DAY 1
We landed last night, and made it to the hotel safely.  We want to thank you for your prayers.  Today we went to the inner urban area of El Salvador to the First Assembly of God Church and Compassion Project site.  We were greeted with the smiles and cheers of 200 Compassion sponsored children.  They lead us (in Spanish) in worship, and we got the opportunity to see the project where they are growing spiritually, physically and socially.  Then we had the opportunity to eat lunch with the staff memebers at the project .  The food was absolutely delicious, and the spices were a great representation of the El Salvador culture, we also had an opportunity to find out about the fear of gang activity that is predominant in the urban part of the city.  After lunch we split into three seperate groups and traveled through the city to three different homes of three Compassion sponsored children.  All of us have been changed by what we experienced going into the homes of these children, and have so much to be thankful for.  We are now resting at the hotel, and will be meeting with Compassion officials for dinner to learn more about their projects here in El Salvador.

NEW photos of our trip have been added to the photo page.  Click HERE to see them.

Blessings!
PJ

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DAY 2
Well friends, today we experienced poverty at it's absolute worse.  The day began early, at 7:45.  Most of you, who know us, understand that that is absolutely early for us (hahaha)!  We entered the project and was greeted by the children with balloons and confetti.  The smiles on the faces of all of the children have been amazing.  We have never smiled so much, nor felt the love of God so strongly, as we have on this day.  On our way to the school Ryan picked out a child to sponsor.  When we got to the project, they had a surprise for Ryan...  His child was there at the project so he had an opportunity to meet the child, and then later go to the child's home to see what the living conditions were.  Randall and Chad had a much different experience as they traveled up a mountain to a nearby village.  The homes in this village were made of only sheet metal and adobe, and had dirt floors.  Today we physically hugged as many kids as we possibly could, and tried our best to share the love of Jesus to everyone we came in contact with.  The day ended at the El Salvador Compassion office where we sang our brand new Compassion song, "Will You Be The One?".  The song was received.  We are very thankful for what everyone at the El Salvador Compassion Office is doing for these children.

More photos have been updated on the photo page.  Click HERE to see them.

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DAY 3
The day was so full, and started even earlier than yesterday.  We began at 7:00 a.m. on the bus, headed to our project of the day.  We drove almost two hours out of the heart of the city.  Just as every other day, we arrived to the cheers and smiles of nearly two hundred children.  Today was even more special for Randall because he was honored with an opportunity to meet his Compassion child.  His name is Bryan.  When they called Bryan to the front, and told him that Randall had sponsored him, he broke into tears and just hugged on Randall for at least ten solid minutes.  Randall and Bryan spent the morning together with the rest of the Compassion group.  Then Ryan and Randall had the opportunity to go to Bryan's home to see his living conditions.  We left the project a little later than expected, and went back to the hotel.  Then we met for a business dinner.  During dinner children who had already graduated from the Compassion program spoke about the program, and how it had changed their lives.  Today, day three, was a day that we were able to see how Compassion is truly bringing HOPE to the lives of these children.

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DAY 4
We checked out of the hotel that we have been staying in, and traveled two more hours out of town in the volcanic mountains of El Salvador.  When we arrived at a local cafe there were two sponsored children, and their project directors and family, waiting on the steps to meet us.  The two children were Clara and Antonio, Rod's Compassion children.  Rod had gifts ready for them and they spent the afternoon getting to know on another.  To say that Rod's hear twas full, was an understatement.  We then traveled on to one of the most beautiful "hidden away" lodges than any of us have ever experienced before.  We had a delicious dinner and got to meet two young adults that had graduated from Compassion projects.  They lead us in amazing worship, and we spent the remainder of the night encouraging the children.  What was so amazing is that we were there to encourage those young adults, but we ended up leaving with our cups running over.  We then gathered around the pool in a large group and reflected on the trip, as a whole, and how it has changed all of our lives.  We also discussed what we will take home from this experience.

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DAY 5
We checked out of our lodge today, had breakfast and got on the bus.  We got to the airport in El Salvador in plenty of time to make it to our flight.  The flight was extremely smooth and we have made it home safely.

We want to thank all of you for your prayers during our trip to El Salvador.  You can be assured that we will be working on a presentation that will reflect our experience of this week to you, our faithful friend.  May God keep and bless you greatly!

Click HERE to see the photos from our El Salvador Trip!

Paul's Journey

El Salvador Mission

El Salvador Day 2

El Salvador Day 3