El Salvador Mission Trip 2013 (Day 2 of 7)

This is the second of a seven part series taken from my daily journal while in Ahuachapan, El Salvador participating in a mission trip with the LaGrange District of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Day 2: 2/17/2013
Wow. What a day thus far. 6:30pm and what have we done?!
Geothermal sulfuric hotbeds. Admission fee of $.50/person.
Concepción de Ataco - colony town (and tourist market) settled in a volcano crater.
Slum village built in the side of a mountain. Raw sewage smell for a mile. (Could see village at a distance).
Lunch at an amazing restaurant on a coffee plantation. Entre Nubes Cafe (http://www.entrenubescafe.com/)
Worship at Iglesia Evangelica Metodista Nueva Jerusalen. I was a bit lost with the language, but felt so welcomed. Smiles and hugs and lots of "Hola's".
As we travel the bumpy, winding roads in a suped up old school bus, I see few homes I would consider suitable housing. Some you can smell the stench as you pass. However, I cannot say that I have seen homeless vagrants, or beggars of any sort. I see people in clean clothes and shoes, with clean faces, working. Always moving, and 99% of the time- SMILING!
As I videoed two guys struggling to keep a trailer from rolling down a busy highway, I caught the eye of one. In the midst of his struggle, he lifted a hand to wave.
As I see pickups pass our bus packed with sometimes 30 people in the bed, I see smiles.
While I can speak very little Spanish, I can smile. And they make me smile.
Why can't I smile more in my life? I have an abundance of conveniences and opportunities and resources these people do not and yet they smile.
Smile. Smile. Smile!