I decided to try doing a blog post again. I tried to do it while in El Salvador, but I couldn't remember how to post. I got home and saw the button right away, so I have to believe that it actually never showed up on the screen. The computers were hard to use there and I had to keep reading everything in Spanish, which I don't know, because even when I googled something on the English Google page it would flip back to all the sites in Spanish, so I gave up on figuring out how to do anything.
Here are the details of the trip. Mostly this is for me so I can remember until I make a book of my pictures, but you are welcome to read.
I had been invited to go on this trip last March, but I couldn't decide if it was what I wanted to do. By the time I decided I was told they were full. However, when they went to book the tickets in July they ended up having room for me. I had been praying for an opportunity and it was like an answer to a prayer so I eagerly said yes. Now it is October and here I was leaving.
I started off on the journey early Saturday morning, on the 19th of October. Michelle took me to the airport and since it was early in the morning and we were both sleep deprived we missed the exit and ended up driving almost all the way back to Bountiful before we were able to turn around and try again. Good thing we had left in plenty of time. Previous to leaving I had begun to think I was crazy for going. I don't know how to sew that well. Michelle and I had made a practice of the bag I was incharge of teaching and it was a good thing Michelle was there to read the directions because I couldn't figure them out. I also know hardly any Spanish. When we would go and play racquetball I would make us count and say things to each other in Spanish so I knew how to count and say good job! Plus it was so much work making sub plans I had hardly slept that week. So as I walked into the airport I was thinking how ridiculous I was. I didn't even know anyone going on the trip. All I knew was that most of them would be much older than I am. It was a little nerve racking. But I quickly found them standing inline and they greeted me with warm smiles so I began to relax and feel a little better.
We flew to Dallas and the after a small layover we headed onto El Salvador. We arrived at about 7 that night. Once again I felt a little anxiety as we had to go through customs and push a little light. If it was green we got to go through, if not our bags were checked and I had heard that sometimes they took your items. We each had two sewing machines in our luggage and I did not want to watch our machines being taken. Luckily we all made it through just fine. Once there the institute director and a missionary couple blocked us up and loaded all of our bags into their vehicles. It was dark so I couldn't see very much. I did laugh because those who had come the year before were talking about how crazy the driving was here. I thought it was super calm compared to other places I have been. I hardly bothered at all.
The first stop was to the institute. It was a nice building. In El Salvador every place is guarded by a guard with a machine gun. Barbed wire is also everywhere. The gate was opened and we went in. We took all our suitcases and dropped them off at the institute. Our personal bags had all of our personal items in them so we took those with us. They then took us to our hotel. It was about a 5 minute drive from the institute. The hotel was the Grecia Real Hotel. Once again there was guard standing there. The place was nice enough. We had to pay $20 a night, but really that was hardly anything. Debbie and I were to be roommates. We were given room 110, which was right by the front desk.
The rooms were kind of funny. I went to sit down on my bed it was hard as rock. Then we went into our bathroom. As Debbie put it "This is the only bathroom I have been in where you can shower your feet while you sit on the toilet. But they didn't look too dirty. The showers were funny because there were wires on the outside of the shower head and as we found out later if you touched one part of the shower when your hand was wet, you were shocked. What fun!
Debbie seemed to be a lot of fun, so that made me feel good. Her children are all grown and she has 5 grandchildren. Her oldest children are about my age. She also lives in Bountiful. She was a talker and liked to have fun, so getting along with her was just fine. She was also such a caring person who would share anything she had. I was glad I got to be her roommate.
This is a picture of my roommate Debbie and myself
The next morning we got to experience our first breakfast at the hotel. They served us some delicious beans, scrambled eggs, sweet corn tamales, pineapple, watermelon, papaya, and a strange looking sandwich if you wanted it. I loved the sweet corn tamales. I had never had a tamale, but I am now a fan!
We then headed off to church. We went to a church right next to the temple so that was fun to see the temple. It was stake conference so that was hard. I had no idea what they were saying and it was freezing cold. I finally decided to read my Book of Mormon and not freak out about the fact that I was supposed to be teaching people the next day when I couldn't even understand a word anyone was saying.
