El Salavador…take 2…Final thoughts

 All of the things that I have done and seen this past week...along with personal conversations with brothers and sisters in Christ, places I was in Scripture and the books I read while I was traveling...were all fashioned together to grow my faith and deepen my understanding of God's economy, God's plan, and to strengthen my relationship with Him...I wanted to share a few last things...in no particular order...and to no particular audience...they are just things that I don't want to forget...and the best way for me to do that, is to write them down. I also want to use this as an encouragement to others.

 I. AM. NOT. SPECIAL. I have no special superpowers or talents that other people don't have...I have no special merit with God, other than that I am His daughter...and He loves me like He loves His other children. Why He has chosen to allow me to get to participate in a ministry like this is beyond my comprehension...but above all.. I know that it is a gift...and I chose to accept that gift by going and working in my strengths. Each person that lays eyes on my rambling has also been created wonderfully and perfectly by the same Hands that created me....and you have strengths and weaknesses just like me. Those that have believed in Christ Jesus and accepted His Lordship over their lives...have also been given a gift--a spiritual gift---one or more of them actually…and they are given so that they might be used by each of us to glorify God and perform the many works that He has chosen for each of us to complete in the one lifetime that we get here.  

Here are some things that really struck me from the week!!

**There is power in kindness..in a look, in a touch, in your words. There are many people who don't see kindness very often in their world of circumstances. It was a news flash to me this week...that I could look like the face of Jesus to those around me...Like, I knew this...but in my heart I didn't KNOW this on a deeply meaningful level…I have seen people that have a countenance so sweet that you just KNOW they love and serve the Lord…but I had never contemplated that people might see that in ME!!  After working with the women in prison and having all this explained to me by a chaplain who was more tuned into the situation than I was...was life changing for me. Such a simple thing that can be so meaningful and life giving….and you don't have to go across the globe...you just have to be present in the moment.

You have to SEE them...though sometimes we have to take a step outside of our norm in order to reign in the attention needed TO see them!! Ask God to help you to see with His eyes!!You can give a tender pat on the arm, you can look into their face, or you can simply listen and say "I'm sorry. I don't understand why that happened to you. But God does. And He sees you and loves you." You can truly SEE your family, your neighbor, the widow at church, the struggling young mom trying to keep it together, or the people you can't stand that live across your town  that are barely making it...when we follow Christ, we need to choose to SEE more of what He sees. That is how we live our lives on mission. I'm not that good at it. But I want to be...and I ask Him to give me HIS eyes to see where He wants me to speak, work, and do in the lives of others. 

**He gives us the desires of our hearts when we delight in Him Psalm 37:4 tells us. A desire of my heart has always been to care for others...clear back to high school on the steps in the band room...the desire of my heart was to help others. It's how He made ME. I knew 25 years ago that I wanted to do medical mission work one day...over the years, He has given me opportunities to take kids on mission trips...He has grown me through those adventures, until finally, He orchestrated one...and then another...chance for me to go serve on a whole different, international level. The trips have been gifts. Good gifts...Hard gifts...but gifts from the Lord in His perfect timing! Never be afraid to dream and ask!! What is something for the Lord that YOU would like to do?? Chances are, He has already put that desire in your heart and He is waiting until the time is right!!

**Humans are all the same. We were all created in the perfect image of God...and in an imperfect world..there are plenty of opportunities for sin and mistakes and bad choices. Sometimes people seem to deserve the consequences of their sins...like the women in prison...and sometimes the people don't seem to deserve the consequences of sin in the world...like a 4 year old girl who was born into a hopeless cycle of poverty...or the 20 year old girl who found out her grandpa was her father--and has been living with the shame of a choice that was made completely out of her own control. But, in Christ--we have a redeemer--one who saves us from ourselves and from the power of hell...and He chooses to send His own children to demonstrate that redeeming power in a tangible way to the poor and powerless among the neighborhoods and nations..When we remember that we do NOT deserve the grace we got from Christ in His death/resurrection...it gives us a freedom to bestow love on those that we may not deem worthy of receiving grace from US!!

