HOSPITALITY!

By Susan Barton.

(revsusanbarton@gmail.com)

Hospitality is the heart of what I learned when I traveled to El Salvador with ESNA.  I’ve been on several other mission trips, to other Latin American countries, but this was by far the most organized trip in which I have participated.  Our leaders stayed with us the whole time to ensure our safety and to ensure that we understood the history and culture of El Salvador, so we could fully appreciate the work that we’d be doing and the people alongside who we’d be working.  I cried.  I laughed.  I sang.  I danced.  I listened.  I ate….wow, did I eat!  And, I was changed.  Not only was I changed, but my 15 year old son (who I had the privilege of traveling with) was changed as well.  He said, “May I stay the whole summer, next summer?  I could live with Alvaro or Guillermo.”  (He was serious.)  We were told that we’re now family and I believe those words.  The truth is that we are all neighbors, who are on a journey together.  My hope is that while we take certain resources with us to El Salvador, we realize all the resources we are bringing back to share with our own community….like the gift of hospitality.  Several members of my group are already planning to travel back to El Salvador next year, like my son, while I plan to do the work in the USA to find more people to travel to this amazing country and support the work of ESNA.  (I am planning to travel back in 2-3 years.)  In the meantime, if you are reading this and are considering traveling to El Salvador, but have questions, please let me know.  I’d be happy to help answer your questions as best I can.  I’ll warn you however, I am biased.  I have been to the country and I am a changed person!  If you are looking to help others, and in so doing help yourself, and experience love in a way only possible by a trip like this, then I suggest you take the leap! 

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