.  We then attended the 36th anniversary celebration of the El Salvadorian Youth Association.  Of course, we went to our hotel to rest!

Day #2, Sunday, July 31, we worshiped at the church at El Triunfo in the morning.  I had the privilege of preaching and our group sang a couple of songs in Spanish.

And then we did ministry in the park Sunday afternoon.

Then we went to get pupusas!

Day #3, Monday, August 1

Today we went visiting in three different areas of the community in the morning.  In the afternoon, we held two different one day kid’s Bible activities.

In the evening, we led a youth service.

Day #4, Tuesday, August 2

Today, we did a medical/dental/optical clinic at Jicarito.  We saw 218 people in the morning until about 2 pm, sharing the Gospel with each family.

We set up a spontaneous clinic for the church at El Triunfo in the afternoon that ran well into the evening.

Day #5, Wednesday, August 3

We traveled to a new area to do a third medical/optical clinic.  It’s at this location that Pastor Jimmy has a Bible study and the start of a new church!

Saying goodbye at El Triunfo was more difficult than we anticipated:

We traveled to San Salvador to prepare to shift our ministry to Ciudad Obrera.

Day #6, Thursday, August 4

Today we were at our Ciudad Obrera mission.  We did medical/optical clinic in the morning and VBS in the afternoon.  Here are some pictures from both!

  

We led worship at Ciudad Obrera later that afternoon.  Kevin Rodriguez translated a sermon for the first time and did great!

Day #7, Friday, August 6

Friday, we returned to Ciudad Obrera for a continuation of our medical/optical clinic and a brief VBS closing out with a pinata party!

Day #8, Saturday, August 7

This was our day to return home!

Although it’s difficult to quantify this trip, we saw 597 people in our medical/optical clinics and gave away 150 glasses.  The gospel was shared with everyone who came to the clinic.  We saw over 300 children in 3 different one-day VBS’s and a ministry in the park.  Our group led 3 worship services in two different churches.  The gospel has been shared and we believe that 11 people gave their hearts to Christ .  Our team will never be the same!

For the Kingdom!

Pastor Mike