FINAL THOUGHTS - HEATHER & MADDIE

A weeklong trip that will last a lifetime in our hearts and minds!

Madison and I are still amazed at the things we saw and experienced in El Salvador last week.  There were so many emotions that we felt at different points during the week. The plane ride was made extra special by a sweet flight attendant that took a liking to Madison and the fact that our team was doing this mission trip.  As we rode the bus to our Hotel we saw beautiful views of nature and women selling papayas on the side of the road (there was a stand about every 20 feet in some places). As we continued the drive, we both realized that this country needed more help than  we could give in just one short week, but we were thrilled to be there to help!

Meeting the children of La Casa on Sunday Afternoon was definitely one highlight of the week for Madison and I.  She painted fingernails and made rubber band bracelets with the kids and I sat and chatted with several of the older girls after a failed attempt at playing volleyball and Frisbee golf.  We sat around the tables and joked and laughed and checked soccer scores, of course!  The week was also full of digging, hauling dirt and "organic" matter, moving sand, grilling Pollo and Carne Asada for the Father's Day Celebration on Tuesday, making duck tape bows and most importantly making connections with some awesome kids!  

We were so very blessed by those in the community we delivered food to on Thursday and those people made a large impact on our week and in our lives. Luciano's faith and thankfulness cannot even be put into words.  I will never forget what a blessing and example he was to us all.  The friendships and bonds made on this trip will be for a lifetime!  This Team was awesome and I consider each and every member part of my family after last week! This recap is just a small summary of one of the greatest most memorable events in my life!

Heather ( and Maddie )

Time To Say Goodbye

Our last day in El Salvador...

The consensus seems to be that it feels like we've been here a month, however, now that we're leaving TOMORROW, it feels as if we just got here. Our only goal today: to make the best of these last hours in El Salvador!!

We were set to have somewhat of a free day today to further explore this majestic country, learn more about it and take it all in for one last time. We loaded up the bus and headed a little over an hour to an indigo farm. A variety of plants have provided indigo throughout history, but in El Salvador, it comes from the Guatemalensis plant.

Most natural indigo is obtained from tropical countries along the equator, like El Salvador. El Salvador has the perfect climate to grow Guatemalensis and is currently the biggest producer of indigo in the world.

We even got to experiment with the plant and make our own piece of art to bring back home.

We learned the long, tedious process of making indigo ink, and then got to become artists ourselves and make our own indigo masterpieces. If you're lucky...this might be your souvenir!!! ;)

We rang out the access indigo, removed the rubber bands and marbles from our attempted designs and revealed for the first time what our shirts ended up looking like...skeleton ribs, uniboobs, bullseye's and amebas... Not exactly what we had in mind, but a good time nonetheless!!

Finally, we headed towards La Casa to visit with the kids one last time. On the way there, we stopped off at an artesan market to pick up a trinket or two to take with us to remind us of our time here in El Salvador.

When we arrived at the house, we debriefed a bit with th fingers of La Casa and then split up to conquer! Some of us stayed to play ping pong, while others went down the street to a nearby park to play basketball. If basketball was anything like the ping pong tournament we had at the house...it was pretty intense!!

After sharing great conversation over one last meal together, it was time to say goodbye. One of the girls that is studying to be a teacher wanted to say a few words to us and thank us for a wonderful week, the time we spent together, for helping build their house...their future...and for all the ways we've enriched their lives while being here.

We also wanted to share our thoughts and feelings with them, as this had been an unbelievable, eye-opening experience for us. We expressed to them how much we enjoyed getting to know each of them as individuals, sharing our love with them. That for whatever reason we were chosen to be part of this team and upon arriving here were looking forward to blessing them with any and all resources we had, but in reality, we were the ones that received the blessing. As we leave tomorrow, we will be carrying each and every one of them with us in our hearts, wishing for them a continued road to a great future.

What we've experienced here this last week and have had the opportunity to do is still all floating in pieces throughout our brains and hearts. Most of what we've done and seen here has been like no other experience we've had before in our lives. But what's next? What's the next step? What does this all mean for us? Only time will tell.

As we leave this beautiful, yet poverty stricken country, let this not be goodbye forever, but only goodbye for now.

LUCIANO

Today was a day full of emotional highs and lows. We headed back out to the Ranch early this morning to deliver food (beans, rice, flour, oil and sugar) to 12 impoverished families that live around the area.

As we left the farm area on foot, our back packs filled with food for them, although we knew we were going to be helping these 12 families, we had no idea how incredibly powerful this experience was going to be.

One of the people that lives in the village that also helps work on the farm led the way. He's lived in the village for many years and knows which families are the ones currently most in need.

On the way to our first stop.  As you can see this "road" is not like the one that leads up to your house

El Salvador is a country with nearly 80% of its people living in extreme poverty and is overtaken by gang violence.  It's currently the country with the most homicides in the world. We have learned that most people here don't and can't think past "today" and live only in the moment... How they're going to get food for the day to feed themselves and their families...how they're going to survive today...as tomorrow may or may not come. We got to see the extent of the poverty and experience this first hand as we visited these 12 families. The supplies we delivered to them should last them approximately one week.