**It takes a team!! Jesus sent the disciples out in at least groups of 2…and Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes that two are better than one…for if one falls, the other might help him up again! 

It took all of us, each in our own gifts to get the job done!! This team worked together for a week, but other team members serve this population day in and day out and they feel seen when others show up to help bear the heavy load! There is something so special about sharing a load…and the trauma and drama and laughter and memories that come with working together!! It is just a reminder of how God put together His church…each member as a part of a body that has their own functions and strengths to do the work God has laid out for them individually and collectively!!

**The results aren’t up to you…or me. Walking on sandy beaches, like the iron swirled beach of Costa Del Sol above,  always makes me think of Gods promise to Abraham that said his offspring would be like the stars of the sky or the sands of the earth..that’s unfathomable really!! Abraham did nothing except trust God…even to the point of sacrificing his son! God did the deed!! He followed thru on the promise, all Abe did was to show up!! We have to be like Abe. There were a lot of reasons that I couldn’t have been available to go last week…but I believed I was being called for something much bigger than myself!! Has God been asking you to go out of your comfort zone and do something new?? Are you listening or arguing?? The hopelessness of the situations of many of these people was overwhelming me…until Little Larry told me that my perspective was wrong. And it was. There was a life giving freedom found in that revelation!! The revelation that my only job…like your only job…is to show up. Work in your gift…give what you can…and trust God for the results!! My focus was on how many physical needs I couldn’t meet…but the spiritual work being done while I tried to meet the physical needs the best I could…is the part I can’t see!! And the part I needed to trust God to work in!

**It's not about me...and it’s not about you...it’s about the God of the universe. We are His majestic workmanship every bit as much as this ocean sunset...He gave us gifts to use for His glory! THAT is His will for our lives!! In our culture, our lives are all about us..and our people. Many of us aren’t that good at looking around and seeing needs…but again, that’s where team work functions best!! In this case, I signed up for a trip and booked a flight. I identified needs that our team would have before I left and people delivered in their own ways…prayer, financially, sending supplies…and as I was able to show people the situation of the places we served in El Salvador, God has continued to press upon people a need to help as they can!! God is making the difference here and in His grace, He has allowed us to be part of it!!  It’s soooo cool!!

**Look around you...there are mission opportunities everywhere. You don't have to fly to another country or even another state. I doubt that Juanito even realized that he was doing ministry just by showing up early and seeing a need to rake up trash!

Maybe your gift is prayer…it isn’t out of line to call people in the church…or people out of the church to ask how you can pray for them..or pray with them…or start a prayer group. Maybe your gift is hospitality…engaging your gift right here in your community is a perfect place to start!

Maybe you are a cheerful giver…ask God to show you where to start!! And maybe you are an observer…find a team of people that can help you work to meet the needs you observe around you!! If this is overwhelming or challenging to you…I urge you to reach out to someone who can help you think outside the box!!

I’m thankful for the gift of this trip and the opportunities it provided both for me, and for those I spent my week with!! I’m thankful for the hearts of those who see the needs and launch the help to meet the needs. I’m thankful for the stirring of my heart and the stirring of the hearts that have been following this story!! God willing, there will be a next time in the fairly near future!!

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭34‬-‭40‬ ‭NLT‬‬

El Salvador…take 2, day 7

Friday morning...our last mission day. It rained all night again and was raining when we got up. Dee was still running fever though the night and had completely lost her voice, so she opted to stay in the little house we were in. Monica was also still feeling really badly, so she stayed home as well. Dr Miller and I were picked up by the team...and Dr Morataya had gotten us all breakfast from a street vendor...Pupusas and coffee!! They put their coffee in little plastic bags and then tie them shut and set them a little Styrofoam cup to keep it from spilling! He had gotten enough for everyone..and since Dee and Monica were gone..my dental friend Oscar got TWO...best day ever for him! :-) 

Thankfully for Google maps, the route we were going to take showed a traffic accident...which can stop traffic for literally HOURS...so we knew in advance that we should take "the long way" around to San Marcos-which was a couple hours of driving to the east. We saw a lot of flooding...and the roads in this little community are also pretty yucky, so our patient load was lighter than it has been all week...which was great because we were two men down!! And a little bit tired.

