Celebration

Our final visit to Cantón Virginia was so full we didn't have time to be sad until it was over.  We had prepared for the community celebration by making decorations;

the Pastoral Team helped us purchased four huge piñatas and candy to fill them, along with the trinkets we had brought from home.  There were cookies and drinks for all and we were hoping for a big turn out!
The first order of business upon our arrival was a final meeting with the Virginia Directiva.  Directiva and delegation members both expressed the profound effect our relationship has for them personally and in our communities.  We all thanked the Pastoral Team and Katherine for all they do to assist us in our walk together. 
All parties of the El Salvador mission worked to create a covenant that formalizes partnerships and states expectations for each.  FPCDC and Cantón Virginia both agreed to the provisions in the covenant; with applause and great joy we committed to five more years of solidarity and all parties signed the document:

Pastor Adam for FPCDC

Directiva President David for Cantón Virginia

Nancy for Compañeros

Cecilia for the Pastoral Team

Mission Co-worker Katherine for the Presbytery of Des Moines' Our Sister Parish Mission

Everyone then moved inside for a time of music, prayer, and reflection.  There is always joyful music from the community members when we are together, and Adam offered a song on behalf of FPCDC. 
Blanca reminded us that we had some partying to do and everyone moved back outdoors where the kids were first in line for cookies and juice! 

Delegation members lined up in the shade along the church wall and received hugs and farewell blessings from person after person: young and old, men and women, teens and kids.  There were lots of tears and promises to meet again.  All this emotion was suddenly punctuated by loud whacks as the piñatas were attacked by boys and girls, and squeals of delight as the candy and treats poured out! 

With all the piñatas in shreds and the cookies and juice consumed, we asked the community to join us for a new group photograph to commemorate our renewed commitment to our partnership.  And here it is:

And then it really was time to say good-bye. 
We took one last truck ride back to the Pastoral House, ate a quick lunch, and then loaded all our bags into the bus for the trip back to San Salvador.  We made a stop at the Cathedral downtown--something we had postponed from our abbreviated first day.  A choir was practicing in the lower level where Oscar Arnulfo Romero is laid to rest as Katherine described the significance of the elements on his tomb.  It seemed very fitting to begin and end our El Salvador experience with Monseñor Romero's example of humility, compassion and justice.

We did a little shopping at the artisan's market where all sorts of Salvadoran crafts can be found.  We ate supper at a restaurant near our guesthouse and enjoyed traditional Salvadoran dishes--Sean bravely ordered iguana ("good, except for the bones").

The reflections on our last night were full of challenge and promise.  We are partnered with a beautiful community; we are led by a wise and hardworking Pastoral Team and Mission Co-worker; and we have all just experienced a week of transformation.  We have seen the poverty and vulnerability of the people we care about, and we have committed to five years of faithful accompaniment.  We have the task ahead of us to share what we now know with our church and our community.  This is not easy stuff!  But we celebrate both the promise and the challenge.

Wrapping Up the House-to-House in a Big Way

The roads in Virginia were not so dusty today--because it rained in the night!  While this was good news, unless it continues to rain it will not save the people of the cantón's devastated crop year. We continued to hear from the families we visited that their corn was totally gone, with much worry on their faces. 
We made visits to the remainder of the homes and felt the same warmth and hospitality we had enjoyed yesterday.  We have so many photos to share when we get back to Iowa, but here are a few.  These brothers and sisters were such a joy to meet!

When we tell you about the welcome and hospitality, we're not just talking about the offer of a chair to sit in or a "bless you" and a hug in each home.  We received so much care--we were given strong arms to lean on as we negotiated uneven ground and special help for any of us who needed it.

By lunch time we had made it to every home but three.  These families live in a hard-to-reach part of the cantón and usually come to us when we visit.  Today we were advised that it was a long, hard walk but if some wanted to do it, they would be accompanied by members of the Pastoral Team and of the Virginia Directiva and it would be about an hour and a half on a steep footpath.  Of course we had some volunteers! 

