When Marta from El Salvador taught a new youth group game to the other students at the Buenos Aries campus of the EJ Institute for youth leaders, the game needed to be played in a shopping center. At first I was surprised; most youth group games are designed either for a room or for outside. Then I remembered that El Salvador is a unique setting: the violence of twelve years of civil war has been replaced with gang and drug related violence.
This matters more to us right now because we're on our way to El Salvador.
We're looking forward to seeing Marta again and to eating pupusas in their country of origin. But we're most excited about having 10 days to train youth leaders from Central America alongside our friend and partner, Felix Ortiz. No country likes to be defined by its darkest moments, nonetheless, as we were reminded by Marta, as we teach Biblical principal of discipleship, we cannot ignore the difficult realities of life here.
El Salvador is the smallest, most densely populated country in Central America and is in particular need for youth ministry because the largest segment of the population (6.2 million people) is between 10 and 14 years of age.
We appreciate your prayers as we head into this new chapter of our adventures.
1 comment:
we are praying - it is a huge and worthy task
Post a Comment