When we got set up, Dr Miller saw a crate of this "juice" and sodas sitting off to the side. Like in America, people are completely addicted to sugar, and often by the way of their beverages. He was taking pictures of the ingredient list and blowing it up so he could see it on his phone!

Most of the people here, don't really realize that there is very little "juice" in the "juice" that they drink!! Maybe Americans don't either. They also don't realize how harmful the excess sugar is...and just like here in the States, sugar is addictive--it stimulates the dopamine receptors in the brain like nicotine, alcohol, and street drugs do...and so they are always looking for their next shot of Coke or "juice" to perk them up. Dr Miller spent some time talking to them about the hazards of drinking so many sweet things. It's hard to hear for people...and many times, while they may WANT to stop drinking sweets...they find that they can't!! I have had several patients tell me that they actually went through WITHDRAWL (think alcohol withdrawl) symptoms when they cut their exceedingly high sugar intake down. 

Here is Dr Morataya watching the lecture...but I also liked this picture because it showed the layout of this big kitchen. You can see the white PVC pipes strung along and through in the back right corner. There is a large cistern of water connected to it. Everyone has flat top devices to cook...

And most people cook right over a small wood fires too. This was our lunch simmering away!! Its so absolutely fascinating to see!!

These girls were outside the front of the kitchen grinding corn that had been soaked. There is a water source that drips the water into the corn, and it spits out masa dough for making their tortillas.                                  

My friend Oscar and sister Vanessa below did all the dental work. Next time you go to the dentist...remember this little girls posture in a plastic lawn chair, and be thankful that you don't sit in one for your dental work..and then, if you don't mind, pray for more resources to be accessible in these impoverished communities!!

Oscar and Vanessa are people of light. They have such fun personalities...The last time I went, we would joke about something with our eyes or gestures or tone of voice (because we couldn't speak the same language) and we would just belly laugh!! It was not any different this time either!! It's amazing that God gave us a way to communicate with others OUTSIDE of a common language!! 

Again today, we saw a lot of people that couldn't afford their medicines or the cost of a visit to the doctor. So we helped to bridge that gap for them...and also had time to do a lot more educating today! 

We handed out the last of the gifts...I was swarmed by kids desiring a slap bracelet, even if they had seen another doc ;-) I could hear those going off all morning, along with plenty of giggles!!

They were practicing on each other!! 

Silvita is my tiny little interpreter. She has spent the most time with me through these last two trips! She was explaining to this young woman how to use one of the little menstrual kits. It was important to me, that each community was able to have someone in it that had the kits...in the hopes that an industrious person in their community could potentially craft a similar system for people. Having such a beautiful little package of comfortable pads to use seems like a little thing...that most people, myself included would have NEVER even considered a thing...but they were delighted with them..and several women came to see me earlier in the week primarily to get one for themselves. They will be well loved!

Dr Miller had brought more earrings to put in. I put some in a young girl a few days back, but many of the girls we saw already had pierced ears! This older girl was so nervous to get hers put in..you can the smile of anticipation. 

Today was a much more laid back day..so I was able to catch more photos and Sylvita and I had time to just chat. She asked questions about our traditions in the States. She hopes to visit here in 2025. She has been trying to work on the paperwork and process to get a visa to come visit.  She thinks the process is about done. She works for Christ for the City International, which is based out of Omaha, so she would like to come visit them...and her friends along the way!! Please pray with us for that to happen...and for the funds she needs to come in from the Lord whom she is petitioning!! I was able to give her a love gift before I left that will be very helpful in getting some plane tickets. She is hoping to go to Spain in September for her birthday to visit a friend. She has saved half the money for that ticket...and she has been asking God to provide the rest to her!! She is trusting His goodness! He is SO awesome that He provided some of that answer through the help of our community!!

