Misson: El Salvador

Finally! I've sifted through some of the thousands of photos my team and I took while we were in El Salvador and have had a little free time to post about them. We kept a team blog while we were there and I was the Day 1 blogger. Here is what I wrote on that day:

Day one seemed to start off quite slower than I anticipated. Then I realized, for sure, that we are on “El Salvador time”. Breakfast- over an hour, fast food lunch- over an hour, getting some fabric for sheets- well over an hour. We ended up at the orphanage around 3pm and were greeted by children running out of every door available. I stepped out of the truck (by the way, we’ve totally gone old school and are riding in the back of a pickup everywhere we go. Just know it’s against everything that I believe in and don’t tell the kids. I don’t want to have to use the adage “Do as I say, not as I do) Our motto: pray hard and don’t look at the speedometer. I was hugged at least fifteen times in the first 3 minutes that we were there. “hola! Como te llama?” Do you know how hard it is to remember the names of over 100 children? I can’t even get my own kid’s names straight usually!

We quickly had to let go of our plan to start the de-licing upon arrival. Most of the older children were still at church and the younger ones were so busy playing and chasing us that it just didn’t happen. We have plans to do it on day 2.

Just a quick fill in for those of you that I don’t know: We have been in the process of adopting from ES for nearly three years now. Recently our adoption took a new road and we’ve had to realize that an adoption from ES is not in the cards for us. However, God had a greater plan and our adoption journey finally has an end in sight. I thought this new road and the promise of a child in the near future would make this trip easier….it didn’t. I had such an overwhelming sense of sorrow when I first arrived. Looking over to see Bobby holding a girl of no more than 13 months nearly made me lose my emotional self control. I don’t understand. I’ll never understand why. I quickly pulled myself together as I was pulled in multiple directions.”Vamos, vamos!”

How much do the girls love Bobby? I’m feeling some serious crushes going on. “Bobby, Mira, mira!!” Look Bobby!! And then they would touch their toes, or throw a ball in the air and let it hit them in the head. We did find one girl that is just perfect to fit in our crate on the way home. She’s a chatty Cathy though so we’ll have to find some way to silence her for the plane ride. Oh, I jest. Sorta.

I loved every minute of today. I even let the girls braid my hair during which time I had a personal devotion with the Lord. “Please God in Heaven, let the lice hate my hair. Help me keep my hands below my shoulders so as not to inoculate myself. And God, did you know that they don’t have soap in the bathroom? Amen.” I think the Lord is still working on my stronghold J

The sweetest thing was listening to the 2-4 year olds do their devotion in the evening before bed. All of these little beings sent up the sweetest prayers straight from their heart, criss cross applesauce in the floor with their little eyes closed and hands folded. “Dear Lord, please protect the Americans and thank you for letting them be here”. How touching that they are praying for us when the whole point is for us to be here praying for them.

God is good and he definitely filled us with “sweet kisses” (as my friend Alicia says) all day long. We can’t wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow! Pray for us as critter clean up is in our future and continue to pray for our protection as we may or may not have had to yell loudly like strong men so as to ward off gangs while we might or might not have been riding in the back of the pickup truck in the dark……maybe. If you’re Mary Lauren’s and Amanda P’s mom you can read the “may NOT’s and might NOT’s.”

Now, some pics:

We finally arrived at the orphanage after a drive of a little over an hour. I was one of the lucky ones that got to ride in the other truck that was carrying our luggage. I had a seatbelt and the normal protective steel around me so I was feeling pretty safe. It was decided that Bobby and I should split up. That way, if the pick up happened to wreck, both of us wouldn't be splattered watermelons on the roads of El Salvador.

The kids swarmed us and wanted pictures as soon as we arrived. I can't remember this gal's name because I called her "hard hand clapper" all week. She sought me out to play hand clap games with her nearly every hour but I finally had to bow out. My hands were seriously aching from the overzealous clapping she did!
It was like the paparazzi showed up or something. I thought this was hilarious that I took a picture of Mary Lauren taking a picture of Wendy taking a picture of some of the children! 
One little boy grabbed me and asked me to play checkers with him. Needless to say, he beat me because I had no idea which rocks were mine. All I know is that he was jumping rocks all over the place and just putting them in his pile. While he was doing so he was probably thinking, "Stupid gringo....".
One of the most fun things of day one was having an ice cream party. We had enough cones and ice cream for everyone and they were SO excited.

As soon as word got out that we had brought ice cream, everyone started lining up at the kitchen window.
Even the little kids formed a single file line. They had one girl, Pamela, that lined them up for all of their meals and made sure that they got their food.
This little boy decided to share his ice cream with his buddy. He poured a little into the older boy's hand and he just scooped it off with his finger and ate it. He may not have gotten any for himself. I'm not sure. There were some kids that weren't allowed to have any because they "had colds". I'm not exactly sure what that means other than there is a lot of room for medical teaching there.
Ice cream brings smiles all around the place!


Next post will be a delve into the greatness of lice removal and the fun of washing clothes in the medieval times........let's just say I would've french kissed my washing machine when I got home if that were possible.