El Salvador Trip Report
WARNING: This report is a little long, but we did a lot in 8 days and we want to share it all with you!
During the week of Thanksgiving, toward the end of 2022, we took a small but mighty team of myself, Holly and Jacob Bollinger, and Kati Ortiz, to serve in El Salvador. We worked every day with our Links El Salvador Country Director, David Cuchillas, his wife Rebe, and their sweet daughters Grace and Cami who are 2 years old and 7 months old.
AMILAT + SHALOM + CENTRO MEDICO
Over the course of the first 5 days, we provided leadership training and empowerment to 55 leaders. These leaders are active in 12 different communities. We trained Pastors, Pastor’s wives, Hospital leaders, directors of several Compassion International sites, Youth Leaders, Ministry Leaders, Children’s Home Leaders and Care Givers, Business Leaders, and ourselves.
We were also asked to share for the Christian School's Thanksgiving lunch to close out the school year, so we were able to pray for and encourage students from the school and all of the teachers.
Last but not least, we spent time with 25 kids in the orphanage. After 6 years, myself and the teams I have taken are among the most consistent in many of these kids lives. They are learning life skills, farming, cosmetology, budgeting, banking, etc to help them get ready for life after the orphanage.
Kati and Holly facilitated a training for caregivers of special needs kids. She taught them appropriate self-defense, overall best practices for caring for these children, and she provided communication charts where the kids could point to pictures instead of throwing tantrums or gesturing. They immediately were able to use these and experienced a new level of empowerment. There is a lot more work to do in this area in the future. They’re trying to recruit Kati for a much longer visit!
We hosted three different training days focused on biblical encouragement, leaders knowing their leadership voices and empowering them in growing in their strengths, identifying their weaknesses, and working together as teams in the context they are called.
CORINTO CHURCH & COMMUNITY
Many people asked about this, and I know you were praying. Not long before we got there, the president signed an executive order arresting all of the gang leaders for 20-30 years. Now, on streets I had walked before navigating gang members with machine guns, there was quiet. There was peace. The people called this a miracle. I preached on the 'Glory of God' including two passages from 1 & 2 Corinthians. I didn’t remember their community was called “Corinto.” So, they are literally...the Corinthians. It was an incredibly powerful time of worship and fellowship in that community.
After that, we went with the Pastor and his wife to a different neighborhood where Corinto Church is starting a new church and we assembled and distributed 40 water filters kits to 40 families. This allowed us to share the GOOD NEWS of Jesus with them as they came and we prayed for every family as we also taught them how to use the filter kits. Over 200 people there will now have clean water in their homes for around 2 years. Prayer and water were a tremendous blessing to them and to all of us.
Watch a brief clip of the worship service at Corinto
COSTA DEL SOL
Over the last few days, we hosted a 2-Day Pastor’s Retreat for Pastors/Leaders and their wives which is something we’ve talked about doing for years, and it was incredible.
“When I came into this place, I immediately broke down into tears. I immediately knew that God sees me and that the work I am doing matters. This is one of the best experiences of my life.” - Pastor's Wife
One of the most powerful times was a bonfire on the beach where part of our Links team prayed for the marriages and the families of these precious pastors. Many fell to their knees in tears, husbands were praying for wives, wives were praying for husbands, and there was a moment where you felt the atmosphere change, and we just knew the Holy Spirit was at work. Jacob noticed that at the height of it when spontaneous worship broke out that the fire intensified. It was one of those ministry moments where you just know you’re a part of something special.
Listen to our Pastor’s Retreat Worship time
Listen to Rebe pray over the Pastor’s, leaders, and their wives
Watch Pastor Barillas and his wife’s testimony
These leaders had never experienced practical equipping, and they left with a fresh vision for their lives and ministry.
The feedback was overwhelming! We have been invited back to all of the places we went this time, and we have invitations from every church represented by the pastors we trained.
We have more leaders to train, more equipping to do, and these same orphans who deserve all the love and support we can give them.
All in all, the over 250 people we ministered directly to are leading or ministering to over 5,000 people in over a dozen different communities.
Thank you for praying! Thank you for those of you who donated. We are still about $1500 away from covering the expense of this trip, so your prayers or donations for that would be appreciated as well.