We got to take off early and praise God...the rain stopped around 2....and didn't restart!! Juan took Larry and I to the beach house, and Pastor Cota brought Dee and Monica over. It was an absolute beautiful evening to overlook the beach and admire the artistry of God's sunset!! 

Like seriously...who could do THIS better!! 

We stayed at Tortuga Village at Costa Del Sol. It was beachfront with a couple of pools. Breathtakingly beautiful!! Larry and I walked on the beach while we waited on the girls. It was fun chatting..and we played around making some more videos :-) He is a pretty neat ole guy who has devoted his life to serving the least of these through mission work...and has plenty of stories to share. He will be 85 in September...if you take care of yourself, you are NEVER too old to do the Lord's work!!

We order dinner here and they bring it to your room..they had fixed smoker things on the deck to keep the mosquitos at bay, but we opted to eat inside instead. Pina coladas and seafood were on the menu for most of us. 

I had a ceviche that was TO DIE FOR. It was a mixed variety of seafood that is "cooked'  in acidic foods..in this case it was lime. Served with crunchy hominy and fried plantains and sweet potato. One of the best meals of my life.

Saturday morning I enjoyed an early, lengthy HOT shower and hair wash...and then grabbed my binoculars and my book and headed for the beach. Larry was heading out at the same time. He went his way, and I sat down to Facetime Jeremy and just soak up the SUN...breakfast is included with the stay, and a waiter appeared after a while and took my order and brought it right to me. Breakfast "Typicos" (eggs, fried plantain, refried black beans, fresh queso and coffee) with the waves, watching the herons and the fisherman!! Things that dreams are made of.

After that, I enjoyed my own really long walk on the beach with God. Enjoying the antics of the fisherman, watching the sand dollars try to sink their exposed selves into the sand to preserve their lives, admiring the "art" made by the swirling of the dark colored iron flakes in the sand, and talking with my Father. I can't even have imagined a better way to end the week! 

This week..I want to do one more recap post...because I don't want to forget to keep the main things the main thing!! There were a lot of answered prayers during this trip...and there were some life and spiritual lessons for me...and I have some advice for you all too!! 

Thanks for reading...

El Salvador…take 2 Day 6

 Hoy. Today.

We got up really early and were in the van for 3 hours to get to the women’s prison in Santa Ana. I loved the boys prison so much the last time, that I have really been looking forward to this ministry. As of yesterday afternoon we thought it had been canceled by the prison…but we found out in the evening that we were going to be able to go in. I had NOOO idea what was in store for us there…and I’m not entirely sure I will recover from it anytime soon. 

I’m sure my heart was overly sensitive secondary to the 4-5 hours of sleep I’ve gotten each night between the tossing and turning..I also recognize by this time in the week of work, I am completely exhausted on a mental level more than anything…

trying to overcome a language barrier and be efficient and effective at the same time takes SOOO much effort and attentiveness. And since I have been working on my Spanish EVERY day since March 2022, I have also been really tuning my ears into the patients words for as long as I can to try and learn to comprehend the language…

and maybe because we were working with women…who are more emotionally engaged because of the way God created us…I was more vulnerable to my own emotions..

The bottom line is…today was one of the hardest things I have ever done…and for whatever reason, I’m sure God orchestrated all the things to make sure my heart was right where it needed to be for Him to get his message across…and let me tell you…I HAVE. BEEN. SCHOOLED these last two days. Not by the patients, though I have learned from them!! But by my family in Christ that God has graciously put in my path this week to tell me things I needed to hear…at the level of my heart—not at the level of my head! I’ll tell ya that later. First, I need to make sure you all understand what I saw today…and I want to make sure that I never forget what I saw today!! PS there are no pictures from the prison (other than the one from outside below) because before we are allowed in, we take off any jewelry, no phones are allowed, our medical bags are checked, we are patted down, and our passports are kept in their possession till we leave the building. 

