Last Saturday Jon, some of the staff, and a few volunteers took the guys from The Lighthouse Homeless ministry to La Libertad for another beach day!  The guys who are involved in The Lighthouse rarely get out of the city. They spend their days trying to earn some cash, and their nights sleeping on the streets. But at the beach, they were like children running into the waves and playing in the sand.  The guys loved seeing the fishing boats coming in to unload the day’s catch onto the pier, and eating fresh seafood right out of the Pacific.

San Salvador is about 30 minutes from the closest beach, but these men don’t have the opportunity to see the beautiful beaches of their own country. One man in particular was overjoyed to see the ocean. He saw it once as a child and had always dreamed of going back. On Saturday his dream came true as he ran across the sand and dove into the surf.

These men live day in and day out burdened by their addictions, the consequences of their choices, and the spiritual and physical poverty of their situation. Will their lives change? We don’t know and the fruit is slow in coming. We cannot make them change, but we can point them to Jesus Christ, we can help them take baby steps on the road to recovery, and we can give them a day at the beach.

All Photos Courtesy of Rina Marinzel