Orphanage in El Salvador - Red Village Church

Hey Church,

This morning Brian and Merry gave us some updates from their son Trevor and Erika and their work with the orphans in El Salvador. Here is a post from Trevor that gives us a little more detail on their work!

I am Trevor and I am a missionary down in Central America, in a small country called El Salvador. I first came down here in Jan of 2010 for two months. I then went back to the States but was then asked to return in August of 2010. My 8th day here I was cutting with a grinder saw and the blade flung off and hit the tendon underneath my knee cap cleanly cutting it to the bone. I stayed in El Salvador and wondered why God had me cut my tendon my 8th day. But because of my leg being in a cast I was not able to work so it slowed me down and through this I had time to meet my wife (Erika). We married in Dec of 2010 and have been married now for 4 years. We have been blessed with two children, my first Theophilus (3 yrs) and my second Esther (1.5yrs). Both my children have dual citizenship of the USA and El Salvador because my wife is Salvadorian.

We are serving in an orphanage called La Casa de Mi Padre. My wife wife and I in the future (Lord willing) will be house parents to 6 or 8 orphaned children. The children will move into our home (which the foundation will build) and we will become a family. The foundation’s goal is to show the kids what a family looks like. The best way to do this is to become a family. In this country adoption is very difficult so this is why we are setting this up in an orphanage setting. The difference is, we aren’t just going to have a warehouse full of kids. The goal is to build many homes on a 28 acre property that they bought and in each home have parents and then bring in 6 to 8 orphans to be a part of those parents family. We want these kids to see what a Christ like family looks like, what the role of the father, mother and siblings is, and how they solve problems together. Giving them real life and a real family that loves them.

In this country the family structure has been completely destroyed after 12years of civil war back in the 90’s, migration to US and gangs; about 80 percent of homes don’t have a father. The boys are getting recruited to join the gangs MS13 and 18th street which get them involved in drug dealing, crime and extortion. We want to bring back the family structure according to what the word of God says. Because of the loss of the father in the home a lot of these kids have been victims of abuse. Many men come and go from their homes where they used to live and would sickly take advantage of the children. The stat for sexual abuse in this country is super high, so we are also giving these kids a safe environment to heal. This is not an easy task but I pray that we will endure to the end in all that we do, truly for Christ! If the children do have family members who are not a threat to them, we try to work with these family members to reunite the family.

The construction of these houses in the farm will start in March and hopefully will be done by the end of the year. As of now, the foundation rents 2 houses next to each other to take care of 8 boys and 10 girls. While we wait for the houses to be built and kids to be assigned to us, we serve as “Respite House Parents” to help the other 2 couples that oversee the boys and girls house to get their annual vacations and longer weekends to spend with their own kids. We are also learning a lot from them and local child care regulations. I have recently started a carpentry class with 5 of the big boys and during the weekdays Erika helps them with homework. The foundation is also visited by short term mission teams throughout the year. I guide them through a work project, which has mainly been construction. Erika helps translate when requested.

These are the Links of the Foundation “La Casa de Mi Padre” or “My Father’s house”

Visit our website- <http://www.mfh-elsalvador.org/> www.mfh-elsalvador.org

Find us on FB- La Casa de mi Padre

BLOG- <http://lcdmp.wordpress.com/> http://lcdmp.wordpress.com/