Wow. El Salvador was incredible. There was so much to take in. I felt so incredibly blessed to be there, it almost didn't seem real. Every morning I woke up in my bunk bed, smiling because it wasn't a dream.
Here's a little recap. Getting into details will result in a million-sentence blog. Not that you'd hate that or anything ...
Day One
We got off the plane and stepped outside into a utopia of 95 degree (without an ounce of humidity), beautiful blue sky, beaming sun and palm tree paradise called El Salvador. Welcome to one of the most beautiful, but poverty stricken places you will ever visit. I kept wanting to call it "a little piece of paradise", but looking around me, paradise was the furthest place I was in. Day one was actually very relaxing. We were able to settle in and get ourselves together. We were introduced to what was going to be our home for the next eight days, a sweet little bungalow on the premises of Potters Field Orphanage. There's something amazing about PFO. It's located on a dangerous, poor, poverty stricken area, on a very scary looking street. It looked as if there were more wild dogs than people on that street. It was surrounded with high concrete walls, a guard was standing at the gate holding a gun a gun that was so big, that it gave me chills just looking at it. The property was so beautiful, the lawn was cut, the trees were beautiful, the flowers were colors you couldn't imagine. The place was beautiful, really. But on the outside of that wall, was literal hell. The people on the other side of the wall were truly struggling just to survive through the day. They probably ate one meal a day, if they were lucky. They were covered in dirt and walked around barefoot, not because they were used to it, because they didn't own a pair of shoes. You just want to give them all a dollar or two, give them your lunch, give them your shoes, anything. If I could have the worlds biggest yard sale, I'd have a free one in El Salvador for these people.
Day Two
I'm a member of Calvary Chapel. Now, there are Calvary Chapels all over the world, so there is nothing cooler than visiting your church in another country. Day two we went to Caplary Chapel San Salvador. These kids were awesome. We helped serve the kids breakfast. This was heartbreaking, because this was the only meal a majority of these kids were going to get all day. You've never seen such grateful people in your life. I could only wish that everyone was this grateful for every meal they got.
What I found hilarious, and adorable, is that every teenage boy wanted a picture with me. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I am such a little American white girl ...
Later on, we went to this little church in Apopa. This church started from a simple vision, a man was lead by the Lord to start a church. So after much praying, he finally did. However, this wasn't a normal church, it was a tin roof, supported by four beams, a pulpit, and what looked like 50 - 60 chairs. This little outdoor church gave me the realization of how simply they live their lives. It reminded me that you don't need fancy seats and a big fancy building, it's what you do on the inside that counts.
Then, we took the boys to a water park. This was a HUGE deal for them, because they never get to do anything outside of the orphanage. I don't know who had more fun, me or them! Seriously, I can't even tell you how many times I went down that water slide. So that's why my neck hurt so bad .....
After the water park, we took the boys to pizza hut. And no, American pizza hut and El Salvadorian Pizza Hut do not taste the same. It's better!!!
Day Three
Today I was Teacher For A Day. There's a school on the Orphanage property that the orphan boys and some of the kids in the area attend. I don't think I mentioned that in El Salvador, they ONLY speak Spanish. Can we say "challenge"? It was rough, because I'm not fluent in spanish, although I can speak a little bit, but I had SO much fun with this. It was really cool to be in charge of a class full of kids. I taught them about Easter (which they don't celebrate, btw), we had an Easter Egg Hunt, we made a really cool craft, and had way too much fun. I'm still upset that this day had to end.
At night, we had a bonfire. This was AWESOME. There is this really awesome guy names Brennan, he's 21 and works with the orphanage. He was with us the entire trip, and really helped us out. Imagine the funniest comedian you know. Now imagine someone ten times funnier. Brennan. I think I lost 20 pounds just from laughing so hard. Anyways, aside from being funny, he has this incredible voice. So around the bonfire, we sang worship songs all night. It seriously was a little piece of heaven. The perfect ending to a perfect day.
Day Four
As if the arrival on day one wasn't humbling enough, by day four, we were so humbled, that we were face down on the ground. You get a sense of guilt thinking about the things you have when you look around yourself in El Salvador. People get by with a tin roof over their heads, and blankets as walls. Yet we complain about how horrible we have it, sitting in our million dollar mansions. Throw away your sirloin steak and eat some humble pie. You're life isn't that miserable, trust me on that.
