I didn't write yesterday because it was a bit of a long day.

Before I get into the day, I want to make sure to update you on Jesús. They did release him from the clinic Friday night to head home. We actually saw him one more time as he, and the Pastoral Team/Community members who had gone with him to the clinic, stopped at the Pastoral House on their was back to Alejandría so they could pick up the rest of the Team members and go home. We don't have a lot of details on what they discovered beyond the fact he seemed to have a number of additional medicines with him and everyone was saying is health is "más o menos" which basically means it's so-so.

We do have another prayer request, though. On our visits we learned that Erick, one of our children in the community has also been dealing with health issues. He has nose bleeds and bad headaches. He and his mom, Erika, were at a doctor's appointment to get the result of some tests that have been run. We don't know anything more than that, but if you would hold them in prayer, we would appreciate it.

Now, on to the day. We were up for breakfast at the regular time, 7:00 a.m., and then we packed. We had one final family to visit, as they are part of the Alejandría community but live in Berlín. This was Margarita's family. She is one of the Pastoral Team members and Saturday was the day that both of her children were going to be home. We always enjoy visiting with them as they were both scholarship students for a number of years.

First, though, before the visit, we went up to the cross. The cross is high up in the mountain/hill above Berlín and offers some beautiful views of Berlín, the surrounding communities, and the country of El Salvador itself. When up there on a clear day you can see all the way to the ocean. We spent some time there and then I learned there was a volcano crater nearby that we could hike to. So we went on a hike. Again, beautiful views, though the trail was a bit steep! I can feel it in my legs today for sure. But that's El Salvador - nothing is flat. And it's not just hilly, but steep! It was totally worth the hike, though, as the landscape and flowers are gorgeous and a volcano crate is not something we're going to see everyday in Iowa. I'll be able to share more photos after returning home.

Then it was on to our visit with Margarita and her family before heading back to the Pastoral House for a great lunch of fish, salad, rice, and fruit. 

Our driver, a good friend of Alefredo's, was scheduled to arrive at 3:00 p.m. so we had a little bit of time. We gathered around the table, the center of the Pastoral House where everything happens, so we could all offer our final thanks and goodbyes. Each Pastoral Team member that is present is given the chance to say something, as well as each delegation member. We are also able to offer our thanks to Oscár, our translator who traveled with us. We had time for a final walk up to the market at the center of town, stopped for some fabulous ice cream (I had a banana/strawberry mix - it was good!), and then headed back to the Pastoral House where we were picked up at 3:00 p.m.

Then it was the lengthy drive to San Salvador and our guest house there, Casa Antigua. We arrived in time to have a little bit of a break before heading out for supper. Then we spent some time the rest of the evening debriefing the trip. What meant the most to each us, what did we notice, what, if any, challenges were there, and so on. 

Today, we walked up to the Iglesia Reformada Calvinista de El Salvador (IRCES) (the Calvinist Reformed Church of El Salvador) for worship and a chance to visit with the people there. It is the only Presbyterian Church in El Salvador and for many years had a connection to the PC(USA) through our denomination's mission co-worker program. This is partly how we first connected with them. One of the church leaders, Carmen Elena Diaz Anzora, came to Iowa as part of the PC(USA)'s International Peacemaker program, and Joseph Russ, who was the PC(USA) Mission Co-Worker came as her translator. We hosted them in Corning on October 2, 2022, just a few months before our January 2023 trip to El Salvador. Since then, Tim makes a point to visit for worship and conversation in order to continue to nurture that relationship, especially since the PC(USA) basically ended the Mission Co-Worker program and Joseph is no longer connected with IRCES. So, we were there for worship and then they invited us back to the kitchen/dining area for coffee and snacks. We learned more about some of the challenges they are facing, the projects they are working on, and the struggles of the church here. You'll notice in the photo that I took after worship, it is a very small group. The church members have a lot of difficulties in making it to worship. Today, part of it was the weather. The temperature in El Salvador has been below normal the entire time we've been here. It was 70-72F when we went to worship and very windy. This is cold for them and so prevented a number of people from coming to worship as it adds to the other difficulties, which include the fact most of the members do not have a car and the public transportation is not reliable, doesn't really run on Sundays. It was a good morning but definitely a different experience from when I visited three years ago.