They took off after lunch and the rest of us put our feet up and enjoyed the lovely breeze while we waited.  We also watched rainclouds gather over Berlín, a ways off.  Then we heard the rumble of thunder and felt the breeze stiffen a bit.  We searched the opposite mountainside for a sighting and saw the group still a distance away.  And suddenly the skies opened and it rained.  And rained.  And rained hard.  They returned drenched and exhausted, but honestly delighted. 

We will return to Virginia tomorrow for a final meeting with the Directiva and a celebration with the whole community.  There will surely be thanks given for the rain (although it will take many more days of this to help with their ruined crops.)  We have just one more morning to spend with our brothers and sisters of Cantón Virginia.  That doesn't seem like enough, either.

House to House and Heart to Heart

The roads in Cantón Virginia are as dusty as they usually are at the end of the dry season in March--the dust billows up from truck tires and footsteps alike.  The group stirred up plenty of it as we made our way from home to home.

We were received with great joy and indeed, the new chairs were most often set out and we were entreated to sit!, sit!  Our visits were necessarily short--we have 112 families to visit in two days and many of them live up or down from the road, strewn along (I'm guessing) four miles of the mountainside.  But each visit meant so much to both us and our brothers and sisters here in Virginia.

We had to form two groups in order to make it to as many homes as possible on our first day.  The group I was with asked each family how they were doing and over and over again we heard the words "gone" and "finished".  Sadly they were describing their corn crop this year:

And that is exactly what we saw as we moved from house to house.  The corn is withered and in many places totally gone.  All we could do was express our sadness at their loss, and to promise to pray for rain to come soon. 
We asked if we could photograph the families we met.  It is so important to us to share these images because these truly are our brothers and sisters, people we love who matter so much.  We were welcomed into their family pictures and we hope the photos speak for the love we have for each other.

We were able to visit half of the community today--and will continue house to house and heart to heart tomorrow.

We Head to the Cantónes

The group went to bed on Thursday with instructions to be up, breakfast eaten, and ready to go by 8 a.m.--everyone was geared up by 7:15.  This was the first stand-up-in-the-back-of-the-pick-up-truck ride for most and everyone was excited to get on the road.  We heard lots of exclamations at the extraordinary views, and ughs and ohs as hips bounced off the bars surrounding the truck bed.  The hour-plus ride seemed too short for all the fun folks were having!
The first thing on our schedule was a meeting with the Virginia Directiva (the "town council" of the cantón).  They were gathered in the church as were a good many of the community folks.  We were welcomed and introduced--and then we were thoroughly hugged and blessed by each and every person in the room.  The men wrapped us in their arms and the women did not want to let go.  The hospitality was overwhelming.

We took the opportunity, while the community was gathered, to present each family with the gift of two chairs for their homes.  It would have been impractical to try to drive the towers of chairs the length of the village.  And this process meant we could once again shake the hand of the family member who would carry the chairs away--or the neighbor who would carry the gift for someone unable to be with us this morning.

We will undoubtedly be offered seats on these very chairs when we begin our house to house visits tomorrow. 
We then met with the Directiva to discuss the issues affecting their lives here and now.  The greatest concern is the lack of rain.  We had seen mountainsides of withered corn on our way to Virginia, so we understood the extent of the damage.  Some had replanted their small fields once already, and this time without the precious fertilizer they had applied with their earlier planting.  "The rains could still come in August" but this time again there would be no fertilizer.  They were applying for assistance from agencies and organizations, but since the drought is so widespread, they are not hopeful that help with come.
Another, related issue is access to water.  The water runs in Virginia only every two weeks--and sometimes not that often.  Some families have no way to store water to last that long and water tanks would help many of them cope with this problem.  We heard their concerns about education for their children and healthcare for the community.  Issues were explained and our questions were answered and we will have the chance to have similar conversations with the people of the community when we meet each family face to face.

