By Bianca I. Mena

On a mission trip to El Salvador, Evalydi Rodriguez, Div. 471, took notice of two little boys that were playing with a tray full of sand and walked closer to them. They were shaking the tray to eliminate the amount of rock, but for a reason unknown to Rodriguez. After a long while staring at them, Rodriguez discovered that ridding the rocks from the sand was a form of enjoyment for the children in El Salvador.
Rodriguez, gave the little boys two dollars but the boys were very hesitant to take the money.
“It was a hundred dollars to them,” Rodriguez said.
When Rodriguez turned around toward the direction of the bus, she began to cry.
“I have two little brothers and when I was out there, I thought about them,” Rodriguez said. “It was a soft part in my heart because to me it seemed like labor, but to them it was something fun. I couldn’t see my little brothers in their shoes.”
During the summer before her senior year, Rodriguez traveled to El Salvador on a missionary trip with 12 other members from several churches around the city. Their job was to build a parsonage in one of the churches and help build a foundation for another church.
“In reality, I didn’t know anyone,” Rodriguez said. “I only knew my pastor and my boyfriend.”
Rodriguez and her boyfriend were the youngest of those who attended the trip.
“Everyone else was twenty and older,” she said.
Rodriguez felt that she was under pressure when it came to proving herself as a hard worker to the older members of the church.
“[The other church members] did not tell us, our pastor told us that they all thought, ‘Since they are the youngest and are dating, they are not going to do anything.’ We were pretty much going to be a bother to them,” Rodriguez said. “When they actually saw that we were doing what we were suppose to, they were surprised.”
Knowing what Rodriguez had signed up for, she was ready to work.
“I like to do guy stuff,” Rodriguez said. “I was always like, ‘I wanna help build, not pack.’ And then when the group had to dig in a big ditch, I was down there with the guys and all the ladies were just up there sitting down, in the sun. I was down there shoveling and I have asthma. They were like, ‘Stop, Stop!’”
Along with the group helping out the churches in El Salvador to construct the parsonage, the group also packed clothes in big army bags and brought medicine in hopes of helping the people there.
“We bought medicine bottles that come with 500 pills and we separated the pills into 20 pills per little bag,” Rodriguez said. “We had to figure out if the medicine were for kids or adults. We had to arrange them to give them to separate families or schools.”
The Regional Youth Group worked on extending the grounds of the church for half the week. After they had completed some work on one of the churches, the group began to work on the second church.
“Throughout those days and towards the afternoons, while the guys were still working, the girls would go and distribute the clothes, medicine and the food. It was a lot of work,” Rodriguez said.
It was through the distribution of these necessities that she got to know more about the economic standings of El Salvador.
When Rodriguez glimpsed through several of the pictures taken from the trip, she pointed out a little boy that was the grandson to one of the hostesses.
“He is so cute,” Rodriguez said. “Their mom was in the navy. To us, they were average people but to everyone else out there, they were pretty wealthy.”
Throughout the week, Rodriguez had several encounters with people that had almost nothing and it surprised her each time.
“Something really big out there are the Crocs,” Rodriguez said referring to the brand of shoes.
When Rodriguez was helping to distribute the packages, she helped out a little girl that was in desperate need of new shoes.
“If you look at her shoes, and the Crocs, there was a big difference. [The little girl] had on really big and really ugly shoes. I thought that the Crocs were not going to fit her but she fell in love with the pink pair. I took her foot out of her own shoe and I realized her foot was small. The Crocs fit her and she was so happy with them.”
People in El Salvador, although they had nothing, were able to appreciate any little thing that they could own.
“Everything there was just different,” Rodriguez said. “The people there were so appreciative over owning a bathroom. The bedrooms of the pastor was very small. It had two beds for the pastor, his wife and two children. Life was just different.”
But not all of Salvadorean life was enough for some people. Traveling to El Salvador was a dangerous journey and the Regional Youth Group always had to be aware of everything.
“Two of the ladies went to go buy school supplies and they were with Angel and two other guys. In the store, somebody tried to pickpocket one of the women without her knowing. One of the guys out there was just like, ‘He is trying to steal from you,’ and the women didn’t notice that because the Salvadorans were so slick with it. But because he lives there, he knew and he was telling the women to grab their purses and be careful. Wherever you go it is dangerous.”
When the group visited the school, Rodriguez was surprised and slightly confused.
“The schools out there don’t have different grade levels. It is just one room with all different ages in there. I guess they all learn the same thing,” Rodriguez said.
With all of the Regional Youth Group’s help, the school, families and local churches were able to receive help from a week’s worth of work.
“We pretty much paid for them to have the rest of the bricks and stuff,” Rodriguez said. “For the parsonage, all we did was start it and they will finish it. We gave them everything they needed.”
By the end of the week, Rodriguez experienced conflicted feelings over her departure.
“My first time going there, I actually didn’t want to come back,” Rodriguez said. “I asked my pastor if I can rip up my passport.”
With Rodriguez back at home, she feels no need for several materialistic objects.
“Now, I try and stay busy. I don’t really watch TV. I realize that it is just a waste of time,” Rodriguez said. “There’s no point of it. When we were [in El Salvador], we would wake up, get ready. We would eat breakfast and as soon as we were done eating breakfast, we would leave and go work on whatever project we were doing at that time.”
This year, during the summer, Rodriguez has made plans to attend another missionary trip but this time will be traveling to Honduras. The cost of the trip will be $800 and is hoping to raise all the money. Rodriguez’s mother also wants to attend the trip but if she does not, she will support her daughter throughout the whole process.