Stepping outside of the airport in El Salvador and realizing what it means to feel “different” was the first thing that hit me. I couldn’t just talk to whoever I wanted whenever I wanted. At first I had a hard time dealing with the language barrier but as the days went on, it didn’t matter anymore that I didn’t speak the same language as most of the people, its was like God connected us in a way that we didn’t have to talk to understand.

So many times on the trip, I had to step outside of my comfort zone. I ate food that i had no idea what it really was, I played soccer for about the second time ever, I put my life in the hands of one of the world’s most terrifying drivers, and I spoke in front of a ton people to give my testimony. But God was with me through all of it. And my faith in Him began to grow stronger and stronger.

On Sunday, at the first church service we attended, Pastor Kevin told everyone to get in to groups of 4 or 5 to pray.  As we went around our small circles each of us said one thing we needed God’s help with. I told my group that I needed His wisdom. I had never really prayed out loud for someone before, especially someone I didn’t know, so I asked God to give me wisdom and courage for what to say when I prayed. God really does answer our prayers, because He answered mine and I felt His sprit come over me when Pastor Kevin asked us to line up at the front of the church to pray for people. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but it was like all the fear and nerves I had about praying for someone, vanished. And I knew God was right there with me.

Thursday, June 2, 2011, is a day I will never forget. I saw people with little money and poor living conditions worshiping good with a greater passion than I have ever had. And you can tell those people don’t lose hope when they don’t receive exactly what they ask for right when they ask for it like I have so many times. They don’t take for things for granted like I do everyday. I realized how selfish of a person I am as saw girls my age worshiping God with everything they had. And right before, Pastor Kevin told our team that many of those girls go home everyday to be abused or molested by someone. My heart broke for those girls. I don’t know yet if foreign missions is exactly my calling. But some part of me got really excited when I thought about opening a home for girls who live in abusive situations everyday. For now I’ll just listen to what God tells me.

For most of the week it was hot and sweaty, there were bugs crawling all over the place, and I never really got the smell of pupusas out of my clothes. But if i had this trip to do all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I believe the missions trip to El Salvador 2011 affected each team member differently. At the beginning of the week I wasn’t so sure a change was going to happen to me at all, but I prayed that I would grow closer to God. And that’s exactly what happened.

I want to take a second to thank everyone who made this trip possible for me. I want to thank my leaders, Matthew Griffin and Je’anna Smith, for being there and setting an amazing example for the team. Thank you Kevin and Stephanie Stewart, you guys are my heroes. You dedicated your lives to El Salvador and I want to thank you for allowing me to be apart of your mission for a week. I want to thank my family and friends for funding me and supporting me and my trip. Thank you to the people whom I don’t even know that help me get to El Salvador. Thank you for the donation, thank you for buying cups, and candles, and catfish dinner.  And most of all thank you to everyone who prayed for me. Thank you, everyone who sent me their love and blessings, even for just one second. Thank you for the lives you helped change. The ones in El Salvador, and my own. Thank you.

One word to describe the trip to El Salvador? Life-changing. I would give up anything to go back.  I was a little nervous about going at first, but now I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

One thing that really touched my life was the tremendous faith in God that I saw in the Salvadorians. Even with the poor living conditions that most had, the still put all of their trust in God. It was really awesome to watch so many people come forward for prayer during our services. They believe in miracles and our amazing God more than anyone I have ever met. They know that He can do all things and that He is greater and bigger than all things. I believe that we, as Americans, have lost some of that faith in God. We take everything for granted. Did you know the people in El Salvador live on $2 a day? Most of the students suffer abuse and molestation every single night when they go home. Even though those terrible things are happening to them, they still believe God can help them through it all.

There was one moment during the trip when God tested MY faith. On our free day, we went to a ropes course that stood 15 ft. in the air. I am terrified of heights. Terrified. We were harnessed to some ropes attached to a thick wire so that we couldn’t fall to our deaths. But it wasn’t very tight so we really couldn’t even tell it was there. We just had to know that it was going to hold us up.

I really had to put my trust in that harness. That was a huge step for me. I cried at times and there were moments when I thought I couldn’t do it, but by my faith in that harness and the guidance of others I was able to make it through.