The poverty and conditions were unlike anything the group had ever experienced. Many of the families we met were single mothers or grandmothers with multiple children ... it was heartwrenching to hear many of their stories and see their everyday lives. Please keep these families, and the people of El Salvador in your prayers as you read of our encounters from today.

Visit #1 - At this house there lived 4 families. We recently hired one of the men that lives here to start work in the construction of these new orphanage houses on the farm. Although this will start to help him and his family, they are far from doing well. In addition to their poverty, their little daughter is mentally and physically disabled. She needs the care of specialists and a wheel chair because she cannot walk. This little girl will never have the opportunity to have an education, as there are no special education teachers and children with special needs are not allowed in the normal public school system since class sizes average around 40 children and there is no one that is trained to care for or teach the children with disabilities.

Visit #2: An 80yr old man that lives at his home with his wife. He's been living at this home for more than 20 years. This man told us that he is in great physical pain. The whole right side of his shoulder area and back hurts so badly that he cannot do anything around the house, go out to get food or work. His wife was not there because she was out finding food, since he could not...our food delivery ended up being perfect timing for them. He told us that he has two sons, but they have left them and are on to "different things"...he did not specify, yet, in El Salvador it's very common for impoverished children to be swept up and recruited into a gang that promises them a better life. He said that they come by every so often, but provide him with no help whether it be around their house, food, medical...anything. They seemingly only come to check to see if they are still living or dead. He asked us to join around him and to pray for him, his family and his healing. We all joined hands around him and asked God to provide him with all that we could not.

The road leading to our next family

Passed by a cow farm, whose run off from cleaning the cows/cow manure was not filtered and drained into one of the only water sources

Still walking...

Almost there!

We were greeted by this peppy, yet starving little puppy

Visit #3: ...And then we met Luciano Ramirez Castro. Señor Castro is a bold, faithful, and incredible man. He also lives in impoverished conditions like other locals, but was fortunate enough to have been taken to the hospital to have surgery for his prostate. The healthcare here is not like ours... It's free but with conditions very similar to those during World War II where a curtain separates each patient as they are lined in rows. Since his surgery, Luciano continues to have complications and serious medical issues, BUT as we gathered around him to bless him something was different about Luciano. As we began our prayer for him, he interrupted our prayer and started praying for US. In his prayers, he thanked God for bringing us to him, for the food we brought and simply just for caring about him to come visit, as he has been abandoned by all others. He added, "we are now all family since you have come to care for me, like no other has." He must have prayed for literally 5 minutes straight, thankful for all that he has, for us coming and for his heavenly Father that he said has never left his side. Powerful: to share this moment with this man who had nothing yet was thankful for everything... him pouring his heart and soul out in our presence. Emotional for everyone in our group: how could he pray like this given his conditions? Why would he pray for US?  His response, God provides and is always there for me when everyone else abandons...after all, he sent you!" Incredible moments that will be with our team forever.

Heading to delivery #3

Still headed to delivery #3

Needing comfort and a place to dry tears after this emotional visit

Our visits continued on similarly the rest of the morning... Our life lesson? Of the many, we are certainly reminded that there are countless amounts of people that definitely have it harder than us and are still faithful, persevere and make do with what they have...although the bare minimum.

And then it was time to shovel! We began mixing and pouring the foundation for the home we have been digging the trenches for throughout the week. It was incredible to see the walls forming, and more importantly what the home would mean to the children that are able to live there. Afterall, all of the children that we have met in the orphanage have come from situations and circumstances like those we saw today. This house will be another blessing and another step to providing these children with a future that they deserve and some hope for the future. We shoveled granite, dirt, and other "organic" material ... we were so thankful for our friend with a truck to help us move materials!! The team is so excited to continue to see the ranch progress so it can be used to change the lives of so many children. Completion and a full move in is estimated by the end of August/early September.

Roxanne and her axe

As we left the ranch for the last time this trip, we were absolutely on a high. We did awesome work this week, helped make great progress, and then got to visit one of six super volcanoes in the world, volcano Ilipongo, that could be seen right from the Ranches property! Although it is currently inactive, of this volcano were to blow again, it would wipe out all of central America! What looks like a lake is actually the part that blew off last eruption and has since filled with water.

During our drive back to the hotel, we encountered more traffic than on previous days. As we came closer to the cause of the backup we saw a roadside market with locals gathered...the police.....number place marks on the street......a funeral van..... and then there it was... a chubby, older female lying on the ground in pools of blood...dead. After gasping at the site, silence overcame the bus.  The lows...

The reality of what we witnessed is heavy. The truth is that this was likely the mother or grandmother to a home full of children that no longer exists on this earth. She may have been the sole provider to her family, like many of the other families we saw earlier in the day that were also struck with tragedy. Who was she? What would become of her family? What could have been so terrible to have led to someone to doo this to her?!?... Nothing...This amongst so many other things... rocked us.

El Salvador is such a beautiful place, but is flooded with sin, injustice, fear and violence which corrupts and pollutes this beauty.
All of what we witnessed and experienced today reminds us of our mission and why we felt called to serve here in the first place. We have only been here for a week, but the help and support that we've provided to this Foundation that has had its roots planted here now for nearly 15 years has worked miracles with these children, many families and many community members. We can now can only hope and pray for the renewal their hearts and minds, to change their behaviors and attitudes, to bring about change to not only people of this area, but to the whole country that so terribly needs it.