On day four we went to a children's hospital (one of the VERY few hospitals in all of El Salvador) to visit children in three units, the unit which held children on Dialysis, the terminally ill, and the children waiting for kidney transplants. You enter our hospitals here in America, and you're greeted with marble floors, water falls, fancy assistance desks, elevators, and way too many floors and square feet to even count. You enter a hospital in El Salvador, and you're greeted with ... well ... not much. It's dirty, it's old, it's so run down that it looks as if it should have been shut down a long time ago. But it's all they've got.
Here's where I've decided to never complain again. The children in dialysis had such high spirits, they just wanted to love you, and be loved. They were happy. We are fortunate to be able to walk around and be healthy every single day, yet we find ten thousand things to complain about. The terminally ill children will never leave their hospital beds, yet they still were able to smile. The children waiting for kidney transplants were so full of life, they were laughing, having fun, forgetting that they were even in a hospital. Yet some of them had been there for years, and they are just children. It was a big slap in the face of how lucky I am.
Day Five
On day five, we went to this little town called Suchitot0 (pronounced sushi - tot0, my new favorite word, for obvious reasons). This was a little church was was, again, started with a vision. We blessed the town and painted their church for them. It was so much fun. We were covered in sweat and white and green paint, and we were loving every minute of it. Then, we were treated to this amazing, incredible dinner outside at this restaurant where the view was just breath taking. You look out and you see these enormous mountains and a huge blue lake. It looked like a whole separate world, it was just unreal. You'd never see anything like it. After dinner, we went to a church service in the church that we painted earlier.
Before I go any further, I need to tell you a little background history of Suchitoto. There's a LOT of spiritual warfare here. (Spiritual warfare is where ever there is work being done for the Lord, in this case, we were missionaries helping the town by painting their church and spreading the word and love of God, bad things happen, attacks are made on the people and the place where this work is being done.) It's known in the town of Suchitoto that there is a very "hard" feeling when you go there. This is definitely true, you can just feel it when you're there. There's been really heavy spiritual warfare there ever since the church went up. For example, when they do alter calls (when the pastor invites anyone in the church up to receive the Lord as their Savior), a marching band will go by and completely interrupt everything. (True story.)Things like that happen almost every service they have. Well, during our service on Wednesday night, the Pastor was giving an incredible message, which was about thanking God for every single thing in your life. Just as he was about to deliver the point of the message, fireworks start firing off out of nowhere outside, right above the church. You couldn't hear a thing. It went on for about twenty minutes. It was just crazy how much spiritual warfare there is there, and how consistent it is.
Day Six
If I can pick a favorite day in El Salvador, I'd have a hard time picking a single day, but this day just might take the cake. We visited a town called La Angustora, an extremely poverty stricken town that has nothing but windy roads and dusty streets. I have to give you the short of this day, because I can go on forever about it.
This man names Manuel, had a vision to start a church. He tried SO hard, but everything failed him, literally, everything. He had the hardest life, that I can't even imagine living it myself without giving up two dozen times. This man relied on the Lord for every single little thing. It was such an inspiration, and a reminder that we really can't do everything on our own. He wanted to badly to start this church, that he moved from his nice house in San Salvador, to a literal shack in La Angustora with his family of two children and wife. To this day, there is still no church, but a shady spot under a big tree, where they have their church services. This amazed me, jaw to the floor, couldn't believe it, inspired me a thousand times over. I was blown away. Well, to make a long story short, they were able to purchase land to build a church someday. We started building a drainage system for them, which was an enormous blessing to the people there.
Afterwards, we were invited into the Pastor's home, something that is never ever done in El Salvador. What an incredible honor. They served us fruit off the trees in their backyard and instant coffee. Such amazing people this family was. The even more amazing part? That the entire family, including the wife and the two children, who couldn't be older than 7 or 8 years old, were out there shoveling dirt with us in the heat, without any shoes on. These are some incredible people.
If I have never been thankful for everything last thing I have, I am more than thankful now. If I have ever taken for granted any single thing, I have given thanks a thousand times over for it now. If I ever again have the nerve to complain about anything, I should be ashamed. I live an amazingly fortunate and blessed life. It's important to never, ever forget that. You can't always compare what you have to a country that has next to nothing. But it's a good idea to, because how else will you know how fortunate you are if you keep your eyes on the bigger and better?
You can view pictures from the trip on my facebook or myspace account. If you have any questions, please ask. If you want to know more, I am more than willing to tell you anything you want to know.
I just ask you one thing, be thankful for what you have. If you believe in God or not, because as American's, we don't realize how fortunate we actually are.