Pastor Kevin, the missionary we worked with during the week, made a comparison of the harness to God and the ropes course to our walk with Him. We may be faced with challenges in our lives, but we can’t give up. We may think that we can’t go any farther, but we must keep going. We may cry a few tears now and then, but that can’t stop us. We have to put all of our trust in God and he will protect us. We must have faith in good times and bad. God is always there no matter what. He sends us people in our lives to help us along in our walk with Him.

Trust in God and all things will work out for the best because His plan is bigger than any of us could ever even imagine.

El Salvador is a part of me now. I love every part of that country. While I was there God spoke to me through the Salvadorians and also the testimonies of my own team. I shared my testimony for the first time and it was extremely powerful. To know that my testimony impacted the people was such a blessing. God confirmed my calling on this trip. People have prophesied over me that “my feet would be the feet of man who would walk the nations and tell about God’s word.” I never knew it for myself though. Being on a foreign missions trip most definitely confirmed it. Missions is my passion and I would do anything to be across sea’s right now. But that made me realize, why can’t I do that right now while I’m home? The need for salvation is everywhere. So while I’m here in the U.S. I can be sharing my testimony and love for God.

- Dylan Renfro

“You left your mark on me, El Salvador”

I decided at the last minute that I wanted to go to El Salvador. I had thought about it but never really considered going. Then my mom asked me if I had thought about it, and that made me ask Pastor Matthew if it was too late to sign up. Of course, Matthew said that it wasn’t too late.

The next 2 months or so went by quickly because of finals and then the first few weeks of summer. Before I knew it, it was the Friday night before I would get on the plane to a foreign country. I hadn’t prepared myself for it like I wished I had – mentally or physically. Physically wasn’t that big of a deal. But mentally and emotionally, I really wished I had spent more time with God the weeks before we left. However, by being unprepared, it allowed God to work in my life in ways that I did not expect.

There are a lot of things that I could talk about in this post… but I think I’m going to focus on the four main things that I got out of this missions trip. Four things that just stood out to me and will come to mind every time I think about El Salvador.

1. Faith.
This seemed like a theme for the whole trip to me. I think every member of the team was amazed at the faith of the Salvadorian people.  They have to put ALL of their faith in God for so many things. It was a blessing to see their tremendous faith. And it made me realize how much more faith I need to put in God.

2. The second point kind of adds on to the first point. My eyes were opened to their living conditions in El Salvador. In the back of my mind, I knew how they lived. But at the same time, actually seeing it in person is a completely different experience. Despite how they live, these people still praise and thank God for everything that they have. In fact, they are more thankful for the little things that they have. In return, I am trying to be more aware of how blessed I am. I have a mansion of a house compared to the Salvadorians. I have air conditioning, clean and hot water, plenty of food, a car, etc. The list could go on and on. From now on, I am going to try to appreciate everything that I have been blessed with.

3. My purpose.
A lot of the members on this trip realized that they wanted to be foreign missionaries. For me, I know that it is not for me (unless God decides to tell me something different). I love reaching people and I will definitely go on another missions trip if the opportunity presents itself (and I’m sure it will). But when most of the group wanted to stay in El Salvador forever, I was ready to come back home. If I’m called to missions, I know God will give me the strength to do it, but I just don’t feel that calling. I’m not sure exactly what my purpose is yet but I know I am getting closer to figuring it out. Pastor Kevin prayed over me and through him I think God revealed part of his plan for my life and what my strengths are.

Also, I realized my impact on the people. We did a school assembly at one school that has a lot of kids in gangs. Pastor Kevin said that they have been ministering to these kids for two years. And that our alter call response was the biggest one that they have ever had at this particular school. Hearing this just really made me realize how much impact our group had. And that the same human videos that we had done over and over again could touch people’s lives.

4. Finally, I pushed myself to do things on this trip that I wasn’t comfortable with and things that I never thought I’d do.

For starters, I played soccer at the beginning of the week. Now, Deborah does not play sports. Why? Because Deborah is not good at sports. Regardless, we all had to play (they forced us. We had no control over it…). Surprisingly, I actually had fun playing soccer even though I wasn’t that good at it and we definitely did not win. But I gave it everything I had and did my best. And I was proud of myself for that.

