We got back from El Salvador yesterday. El Salvador was an experience for me. I went into it not knowing what things would look like, who the people were, and how the past would affect us. Going into El Salvador, I had a somewhat negative outlook, because of the things in the past, the trauma it held for my friends, and I just didn’t give it the attention that it needed from me prior to the trip, El Sal is a part of the trip that I recognize now that I neglected.
I think that my experience in El Sal was much better than i expected, I saw resurrection and restoration the whole trip. These themes were present even before we started the El Sal portion of the trip, I could see this theme start emerging back in Morristown. In Morristown, the thing that set off the theme for me was when we watched the resurrection of Lazarus episode of The Chosen. After staying up till like 3:30 am that morning we went to sleep, the next days testimony and news was amazing, it started off the resurrection half of this theme for me, Pastora Zenaida could start bringing these decade old dreams of hers into reality.
Once we landed in El Sal, one of my friends who was on the 2021 trip, said a quote that I think really did characterize the trip. He said a quote from the Avengers End Game movie, “Get back what we lost, of course. Keep what I found, I have to.” or something like that. through the trip I kept seeing things or people that were lost, and then found, and the new relationships and community we found after 2021 only getting stronger. I could even see this in the SLAM (Students Living A Mission) kids, a couple of their stories had to deal with loss, and then finding the drive to push on, and even come to SLAM and spend time in service and the word to connect with God.
I’m so thankful for the time I had in El Sal, and I can’t wait to get into more service in Kenya and Uganda.