El Salvador--Day 3

 Buenas Dias!

Today, we got up and headed out to a remote village, Ichanquezo, about an hour drive from the mission house. The traffic remains ridiculously busy. I am amazed at how early the traffic starts…around 5:00 or earlier. I've also been surprised at how early we get started. We have been heading out by 7:30 each day, and tomorrow will be 6:30!! The clinic today was held in a church, Tabernaculo de Santidad. We saw patients inside the church walls and it was SO loud!! We had five providers doing patient visits for reasons such as upper respiratory infections, scabies, parasites, and headaches. We also had a dentist and two dental assistants working in that same space!! The walls are like stucco on 3 sides, and then the 4th side is all open!

In December, I started shopping for a new stethoscope. The tubing wears out after a number of years and you don't hear as well. I had heard about a newer type of steth that has amplification and noise cancelling features. It was MUCH more expensive than a regular one, and since I don't work ER anymore, I rarely have a need for the noise canceling. I looked at them for literally 6 weeks before one day in February I decided to pull the trigger and order one. I KNOW without a doubt that God put that desire in my heart, as well as the peace to spend the extra money to buy the upgraded one. It was the best investment ever for this trip!! I had no trouble hearing heart and lung sounds in these small, loud areas that we worked in! That is one of the cool stories of how God provided for me in preparation of this trip!

It seems depression and anxiety also lives in 3rd world countries. I saw 2 teenagers that wanted something for anxiety. Unfortunately, we have a one page paper formulary that includes about 15-20 meds total---for colds to worms to diabetes to high blood pressure. I was able to counsel a little bit about using the bible as a resource to help deal with the emotions...but in depression and anxiety, my experience has been, that people still want other things to help them combat their feelings!

the people were already waiting for us under the makeshift tents when we arrived!

This young lady got a medical exam, a new pair of glasses, and a sweet little bear that was made by the granddaughters of a friend of mine from church!!

she was SO excited by these new prescription sunglasses.....her smile says it all!

The people were absolutely THRILLED with the glasses!! I might have mentioned in a previous post that I had accumulated nearly 200 pair of glasses--from mens/womens/childrens to prescription sunglasses, bifocals, and even reading glasses! A lot of the people were looking through the boxes and trying them out! Quite a few of them found glasses that worked for them! The prescription sunglasses and the reader glasses were the biggest hit!! 

There is also a dentist and her brother, whom she has trained to help. They do deep cleanings, fillings, and teeth pulling.  

In the church, we were unable to bring the dental chairs…so they sat in $5 plastic patio chairs and tipped their heads back over the back rest while they had their work done. It looked SO uncomfortable. But the people wait in line for hours, and they are so grateful for the painful dental problems to be fixed.

I literally watched a 10 year old girl have the biggest baby tooth pulled out that I have ever seen!! She took it like a champ.

My Spanish is definitely worse than I thought, and sometimes it is hard to converse even with our 2 translators. Edwin, is a young man who desires to work in the mission full time. He is working very hard and doing a great job, but there are just some English words…especially medical terms…that neither he nor Sylvita, our other translator, can translate. I have always been one to talk with my hands before…but I am getting really good with charades…even with our Spanish teammates who work in the dentistry and pharmacy. A good facial expression and tone of voice and translate a lot of things!! We laugh a lot. 

an outdoor kitchen where the church ladies cooked all day to feed our team, including snacks at the end!

By the time we left the clinic and headed back for the hour drive, we got there and literally had 15 minutes to “freshen up,” whatever that looked like. We got BACK in the van and drove ANOTHER hour to get to a very beautiful restaurant on the side of a volcano.

The dusk and sunset views were like none-other. It was really ethereal because we were higher than the clouds, and the way the sunset reflected off of them was truly crazy beautiful! A good reminder that God was the first Artist...and the best One!

While I was SO tired after not being able to sleep more than 3 hours each night, I couldn’t go to bed early because I wanted to stay up and talk with my new friend from Nova Scotia. She is one of the most beautiful souls I have ever met, and we shared a kindred spirit!! It was so incredible to just be in the same presence together..sometimes talking, sometimes quiet, but always content!

Selfie with Monica (one of our team leaders, and also a precious soul) and Susannah

We shared our experiences of the past, the things we had seen God doing in the present, and our hopes for the future. It was an encouraging time. Often I have found that there are only a few people in our lives who can help to refuel our tanks and encourage our walk with Jesus that is life-giving. Susannah was one of those people! We say good bye to her tomorrow, as she is heading back to Nova Scotia after 7 weeks of mission work around El Salvador!

Enjoy a few more pictures from today and their captions below! Don't forget to click on the last image and listen to the great mission oriented worship song!!

Monica and Maribel (the mission house care-taker) with the biggest fresh pineapple I've ever seen!!

Thanks to WIFI, we learned how to communicate via Facebook video options. We were pretty bad at figuring out the ins-and-outs of it all, but we managed!

Aqua Fresca--cantaloupe style!

eating some fried pastries (Pasteles) that the church ladies prepared for us as a little snack before we left! They were little fried dumpling like foods with a hot piece of potato on the inside. They also had a fermented cabbage slaw that you kind of lump on it and eat all together/

brotherly love in all languages

sunset over San Salvador. We were above the clouds!