Our first few days in Central America

Greetings Calvary!

We arrived safely in Guatemala and then bused over to San Salvador on Tuesday. In all it was 19 hours of travel from taxi to arrival! We enjoyed some Guatemalan traditional food while we waited for our bus in Guatemala City and met some very nice people on the plane and bus.

On Wednesday we went with Reverend Hector Fernandez and William from Jovenes por la Vida (Youth for Life), one of the projects of the Stephen Ecumencal Institute that Hector runs, to the Cathedral where Oscar Romero´s tomb is located. Romero of course was the famous Archbishop of El Salvador in the late 70´s who stood against the violent oppression of the people by the Salvadoran military and governing oligarchy (which had direct US support). Romero was assassinated in March of 1980, an act that heightened the already brewing civil war.

Later we visited the UCA (University of Central America) where five Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter were brutally murdered in 1989 by government soldiers. This incident shocked the world and led to the start of talks to end the civil war which had reached a stalemate.

Later on Wednesday we traveled an hour to San Martin to visit Felipe and his wife Bernada from the Disciples of Christ Baptist Church. We had the chance to walk around the community and meet some of the people. Many were very happy to see Paul and we were warmly received.

Thursday we spent time in the Church with Pastor Jaime Pena and about 30 youth who were meeting to talk about facing their problems in life. We introduced ourselves and Paul sang a song for the kids. We had a great time talking with many of the youth. Several had a quick crush on Linnea!

Later we returned to San Salvador to spend more time with the Jovens por La Vida. We heard about the harsh realities for young people in El Salvador -- the prevalance and power of the gangs, the lack of economic and educational opportunities, and the violence of poverty and wealth inequality. We also talked a lot about the upcoming elections, which have been heatedly playing out in the public arena. There is a real chance that the FMLN (the opposition fighting force during the civil war that has since turned into a legitimate progressive political party) will win the presidency for the first time. Some of the youth are excited by this possibility and others don´t see that the real necessary change will come.

Today, we are going to see the bakery project and silkscreening work of the Jovens por la Vida --micro enterprise projects to help improve their lives economically. Later we will return to San Martin to spend a few days with the Church there. Sunday, Linnea, Paul and I will be talking to the Church for a few minutes during the service. They wanted us to preach, but we felt a little unprepared for that!

We miss you all very much. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Bendiciones y paz,

Paul, Linnea and John