After all of that…

We walked through a few narrow open air corridors until we got to a large compound. When we walked into the door, we saw women all dressed in white shirts and white pants. All of them had on white crocs and some of them had white beanie hats on making them look a little bit like gnomes. Maybe 30 were sitting in rows of chairs waiting for us to start. Another 50 or so stood in a single line against the wall to our right. A few at the front of the line were clearly moving their way up a few steps. It seemed apparent that the women were taking baths behind the partition, tho their shirts were on and you could see them from the midsection up. It was confirmed later that was what they were doing. Across the back wall, were 8 iron barred gates. The doors were mostly closed and watched by other women who were also all dressed in white, presumably inmates with more privilege. All day long, there were faces peering out from behind those bars and there were girls standing as far back as I could see…when I dared to look. The gate guards would let some in and some out for different things…to go to the shower line, to take meal boxes in or out, or to get in the line to see the health team. I could barely see bunk beds in there. They must have gone back for a length because it turned out that in each partition, there were at least 100 women and probably more like 125 women and in partition #8 there were 175 women in there. Now I don’t know how deep the building was, but the length and width to the building we were in was roughly the size of my husbands automotive shop, about 100 feet by 75 feet. This prison held 18,000 women in it. 18,000 women all dressed in white.

I think the youngest patient I had was around 22 and the oldest was 70. Initially I thought that we were seeing women who were in there for a couple years for not ratting out the gang members they were tied to…turns out that was another sector. I couldn’t get the stories of everyone…there was too much work and not enough time…but the stories I heard were hard. Some were in because they had gang tattoos. Some were in because corrupt people lied against them…some were in for really committing serious crimes like murder and paying their time for their bad choices. I get it. It’s a prison. In one way or another, most of them technically “deserved” to be there by our standards. But darn. Listening to them tell us that they don’t know where their babies even are…to listen to them tell us that everyone in the world they loved has turned their back on them, to know they see others get a visitor and have to sit with the reality that no one in this world cares enough to visit them. For whatever reason they were there…I acutely felt the pain in those faces in front of me as I listened to their needs!  

It also caused me to wonder later…maybe Jesus refers to visiting those in prison because in reality…all of deserve to be in the prison of hell, but He set us free from that sentence when we trusted. Maybe He wanted us to remember that some bad choices don’t define who WE ARE in Christ…and so we should have care and compassion on those who also  aren’t defined in His eyes by their past stupidity. 

Again, as the day got longer and harder and as the weight of all that I was involved in felt more oppressive, God reminded me of Little Larry’s talk yesterday…I couldn’t help everyone of them…heck I might not have been able to help any of them for more than a few days…but I could share my gift, which is laughter and compassion and knowledge…and I could touch those that God presented to me today. 

We found out about 6 hours in, that the section of women we were seeing today were the ones with the chronic problems…the sickest of them all. We saw plenty of headaches, back pain, and scabies. We saw some injuries like the lady who probably has at least one if not two herniated discs in her back that have been worse since a recent fall. It took 2 people to help her hobble to the chair to see me. She was the one that told us that they slept 2 women in one twin sized bed. I gave her some steroids and a note to hopefully get a single bed for a few weeks.

Another girl had fallen 5 months ago and probably broke her forearm based  on the looks of the deformity in her right one. The prison put a splint on it and no hospital or doctor visit. Now both wrists hurt a lot, especially in rainy weather like they are seeing now. She is in her early 30s and will live with this forever. No one cares. Except her. And me. But my hands were tied and she has no voice. Lose/lose. 

I saw a 60 something with a pressure sore on her butt, among other issues. How do you tell her that she needs to take the pressure off her sore bottom when there are really no good options for where she can go to do that!

By the end of the day, after struggling to get thru the language barrier, struggling to make decisions that would be most helpful for the longest period of time for them, struggling to process my own thoughts and emotions let alone theirs…I found myself wondering again…how can my place here be doing anything positive. There are no good solutions for them medically…10 tablets of Tylenol or some cold medicine is very temporary. Bandaid on a boat hole.

My interpreter helped me clean up and as I gave her a big hug and thanked her, we found ourselves locked in tearful embrace. She prayed and rubbed my back. I have no idea what she said, but the love and passion in her emotional voice said all I needed to hear. I knew God knew.

