Blues From El Salvador

This is a crater formed by a volcano that
is now filled with water. I thought the
blues were stunningly soft and gorgeous.

Yesterday was an emotional day as
Mom and Mikey recounted their many
experiences in a week of medical
mission in the Jungle Villages
surrounding San Salvadore.

Mikey did so much more than I
could have ever imagined him
doing. Cleaning out wounds and
finding solutions to problems
brought about by lack of supplies.
Mom said some lifelong missionaries
commented positively about his
ability to see what needed to be
done and then do it. They were
quite impressed with him.

I think that Mikey's work at Agway,
since he was fourteen, and then his
Summer internship helped him a lot
when it came to his preparedness for
this trip. We are so thankful for
these opportunities in Mikey's life.

It is fun to see the carryover from
Longwood Gardens as he
took many photos of the native plant
life and will add those to his portfolio.
He was so excited to see these plants
in their natural environment after
learning about them in the classroom
over the summer.



Mom did well too. She worked so hard
in gathering together the medications
prescribed by the medical staff and marking
the appropriate dosages.
She would then hand them off to an RN for
a double check before they were given to
each patient. A woman who spoke fluent
Spanish was then charged with explaining
everything to the patient.
Quite a process,
but an efficient and thorough one.



I didn't know, before they left,
that Americans are such a target in
this country. Apparently it was very
necessary for their group to have armed
security with them. So they had three
uniformed police with them as they
went on their daily missions.

At one point Mom ventured through a tiny
bit of the jungle to capture a photo of
some school children. As she turned around
she was face to face with one of these policemen.
She was startled and realized that she wasn't
supposed to have gone there...she apologized.
He smiled and said, "I protect You!".
Mom patted his shoulder and thanked him.

Makes me laugh to imagine this scenario.



These are some happy blues they brought
back for me. Aren't they great?
I love the peachy and blue color combination
in this bowl. So very pretty.



Mom and Mikey will be sharing their stories and
pictures during the Sunday School time on Sunday
at our church. If you are in the area we would
love to have you come. It begins at 9:30 am.

After that I may be able to share more pictures.
Mikey is pretty protective of these stories and
photos as he doesn't want our friends from church
to get bored hearing them again after
reading about them here.
I respect this.
It was his trip after all.

I hope you will stop by and visit
Sally and Friends at Blue Monday.
It is a very fun way to visit
new (to you) blogs.