We were served a fabulous lunch--vegetable soup, chicken and tortillas--and then said our goodbyes until tomorrow.  Back in the truck, we headed to another eagerly awaited destination--La Escuela de Sarah Lana in Caserio Mediagua.  Of course Maria and Jim were the visiting celebrities!  We were all so pleased to see the school in use by students through 7th grade (and here is Denise as a 7th grader).

Some members of the Directiva of Mediagua came to the school to greet us and thank us for visiting their community.  We can attest to this one thing: hospitality abounds in this part of El Salvador!

Two powerful days

 Remember the downpour Tuesday evening?  The FPCDC delegation was sitting in the Des Moines airport for two hours waiting for the plane to arrive and then to find an opening in the skies to permit take-off for Houston.  Luck was not on our side, and we missed our connection by two minutes; no flight with seats for seven was available until the next morning.  Imagine your distinguished pastor, headphones in place, stretched out on the floor between rows of empty airport chairs, six fellow travelers contorted into really uncomfortable positions while vacuums roared all around.  No one slept.  But Wednesday morning we were winging our way to Guatemala City and then on to El Salvador, bleary-eyed but in high spirits!
Our plans for Wednesday were necessarily adjusted--a short afternoon visit to Divina Providencia where Monseñor Romero lived and where he was assassinated in the chapel on the hospital grounds.  The most delightful Carmelite sister welcomed us to the residence and told us some wonderful stories about the Archbishop's life among them.

Mission Co-worker Katherine then escorted us to the chapel where Romero died.  Every one of us was moved by her account of that day and her description of what he means to the Salvadoran people.

It was then time to leave San Salvador and (finally!) head down the road to Berlín.  Sleepy heads sagged, eyelids drooped, and the sunlight faded during the long drive.  We pulled up to the Pastoral House with a full moon on our left and a beautiful sunset behind the mountains on our right and a warm welcome in the house.  Dinner, reflections and beds--day 1.

Day 2 started early with another long ride in the bus--destination El Mozote and Perquin, the site of a horrific massacre of hundreds of innocents during the Salvadoran civil war.  First, at El Mozote, the volunteer related an account of that day as remembered by the sole survivor in that village.  It was a painful story to hear.

We visited the new monument with representations of the resurrected Christ flanked by Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, and Martin Luther King.  Who was missing?  Looking across the valley to the hillside beyond we saw him--Monseñor Romero.

A short climb on up the mountainside took us to a new addition to the site--a mosaic of the seven days of creation.  Balmore shared an incredible reflection on the peace we all seek and the solidarity we share that brings us closer and closer.  Prayer and passing la paz, the peace of Christ brought our El Mozote visit to a close.

A short distance down the road is Perquin and a museum of the civil war created and maintained by volunteers to document the history and struggle of the guerillas, with artifacts and a recreated encampment.  Our volunteer guide often pointed out, during his descriptions of the photos and items on display, that there were victims and perpetrators on all sides and from many places in the world.  Some arms started out in Vietnam and made their way through several conflicts before ending up in El Salvador. 

The ride back to the Pastoral House was pretty quiet as we all pondered what we had seen and learned--painful and powerful all at once.  Reflections were deep and heartfelt.  Two powerful days.

Our delegation to El Salvador leaves on Tuesday, so be sure to wish them well when you see them Sunday morning! 
There are still lots of tags on the Giving Chair, and you can still make a contribution ($14 per pair of chairs) for the gift of chairs to each family in Cantón Virginia.  Something so basic as chairs is beyond the means of our brothers and sisters in the village, and your generosity will be greatly appreciated!
All of the delegation members will be posting to this blog during their time in El Salvador so check in often!

Join the FPCDC El Salvador delegation on Monday (July 6th) at 6:00 pm for movie night:  we will be viewing the film "Romero" and staying for a short discussion after.  (The movie is not appropriate for young children.)