Brianne Henry

See how quickly the busyness of life sucks you right back in? I completely forgot to blog about our last day in El Salvador! Our last day was different than it's original plan. We completed all the work at the mission church in Ozatlan in one afternoon, where they had said it would take us all three days to do it. I guess 20 people can knock out much more work than they were planning! So we didn't really have much to do this day (but we managed to fill it up!). We started off by going back to the orphanage (which was unexpected!). After saying good-bye to all those girls, we had to do it all over again! While at the orphanage, some of us ventured off to the market in San Miguel. I don't have any pictures of that because it was madness! And if you know me well, I had to focus and breathe deeply just to not have panic attacks due to the crowds and super hot weather!!! In El Salvador, water is generally sold in bags. I paid 25 cents for the two bags Jesse & I are drink

This was probably my most favorite day of all! Why? Because I got to finally see the ocean! I have lived a sheltered life okay? I've never seen an ocean! And what better place to see it than on a mission trip in a foreign country. The ocean was so beautiful. Everyone was laughing at me because I was like a child...I just ran out into the water giggling like a little kid. Then I spent an hour or so jumping into the waves! :) The guys played football on the beach (imagine that!). Milton told us to watch out for jellyfish and not 10 minutes later I saw one...so I just decided to bask in the sun on the beach after that! I loved, loved, loved the ocean and I cannot wait to go back and see it again! Another good thing about the ocean there? They are very modest...we were all wearing shorts and cover-ups over our swimsuits. No half naked ladies on the beach in El Salvador! :) We stopped on our drive to the ocean to take a picture Ocean!!!!! Luke & I in the ocean! :) After

On Thursday, we switched gears a little. We went from loving orphan girls to evangelizing in a small village called Ozatlan. The church we went to on Day 1 (Strong Tower) has a mission church in this small village. We spent the morning doing different repairs on the mission church such as, filling holes in the roof, putting a door on the bathroom, and changing light switches.  Rachel, Vic & Jesse patching the roof Joe changing out a switch Cheryl talking with the ladies  After lunch, we broke into groups and did a prayer walk through the village. We also handed out flyers announcing our upcoming soccer & basketball tournament in the park that Saturday. We then walked up to the park and just kind of hung playing sports...to see what kind of attention we could draw! After some time, people would stop and watch a bunch of Americans attempting to play basketball with a soccer ball. We got to talk with some local kids that were hanging out also. Prayer walking through

Welcome to the last day with those beautiful girls at the orphanage! Today, we played with the girls in the morning. We also got the added pleasure of purchasing the orphanage a washing machine. Before, the owners and workers were doing all the laundry by hand! Can you imagine? 22 girls plus the workers that lived there also? By hand! Praise God we were able to do this for them! Now they can spend less time washing clothes and more time loving on those girls. Playing with the girls In the afternoon, we took the girls to a local park. While everyone was playing soccer and baseball, I got to walk to the grocery store with Milton to shop for lunch the next day. Crossing the street was a bit scary but we made it! The grocery store was fun. Lots of random things - it was neat to compare American grocery items to El Salvadorian items...and also note the price differences! Baseball at the park After the park, we piled onto the bus and everyone went to Pizza Hut. It was slightly str

Day 3 of El Salvador was lots of fun! In the morning, we did lots of organized activities with the girls (I like organization so it was fun for me!). Our church is trying to do pen pals with the girls. Obviously, the goal is for each girl to have a pen pal and receive letters from every other month and a small gift on their birthday. We had each girl design a poster with their name and birthdate on it. We then took pictures of the girls with their name posters. Who can resist those faces? We figured more people would be inclined to write if they saw their precious faces! :) The girls working on their posters Rebecca with her poster Tania with her poster We then presented the girls with their Christmas presents. They were little "princess" purses with fingernail polish, chapstick, a necklace, bath soap and other goodies inside of them. The girls loved them and I painted lots of nails that day! Our church had also donated about 200 pounds of clothes for the girls. We

The second day in El Salvador brought lots of joy to those of us who had never been before. We traveled about 45 minutes to a city called San Miguel. There we went to the Remar Orphanage. This orphanage is for sexually abused girls. Some of them were orphans, some had parents living in the orphanage as well, others had family members that had abused them. Either way, there were about 22 girls who were starved for love and attention...ranging in age from 3-18. When we pulled up, the girls were waiting outside and literally ran to us shouting "Hola!!" and giving us hugs. This day was pretty relaxed at the orphanage. Some of the girls were missing from spending Christmas with their families so we put off all our projects and just hung out with them. Finished counter project Cinnamon rolls! Some of the guys began building a new countertop in the kitchen  and Cheryl (one of the ladies on the trip) made cinnamon rolls with the older girls in the other kitchen. The orphanage

Well, do I have a lot to share with you! I've decided to do our trip just one day at a time, since there is just so much to say! The day started off by being picked up for the airport at 3:45. It was way early! I captured a beautiful shot of the sunrise from the plane though! We flew from KC to Houston, then from Houston to San Salvador, El Salvador. My first ever view of the ocean was from the plane, which was pretty amazing. Upon arriving in El Salvador, we were first struck with the heat...it was not fun at first! But we got used to it and were struck by the cold when we came back! We waited for a few minutes for our two trusty translators to pick us up from the airport. When they pulled up, the Americans that had been to El Salvador before ran to greet them, which left us "newbies" standing awkwardly wondering what was going on. But we soon learned that our translators are fantastic people and I would go back to El Salvador just to see them again! I got as tea