The afternoon has been one of rest. I told Gary and Tim they could go out and explore all they wanted but I was going to stay at Casa Antigua. It's been a lot of people, travel, and conversations these past 6 days and my introvert was ready for some time alone. Then tomorrow it's head to the airport and fly back to Iowa. We're hoping all goes smoothly with the return trip.

I know I'll write more in the coming days to update all of you a bit more in depth about the community and the projects. This coming Sunday (February 8th), though, I offer reflections from the trip during worship and so don't want to give everything away ahead of time. :-) We do livestream our services so if you're not near Corning and would like to hear more about the trip on Sunday you can find our livestream here at 10:00 a.m. 

Grace and Peace,

​Pastor Jessica

Today was our last day out in the community of Alejandría. We had one last visit to do in the community, as this was the first day of our trip that the family would be home and then we headed back to the gathering place for a wrap up meeting with the Directiva. This meeting, after our visits, is a chance for them to ask us to reflect on what we've heard during the visits, to ask us questions about anything that has come up, and a chance for us to ask additional questions. It also is the opportunity to address any lingering questions or concerns from the first meeting we had with the Directiva. For example, in our first meeting this trip they spoke of the 2 projects they were hoping to complete - the new gathering building and the stream crossing. We had asked them about estimated or projected costs so we could consider what we might be able to fund/raise money for. They brought those estimates to this second meeting. After the meeting wrapped, we walked up to the water source for our community. We've been up to the water source each of our previous trips and I wrote quite extensively about it my first time down here. You can find that post here.

Once back down from there, we had lunch and then it was time to PARTY! On the last day, we have another community gathering and this one includes piñatas, food and drink for everyone, and a chance for the community, and us, to say our goodbyes. Everyone is offered the chance to say something and then it's time for the kids to have some fun. The girls and the boys each have their own piñata and they go after it and then the candy. It's so much fun to watch. Finally the food and drinks are brought out.

I want to pause in the day here to comment on something that really struck me. One of the things mentioned in the second meeting with the Directíva was that they know of a number of families struggling with getting enough food. We would label it food insecurity in the States and while that is often a concern down here due to the poverty levels, it was interesting to hear it directly referenced. But when you combine the fact that many people in our community do not have steady employment and that the cost of goods is continuing to increase, more families are struggling to get the necessities as they have to make decisions about which bill to pay (electricity, water, school fees, etc.). I had wondered if this was becoming more of a concern because I was bringing all the photos from the last trip (August 2024) and as I passed them out I had noticed that many of them had lost weight. It made me curious. The final thing I noticed that made it home that this is a definite struggle right now was the food and drink that was given out at the party. My last two trips there was a juice drink, cake that people would eat while they were there, and then some small veggie sandwiches for them to take home. Today, everyone got a take out container full of food. It included plantain chips, papusas, a fried veggie treat, and the toppings for the papusas. And what went through my head was that the Pastoral Team was trying to make sure everyone got a good meal. It was another reminder of how hunger is everywhere.

Finally, everyone headed home and everything got cleaned up and then we headed back to Berlín and the Pastoral House. On our final night in town, we take the Pastoral Team out for supper to thank them for all their hard work in ensuring that our trip goes smoothly. There is SO MUCH that happens behind the scenes, done before we arrive, while we're visiting families, or even before we get up in the morning. We get so many thanks for coming and supporting the community but we always want to make sure the Pastoral Team knows our thanks because these trips would go nowhere near as smoothly without them.

While we were at supper, though, Cecilia, one of the team members, got a call that every pastor is familiar with - a medical emergency in the community. Jesús, one of our beloved community members, has been struggling with health issues over the past 12-18 months. It's been a real challenge because he is caregiver for his mother (86 years old) and his aunt (91 years old). Oscár, our translator, and I noticed as he was leaving at the end of the party he was having a really hard time walking and seemed to be in a lot of pain. Blanca, a Pastoral Team and community member, as well as others helped him. But then Cecilia got the call while we were at supper that things had not improved and he was feeling much worse. So, one of our drives (Elmer) and one of the Pastoral Team/Community members headed out to Alejandría to get Jesús and bring him back into Berlín to the clinic. As of this moment (8:30 p.m.) he is still at the clinic. They won't keep him there overnight, however if they don't feel he has stabalized enough to go home, they will move him to the hospital. It seems both his blood sugar and his blood pressure are dangerously high. While we know what is like to get those phone calls, it's not a great way to end a night. So, we pray and we wait. Please keep Jesús in your prayers. 

