Missionary Moment: When Love Hits Home

By Barbara Rowe, missionary in El Salvador

“Cool haircut,” I say to David as he comes into the kitchen. He quickly gives a dramatic swish of the head and strikes a side pose, and I laugh. Minutes later he has found an old bent watercolor brush which he holds next to his head. “Meet my little brother,” he says, which elicits another hearty laugh. When I come to his room to say goodnight, he quickly shushes me, pointing to his paintbrush “little brother” who is “sleeping” on the bed.

David is clearly gifted with a quirky sense of humor that makes him a natural comedian. He is the fourteen-year-old son of our newest CFCI missionary, Alex, who moved in mid-last year. Alex’s family joined us at the beginning of the school year. The move was not only a practical decision but also a strategic one. The neighborhood where the family was living is a dangerous one. Murders and gun-battles are commonplace, and the family was living in an insecure tin house.

For this reason, late last year I took funds from my retirement account to add two more bedrooms and a bathroom to my house.
I felt the Holy Spirit leading me in this direction so I could receive Alex and David and the rest of the family.

Anyone who has done construction on a house while living in it will understand how stressful this can be, but we are now reaping the rewards of having the much-needed extra space. I love the fresh breeze that comes through my bedroom, as well as my little balcony that looks out over the walkway in front of the house. It is a great place to read my Bible, pray, and plan. The kids and Veronica are thrilled to have real rooms; their old tin house had no private space. Alex is content to be reunited with his family in a safe neighborhood; we are pleased that we can receive friends, family, and short-term missionaries from the States in our guest room.

For us, this house in this neighborhood is a safe haven, a place to relax after a demanding day of ministry, and to cultivate love, laughter, and a life pleasing to God.

In his old neighborhood, David was at highest risk, as a teenage Salvadoran boy. The local gang would likely have put great pressure on him to join, threatening him if he refused. And there was always the risk of getting caught in the crossfire. In addition to the stress and challenge of raising David, Alex and his wife are raising his younger sister, Johana, and Abigail, a cousin who was unofficially adopted by Alex and Veronica when her own parents abandoned her. The kids are now studying at the Emmanuel Baptist school, which runs from pre-K through high school. Their education will not only be of a higher caliber than the public schools, they also receive training in the Bible and Christian values, as well as our “Culture of Peace” curriculum. The Culture of Peace program provides important conflict resolution skills for the students and trains student mediators to assist when there is a conflict between their peers.

David no longer has to fear for his life. He can now relax and focus on his studies and pursue his dream of becoming an architect. I expect he will always be a comedian on the side, making friends and family laugh with his zany antics and quick comebacks.

Missionary work often means serving the people in incredibly personal way. This is just one example of how missionaries are sacrificing to bless the people they feel called to. If you would like to support the ongoing sacrificial living of missionaries like Barbara Rowe, please click the link below.