Most of you know that Mason is in the process of applying to dental school, he just graduated from BYU and he is working right now as a dental assistant. For his graduation gift his parents sent him on a dental service trip to Guatemala for 9 days with a group called "Smiles for Honduras" they do these dental service trips all over Central America. The group is made up of volunteer dentists and pre-dental students, and they provide free dental care to people who really need it and cannot pay for it.
Mason has been home now for about two weeks, he had an amazing time and worked really hard. He worked 14 hour days most days and the group provided dental care to over 500 people while they were there. It was fun for Mason to get to use his Spanish so much, and he said he couldn't believe how much everything reminded him of Honduras (where he served his mission). I wanted Mason to do a post about his trip, but he hasn't gotten around to it, so I figured I would post a bunch of pictures and if he wants to he can add some details or stories later.
The clinic was set up in a church, just one dental chair after another
This is the Guatemala Temple (below)
Each person in the group was asked to pack all of their personal items into just carry on luggage and both of their checked bags were filled with humanitarian items, that they gave to people while they were there.
Most families there never get to take a family picture, Mason's group took family pictures, printed them on the spot and gave them to the families in a frame. It meant a lot to them.
The picture below is of Mason with a lady that he bought a hand-made hat from. Notice that Mason is kneeling.
These next pictures are of an orphanage that they visited, and brought some supplies to. Mason said visiting the orphanage was a very neat experience.The orphanage was called "Hogar de Sion" and it was started by an LDS couple from the U.S.
The children knew some primary songs and sang them for the group.
These last pictures are of the end of the trip, they spent two nights at a beautiful lake, called Lake Atitlan.
Mason went on a hike and then went on a series of zip lines through the jungle, he said it was awesome and wants to go back one day with me.
6 comments:
I LOVED seeing the pictures! You can tell that Mason really enjoyed the trip, too. Thanks for posting about it, because knowing Mason, he would probably never get around to it. :) You forgot to mention that Mason got to use his Spanish! I'm sure that was a great part of the trip for him too.
WOW! What an amazing experience! Good for you Mason! Such neat pics! Mason will make such a good dentist, I just think all dentist should be good looking, ya know, guys working on teeth and smiles, it just makes sense.
We loved seeing the pictures. What a cool trip and neat experience!
That is so awesome and those pix make me homesick for Ecuador babies!!
wow! What an awesome experience! I think the picture of Mason with the little girl... he totally looks like a Burton:)
That looks like such an amazing experience. Those are great pictures
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