Then, on our free day we went zip-lining down a mountain and then completed a ropes course. I’m not going to lie; I am pretty much a pansy when it comes to these kinds of things. I used to hate roller coasters (Thank you Jesus I’m over that) and I am just really hesitant when it comes to anything like that. But again, surprisingly I was excited about zip-lining down the mountain. And I accomplished that with no trouble. And it was awesome.

Now, the ropes course was a different story. I thought I was going to be okay, but once I climbed up and it was time for me to step out… I couldn’t do it. I didn’t like the way it felt, it was unsteady and it freaked me out. Eventually, I completed the first obstacle. After that, it was pretty smooth for me. That is until I got to the green ropes. Oh, how I hate those green ropes. There were four or five green ropes that you had to step on and swing to the next one. Something inside me hates that swinging sensation when I am 25 feet in the air. I can’t explain it, but it just terrified me. I finally did it without a problem and finished the ropes course. Thinking back, it seems silly that I was so scared of the green ropes, but at the same time… I remember how it felt and I still don’t like it. However, I am so proud of myself for overcoming my fear. In the future, when God wants me to do something that I don’t like… I know I am just going to have to trust in him and just step out in faith.

This was actually tested on Sunday when we got back and shared our testimonies in church. Pastor Matthew asked us all to come up to the front and if anybody needed prayer, we were the ones to pray for them. I don’t like praying out loud for people. I feel like I won’t say the right words or that I don’t have enough words and it’ll be really short. But I had to put all that aside, and remember everything that I had overcome on this trip, and when someone walked up and wanted me to pray for them. I prayed for them and expected God to do miracles. Just like the Salvadorians.

This trip has given me courage and taught me to trust in God when I feel like I’m in over my head. I loved getting to know every person on this trip. Every person touched my life with their testimonies and how God changed their lives. I am thankful for everyone who made it possible for all of us to go to El Salvador. I am so blessed to have been able to go to a foreign country and minister to people that I’ve never met and probably will never see again.

If you have a chance to go on a missions trip, TAKE IT! Don’t miss the opportunity. You won’t ever regret taking the opportunity to change lives for Christ. I know that I won’t ever regret going to El Salvador. It has left its mark on me. I am forever changed.

This wasn’t my first missions trip. This wasn’t my first time to see extreme poverty. This wasn’t the first time that I’ve been in a place where I only knew .000000001% of a language. However, this was the first time in my life that God completely messed up my little world and made me realize how blessed I truly am.

In the several months of planning this trip, trying fundraiser after fundraiser, and searching for answers to questions that I wasn’t sure the answers to made my flesh desire that this trip come and go. Yeah I prayed and fasted f0r this trip, but deep down I felt that the sooner this trip came the faster the burden would be lifted off me. I was dead wrong. I was wrong to harbor such thoughts and emotions. I was wrong to think that the burden would be erased. Despite the joy of returning home to my beautiful wife and son, I left El Salvador knowing I must do more…that my family must do more. No, I’m not packing the bags and leaving for San Salvador, but seeing such great needs and great results of ministry, left me with such a good burden to carry.

I’m happy to say it. I enjoy this burden. Burdens seem to carry such a negative connotation, but even Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 ²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

I strongly encourage every believer to take at least one foreign missions trip sometime in their life. It will completely humble and bless those who are willing to sacrifice the time and money to do such great things.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Since the days after Christ ascended into Heaven, Christians have been long awaiting for His return. Many New Testament authors, such as Paul & Peter, were eagerly awaiting Christ’s return in their lifetime, but it never happened.

For the past year Harold Camping, an 89 year old retired civil engineer, has predicted doomsday on Earth to fall on May 21st. It didn’t happen.

Here is the difference between Peter and Paul vs. Harold Camping. Peter and Paul encouraged all believers to be watching and waiting in anticipation for the return of Christ. Mr. Camping blatantly ignored Matthew 24:36 when he made his bold prediction of Christ’s return for His Church. If Jesus Christ doesn’t even know when He is returning how does Mr. Camping know?

Here’s the deal for you and I. We are not to worry about when Christ will return. We are not to even predict his return. This would put us on the same level as your local gypsy, or better yet this lady.

Nothing like someone telling your future by looking at cards

The only thing we should be focused on is what Matthew 28 tells us…Go and make disciples. If you are right with Christ expect with excitement the return of Christ, but until He does return, do what He commanded all of His followers to do!