After church Debbie, Stella, Edna, and I played a few rounds of Phase 10 before we headed out to go find something to eat. We walked over to the mall close by and found a place that make Pupusas. That is the food that El Salvador is known for so we all wanted to them. My pupusa had beans in it. We also tried these empanadas that I did not like and these fried bananas with a cream inside. I absolutely LOVED those. They were delicious!
Pupusa is above. Delicious Banana with cream below.
Here is the group I was with.
Starting from the right it goes Carolyn, Diane, Melody, Cindy, Edna, Me, Stella, Debbie, Kathy
Afterwards we returned to the hotel and just chatted. We also discussed the plan for the next day. Everyone was so fun. Carolyn was the one in charge of the group. I was able to go because I teach school with her daughter-in-law. She was great. Stella was probably one of the oldest in the group. She was quitter, but nice. Cindy is probably about my mom's age. She had a really fun personality. Kathy is a midsingle like me. She was really fun to talk with. Edna is from Honduras so she was our Spanish translator. I loved how much she loved those sisters and just wanted what was best for them. Her daughter Melody was my age and also single. She was more like me also in her sewing skills so that was nice to know that she too had to sometimes ask questions. Diane also has children that are graduated from high school. Her husband passed away a few years ago from cancer. She was strong example to me of how to continue on with life and make the most of it. Her comments often touched me. She was also a lot of fun.
I have to admit that Sunday night I went to bed with a lot of anxiety about how I was going to be able to make it through the next day.
Monday morning we got up, ate a similar breakfast as the day before, only without tamales (sad). We did have some delicious little pancakes though. We walked over to the institute and set up the room so that each sister would have a sewing machine and a box of needles, thread, scissors, measuring tape, etc. Then we had the sisters come in and choose their spot. Several of them were previous sweatshop seamstresses so we had them separate out so that the beginners would not all be lumped together. Then they got to open up their sewing machines and learn how to sew in a straight line on their sewing machines. It was fun to watch their excitement. They all seemed to catch on pretty quick. Debbie and I shared a table of 4 sisters. Their names were Claudia, Sonia, Jobita, and Daysi. They were super sweet. Jobita was hilarious and loved to sing. We found that out quick. She was always humming a hymn. Claudia struggled the most with her sewing and had the most difficult machine so that was sad. However, she seemed to hold her own. Sonia would always correct me on my Spanish and tease me for telling her to go iron.
The first project they made was a sewing machine cover. Then later that day they also made a hot pad holder. They seemed to do a pretty good job and an apron. Somehow I seemed to be able to communicate. I had a list that Melody made with the help of her mom with sewing phrases on it. This really helped me out a lot. Other than that we had to communicate with a lot of hand signs. Jobita spoke a few words in English and she would make fun of me and tell me that I speak Spanglish. She would then say Mucho thank you with a cute nod of her head. It made me laugh.
We sewed from 9-4 with a lunch break and when we left I have to admit I was feeling much better. Somehow it all worked out, well at least for day 1.
The group we taught with their aprons. Below is our table of sisters with their hot pad holders.
That evening we just sat around and chatted. We did go to Wendy's for dinner. I ordered a chocolate frosty and they brought me out a vanilla frosty and big chocolate syrup bottle. They asked me if I wanted to poor some chocolate in it, or at least I think that is what he said in Spanish. I did not want that option so I said no thank you. A part of me wished we were out exploring, but I guess it was fun to just chat. That night Debbie told me a lot about her life. Parts of it seemed hard. I have to admit I learned this one great fact. Life is hard, but it is possible to pull through and be happy and turning from the Lord and blaming Him is not the answer.
The next morning we headed off to the institute again. It was so fun to be greeted by all the sisters. They were so happy to see us. Today our projects were these adorable pillowcase dresses, some cute headbands where they learned to make yoyo flowers, and scripture bags, plus another hot pad holder where the jean pocket was the place where you put your hand.
It was a fun day of sewing and learning Spanish. I actually started to catch on to some of the sewing words so that made me feel more confident. I even started to translate what they were saying to Debbie, because she had no idea. Of course Debbie saved my back, because sometimes I had no clue what the next step was in the sewing so she would have to tell me what to do.