The chaplain who had been hanging around all day also came to me and chatted. He was emotional as well as he talked. He had been watching all of us all day…and he wanted to tell me what he observed… he told the girls as they waited “You see?? You see how they smile at the other women as they sit down? You see how they interact with them? You see the love when you watch them work?? This is the face of Jesus you see in them. This is how Jesus looks at you.”

And it clicked.

Sometimes Jesus sends a person far far away from their comfort level and their home…to show a scabies infested woman in white from another land that He loves her so much that He sent His daughter 2000 miles to bandage her wounds in way that makes her feel His love and know that she is seen.

 

It’s still raining as I type…and we have one day left!! The rest of my gifts from the States will be given away tomorrow…and I will look into these last little faces, old faces, wrinkled faces, precious faces and use the gifts that God has given me…to use for His glory in their lives. To HIM be the glory. May I look at them as He looks at me!

El Salvador Take 2 Day 5

 Today was “un buen día”..a good day! It rained all night and i just kept worrying about dragging all of our luggage (HEAVY luggage still laden with supplies) through the back of the property to the dock! It has been a swimming pool all week! The rain did lighten up significantly about the time we had to load the boat up!

This adorable little man was our boat driver, and he was also gracious enough to load our things too. He grabbed my suitcase and tugged at it…realized how heavy it was and said “Ayyy.” Then with one swift movement, that suitcase was perched up on his right shoulder, he bent sideways and got a second small bag and away he went!

He built us a makeshift bridge of bricks…which made me think of the karate kid for some reason…I think because of found myself having to balance the entire load I was carrying just so, in order to get the front foot to the next brick without tipping over!! At any rate I ended up in the boat with dry-ish feet! 

Some of the house we saw along the way out! Most were covered with corrugated tin!

As we came around the one of the last docks on the island, a trio of people were waving…which apparently, in La Calzada, means PULL OVER. So he did and we gained 3 new riders with us!

Shortly after they got on, I saw the man pointing to the sky and talking to one of the ladies. I looked up and saw a large pink bird in the distance!! A PINK FLAMINGO?!! In real life. Not at the zoo!! Incredible!! It was an exciting find for me…especially after getting all excited that I was watching a monkey in the distant trees yesterday, only to be told that they don’t have monkeys here…maybe a squirrel 😳

These women were cracking a whole bowl of little hard shelled mussel like things that they just call Conch. 

The crew from CFCI was at the dock to take us to Pedregal…a small impoverished community. We attended church there a couple years ago when I was there! It was fun to recognize a few more faces!

People were lined up in the chairs waiting for us to start! There are about 800 houses that are inhabitable in the neighborhood and many more that have been abandoned because they are in such bad shape! This church does an outreach to the kids every day after school, and the pastor and his family have been pouring into this underserved community for years!!

A common thing for the patients to do is to come to the free clinic and then ask for their regular medications to be given to them…but generally they don’t know what the name of the medicine is!! So it makes it a bit tricky to get all the information in order to be able to help them!! I took care of a farmer today that grows maize and plantains. He was going to be out of medicine tomorrow and didn’t have enough money to buy more! Many of the people work in agriculture or construction or are street vendors. And the street vendors are everywhere here! They sell sacks of fruit or fresh bread or pupusas or drinks! 

This little guy had an infected fungal rash scattered quite a few places on his body! One of many of the things I haven’t seen in the past!

After clinic, we loaded everyone up into the van and headed to the CFCI office where we dropped off the team. We then headed for our own lodging in Ilopango, a suburb of San Salvador. We parked at the church and then walked to our little casa. The tiny little streets were SOOOOO sweet!! Beautiful flower and fruit trees.

A woman in the church had gotten some money and purchased a few little houses. She has been renovating them and their purpose is to serve the Lord by hosting missionaries as well as others! Dee and I got a little casa to ourselves and Dr Miller and Monica stayed in one down the street! We each had our own room! 

