Smiles for Central America

I have truely come to see that when we serve others we are blessed more in return; so much that it almost does not feel that it is right to call anything "service". I am almost finished my 10 day trip to El Salvador where i was involved with a humanitarian group called "Smiles for Central America". Dentists and doctors come from the United States to do dental work for teens ages 16 to about 25 who are preparing to go on two year to 18 month missions for our church. The dentists saw 800 patients in a period of 7 days.

I was able to be a part of the X-ray team! It was so fun and I got to meet so many people from this beautiful country. We also did other humanitarian visits like going to the women's hospital, children's hospital, orphanage, and home visits. I was able to go on two home visits. We gave them food and talked with them for a little while. We also went to church on Sunday and gave the families a surprise visit with all of the donations given to us from America. Even though we were the ones who traveled from the states to serve these people here in El Salvador, I couldn't help but feel so emensley blessed for all that I have and all that I had gained from this trip. Not only were my eyes opened to how little these people in El Salvador had and how much the Lord has blessed me with, but I was also able to see how spiritually blessed these people are. Each person that I met was so humble and full of light and faith. I have never seen such great faith among so many.

I wanted to share an experience from my trip that really impacted me.

In the dental clinic we were all doing our jobs and suddenly I heard someone yell for a doctor. A girl was having a seizure. It seamed to last forever and I tried to stand back. I felt a feeling of fear come over me. As I felt this fear my eyes turned to the boy sitting in the X-ray chair next to me. His hands clasped together, his eyes closed, and his head bowed. I stared in confusion until he opened his eyes and raised his head. I was so over whelmed when I realised what he was doing. He had stopped to pray. I couldn't help but cry because I realised that that was the last thing that I thought to do. Following his example, I bowed my head and said a little prayer. She was alright in the end. It turned out to be a minor thing but that boy taught me that day that such a minor thing could have been something great and terrible. I truely believe that that was a miracle.