Jobita with her scripture bag.
Claudia with her scripture bag
Sonia with the jean pocket hot pad holder
Daysia and her headband
Me with my group. They made me smile everyday!
At one point, when they were just hand sewing, Melody played some hymns and all the sisters were singing. It was a tender moment. We also had 4 sisters before lunch and 4 sisters after lunch tell us about themselves while Edna translated. That always brought tears to my eyes. The spirit was always so strong. They were all converts and they all had such strong testimonies. One sister thanked us for being there and doing what we are taught when we make our covenants. I had never, ever, thought of it as that. Really they were blessing my life by having such strong testimonies and being so humble and grateful when life was so much harder for them than it has ever been for me. Really it just amazed me.
That night we went to a restaurant and had El Salvadorian food. I had to laugh because I really wanted to order those delicious bananas with cream in the middle. I asked what they were called and I thought I ordered that, but I guess I didn't because they were more like a spring roll. I also ordered a sweet corn tamale, but it ended up not being very good because it was super dry. Oh well. Later Diane tried to go and order some of those bananas to share with me. She asked Edna exactly what it was called because Edna had ordered it. She went up and said that and they tried to give her this weird lasagna looking food. So she pointed to what she wanted. She brought if back. I was so excited. Then we cut into it and it had something brown inside. Maybe chocolate? The banana did have sugar on top of it. But no, it wasn't chocolate, it was beans. Everyone laughed. So much for getting something good!
The meal I ended up with. The 3 egg roll looking things were what I didn't want.
Me about to eat what I thought was my delicious banana with cream.
Me devastated it had beans in it instead.
That night we played Uno and laughed at the fact that we were all having to take freezing cold showers at the hotel. We told the hotel clerk and he said "Mana" (tomorrow). Just in case I never mention it again, we never got warm water. Debbie got warm water once. Cindy and Kathy got it the very last day. The rest of us just learned to take COLD showers. Our drain didn't drain either, so much for the flipflops. Oh well, we made it through.
Wednesday we had a cute t-shirt dress they made and then decorated flipflops to go with them. They learned the gathering stich in order to make the dress. They also decorated some huge Christmas Stockings. In the afternoon they made Maxi skirts. We were really nervous because it is knit fabric and they could have not turned out well, but they all turned out so well. It was so fun to see them in the skirts! I was starting to figure out enough words that I could understand Edna sometimes when she was giving directions. That was kind of exciting too. I did have to laugh because these ladies did not like to take time to pin their things. I got after Jobita for not pinning, but she thought she would be fine. When she got to the end it didn't work. I just looked at her and said 'Don't blame me!" We both had a good laugh together as she had to unpick!
Jobita with her t-shirt dress and flipflops on the table.
Decorating Christmas Stockings
Here are all their Maxi skirts. Don't they look great!
During our lunch the Area 70 general authority came over and thanked us so much for what we were doing. He told us how we were honestly saving lives and providing food on the table for some of these sisters for years to come. I could feel his spirit so powerfully as he was speaking to us, that I honestly knew that what he was saying was true. I felt so grateful to be a part of something that maybe truly was making a difference.
Wednesday night we went to the symphony. It was held at a nice stage downtown. We only had to pay $1 to get in and the symphony was really good. We also bought these pretty aprons that all the vendors wear. That was fun.
The next day was the final day of sewing. That made us all kind of sad. We made a cute little play outfit in the morning. The shorts were confusing because everyone had a different way of making them. I was clueless. This made the project take a long time. After lunch it was finally my project. Debbie and I had split the project so I had her explain it. Only we were short on time so they only got to cut it out and then watch a few sisters make it. That made me sad because I really wanted to see them all carrying their bags.
Juana had her daughter die while we were there. We found out that she had been going every night and spending the whole night at the hospital with her daughter. Then she would ride the bus to come and sew. What dedication. I was really touched and heartbroken for the poor sister. What a hard thing to have happen. Everyone was very kind and caring to her.
Sonia cutting out her outfit.
