last saturday, july 31, my dad and i were on our way to el salvador. this week i will be adding daily blog posts for each day of the week that we were there (today i will be including the first two days, as saturday was mostly just a bunch of airports).
that first day began with a lot of waiting, security checks, and airplanes, but also meeting an entire new GHO (global health outreach) team. we were headed on a medical mission trip in another country and had no idea that we were also about to have the time of our lives!
for breakfast, dad bought his favorite - dunkin donuts. such a healthy first meal
in between flights, more people arrived and we all got to know each other while waiting for the plane to san salvador, el salvador. we played cards (including those with fun facts... those were awesome, right eric and cara?) and many were passed out on the floor taking naps.
when we finally arrived in san salvador, the sun was setting. el salvador is 2 hours behind NC, but my body had no idea what time it was.
in the airport, we had to go through customs and they had to check all of our luggage to make sure that we didn't bring any extra medications or anything illegal. we made it through - praise the Lord! and thank you Christine Birnie for all your hard work!
we took some small vans to the comfort inn of salvador and when we got there, my roomie (KJ wade) and i went up to our rooms.
on our beds were little boxes of candy from the local church!
we enjoyed a quick dinner, some logistical information, and then headed off to bed for the night.
the next morning the whole team met for breakfast.
then we all got onto the bus and went to the local church. happy sunday!
here is rene gonzalez - he is a wonderful singer and speaker!
here are the amazing musicians/other singers!
after the service, we were all able to catch up with many familiar faces. here is ana and sara moran - they are very dear to both my dad and i.
here is the view from the church window - how beautiful!
after church, we all went to lunch at a local restaurant, gardenias. the food was delicious and it was nice to be able to hang out and get to know the team even better. one of my favorite parts about the meal: watermelon drink. mmmm
after lunch, we all piled in the bus for about a 3 hour trip to san miguel. after about 5 minutes of driving, however, they ended up stopping our school bus, letting us off, and putting us on a much nicer bus with AC and a dvd movie to watch! good stuff. what a blessing!
for breakfast, dad bought his favorite - dunkin donuts. such a healthy first meal
in between flights, more people arrived and we all got to know each other while waiting for the plane to san salvador, el salvador. we played cards (including those with fun facts... those were awesome, right eric and cara?) and many were passed out on the floor taking naps.
when we finally arrived in san salvador, the sun was setting. el salvador is 2 hours behind NC, but my body had no idea what time it was.
in the airport, we had to go through customs and they had to check all of our luggage to make sure that we didn't bring any extra medications or anything illegal. we made it through - praise the Lord! and thank you Christine Birnie for all your hard work!
we took some small vans to the comfort inn of salvador and when we got there, my roomie (KJ wade) and i went up to our rooms.
on our beds were little boxes of candy from the local church!
we enjoyed a quick dinner, some logistical information, and then headed off to bed for the night.
the next morning the whole team met for breakfast.
then we all got onto the bus and went to the local church. happy sunday!
here is rene gonzalez - he is a wonderful singer and speaker!
here are the amazing musicians/other singers!
after the service, we were all able to catch up with many familiar faces. here is ana and sara moran - they are very dear to both my dad and i.
here is the view from the church window - how beautiful!
after church, we all went to lunch at a local restaurant, gardenias. the food was delicious and it was nice to be able to hang out and get to know the team even better. one of my favorite parts about the meal: watermelon drink. mmmm
after lunch, we all piled in the bus for about a 3 hour trip to san miguel. after about 5 minutes of driving, however, they ended up stopping our school bus, letting us off, and putting us on a much nicer bus with AC and a dvd movie to watch! good stuff. what a blessing!
when we finally arrived in san miguel, we went straight to the clinic site. we were a little behind on our time schedule, so we did not have any time to pack pills/prepare medicine and vitamins for tomorrow, but we did get to meet many of our translators and were welcomed by the local church with music and fellowship.
after about an hour at the site, we hopped back on the bus and headed to our new hotel - another lovely comfort inn. we had dinner (dessert was ice cream - YUM), got a few announcements and were then dispersed to do our own thing. many team members got together and worked on packing pills and vitamins, while others prepared music for team worship, or toys for the children. later, a few of us tried out the hotel's pool - it was nice and warm, but still a lot of fun to hang out and continue to get to know each other.
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