Love & Hope Children’s Home has already been blessed with visits from three teams this spring and we look forward to a couple more in the coming months.
At the beginning of March, Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) sent a spring break team for the 9th year in a row! The students and faculty from OWU are always dynamic, fun and motivated, accomplishing a lot in just one week. This year was no different. The OWU team’s main project was at the Escuela de Educacion Especial de Santa Tecla (School for Special Education of Santa Tecla). The team cleaned and painted an entire building, put in two new basketball hoops and did minor maintenance projects on the school grounds. They worked very hard to finish the job and the school was very grateful!
The members of the OWU team were also great about playing with and getting to know the Love & Hope kids. Almost every afternoon and evening, several of the team members gathered the kids in a circle to play a dancing game. A few of the kids still randomly start singing the rhyme (in English) that went along with the game: “Little Sally Walker walkin’ down the street…” Thanks OWU for another great week!
In mid-April, a group of girls from Maryvale Preparatory School in Maryland visited Love & Hope Children’s Home for Holy Week. This was Maryvale’s first time in El Salvador, and their timing was perfect. The Love & Hope kids have Holy Week off from school, so the Maryvale girls did a great job of keeping everyone busy and entertained. They planned games, a talent show, water fights and other activities for the kids all week. 
Maryvale also planned and executed a two day vacation Bible school for the children of a nearby community. Some of Love & Hope’s older girls helped translate and lead games. Afterward, the team served lunch to their new friends at the community. We can’t wait to see you again next year, Maryvale!
A group from Agape Christian Academy visited Love & Hope at the end of April. Our children were looking forward to this team, having met many of the members last year and communicating with them via letters (pen pals) and Facebook ever since. Agape planned a mini vacation Bible school for our children in the evenings. They did Bible lessons, a craft and a puppet show. They also reached out to a nearby community with a lesson and a meal. Agape finished off their week in El Salvador with a pizza party for everyone! Thanks for another great visit, Agape!
Thank you to OWU, Maryvale and Agape for sharing your students with us this spring. We had a blast!