Final product
Claudia cutting out the bag.
Hard at work!
We had one sister who had taken the course the year before come and she showed all that she was making now. I bought a couple of shirts from her for $2 each. She told the sisters never to sell their sewing machines no matter how desperate they were, because it would be the means to providing them food on their plates. It really inspired me.
We took lots of photos and gave lots of hugs. Then we held a little graduation ceremony and gave them lots of fabric and patterns. They also got to take home their sewing machines. It was amazing. They made us pupusas and a cute card. They also gave us a bag. Sonia gave me a zipper purse she had made. It was sad and heartwarming and everything all at the same time. I will miss those sisters and the love I felt while I was with them.
Graduation. Claudia with her certificate. All the sisters with their piles
That night a few of us went to the temple and did a session. The temple was beautiful. It was a great way to end all of what I had just experienced.
Friday morning we headed to do some touring. We saw some ruins and a pyramid that had been uncovered from when it was buried by a volcano. We also went to a lake to eat lunch. At the end we stopped and did a quick round of shopping. Finally my practice with numbers came in handy and I was able to barter with the people!
Here are the details of the trip. Mostly this is for me so I can remember until I make a book of my pictures, but you are welcome to read.
I had been invited to go on this trip last March, but I couldn't decide if it was what I wanted to do. By the time I decided I was told they were full. However, when they went to book the tickets in July they ended up having room for me. I had been praying for an opportunity and it was like an answer to a prayer so I eagerly said yes. Now it is October and here I was leaving.
I started off on the journey early Saturday morning, on the 19th of October. Michelle took me to the airport and since it was early in the morning and we were both sleep deprived we missed the exit and ended up driving almost all the way back to Bountiful before we were able to turn around and try again. Good thing we had left in plenty of time. Previous to leaving I had begun to think I was crazy for going. I don't know how to sew that well. Michelle and I had made a practice of the bag I was incharge of teaching and it was a good thing Michelle was there to read the directions because I couldn't figure them out. I also know hardly any Spanish. When we would go and play racquetball I would make us count and say things to each other in Spanish so I knew how to count and say good job! Plus it was so much work making sub plans I had hardly slept that week. So as I walked into the airport I was thinking how ridiculous I was. I didn't even know anyone going on the trip. All I knew was that most of them would be much older than I am. It was a little nerve racking. But I quickly found them standing inline and they greeted me with warm smiles so I began to relax and feel a little better.
We flew to Dallas and the after a small layover we headed onto El Salvador. We arrived at about 7 that night. Once again I felt a little anxiety as we had to go through customs and push a little light. If it was green we got to go through, if not our bags were checked and I had heard that sometimes they took your items. We each had two sewing machines in our luggage and I did not want to watch our machines being taken. Luckily we all made it through just fine. Once there the institute director and a missionary couple blocked us up and loaded all of our bags into their vehicles. It was dark so I couldn't see very much. I did laugh because those who had come the year before were talking about how crazy the driving was here. I thought it was super calm compared to other places I have been. I hardly bothered at all.
The rooms were kind of funny. I went to sit down on my bed it was hard as rock. Then we went into our bathroom. As Debbie put it "This is the only bathroom I have been in where you can shower your feet while you sit on the toilet. But they didn't look too dirty. The showers were funny because there were wires on the outside of the shower head and as we found out later if you touched one part of the shower when your hand was wet, you were shocked. What fun!
The next morning we got to experience our first breakfast at the hotel. They served us some delicious beans, scrambled eggs, sweet corn tamales, pineapple, watermelon, papaya, and a strange looking sandwich if you wanted it. I loved the sweet corn tamales. I had never had a tamale, but I am now a fan!
We then headed off to church. We went to a church right next to the temple so that was fun to see the temple. It was stake conference so that was hard. I had no idea what they were saying and it was freezing cold. I finally decided to read my Book of Mormon and not freak out about the fact that I was supposed to be teaching people the next day when I couldn't even understand a word anyone was saying.
