Salvadoran Ministry Team Visits South Dakota

Resonate Global Mission has led several Witness Trips with groups from Canada and the United States to experience God at work in various places around the world. This past spring, ministry leaders flipped the script and welcomed a Salvadoran ministry team to the United States.

A group from Semillas de Nueva Creación (“Seeds of New Creation”), a Resonate partner in El Salvador, received a warm welcome from churches and ministries in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Resonate leaders have designed Witness Trips to give believers an opportunity to experience God at work in a country, culture, or context different from their own. While service projects can be a key part of Witness Trips, these trips emphasize learning from ministry leaders as they think about and explore joining God on mission in their own context.

That’s the main reason why Dámaris Velásquez, the administrative assistant of Semillas de Nueva Creación, wanted to go on the trip—she wanted to learn about other ministries to enrich the organization’s vision within their own context.

It was Velásquez’ first time in the United States. While she was excited to come, she said, she was also a bit nervous, based on things she had read about the U.S. in the news. Adrianna Herrera, a Resonate missionary who organized and led the trip along with her husband, Raúl, shared that people from the United States have a reputation in Latin America for being cold and somewhat unwelcoming, especially given recent narratives against immigration shared in global headlines.

“The group from El Salvador did not expect to be received so warmly and hospitably by the local hosts,” said Herrera.

But they were.

Randy Raak, Resonate’s regional leader for the Central United States, and his wife stayed with the group and cooked for them. Churches and businesses welcomed them. Leaders from local ministries gave tours. The visitors and hosts worked through language barriers and had meaningful conversations about meeting pressing needs in their communities and sharing the gospel. Raúl’s presence and efforts as a fellow Central American helped them feel even more at home as he made early-morning and late-night airport runs, picked up food, drove the visitors to and from ministry sites, and provided interpretation and valuable cultural insights.

Velásquez said she especially appreciated visiting Rock Valley, Iowa, and learning about the flood in 2024 and the disaster relief efforts. Since El Salvador experiences heavy flooding every year, the experience was relatable and informative for the communities she serves. She said she also appreciated learning about Native American culture and noted she would like to incorporate a focus on Indigenous people into the ministry at Semillas de Nueva Creación.

While the group learned a lot through experiencing God at work in the United States, Herrera mentioned that the churches and ministries that hosted the group were also encouraged by the visit.

“I saw a lot of others react very positively to the group, thankful that they made the effort to visit their ministry or showed interest in what God is doing in this community. This group challenged some of the cultural norms we experience in this area, and their own assumptions or experiences with North Americans were reshaped as well,” she said.

As Velásquez and her colleagues headed back to El Salvador and their work with Semillas de Nueva Creación, she said, “God has motivated me through this witness trip to continue learning and recognizing that he is at work in different contexts.”

Herrera said she was encouraged by that—and noted that’s the whole purpose of a Witness Trip. “I am hopeful that more people will start looking for how to see God at work in their communities and invite others to see, celebrate, and engage with them in that,” she said.

Interested in bringing a group from your church or ministry on a Witness Trip? Learn more at resonateglobalmission.org/witnesstrip.