Saleeby Family in El Salvador

Last Wednesday we picked up Joseph, Christy and girls at their hotel and they had lunch with us at our apartment.  Stephen taught them his card tricks while Christy and I prepared quesadillas.

In the afternoon, we met the team at the church so we could go to the orphanage with them.  Even though it was extremely hot and the trip was long, the girls were real troopers.  Since it is a government orphanage, only Guillermo had his camera; everyone else left their phones/cameras on the bus.  

The evening ended at Pollos Real, where Christy and the girls ate pupusas for the first time!  As usual, they were a hit!

Juntos Together--Remar Orphanage

For the second time in two weeks we went to see the kids at the Remar Orphanage.  This time it took two buses, two vans and a SUV to get everyone (more than 125 of us) and everything up the hill.

Lucy, the house mom, was so excited to see what we bought with the money Christ Chapel Bible Church left with us.  She just kept saying thank you over and over as we unloaded everything.

We didn't get there until 11:30, so we got started on lunch as soon as we arrived.  

Everyone else played a variety of games with the kids, including their version of "wet paint" Twister.  

There were so many of us we had to eat in shifts.

 After lunch we divided into teams and held a rally, with six different stations, including Bible verse (in English and Spanish), games and team cheers.

Even though everyone was worn out by the end of the time, it was an awesome day and everyone loved it.

Shopping for the Orphanage

Last Friday, we went to the Remar orphanage with the team from Christ's Chapel Bible Church.  We had a great day playing board games, playing soccer and preparing and eating lunch with them.

During the visit, the house mom and I talked about their on-going needs (clothes for the boys, personal products and kitchen supplies, specifically, pots and pans.)  I told the team leaders about the needs and we had a short brainstorming session.  They decided it would make the most sense to give us money to buy the personal products and kitchen supplies here in El Salvador.  By the time they got back to the hotel on Friday evening, they had collected $200.  As far as the clothing, they will collect it and send it down in July when their high school students come down for a week.

So, today, Guillermo and I took the $200 and went shopping.  We wanted to get the most possible with our money so we went to several shops in downtown Apopa. Since Guillermo lives in Apopa he knows all of the good places and isn't afraid to ask for discounts.

At the first stop we found the large stock pots, frying pans and other kitchen items.  After our discount the total was $102.88.  

Second stop we bargained our way to two dozen Speed Stick deodorants, a dozen bars of soap, a dozen boxes of Colgate toothpaste, six extra large bottles of shampoo and a dozen toothbrushes, which totaled $98.65  The grand total was $1.53 over our budget, but we had it covered.  (By the way, I now understand why most of the Salvadorans think PriceSmart, our Costco, is expensive!) 

We have a college team coming on Saturday, and we will be going to the orphanage on Monday.  They don't know that we're bringing these things, so I'm excited to see the smiles on their faces when we unload!

If you are interested in helping these kids, we'd love to hear from you at parrisinelsalvador@gmail.com.  

Great Week with the Team from CCBC

We had an awesome week with the team of families from Christ Chapel Bible Church in Fort Worth, Texas.  There were nine adults and ten children, most of whom were between seven and fourteen years old.

They all worked so hard sharing the forgiveness lesson at the schools in the morning and sharing door-to-door in the evenings.  The kids used the evangelism cube to share the gospel with other kids and with adults--they were not the least bit shy.

They also used "soccer" as another way to talk to the kids at the schools and in the neighborhoods--it is a universal language here in El Salvador.

On Friday we visited the boys at the Remar orphanage outside of Santa Ana.  It's always a treat for them to have visitors.  We brought food to make lunch (sandwiches, chips, watermelon, cookies, sodas) for the boys and for us.  The team brought board games (Connect 4, checkers, chess, Chinese checkers, Jenga, etc.) and one group played them with the boys, while another group played soccer, of course.  

We ended the week with a trip to Pupuseria Coty in Los Planes de Rendero, a spot high above the city of San Salvador.  Nothing like saying farewell with traditional Salvadoran food.