After church Debbie, Stella, Edna, and I played a few rounds of Phase 10 before we headed out to go find something to eat. We walked over to the mall close by and found a place that make Pupusas. That is the food that El Salvador is known for so we all wanted to them. My pupusa had beans in it. We also tried these empanadas that I did not like and these fried bananas with a cream inside. I absolutely LOVED those. They were delicious!
Starting from the right it goes Carolyn, Diane, Melody, Cindy, Edna, Me, Stella, Debbie, Kathy
Afterwards we returned to the hotel and just chatted. We also discussed the plan for the next day. Everyone was so fun. Carolyn was the one in charge of the group. I was able to go because I teach school with her daughter-in-law. She was great. Stella was probably one of the oldest in the group. She was quitter, but nice. Cindy is probably about my mom's age. She had a really fun personality. Kathy is a midsingle like me. She was really fun to talk with. Edna is from Honduras so she was our Spanish translator. I loved how much she loved those sisters and just wanted what was best for them. Her daughter Melody was my age and also single. She was more like me also in her sewing skills so that was nice to know that she too had to sometimes ask questions. Diane also has children that are graduated from high school. Her husband passed away a few years ago from cancer. She was strong example to me of how to continue on with life and make the most of it. Her comments often touched me. She was also a lot of fun.
I have to admit that Sunday night I went to bed with a lot of anxiety about how I was going to be able to make it through the next day.
Monday morning we got up, ate a similar breakfast as the day before, only without tamales (sad). We did have some delicious little pancakes though. We walked over to the institute and set up the room so that each sister would have a sewing machine and a box of needles, thread, scissors, measuring tape, etc. Then we had the sisters come in and choose their spot. Several of them were previous sweatshop seamstresses so we had them separate out so that the beginners would not all be lumped together. Then they got to open up their sewing machines and learn how to sew in a straight line on their sewing machines. It was fun to watch their excitement. They all seemed to catch on pretty quick. Debbie and I shared a table of 4 sisters. Their names were Claudia, Sonia, Jobita, and Daysi. They were super sweet. Jobita was hilarious and loved to sing. We found that out quick. She was always humming a hymn. Claudia struggled the most with her sewing and had the most difficult machine so that was sad. However, she seemed to hold her own. Sonia would always correct me on my Spanish and tease me for telling her to go iron.
The sisters Debbie and I worked with. Debbie, Claudia, Sonia, Me, Jobita, Daysi
The first project they made was a sewing machine cover. Then later that day they also made a hot pad holder. They seemed to do a pretty good job and an apron. Somehow I seemed to be able to communicate. I had a list that Melody made with the help of her mom with sewing phrases on it. This really helped me out a lot. Other than that we had to communicate with a lot of hand signs. Jobita spoke a few words in English and she would make fun of me and tell me that I speak Spanglish. She would then say Mucho thank you with a cute nod of her head. It made me laugh.
We sewed from 9-4 with a lunch break and when we left I have to admit I was feeling much better. Somehow it all worked out, well at least for day 1.
That evening we just sat around and chatted. We did go to Wendy's for dinner. I ordered a chocolate frosty and they brought me out a vanilla frosty and big chocolate syrup bottle. They asked me if I wanted to poor some chocolate in it, or at least I think that is what he said in Spanish. I did not want that option so I said no thank you. A part of me wished we were out exploring, but I guess it was fun to just chat. That night Debbie told me a lot about her life. Parts of it seemed hard. I have to admit I learned this one great fact. Life is hard, but it is possible to pull through and be happy and turning from the Lord and blaming Him is not the answer.
The next morning we headed off to the institute again. It was so fun to be greeted by all the sisters. They were so happy to see us. Today our projects were these adorable pillowcase dresses, some cute headbands where they learned to make yoyo flowers, and scripture bags, plus another hot pad holder where the jean pocket was the place where you put your hand.
It was a fun day of sewing and learning Spanish. I actually started to catch on to some of the sewing words so that made me feel more confident. I even started to translate what they were saying to Debbie, because she had no idea. Of course Debbie saved my back, because sometimes I had no clue what the next step was in the sewing so she would have to tell me what to do.