After settling in, we left Monica there since she wasn’t feeling well, and the rest of us met our friend Little Larry and our driver Ronald for dinner. Dr Larry had gotten his shoes wet while we were on the island so Monica suggested he microwave them. He told us that he hesitated on that, but decided to do it anyway. Apparently when you microwave wet shoes, they shrink, curl up into a little deformed ball, and the glue comes off. Sooo, he wore some old flip flops all day and we got to go to the mall so he could buy some new ones!! That was exciting!! They had a sketchers store ?…and he was able to find a pair in an 11. El Salvadoran men have small feet, so he wasn’t sure he was gonna find a pair large enough! 

Little Larry and I took a fast loop thru the mall while he tried on shoes and then we ate at a restaurant that sold all types of dishes!! I had 3 different kinds of pupusas with curtido (a fermented vegetable and cabbage topping) and a red sauce! Little Larry got tamales that he chopped up for us to taste! They were wrapped in plantain leaves and seemed to have more masa and were more moist than the Mexican kind we are used to eating!! The others had chicken or pupusas! We got home late and I was finally able to get the WIFI code, but didn’t have the energy left to journal. 

Tomorrow (which was today as I post) we leave early for a 2 ½ hour drive to Santa Ana. Here we will take care of women in a prison! They were arrested for protecting the gang members. Last year President Bukele ordered that all gang members be arrested and imprisoned. He also ordered that if anyone who helped hide them out, would also be imprisoned… which is how these women came to be here. The sentence was for 2 years!!

Our people are falling ill now, and we pray that God will keep us together until we finish this mission!!

As I reflected on the day, my biggest lesson came from a precious hour long conversation with Little Larry on the van ride home…

When we focus on the things that seem impossible…like the magnitude of the problems here and the many people that need resources and don’t have them…and then feel discouragement and frustration about the lack of fairness in the world…we put ourself in Gods place…

But when we work in obedience with the gifts He has given us, then we glorify Him best because we are showing up and making a difference in the only realm He ever intended us to make a difference in!! And when you look at life that way, Gods plan offers freedom! A freedom from doing that which He never intended you to do…or even to stress over. It doesn’t feel like enough…and a little bit overwhelming, like..if I can’t do more…why should I bother at all…like patching a boat hole with a bandage…it seems like a hopeless situation. But the situation isn’t mine. It’s Gods! And what I have to do is show up…ready to exercise my gifts and talents for His glory! Little did I know how much I would use today’s lesson in tomorrow’s agenda!! Only God can orchestrate the details in such an amazing way!!

El Salvador…take 2 day 4

 I finally got a pretty decent night’s sleep…and woke to my alarm, which has been rare! I survived my second cold shower, I have remembered to use bottled water to brush my teeth, and I have only forgotten not to flush toilet paper twice since arriving!! I’m calling it a win!! It has been raining so much in the area and they have had a number of casualties…so the President ordered a national “holiday” for today and ordered everyone to work from home if they could. Kind of like a snow day. It is winter here I guess!!

BUT what that meant for us…was another day at half staff. Yesterday, our of necessity, I learned to read Spanish medicines and where to look for dosages and ingredients on the sides of containers. But thankfully, a couple of local women were hired for today to write our directions on the packages for us and give them the meds…which was a total God send. 

The Millers have been working on this island since 2016, and they have been hoping and praying to be able to find ways to help the people improve their lives and to buy into the opportunities for better health they are providing…so for God to raise up this local help…was an answer to prayer for them!!

A woman named Roxana came in to help get breakfast ready while we were setting up!! This is the newly improved kitchen!! Tho there is running water, we still rinsed food, hands, and dishes off with the 5 gallon bottled water because the pipes and water sources are just not safe. Nearly everyone gets treated for parasites every 3-6 months because their water system is so unsafe. I treated a lot of people for that in the last two days!!

This banana was grown here on the island.. 

it was short and fat and DEEEELICIOUS!!! Roxana swept and mopped and mopped and swept the kitchen, the patio, and the exam rooms…just so they could get muddy all over again!! She also fixed lunch for our workers and translators and talked with the people! She would speak to me so slowly in Spanish, in the hopes that I would be able to catch on and understand….and as far as we both know, I did most of the time!!

