Porters Across the Borders

August Mission Team

(Reprinted from September 2011 Newsletter - with additional Slide Show)

In August, our first mission team arrived from Vancouver, Washingtion. They were from our home church of Calvary Chapel, Vancouver. We spent a lot of time planning and preparing for this team. The Lord really blessed as we saw all the details come together. The group consisted of six adults and six high school youth. They spent a very full week here. The theme of their trip was, "Faith in Action", and they had a real opportunity to live out James 1:27 while they were here. They worked on the house of a dear friend of ours, who is a single mother with four daughters. She lived in a house with a dirt floor, and a very leaky roof. Our team covered her dirt floor with a beautiful concrete floor and replaced her leaky roof with a new metal roof. Their hard work was a huge blessing to this family. Concrete is very hard work and especially when you have to mix it by hand. But, all the team pitched in, including all of the young ladies. It was a real accomplishment for them. Also, later in the week, the team visited an orphanage where they worked during the day doing a deep cleaning of the building. Then, in the afternoon all the girls on the team took all the girls from the orphanage to a night of sharing, pizza and pedicures. It was neat to see the team taking the time to minister to these girls and bless them by washing their feet and sharing Jesus. The team also brought with them a large, generous donation of pre-folded cloth diapers (which are unavailable in El Salvador) to give to Lovelink, the Baby House. Julie welcomed us, shared the story of the history of the Baby House, and gave the team a tour. She and the staff were overwhelmed by the gift. Those babies really touched everyone’s hearts. If that wasn’t enough, they also held an outreach at the town plaza with a skateboard demonstration and sharing the gospel through drama and teaching. Another night, we held a youth service at a local church and invited all the young people from every church to come for a night of worship and sharing in the word. Our youth leader, Cameron Silsbee did a great job speaking at both events. The response was tremendous and the time of worship in song, was wonderful. It was such a blessing to see all these youth raising their hands, and passionately praising God, alongside our team. Kathy was responsible for putting together and planning for the worship team, and God really brought great people together to help in this. I know that the team went home extremely tired but encouraged to see how much God can use them to bless the lives of others. Their hearts were touched by the people they came to serve. I don’t think they will ever be the same. Cam and Hannah did a great job leading this team. Jonah, Maddie and Chrisitna had a great time of much needed fellowship with dear friends. We are looking forward to next year! We praise God for this fruitful, blessed week of ministry with this sweet, hard-working group of adults and youth!