Mission Trip To El Salvador

God had opened a door for me to go on my second mission’s trip. This time it was to El Salvador. I went with a group of 17 other men from all over the United States. We met in El Salvador.

Our mission was to work with Castillo del Rey (King’s Castle). It is missions’ organization that reaches the children of El Salvador and trains them up to be missionaries. Through their work they have missionaries from El Salvador in 46 other nations and have started a Castillo del Rey in 36 other nations to do the same as their own in El Salvador. The location of this place was near Santa Ana, El Salvador and inside an extinct volcano. There was even a lake that we could swim in inside this volcano.

We were given a group of men and women who were either missionaries or missionaries in training to help us and guide us on the outreaches that we were to do. On our first full day there, we went through several hours of training. We learned to do various actions and dances to several songs and learned a couple of action skits that we did not speak in. The challenging part was that the songs were done in Spanish and most of us could not speak any Spanish.

The first day of outreach was on a Saturday and we did two different outreaches that day. We rode a bus about two hours to San Salvador. Three young girls, ages 12 and under, met us and would bring us around to various houses to meet with people. In these houses we would share the gospel message with them and also pray with them for any needs that they have.

One lady came hobbling to the door, she had sprained her ankle very badly a few weeks before and it still had not healed up. After praying with her, she was able to walk and jump around as though her ankle had never been injured. She was very excited and grateful we prayed for her.

During the outreaches to the children, we had about 80 children between the two services. We played with them for a while, then had the service doing the skits and songs. About 40 gave their hearts to Jesus. Many asked for prayers for parents, grandparents or other friends. None asked prayer for themselves.

On Sunday we went to the Castillo del Rey church and cooked about 200 hamburgers for the men. That was the day that they were honoring the fathers of the church for Father’s Day, which was several days before we got there. I was able to pray with some of the men of El Salvador and encourage them in the Lord through an interpreter.

On Monday, we drove back into San Salvador to a different location. We were told that this location, just four or five years ago was gang run and so bad that police would not even step into the area. Most of the homes were tin shacks on the ground. Many children and several mothers gave their hearts to Jesus that day. The sad part was that we saw very few fathers or men in the area, though that may be that they were working.

On Tuesday, we went back again to a different location. At this place most of the homes were in buildings much like apartment buildings, though some had rooms with no roof. One couple that we met with told us that bodies were buried in the walls. They had to remove several bones that were sticking in the walls when they moved in. They also said that there were witch doctors in the community that would cast spells on people they did not like.

As we were setting up to do the service with the children, I noticed one little girl being carried down some stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, two people got on each side of her to hold her up and help her walk into our location. They sat her down and then left. Her legs and hands were severely deformed.

I went up to her and helped her play with some toys that we had brought with us. She was ten years old and had a very sweet spirit about her. She would not give up trying to use a toy even though her hands made it extremely difficult. During the service, she was able to fully quote the memory verse without any help, something no other child was able to do.

After the service part, I and several other men felt led to pray for her. We prayed for several minutes until she said she felt different. She wanted to try and walk. We helped her stand up. She then was able to walk about six feet on her own. After walking back and forth those few feet she sat down and we shared the gospel message with her directly. She gave her heart to the Lord Jesus.

Once she had done that, she asked to be able to walk all the way home. We helped her stand up. With just a light hand on her arm to be ready to catch her if she should fall, she began to walk. She walked out of the park area to her building, then up a long flight of stairs and down a long walkway to her parents. Both of her parents were outside watching as she walked with their mouths wide open. They told us that she has never walked more than a couple of feet on her own in her entire life. It was a miracle of God that she was able to walk as she did and they even admitted to that.

During our week in El Salvador, we saw several different miracles, including ones with some of the men with us. God is still in the healing business and wants everyone to be saved.

There were two major things I learned on this trip. One is that if we pray and believe, God can heal and does heal. Two, if I am willing to travel to another country, act a little crazy dancing and acting to share the gospel there, I need to be willing to do the same right here in America.

With all of this, I want to encourage you to pray about going on a short mission’s trip to somewhere in the world. I also want to encourage you to be bold and courageous to share the gospel message with the people you meet each day. People are dying without Jesus, and they need you and I to tell them how they can be saved and have an abundant life, even with no physical things.