This man, Juanito, has been here first and stayed till last for the past two days. He has some sort of learning disability and has the language span of a toddler…but he was there early to rake up the trash and then would just sit there and watched. I won’t lie that he completely freaked me out a little bit yesterday morning… because we walk from our room a ways to the bathroom… I had to walk past him to get there and I had no idea who he was! I had my pajamas on and toiletries in hand when I passed him…He just smiled…this morning I said Hola Jaunito, buenos días…and just kept going. He smiled and said the same!! Sweet servant heart with a desire to help his friend Dr Miller!

This morning a few people were trickling in about 9…an hour later than yesterday and we thought we might have a slower day…hahaha!!!

A local pastor came and read from the Psalms and prayed over all and we started rolling!! I love that they do this!! Some days they do a devotion or mini sermon before they start! A reminder to all about WHY the medical brigades go on!!

It has been so fun to hand out treats that were packed in the suitcases from home!! The slap bracelets are a favorite of the boys. While their moms are telling the interpreter what’s up, I let them pick a design…they have never seen them before so they don’t know what to expect…which is the best part for me…I show them how to hold out their arm and then I “slap” it on there!!! It has NEVER not resulted in a freaked out look of total awe!!! And then a slow, huge smile!! 

We handed out more dresses today to las niñas…and many older ladies chose bags or purses. The reading glasses continued to be well received and we have enough to take to the other 2 villages we will visit later this week!

A lady from my home community makes kits for women of child bearing years to manage their periods…they are washable kits and are amazingly cool!!! We gave over half of those out today and one of the young women remarked about how happy she was to get one because it would be so much more comfortable for her…and then I think a couple women made some symptoms up so they could come in and see me in order to get a kit for themselves 😊😉. The lady makes them for operation Christmas child boxes and was really interested to hear how they would be received here! Two thumbs up I will report to her!!

I continued to see patients with very high blood sugars…no medications…no follow up care because they can’t afford it. A man today told me that he needs to have a hernia surgery because when he lifts heavy at his construction work, it hurts…a doctor in the city told him it would be $200…and he can’t afford it 😳😢. It’s over $200 to get a wart or skin tag taken off in the US and people do it all the time and don’t bat an eye!!  It’s been excruciatingly painful to try and help people knowing that it’s a bandaid on a hole in the boat. But for today…we do what we can and we pray that God will continue to make a way for these people of His. 

Its also the wet winter season…and the fungal infections in their feet, in their ears, and some on the bodies has been incredible!! Their feet look like they have left a bandaid on their finger for a year without removing it to get air in it!! Deeply white tissue with cracks and open sores made me cringe with empathy every time!! The treatment is to get meds to it and keep it dry…keep it dry?! With their flip flops and muck boots and 4 inches of water everywhere you look….a vicious cycle. Devastatingly vicious cycle. The man in the picture above was a guy who chopped the back of his heel with a machete…many of the people here use machetes in their work on the farms…or cutting sticks to burn for fuel. Apparently many go into the mangroves and cut wood out of there. Anyway, he had nearly shaved off the back half inch of his heel and gangrene was setting in…he asked me if we could sew it back up. Uhhhh, nope. Dr Miller took him into the procedure room and trimmed it all off, cleaned out the wound and bandaged it back up. But we leave in the morning…so praying tbat there will be some follow up for him with the local doctor that comes in on Wednesdays!!

Tonight we packed up all of our gear, and in the morning we catch a boat back to the city. We will go to a small village and do visits there, God willing, with our whole team!! We will stay in the mission house Wednesday and Thursday nights. I have no idea if they have internet there…if they do, I hope to upload photos from the day…if they don’t…I’ll go to bed early and update when I get home!!

Today, it was apparent to me, that God brought me here out of necessity this week. This ministry is important to Him, and He has been doing mighty things here thru the work of the Millers and CFCI teams. God knew that they would need my help in the work…it’s amazing to me how God orchestrates the details like that. God drew my heart here to lighten the load and to care for His people. I am thankful to be part of His work here. Hasta luego!!