Stories and Experiences From EL Salvador: Zachary Meyer - The People of El Salvador

My journey to El Salvador has been new and unconventional, and not even at this time a year ago did I believe I would be serving families and communities in a foreign country. From friends close to me at college I learned of adventures they were taking abroad, and it was not long before I was convinced I wanted to go travel. But where, and why?

The option to do a mission trip sprang up, and to do it with the people I consider family at Good Shepherd was the opportunity of a lifetime. Leaving everything I knew back in Champaign and Kenosha, Wisconsin, where I go to college, plus missing a crucial week of schoolwork were sacrifices I had to make, and four days into the trip I have learned that I could not be any happier with the experience.

If there is one thing about El Salvador that strikes me it is the people here, and how they amaze me every day. They have been described as hard workers, and I can back up that claim, and beyond that they are the friendliest group of people I have ever met. They greet us on the streets - though we don't even speak the same language and we rarely know what they are saying, and have accepted us into their homes and even families as if we had always been - what an amazing group of people.

My highlight of this trip, though, has been the Salvadoran kids - what a joy, wonder and blessing they are. No experience can describe this better than the one that happened today, as me and Dean got a chance to slip away from our build site with our guide and translator Francis to explore the local neighborhood, and meet its inhabitants.

Along the way we ran into a large bunch of kids, laughing and screaming with joy as they ran around playing their own little game. As they ran to hug and greet Francis, me and Dean presented ourselves in our typical goofy manner, with sweeping off hats and traditional bows, which earned giggles from the kids. We made funny faces, tested our limited Spanish on them (Very limited in my place), and did goofy horse sounds with our mouths - I think I have never seen so many people laugh and smile at our actions.

What was truly fascinating though was how easily these kids simply accepted us, were willing to high five us, play along as we goofed around, and initiate conversation and action even when we were scared too. When Dean asked for a group picture I was scared to approach the kids - would they even feel comfortable with allowing a stranger to get close to them for a group picture? It was then that I had one of the most shocking and rewarding experiences of the trip - when we moved together to take the picture, one of the girls put her arm on my shoulder and pulled me in close for the picture - I was the reluctant one afraid of what they would think, and they pulled me close, and made me feel a part of their group. What an amazing feeling from such a simple experience. The kids of El Salvador have stolen a piece of my heart, and the way they are able to laugh, play, and have fun in areas and conditions I think so many of us believe couldn't always invite happy feelings, speaks to the energy, joy, and faith these kids have in their hearts - truly they have taught me the most in my short stay here.

The people of El Salvador have had a different upbringing than most of us in the United States. They have lived in what many of us would consider lower housing conditions, suffered through a terrible Civil War I recall learning about in one of my college courses, and have to deal with roads and rain that would drive all of us back in the states crazy. Yet they are happy, proud, and hardworking. They walk distances to get water and deliver food, greet random foreigners in the street, live in houses that would easily fit into an average U.S. garage, and can I just say how impressive it is over here that everyone can drive a stick shift? Seriously that's impressive.

While the scenery here is amazingly stunning, and all the new Spanish words are fun to learn, it is the people (especially the kids) of El Salvador who have made this trip truly stunning - they have been some of the most amazing people I have ever met, and their joy and attitude is something I hope to carry with me all my life. We are almost half way through our trip as I am writing this, and I know my time with these amazing people is limited. Yet I am convinced that when I leave this place my heart will be filled with the hope and love God had shown through them, and I will treasure what He has shown me in this country all the days of my life. What a blessing, what a blessing!