I know I promised Pictures soon...i promise they will be posted eventually...most likely while I'm at home for Easter Break. So as you all know I had an amazing adventure when I went on my missions trip...if you haven't heard then here it goes:-)
We left Charlotte earllllly saturday March 1st. We had good flights and good timing with everything. Arrived in San Salvador and met with the Missionaries, Stan and Lynn, who live there. They were very sweet. We went to their house, about 1 hr away from the airport and then we went shopping. At this point I was very tired from a long day of traveling so I was ready for bed even though we hadnt had dinner yet! We go back to the missionaries house and they provide us a El Salvadorian Sign Class which Rudy and Regina led (they are local deaf). let me tell you now...learning two languages at one time is REALLLY hard!!! i can't believe i actually did it!!! then we were introduced to El Salvadorian pizza (which is delicious) and soda. I found my new favorite soda called Kolashanpan (its a sweet orange soda). then more sign class! wow i was on overload already!!! lol.
March 2nd- we got up, had breakfast, devotional, then we went to a local church to meet up with some local deaf. we all split up into small groups to do different things. Some went to deaf sunday school, some went to sign class, and some went to the hearing church and had an interpreter interpret the service. I went to the church. It was good experience. The interpreters used some ASL with a mix of El Salvadorian signs...that threw me off! haha. I enjoyed it though! After church we went to the big mall and ate lunch there before heading back to the missionaries house to pack up and leave for La Union. It was a 3 hr drive to La Union and included many funny stories of drunk cow and illegal animal sales etc. WOW! haha. But let me tell you...El Salvador is BEAUTIFUL! the land is amazing:) We arrive at the hotel and have team meetings and check in...its a beautiful hotel and good area! we were overlooking the bay/pacific ocean! could see honduras from our window! I'm excited about teaching the children this upcoming week!
March 3-7th: (March 3) FIRST DAY OF TEACHING!!!! only one of my girls showed up...oh well...it was a little difficult to keep her attention because she wanted to see what others were doing with us Americans! On the second day of teaching:both my girls showed up and had a blast learning their numbers, animals, family, writing skills, etc. Language was difficult to communicate but we made it through:) So to end out the week of teaching we ended with a pinata party and game day. wow that was amazing that the american games worked so well over the language gap!
during the week we only taught at the school for the deaf in the AM and then had the afternoons to do various things. Monday afternoon was a rest day, which we ALL needed to catch up with ourselves. Tuesday afternoon we went to local towns and visited with 2 older deaf boys. We performed the Noah's Ark skit and talked some with them. One was poor with lack of social skills. He's well known to get drunk and not care. We hope we made some kind of impact on him. One of his friends came around who was drunk and that was annoying...oh well! The other deaf boy was one who helped set up the school for the deaf but didn't continue his education there. He came to school the next day until the end of the week when we left. Its nice to know we reached out to someone! Wednesday afternoon we went to the town of Conchagua and searched for deaf people to get some experience with what Missionaries do. We didn't find any deaf but we did find some leads to where other deaf people could be. Thursday afternoon we shopped for the pinata party. That was interesting to go into the local markets! We stuffed the pinatas back at the hotel. They don't just put candies in but they put toys, money, and other surprises:) Friday afternoon to celebrate the end of the week we went to the beach and had an afternoon on the beach. it was my first time in the pacific water and it was AMAZING!!! so relaxing, just what i needed after a long week! haha!
March 8: We planned to go to the Isle of Meangurea (the biggest island) and visit with a deaf boy, named Moises, who lives there and works as a fisherman. He has never met any other deaf his age so we were the first group of older deaf he's met. It was so fun! The boat ride to the island was calm and pretty. I saw OPEN pacific waters:) Moises showed us his home and his village, his work area etc. we ate lunch at the hotel dock and performed Noah's Ark skit and The Prodigal Son skit for him. He enjoyed both of them! Soon it was time to say farewell! We loaded up the boat and started heading back...Understand...most boats/fisherman will come from mainland to the island and STAY overnight...the waters too rough in the afternoons...but since we Americans had to be back the same day they were willing to drive us back. We faced brutal waves...5-20 ft swells...soaked to the bone...the engine started faltering on us and we had to anchor down. we were still so far away from the port...a boat ride that was supposed to be 1 hour long took 3 hours...thats how bad it was...when we pulled up the anchor it BROKE...so now we have nothing to hold us down. Our Missionary Stan was seasick :-( poor thing... the captain got the engine working enough to get us to the bay area and in calmer waters. we got out on old steps and there was a port area behind us but btwn the port area and the steps where we were was a fence with barbed wire running on the top of it. so no way we can climb the fence...we start figuring out how to get back to the main road so Lynn, missionary's wife, could pick us up. some people inside the fence noticed we were here and they came to see whats up. they were filming us stranded on the other side of the fence and I never felt more like a fugitive at that moment...wow...they then found 2 ladders and made a makeshift crossing for us to get over the fence. Lynn picked us up inside the port and i was never so happy...I started crying at the amazing graces God gives us everyday. He showed me then and there his awesome power!!! after that we were covered in salt from the pacific...its so dense you could shake the salt off my hair and have PLENTY for dinner! We cleaned up at the hotel and then headed back to San Salvador to catch our plane the next day.
March 9...last day... :-( only got about 5 hours of sleep the night before because my body knew i was going home to USA but was sad at the same time...ahhh i don't wanna leave! we packed up and headed out to Burger king to have breakfast. then we made a quick coffee stop at the local grocery store to get coffee for family at home. :-) then drove another hr to the airport to find that our flight was delayed 1 hour which really meant 2 hrs delay in the US due to the time change...we left El Salvador around 1:55pm and arrived in Atlanta at 7:30 but had to wait 30 min for a gate to unload. We then KNEW we would miss our connecting flight at 8:09 because we still had to go through customs and security...so we went to get flights discussed about. we all (12 ppl) were put on standby for the last flight...none of us were able to get on due to 28 other ppl trying to get on that flight with standby...AHHHH. after awhile we figured out we'd be on the first flight out the next morning (march 10). So we spent the night in the Atlanta airport. I was the only one who didn't sleep. I read, walked around, talked with whoever was awake at the time, ate some ice cream...when more ppl woke up and it was about 5 we went to food court and ate breakfast. i am so exhausted at this point because i still ahven't slept. everyone else had at least a few hours of sleep to keep them going...i was a walking zombie...we all were able to get on the 7am flight with Standby PRAISE JESUS!!! we arrived in charlotte and I was never so happy to see the Charlotte skyline in my life! ahhh!!! got our stuff and loaded up the vans and headed home to GWU...we arrived back btwn 930-10ish in the AM and i emailed my professors explaining what happened and CRASHED. i slept from 10am-5:40pm then again 10:30-7:15am the next day. I was EXHAUSTED from only having 5 hours of sleep in a 52 hour timeframe...and it wasn't even a good 5 hours of sleep it was restless...so that just added on to the adventure!!!
Anyways, I'm glad we're back...SAFE AND SOUND:) and I really am amazed even more so at God's wonderful things he does for us:) ILY Jesus!!!
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