Above: Claudia with her pillowcase dress. She was proud of it. Below is Daysi, ironing
At one point, when they were just hand sewing, Melody played some hymns and all the sisters were singing. It was a tender moment. We also had 4 sisters before lunch and 4 sisters after lunch tell us about themselves while Edna translated. That always brought tears to my eyes. The spirit was always so strong. They were all converts and they all had such strong testimonies. One sister thanked us for being there and doing what we are taught when we make our covenants. I had never, ever, thought of it as that. Really they were blessing my life by having such strong testimonies and being so humble and grateful when life was so much harder for them than it has ever been for me. Really it just amazed me.
That night we went to a restaurant and had El Salvadorian food. I had to laugh because I really wanted to order those delicious bananas with cream in the middle. I asked what they were called and I thought I ordered that, but I guess I didn't because they were more like a spring roll. I also ordered a sweet corn tamale, but it ended up not being very good because it was super dry. Oh well. Later Diane tried to go and order some of those bananas to share with me. She asked Edna exactly what it was called because Edna had ordered it. She went up and said that and they tried to give her this weird lasagna looking food. So she pointed to what she wanted. She brought if back. I was so excited. Then we cut into it and it had something brown inside. Maybe chocolate? The banana did have sugar on top of it. But no, it wasn't chocolate, it was beans. Everyone laughed. So much for getting something good!
The meal I ended up with. The 3 egg roll looking things were what I didn't want.
Wednesday we had a cute t-shirt dress they made and then decorated flipflops to go with them. They learned the gathering stich in order to make the dress. They also decorated some huge Christmas Stockings. In the afternoon they made Maxi skirts. We were really nervous because it is knit fabric and they could have not turned out well, but they all turned out so well. It was so fun to see them in the skirts! I was starting to figure out enough words that I could understand Edna sometimes when she was giving directions. That was kind of exciting too. I did have to laugh because these ladies did not like to take time to pin their things. I got after Jobita for not pinning, but she thought she would be fine. When she got to the end it didn't work. I just looked at her and said 'Don't blame me!" We both had a good laugh together as she had to unpick!
Jobita with her t-shirt dress and flipflops on the table.
Wednesday night we went to the symphony. It was held at a nice stage downtown. We only had to pay $1 to get in and the symphony was really good. We also bought these pretty aprons that all the vendors wear. That was fun.
The next day was the final day of sewing. That made us all kind of sad. We made a cute little play outfit in the morning. The shorts were confusing because everyone had a different way of making them. I was clueless. This made the project take a long time. After lunch it was finally my project. Debbie and I had split the project so I had her explain it. Only we were short on time so they only got to cut it out and then watch a few sisters make it. That made me sad because I really wanted to see them all carrying their bags.
Juana had her daughter die while we were there. We found out that she had been going every night and spending the whole night at the hospital with her daughter. Then she would ride the bus to come and sew. What dedication. I was really touched and heartbroken for the poor sister. What a hard thing to have happen. Everyone was very kind and caring to her.
Sonia cutting out her outfit.
We took lots of photos and gave lots of hugs. Then we held a little graduation ceremony and gave them lots of fabric and patterns. They also got to take home their sewing machines. It was amazing. They made us pupusas and a cute card. They also gave us a bag. Sonia gave me a zipper purse she had made. It was sad and heartwarming and everything all at the same time. I will miss those sisters and the love I felt while I was with them.
Friday morning we headed to do some touring. We saw some ruins and a pyramid that had been uncovered from when it was buried by a volcano. We also went to a lake to eat lunch. At the end we stopped and did a quick round of shopping. Finally my practice with numbers came in handy and I was able to barter with the people!
Then Saturday morning we were up bright and early and we headed home. We had a huge layer in Dallas so we didn't return home until 8 that night. I was sad to come home. It felt so good to have been serving others for a week. This trip strengthened my testimony and gave me a great feeling of peace in my heart. It was hard to know that now I was going to have to go really seeking more for those same feelings instead of knowing each day as I walked to the institute that the love and peace was just going to be there. I am so grateful that I was blessed with the opportunity to go. I won't forget the sweet sisters I traveled with nor the sweet sisters who each day I interacted with as we taught them to sew and they taught me put my trust in the Lord.
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