Today we went to Trini´s house and worked in her corn fields.  We left at 7:00 am and traveled in the pick-up truck a little over an hour to her house.  About 7 of the older boys came with along with Julie, Mari, Trini, another woman and an old man who was doing the driving (Julie and I aren´t really sure who this man is, but he is nice and drives them around sometimes).

Trini´s house was built through Habitat for Humanity.  It is a nice little cinder block house with two bedrooms, a kitchen area, a little bathroom, and they have added a little room on the back.  The house is near the town of Suchitoto but is in the country (we had to go down a bumpy road and through a small river).  They have electricity and some days they have running water.  The first thing we did when we got there was check to see if the water was running today- it wasn´t.  Then the boys got out the little TV and got it hooked up to the antenna which was on top of a long branch.  The TV had to be hooked up so that they could watch the soccer game that was on.  It was so funny watching all the boys crowd around the TV messing with the antenna and adjusting the buttons to try to get it to work.  They eventually got the game on although it was in black and white and was pretty staticy.  We made some breakfast of beans, eggs with veggies, bread, and hot chocolate. 

And then we went to the corn fields to pick weeds.  The boys were using machetes to cut some weeds and the women were just pulling the weeds by hand.  Farming in El Salvador is very labor intensive- they don´t have tractors and there is no way that tractors would even work on the hilly, rocky soil.  So everything is done by hand- planting, weeding, and picking.  I cannot imagine what a farmer from Illinois would think of the corn fields in El Salvador.  I don´t even know how the corn manages to grow in the rocky soil. 

We spent most of the morning picking weeds (Julie and I did pretty good, but we didn´t work as hard as the Salvadorans.  Salvadorans are such hard working people.  Even the kids pitch in and usually work harder and do better than I do.).  Mari, Julie, and I went back to the house to make some lunch.  Mari did most of the work to make some soup and warm up some tortillas.  Julie peeled some potatoes with a knife and we discussed how much easier it would be with a potato peeler.  Everyone came in from the fields, we ate lunch, and the boys turned the soccer game on.  We cleaned everything up, locked up the house, and went into Suchitoto to visit Jorge´s grave before heading back to San Salvador. 

About a week ago, the police brought a family to stay here at the Casa Concordia.  I´m not sure if I completely understand what exactly happened, but I think I understand that the kid´s father was killed and then they family got word that whoever killed the dad was going to come and kill the rest of the family.  So, the family is staying here until the police can find a new place for the family to stay.  There are two young girls, a young woman, an young man, and an older woman.  They are in a safe place here, but I cannot imagine the fear and grief they must be going through.

The day before we left for Guatemala, the police showed up with an old woman.  Apparently they found her wandering the streets.  She was confused about how she got here and she said that she was from Guatemala.  Who knows how she ended up in San Salvador.  We tried to ask her, but she didn´t seem to know.  The police were going to contact the Guatemalan embassy to see if her family had reported her missing.  That evening we had a pizza party with all our Salvadoran friends and she joined right in with the festivities.  A few people gave some thank you speeches and then the old woman stood up and offered a cute little thanks.  I highly doubt she had any idea what was going on, but she just went with the flow and joined the crazyness.  

Back in El Salvador

Julie and I are back at the Casa Concordia.  Our bus ride back was uneventful, thankfully.  We left Antigua yesterday morning at 5:15, dropped the Minnesota folks off at the airport in Guatemala City, and then Julie and I went to the bus station for our journey back to El Salvador.  Our short visit in Antigua was wonderful and rejuvenating, and now I´m ready for 4 more weeks of El Salvador.  I´m sad that the Minnesota folks are no longer here- they are all such wonderful people and it was truly a pleasure to get to know them and to experience El Salvador together.

A lot has happened that I haven´t had the chance to write about yet, so hopefully over the next week I can catch up on posting.  We´ll see...

The first two weeks I was here, I felt completely overwhelmed with all I was experiencing- all the stories of pain, difficulties, and problems.  I heard about and witnessed first hand the structural violence of poverty.  Pastors Matias and Martina were constantly telling me about things that their churches needed and about the struggles that the members of churches were going through.  I was learning about so many problems and needs that I just felt so overwhelmed to even start to think about how I could even start to make a difference.  Part of the reason why I wanted to come down here this summer was to try to determine in what way I can work with the people of El Salvador.  However, after the first couple of weeks I felt I was even father from determining how I could help here. 

Being with the folks from Minnesota this past week really gave me reassurance that there are other people out there who like me are working to make the world a better place.  It was amazing to see what a positive difference their scholarship program makes in the lives of hundreds of students.  It is so good to know that I don´t have to change the world on my own!  No matter how small a difference I can make on my own, I know that with all these other wonderful people who care about the people of El Salvador, we can do something significant.  So I feel less overwhelmed and hopeless.

Last Sunday morning we went to church in the Lutheran cathedral.  This church was bombed twice during the war, and they just don´t have the money to fix it up.  There are simple wooden pews and the walls are made of pieces of some sort of low-quality plywood painted green.  The church is located just down the street from the Casa Esperanza.  Definitely not what you would think of when you think of the most important Lutheran church in the whole country.  Nevertheless, it was a lovely service with some great music and a meaningful sermon from the Bishop.   

After the service, we got to meet with Bishop Gomez.  He talked a little bit about the Lutheran Church in El Salvador, the war, and the trip to Europe he just returned from.  Then we got to ask some questions.  Bishop Gomez is an amazing man.  In 1992, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and he was close to winning.  During the war he led the Lutheran Church in efforts to help the people through things such as a refugee camp.  For speaking out against the violence of the war, he and his family had to deal with death threats.   

When Julie and I arrived back in San Salvador yesterday we were told we were going to a wedding in a little bit!  The Bishop Gomez´s daughter got married and we got to go.  I love how things like that just happen!  The wedding wasn´t too different from other weddings I´ve been to, but there were a few differences.  We got there at about 2:00 and we were one of the first ones there.  We thought it was supposed to start at 2, but it really didn´t start until 3.  Some folks were still decorating- putting up balloons and streamers.  More people trickled in and the bride and groom came.  They first did the civil ceremony.  The bride, groom, Bishop Gomez, the lawyer who was the Bishop´s brother, and two other people who I presume were witnesses sat at a table in the front.  The lawyer read the documents and then the bride and groom signed it and they were legally married.  Then we waited a while and then the religious ceremony started.  After the service everyone had a nice dinner of rice, bread, vegetables, salad, and chicken.  There was cake but we had to leave before they cut it.