Hawthorne Lane UMC

We made it to El Salvador! We are so excited to see how God will work this week through us as we encourage the local church! 

This morning we visited a local nursing home to spend time with the residents. We sang songs in both Spanish and English!! 

We helped lead worship this morning so that we could have bilingual worship. We sang a part in Spanish and then English, prayed, read the scripture reading, and then split into different groups for the morning service. 

We tried the famous pupusas for dinner. It's typical food in El Salvador and we shared time with the youth of the local church! 

Today we are helping Pastor Walter in the community of Las Brisas as they work on some church projects. We are helping clear the street of debris, and several neighbors have expressed their appreciation!

This afternoon we had a great time with the kids! We saw many of the same kids from Sunday, but we also had some new kids come. We sang This Little Light of Mine, shared about how God is light, and made lanterns. We also had a wild game of Duck Duck Goose!

We are back in the community this morning visiting families and blessing them with groceries. Some of our visits are with church members who are in need, and others are with friends or neighbors that church members know are in need. We love seeing different parts of Metapán as we visit!

Surely the locals are better at throwing the cement, but we enjoyed learning and doing it! 

We are so thankful for Pastor Sonia and Edis that cooked for us all week! The meals were delicious, we got to try Salvadorean food, and they always greated us with a smile. 

We had a wonderful goodbye service full of tears and hugs as we get ready to leave Metapán tomorrow morning. Both our churches share the same benediction, so it was a beautiful way to say goodbye. 

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26

El Salvador has 5 active volcanoes - one we are standing on and another behind us! Today we left Metapán and are getting to explore some of the beauty of this country. We are hiking the Santa Ana, or Ilamatepec, volcano which is the tallest volcano in El Salvador!

Today we are relaxing at the beach and enjoying some sunshine and fellowship time!

For our last dinner in El Salvador, we are eating more pupusas! This area is known for their rice flour pupusas, so some of us are trying them. What a great way to end the day!