Messiah College Athletics AROMA El Salvador

The first two full days in El Salvador have been packed FULL of sports, sweat, and our loving Savior. We have been working at the school, teaching PE classes and English lessons, and serving milk and cookies, leading swim and soccer practices, and sharing Jesus!

It has been so cool to see the incredible gifts each team member has been given, and even more than that, seeing those gifts be used to their best abilities. Yesterday we had hours upon hours of fun playing football, and other various PE class activities. Furthermore, many of the team members did a stellar job teaching English to multiple classes, and served with the most humble hearts in doing so. As with the other activities, passing out milk and cookies was also a very cool and humbling experience, as many of the students who received the snack would most likely get no other food that day. In addition, when the lines of students settled down, team members had the opportunity to share pure joy with Preschoolers- a language that has no barriers.

Day two:

We woke up VERY sore and very excited for another day at the school. We split up PE classes into stations, giving team members the ability to focus more on teaching the sport God has placed as a passion in their life. The track stars led amazing classes, filled with races, games, and some of the biggest hearts this world has seen. In addition, the tennis champs filled class time with awesome relays, coordination drills, and lots of laughter, while the Lacrosse crew brought a whole new sport to the school- and it was a HUGE hit! The kids undeniably had a fantastic time, and the team members feel the same way.

While many of the team members finished out the day of teaching PE, several of us trekked over to the National Pool facilities, where we had the opportunity to lead a dryland and in-water practice (complete with a fun group relay to end out the day!).

Several of the team members, Emily and Autumnn, were able to share their testimonies and Brian, from Sawyer, shared the gospel message and an invitation for salvation. One thing that we have been learning is that we are not the ones who plant the seeds of Jesus’s grace in people’s hearts, but we can water them. We have no idea where people are at when they hear the Gospel but if we share with a servant’s heart God will bless that.

Furthermore, the other team members were able to teach more English lessons tonight, while a few went to teach soccer, give sneakers, and share the loving care of Jesus through testimonies. Connor had the opportunity to share his story with the group of children, and as he spoke, Devin was able to translate for him. It was great to see them connecting with the kids and breaking language barriers while sharing the Gospel.

God is so good! It has only been two days, but God is moving in incredible ways. We are all excited to see where God leads us the rest of this week! Thank you all for the prayers!

Here are several pics taken from the past two days! Enjoy!