The Mission Diaries

On October 31, while most of the Los Angeles metro area was celebrating in costume parties and trick-or-treating, a group of 11 missionaries was preparing to leave for El Salvador on a special journey of faith. These were members of the Turning Point ministry of the Los Angeles International Church of Christ. For one week they would join the members of the San Salvador Church of Christ in sharing their faith, serving the community, and celebrating the church’s 12th anniversary. The group was led by Jay and Traci Minor.

The missionaries stayed at the homes of local church members. They went sightseeing, they shared their faith at the University, they helped a few needy Christians from the church, they visited and served the schoolchildren at a very needy community (Suchitoto), and they participated in the church’s midweek and Anniversary services.

Here is a post from Jay Minor’s blog:

We drove into San Marcos, a neighborhood in San Salvador, where one of the families in the church lives. The famiy was a single mom named Gladys, with her two kids, Tato and Ana, with their grandmother Maria. The level of poverty that they lived in is hard to describe. The house was two rooms, and their kitchen, bathroom and laundry room were combined outside behind the house. It was the most shocking thing I have experienced in my life. I have, of course, heard about situations like this and seen things on film, but nothing compares to the experience of seeing it first hand. I was overcome with emotion and didn´t quite know what to do. So, I started watching the people we were visiting. They were so incredibly happy and grateful that we were there. I know this sounds like a cliche, but I can´t help it. We gave Tato and Ana each a stuffed animal, and their faces lit up in a way that defies description. They insisted on serving us soda that they had, and were so happy to do it. Josue, who leads the church here, was visiting their house for the first time as well, and he was just as shocked and overwhelmed as we were. We were all in tears afterwards.

Later that week the group went back to Gladys’ house, and they did a makeover of the whole place. You can see the video at this link. A tourism company had been hired to drive them around. The driver was impacted to find out that Gladys had been his teacher in elementary school! The other tour guide, a young girl, was so impacted that she decided to visit church and study the Bible. The Department of Tourism also provides armed security for tourist groups. Something inspiring happened with one of the armed guards, Armando (whom the group nicknamed “Batman”)…

One of our policeman, was telling Mariela and Teresa how, when he was given this assignment, he thought it was only going to be protecting a group of rich Americans. He never thought that he would actually feel like a part of the group himself, and be having so much fun with us and talking about God. He said that yesterday when we went to serve the disciples families, he was embarrased and humbled because his people are killing each other, while this group of foreigners is coming to his country to serve his people. He was so impacted, and he told his wife that they need to come to church with us this Sunday.

And on Sunday, he and his family were all in church! And so were four college students that the group had met during their evangelistic day at the University!

Upon their return back to L.A., Jay and a few of the missionaries shared about their trip. Turning Point members were deeply impacted by the group’s experience. Several thousand dollars were collected to send to El Salvador to help with various church and community projects. But, most importantly, a deep connection has been established, at a heart level, between the brothers and sisters of Turning Point and the church in San Salvador! Praise God for that!

You can view and hear Jay’s sermon at this link.

You can also read the rest of Jay’s blog beginning here.

You can also see photos here.

For the mission group’s visit to the Suchitoto community school, go to this video link.

J De Anda

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