Smiles for El Salvador

Jeremy and McKay had the awesome opportunity to go down to El Salvador for a service dental trip April 21-May1.  They worked in a clinic for 4 days and also did some humanitarian aid after church on Sunday while they were there.  They were able to help prepare mission papers for about 800 future missionaries.

Their trip started with a red eye flight on a Wednesday night/Thursday morning.  Once they finally got to El Salvador they found that they had armed guards wherever they went  The above picture shows one of the guards riding the bus with them to their first day in the clinic.  Their bus also had a police escort wherever they went (bottom left).  Apparently there is a lot of crime and fighting/wars their with all the gangs in the country.

 It took Jeremy and McKay some getting used to working together in the clinic, but they loved serving the people there and helping them with their dental work.  McKay couldn't believe that Jeremy did this all day for a living--in fact, Jeremy noticed a gray hair on McKay.  It must come with the job.  Their first patient at the clinic (Saturday) was Vanessa (bottom left), she was in the dental chair for a long time and she is still smiling!  Erik (top picture boy second from left), was one of the last patients the first day.  He was quite funny and wouldn't stop talking through most of his dental visit.

Saturday afternoon, Jeremy and McKay got to leave the clinic and go out and do some humanitarian service.  They went and visited one of the families in the local LDS branch.  Their living conditions were quite eye opening. 

Top pictures:  The outside walls of their home was built up by piles of junk.  While visiting them they were able to give them clothing to wear to church and also some toys and food.  

The family (left) was very humble and thankful.  While out and about the city, they noticed how women carried their groceries home (right).

 The outside of the home.  They had to climb a steep staircase to be able to go into the home.

The set up that they figured while working in the clinic.  They had to be creative on how to set things up.  Jeremy took down all his own supplies in fishing boxes.  It was all quite organized.  Much different from working in the regular office.

 A view of the whole clinic.  They took out all of the church pews in the local chapel to make room for the clinic.  They had 20 general dentists, oral surgeons, endodontists, people to cut and trim hair, eye doctors, photographers, nurses, doctors and a lot of other volunteers that all helped the youth to prepare their mission papers.

On Sunday, they went to church at a branch a couple of hours away from where they were staying and working.  While they were there, they participated in more humanitarian service. 

 Jeremy and McKay were able to had out soccer balls to those that wanted one.

 

 There were a lot of other items that they were able to give the families.  All the items were donated by scouts that were earning their Eagle Award.  The top left picture is of a church that they saw while traveling on the bus to church.  McKay thought the building looked pretty cool.

After the humanitarian aid project, the group was able to head back into San Salvador where the temple was.  The grounds were beautiful in among the chaos of the city.  The temple was right next to the church where the clinic was set up.

Juan Carlos was a patient at the clinic on the second day (Monday).  He already looks very much like a missionary!

 Seeing more patients at the clinic on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Rocio (bottom right) thought McKy was "muy guapo" (very handsome) and was surprised to find out that he is just 16!  Lucy (bottom left) was an interpreter at the clinic and she helped Jeremy purchase a Salvadorian dress for Jessica (his sister) who was born in El Salvador.

 Picture courtesy of the Smiles For El Salvador video.  It was too handsome a picture to not post.

 Again from the video.  Working hard.

    

There wasn't much down time in the clinic, but one morning one of the buses full of youth was late getting to the clinic.  So McKay used the down time to chat with some of the other youth that was on the trip.

 McKay also used some of his down time creating a friend from a glove.  His name was Steve.  Apparently McKay left him in the hotel room to be found by the maids.

 McKay and Jeremy were well fed while in El Salvador.  All their food was catered and was delicious.  On the left is a sample of their breakfast.  Can you guess which plate was McKay's??  On the right was one of their dinners.  All of that was just Jeremy's dinner.

After seeing the 800 patients, their time at the clinic was over.  It was an amazing clean up considering all that was there in the clinic.

They spent 6 days in El Salvador and then after all their hard work (12-14 hour days doing dentistry), they had some well deserved R&R in Honduras on the island of Roatan.  They were able to spend 3 days there enjoying the beach and doing some diving.

 McKay was able to hang out with his friends that he met at the pool.  The hotel grounds were quite pretty and they enjoyed their stay there.

 McKay was anxious to drink a pina colada, but he said they weren't as good as the ones in Mexico.  He was also sad he couldn't have as many as he would like since their resort wasn't all inclusive.

 Some views of Roatan.

 McKay enjoying some diving.

 The saw a lot of beautiful colors and sea life.

Top left: They took a water taxi into town to get some dinner.  There was a sand sculpture there that had "Smiles for El Salvador" on the beach.  Also, one of the dives that Jeremy and McKay did was a shark dive.  McKay found a shark tooth during the dive.  I thought that was pretty cool.