We're back at the Pastoral House for the night. And it's my bedtime. Tomorrow will be final things in Berlín before heading to San Salvador in the afternoon. 

Make sure to check out the photos below.

Jessica

Today was all about visiting our families. We left the Pastoral House by 8:15 so that we could get started by 9:00 a.m. Check out the photo of all the gift baskets loaded in the truck! As we visit each family, we have a short amount of time to chat, check in on how they are doing, get any updates (ages, school grades for the children, health, work, and so on). It also gives us the chance to see what they might need or how we can pray for them - we seemed to hear a lot of requests for prayers for health this trip. Then each family receives the gift baskets from us, along with tylenol, and photos if we visited them on the previous trip. 

Many who hear about our trip are often curious what is in the gift baskets. We have a photo that will give you some idea but the standard items included are: toilet paper, cookies/sweets, coffee, oil, rice, soap, and as you can see a whole host of other items. Each gift basket is $50 of items. And as we learned again today, they love to show their gratitude. We were given pineapple, papaya, melons, and chickens to bring back to the Pastoral House. These are then used to supplement our meals and for the party in the community tomorrow. We also received snacks at many of the homes, drinks, and even ice cream from one family. There is not a shortage to the food they offer to us and they take good care of us.

For this introvert, it's a lot but totally worth it. One of the things I believe is important in relationships is the willingness to show up, to put in the time and energy it takes to be present. And that is what we are doing with these trips and visits. We are showing up and being present. And that effort is acknowledged and appreciated.

And after arriving at the Pastoral House in Berlín about 2:00 a.m. this morning, we were up in time for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and headed out to Alejandría in order to meet with the community starting at 9:00 a.m. We are all dragging a bit, especially by the time we came back to Pastoral House this afternoon about 3:30 or so. But that's part of coming to El Salvador.

Monday night I was staying with my brother and sister-in-law when I got the news about the flights and my sister-in-law wondered if we could just reschedule the whole trip. I've never asked, and while I assume it would be possible in extraordinary circumstances, it is definitely not ideal. The schedule and plans have been worked on by the Pastoral Team, the Directiva (community council), and the community since the trip was officially scheduled. All of the food needed for us and that we give to the community has been purchased. And over and over we hear of how once the community knows of our plans to come, how much they prepare, wait for, and look forward to our arrival. So we do all we can to stick as close to our original plan as possible, which is why the flight changes can make things difficult. And that is also why even after the late night, we still had a full day today. But we were ready.

Breakfast was the El Salvadoran standard of egg, beans, and plantains. My first trip down I was surprised by the food and always think that we eat so well when we are here. Then the trip out to Alejandría. We all pile in the back of the KIA and hold on. While more of the city road has been paved, once we're outside Berlín, think hilly dirt roads. I mentioned that it takes me a day to get my "sea legs" back as I adjust to the ride. But it was so nice to be out in the warmth and sunshine.

The first trip out to the community always starts with the community gathering. They have a nice new area for the gatherings as the building we met in on previous trips is no longer stable or able to be used. And it's immediate greetings and hugs all around before we all sit down for the more structured introductions. This morning a gentleman from a neighboring community joined the group to play the guitar and lead some singing. Check out the video at the end of this post! 

Then each of us was invited to say something to the community. And that's when the emotions I'd been prepared to hit last night actually caught up with me. Because as you've read, after my last trip I ended up very sick and I didn't know if I would ever make it back here - to these people, this place. So to be here, listening to their welcome and thanks, hearing of their gratitude and love, was a bit overwhelming - in the best way possible. Then the community members are invited to say something if they wish. A number of them did so, offering their gratitude, love, and appreciation. 

After that portion of the gathering concludes, we spend the rest of the morning meeting with the Directíva discussing how the community is doing, what the needs of the community are, and what their are planning and hoping for the future. We learned of a number of projects the Directíva is working on including trying to get a new bridge to cross the stream that swells during the winter months, putting up a new building on the new gathering spot, and beginning to look at plans for updating the piping to the water system. Our congregations will be hearing more about these projects once we return to the States as we work to financially support them in their continued efforts to improve their community. Then it was lunch.

After lunch, we started on our family visits. Each trip down we get a census, a list of all the families that are part of our community, and then we go to each families' home. We spend about 15 minutes or so with each family catching up on how they are doing, gifting them their food basket and medicine and photos, and then taking family photos that we'll print and bring down the next trip. It's a wonderful time to see how the kids have grown, meet new families in the community, and share the love with each other.

