The first thing we noticed is that its changed a lot since we were last there. The cafeteria, main worship hall and administration building remains but they built a new "house" like building, renovated the nursery/childrens center, put concrete on a new quad area and were in the middle of construction for a new workshop (just the metal beams were in place).
There were also a lot of kids running around as there was a christmas toy giveaway event going on while we were there. Two churches, one from SD and one from SB were there to help run the event. We met pastors from both churches as well as volunteers from each church. It was nice to see others joining in the work and helping out. They both have been involved with Centro Shalom for 10+ years. We were the newbies.
Pastor Fernando spent two hours with us, giving us a tour of the new buildings. As we walked through he gave us the history of the buildings and what they were being used for. He showed us two rooms, one which was used to teach women how to dew clothes and one which was used to teach computer skills. He said they teach women how to sew and if they finish the program, they are given a sewing machine with which to use to make a living. The computer lab was mainly laptops and they are trying to teach computer skills to the children and community but he mentioned that they need computer teachers to help out.
He mentioned that the landscape of the immediate neighborhood has changed. Because of major flooding, many families' homes were washed out and instead of rebuilding, the government erected flood control walls of dirt. So most of the families that were living near Centro Shalom had to re-locate. It was quite a drastic change from what we remembered. This also meant that since many were no w further away it was more difficult for them to get to Centro Shalom. To alleviate this, they bough 3 school buses and they bus in the kids for service and other events.
We saw the nursery, which was just being renovated when we last visited 3 years ago. It was an amazing transformation. It was clean, beautifully painted and very inviting to young children.
Pastor Fernando showed us the skeleton of a building which they plan to use to create workshops to teach men carpentry and other useful hands on skills.
In the middle of the day, pastor Fernando collected some of the children that we sponsor and brought them to us for us to meet and talk to. I got to share why we are involved in the child sponsorship program and at the end we took pictures together. It was the highlight of the day.
We walked across the street from Centro Shalom and Pastor Fernando showed us a big empty lot that he is praying to purchase. He hopes to build a new multi-purpose center there where they can have service as well as use it as a gym and other activities.
We didn't get to see pastor Salvadore because he was visiting a church in California with his new wife. We got to meet one of the youth pastora, who himself is not much older than the youth. One of the blessing of Centro Shalom is that they have so many children coming but one of the challenges has been that they have no adult staff other than Pastor Fernando and Salvadore.
At the end, pastor Fernando, took us to his office and shared a bit more about his testimony, his ministry and vision. He challenged us to get involved and visit more often and we pledged to do so. We gave him a check so that they could buy blankets and distribute to the community. hopefully they will be able to get about 200 blankets. We also asked him to come visit us and speak and share with our congregation and he said he would.
It was a great time, despite the 3.5 hour wait at the border to get back home. We were so touched and blessed to see how the Lord is providing for the ministry. We realized once again how important it is we receive with one hand and give with the other. And we were renewed in our conviction about partnering, serving together and returning to help in the work that is taking place in Centro Shalom.
Thank you all for your prayers and support for this ministry. I hope you'll see from these pictures and our visit that God is at work and is using your giving to help people in need. Praise God for the work he is doing there! May many souls continue to come to find the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and may God also raise up leaders and shepherds to take care of the flocks as the need is great there.
Link to more photos of our trip: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxuMMiZ
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