Papusas Rock

I am sitting here in El Salvador armed with a 2 liter of Fanta Naranja and a belly full of Poopapias.

El Salvador is incredible so far, and I just landed yesterday afternoon. My preceptor, a doctor from here in this country, picked us up at the airport, took us to the grocery store (where I purchased my beautiful sweet nectar of fanta), and then him and his family took us out to a welcome dinner: papusas. A flat double layered circular corn tortilla filled with beans, cheese, and pork….that I nicely layered with some vinager based spicy cabbage and tomato sauce and ate with my hands. I love this culture…..almost as much as I love kilt lettuce.

The weather is incredible. It was 20 degrees when I left Virginia, and I’m sitting in the bedroom now and its 80 degrees with a nice ocean breeze blowing through the window. I love it. This is no vacation though. My Spanish is being stretched big time. The doctors wife does not speak Spanish, so I got frustrated right off. I have never been able to hold on to this language enough to really communicate well in all these years of travelling to central/south America. Well, now I simply have to. It’s just me......and a Spanish phrase book I bought at barnes and noble. Oh, and all that sentence structure in my head from costa rica immersion school with the really stinky swedish guy. Apparently, it will come together. Frankly, I’m scared to death! I have always relied too much on people around me to get the Spanish. Now I’m forced to learn it. A good thing, but makes me even more uncomfortable. Comfort isn’t what this mission is about, though.
Just to let you few who read this blog in, I am in San Salvador, El Salvador on an international rotation through VCOM (my medical school). They have a very nice apartment for us to stay in and Dr. Inglesias, a doctor here, takes us with him to various villages and orphanages. It’s a rotation just like my rotations in the states….pretty intense reading and cases and presentations…..the whole 9 yards. The technical term for the rotation is “Underserved Care”, and the majority of other students in my class do the rotation in very rural clinics in Virginia and North Carolina. Opportunities like this are why I went to VCOM…they really have a focus on training up missionaries. It’s technically a school learning experience and not a mission trip per say, but I am definitely open to being used by Jesus. I’m hoping that happens and that’s also why I’m here!

Just a little about what I am doing all month:
My mission will take me to four rural northern villages, where I will care for citizens who, without VCOM or the ministries in El Salvador, would not have access to medical care. I will also care for orphans from three homes, two of which have predominately HIV-positive children. I will care for severely malnourished infants in one additional mission site. All care is under the direction of Dr. Inglesias, who is an awesome teacher and is also bilingual. The ministry partners include “Casa De Mi Padre,” and Love Links orphanage and I believe that one of the orphanages is Catholic run. I don’t know much about these ministries right now but I am very excited to learn.

Please keep me in your prayers that I will stay focused and patient in both speaking Spanish and being a light for Christ here in El Salvador.