A very delayed account of my last day in El Salvador

I apologize for not posting when I got home.  Julie and I did indeed make it home safe and sound.  I was exhausted when I got home and I had to jump right back into school and church responsibilities.  I would have much rather written a blog post instead of writing my economic philosophy paper among other things I had to do, but homework had to come first.  As Julie said, too bad blogging isn't my homework.  The good news is that I'm all caught up on my schoolwork, so now I get to blog!

Our last day in El Salvador was for me the most important, the most intense, and the most emotional.  Julie and I went with two of my favorite Salvadorans, Cesar and Mari, to the eastern department of La Union.  It should have been about a 4 hour drive, but with Cesar's expert driving skills we made it there in 3.5 hours and made it home in even less time.  When Julie and I were in El Salvador last summer we had the opportunity to visit the communities of Pastor Alejandro.  See my post about that visit.

Pastor Alejandro is the pastor of three little communities that make up the church congregation Santa Andrea.  The people living in these communities are extremely poor.  They live on the bank of a river which leaves them vulnerable to floods during the rainy season (May- November).  They struggle to have enough food, the children are visibly small for their age because they are malnourished, they do not have access to clean water, not all the children are able to go to school, they don't have access to health care, they have no transportation, few people have jobs.  Both last summer and in this visit it was clear that the people in this community lack so much and need so much.

When Julie and I first met Pastor Alejandro and visited these communities last July, we just went to see a part of El Salvador we had never seen.  We had no idea that we would be visiting a community that so desperately needs help, but once we were there we both knew that we had to do something.  This church community does not have a sister church while many other Salvadoran Lutheran churches do have the support of sister churches in the U.S. or other developed nations.  My church does not have a sister church.  So as Julie and I talked about how we might help Pastor Alejandro's congregation, it just made sense to explore the possibilities of forming a sister church partnership between my church and Pastor Alejandro's congregation.  

So, over the past months I've been talking about El Salvador at my church, I've talked about Pastor Alejandro and his congregation,  I've talked about the possibilities of forming a sister church partnership, and I'm trying to gather a group of people from my congregation to travel to El Salvador this summer.  The first big step in the process of exploring the possibilities of forming a sister church partnership is for a group of people from my church to go and learn about El Salvador, visit Pastor Alejandro's congregation, and then come back home and report to the rest of my congregation.  Then we'll all have conversations about if we think we should continue in the process of forming a sister church partnership.  The main reason why Julie and I went to visit Pastor Alejandro and his congregation last week was to do some planning for when I (hopefully) bring a group from my church this summer.

When we arrived in La Union, we met up with Pastor Alejandro and his brother who helps him with the pastoral work.  We went to the community of El Rincon where most of the people in Pastor Alejandro's congregation live.  At first there were only a few people gathered.  There was a table set up as an altar and some chairs circled around outside a community member's house.  Slowly more people began to come.  Almost everyone who came greeted Julie and I with at least a handshake- most people gave us a hug.  There were some pretty cute kids- some of them were shy and were reluctant to greet the strange looking white visitors.  Everyone was genuinely kind and graciously welcomed us.  Eventually there were about 40 people or so gathered.  Pastor Alejandro said a few words, Julie and I said a few words, a few people from the community spoke, Pastor Alejandro and his brother preached a little, and we sang a few songs.  We took a bunch of pictures of the all the people, especially the cute kids.  Then we said good-bye to everyone.

Pastor Alejandro (in the back) and his brother (in front)

The cutest little boy!

We then went to look at some hotels where the group could potentially stay this summer.  We thankfully found a couple of good options (and one that wasn't a very good option).  We saw the ocean and the city of La Union.  We then went to Pastor Alejandro's house.  He has a nice little humble house.  He is working on building a little room next to his house that he will use for Bible studies, Sunday School, and maybe even church services.  His congregation doesn't really have any other place to meet.  The room is mostly done, it just needs a floor.  Pastor Alejandro's wife made us lunch, we ate in a patio area, and then some more people came to visit.  It was so nice to see all the people that Pastor Alejandro ministers to- they are truly lovely, beautiful, caring, compassionate, faithful people.  Our time with Pastor Alejandro quickly came to an end- we had to head back to the capital.

I really hope and pray that the next time I return to visit Pastor Alejandro and his congregation that I will be able to bring with me other people from my church so that God willing we can begin the process of forming a sister church partnership.  The people in Pastor Alejandro's congregation and I really want this to happen- God willing.