These are pictures taken during my first mission trip and first time to El Salvador in March 2014! I traveled with a group of ten people from Rock City Church. As a church, Rock City donated a new pair of shoes for all of the children at the CDI in Guayabo, and our team was blessed to be able to throw the kids a party and hand out the shoes on our last day at the center.
Our late-night arrival at the airport! We got stuck in a long line at customs fora couple hours, but after a much-needed stop at Wendy’s on our way into the city, we finally made it to our hotel safe and sound.
Church on Sunday morning with all of the girls and our new friend Adriana. Pastor Victor gave the sermon that morning, and it was a very new experience for us to have earbuds in during service so we could understand the message through a translator.
The entrance sign for the CDI at the bottom of the hill. What isn’t pictured here is the steep path we had to walk up each morning to get to the center!
Clara and Sophia at the CDI. These sisters have such sweet personalities and loved to be around the missionaries and give hugs!
Amalia at the CDI
Lauren and I trying out our Spanish with Diana at the CDI. The children are usually pretty patient with us because they know we can’t speak Spanish very well.
Helping Esmeralda learn some English in the classroom. Thankfully, I knew enough Spanish at this point that I could get through my lesson without much help from a translator!
On my way to my first house visit with Nicole. This visit was about a 45 minute walk from the center, which helped us understand really quickly the daily struggle that many of the children have to go through to walk back and forth from the center to home or school.
Our team with a few locals at a lookout halfway down the mountain. The views of San Salvador from the lookout are truly spectacular!
Coloring with a couple girls at the CDI during some free time. A few of the children would hang out around the center after the others went home because they lived nearby or their mothers were helping out to clean or cook in the center.
Esmeralda receiving her new pair of shoes during our shoe give on Friday! The children were all so patient and grateful when they got their shoes, some even saved the gift paper that they were wrapped in to hang up on their wall at home. Such sweet hearts the Lord gave these kids.
First international Rock City shoe give! We were so grateful as a team to have been able to represent our church in this way and spread some love beyond our borders.
The four OSU students on our team couldn’t leave without a couple O-H-I-O pictures. This is at the bottom of the hill that leads up to the center.
Florence and Melissa, two of our fantastic local translators. All of the translators that were with us throughout the week are volunteers from IGC, and most of them took time off from school or work so that they could be with us. It was amazing to meet such a great group of people who are so willing to serve the Lord in whatever way they can.
Pastor Victor having fun with Margarita at the CDI.
I loved meeting Esmeralda and practicing English with her during the week. She is such an eager student!
Our last time seeing most of our translators before we left the CDI for the last time. We were able to sit around and thank them for their hard work that week, and it was definitely an emotional time for all of us. We are so thankful God placed them to be part of our trip that week.
Spending our last day of the trip at the beach. It was great to relax and engage in our last bits of fellowship with Victor and his family, a couple of our translators, and the other members from our Rock City team.
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