About two years ago, a teaching position at the British School brought our friends Rob and Sarah to El Salvador from England. Shortly after, we met them at the Union Church of San Salvador. They seemed excited at the prospect of becoming involved at Love & Hope Children’s Home and we were too! They quickly offered or were willing to do more and more for us and we love having them around.
In a couple weeks, Rob and Sarah are moving back to England to be closer to their friends and family “across the pond.” Love & Hope has been so very blessed by their relationship, presence and the love they have for our kids. Here are some of the fun things we got to do with them over the last year.
They came and hung out with us during our ¡CINCOKILOMETRO! 5k run last October.
Rob and Sarah dressed up as Father Christmas and an elf on Christmas eve. They hid on the roof and then came down the stairs to surprise everyone with new pajamas! They even slept over and spent Christmas morning at Love & Hope.
As a math teacher, Rob has been tutoring Jocelyn in math and statistics once a week for the last six months. We are so grateful for his help and equally proud of Jocelyn, who is earning higher grades than ever in math (or as the Brits would say, “maths”)! It has also been great to see the special relationship that Jocelyn has formed with Rob and Sarah as she spends time at their house every week. She is pretty sad they are leaving El Salvador (but also has a new interest in visiting England one day).
A couple weeks ago during a “career night” Sarah took time to share with all of the Love & Hope kids about her profession, midwifery. She kept the kids very engaged and everyone learned something new about caring for pregnant women and delivering babies.
Every Sunday after church, Rob and Sarah, along with two new friends that they introduced us to, James and Manjit, take a few of the kids on an outing or to their house to have some fun. Every week was different. The older girls went bowling, others ate pupusas (and read the newspaper- see below), Rob and Sarah shared their Wii, and there was even some homemade pizza making involved! We loved that our kids got to spend time with them every weekend.
As a way to say goodbye, Rob and Sarah took us all to the beach last weekend. It was a wonderful time playing in the ocean and the pool, enjoying a meal together, and spending time with this awesome couple.
Thank you Rob and Sarah for spending so much time with us over the last year. The relational way in which you have blessed us is irreplaceable and we will miss you so much! ¡Buen viaje y que Dios les bendiga! Have a good trip and God bless you!