EL SALVADOR – A team of 13 people from First Baptist Church, Memphis, traveled to El Salvador last month to share the love of Christ.
This was the church’s fourth trip to the area, where they’ve partnered with churches in El Coco, El Tanque and San Isidro—small communities nestled in the mountains of the nation’s border with Guatemala.
“One of the greatest experiences of the mission trip was working side by side with Christian brothers and sisters from another culture who share a common goal in serving God,” said Pastor Dan Hite in an article he submitted to the Memphis Democrat. Each year, as the church works in El Salvador, “the bonds of fellowship grow stronger,” he added.
“Mission trips like these,” he said, “can be life changing, and it can be quite humbling to be so greatly blessed by those you go to be a blessing to.”
As in the past, the mission team from FBC, Memphis, worked with the children in these poverty-stricken communities. The missionaries from FBC Memphis, made up of 13 people of various ages (from teens to senior adults), divided into two teams to serve the three El Salvador communities. One team was invited to work in the schools in San Isidro. And in El Tanque the schools took children to the church, where they learned songs in Spanish and English, played games, made crafts and heard Bible stories.
The mission group from FBC Memphis also distributed sewing machines, medicine, stuffed animals, yarn for making yarn dolls, toothbrushes, toys and nearly 800 pairs of shoes—collected from various groups in Scotland County, Mo.
“The two teams also participated in worship services in the evening, which was another great experience,” Hite said. “The world gets much smaller when we worship and praise God with other cultures.”
Additionally, the mission group worshiped at the First Baptist Church of Chalchuapa and worked with children from a Christian school affiliated with the church.
According to the Memphis Democrat, FBC Memphis did not only bring the living water of the gospel to the people of El Salvador. They’re also playing a part in bringing clean drinking water to the El Tanque community. “A member of the mission team, Linda Blessing, is also a member of the Schuyler County Rotary Club,” the Democrat explained. “One of the primary service interests of Rotary clubs worldwide is to provide sustainable sources of clean drinking water for people in nations where this is a problem. Linda was able to make connections with Rotary Club members in El Salvador and the community leaders of El Tanque to gain local support for the project and obtain necessary information regarding the project to brink back to share with Rotary clubs in Northeast Missouri.”