After visiting seven families, we headed back to the Pastoral House for free time, rest, supper, and I don't know about Tim and Gary, but it's going to be early to bed tonight for me. The plan for tomorrow is to visit the rest of our families.

We are headed back to El Salvador! Gary Badgett, Tim Maxa, and I are on our way and it's already been an adventure. I was flying out of Des Moines and they were to fly out of Kansas City and we were meeting up in Dallas. My friend warned me we probably wouldn't get through Dallas after the winter storm that went through this past weekend and she was right. Both of our flights were cancelled about 8:30 p.m. last night. So then the question became...now what? After phone calls and messages and all the things, we were finally able to get tickets that would still get us down there today, just much later then planned. We flew from Des Moines to Chicago-O'Hare, which is where I'm writing this from. We have an afternoon flight to Panama City, Panama and then a late flight from there to San Salvador. Everyone on the ground in El Salvador has been made aware of all the changes and our wonderful driver, Alfredo, is still going to pick us up tonight (when we get in at 11:30 p.m.) and drive us over to the Pastoral House in Berlín. It's about a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive so it'll be nice and early tomorrow morning when we finally arrive. But we'll have made it and be able to stick to the originally planned schedule which makes everything easier for everybody.

It's still sinking in that I'm headed back. My last trip was 3 years ago and I returned home with some passengers - 3 intestinal infections that led to post-infection gastroparesis, which wreaked havoc on my health. The Southwest Iowa Regional Partnership sent a delegation in August 2024 but I wasn't ready to travel at that point. That's also the middle of the rainy season in El Salvador and I tend to avoid going down during the rainy season. I already have some difficulties with the heat and adding on being wet all the time just sounds like a bad idea. When Tim let me know (a few days before Christmas - nothing like last minute) that the trip was going and the dates, I knew I had a lot to think about. I wrote some about my thought process for my church newsletter article this month and I share that here now:

As you read this, I will be either on my way to, or already in, El Salvador as the Southwest Iowa Regional Partnership makes its visit to our sister community, Alejandría. It’s been three years since I last traveled there. Three years since I came back with 3 intestinal infections that wreaked havoc on my health – physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally – as they led to post-infection gastroparesis. And as I’ve shared the news of my decision to return, I know it has raised many questions. Why go back? Why take the risk? What if it happens again? What if something worse happens? And on and on.

They’re valid questions, many of them ones I’ve had to ask myself as I discerned if, and when, to return to El Salvador. I could go into all the details of the precautions I’m taking and the ways I am working to minimize the risks but at the root of these questions, and really at the root of my decision to go back, is one thing…fear. The questions reveal our fears and anxieties – about my health and wellness, about what the church would do if I got so sick again, about the impact my health has on those around me, and so on. As I said, these are valid and human responses and please know I am not making light of them. They weigh on me. At the same time, as I considered going back, one thought continually came up – I do not want to be afraid. I do not want to live my life in fear. I do not want to make decisions out of my fear, or others’ fears, of what might happen.

Throughout Scripture, over and over again, God tells the people, “Do not be afraid.” When Mary and the shepherds are greeted by the angels with news that will radically change their lives, “Do not be afraid.” When the prophets speak to the people in exile or during the exodus, “Do not be afraid.” The psalms proclaim, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you [God].” Jesus says it to the disciples, to the crowds, “Do not be afraid.” I wonder if we hear it so many times in Scripture because God knew how often faith and fear would go together, how they live side by side, and how much we would need the reminder of God’s presence and love so we might not be afraid.

And so, even as I have a bit of fear and anxiety over what may happen, I know it is time to go back to El Salvador. I know I would regret not going. I know I don’t want the fear of what might happen to keep me from the people and the experiences that are waiting for me. And I know this is true not only in my decision to return to El Salvador, but in many other areas of my life. I refuse to allow fear to keep me from loving others – even as that comes with the risks of pain, loss, and grief. I refuse to allow fear to keep me from preaching and living the gospel – love of God and love of my neighbors, all of my neighbors – even as that comes with the risks of upsetting people, making them angry, the extreme risk of losing my job or, even more extreme, the risk of losing my life.

This is part of what I believe and proclaim. In the PC(USA) Book of Order, we read that “the Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life” (F-1.0301). And when we affirm our faith with words from A Declaration of Faith, part of what we say is that “we believe God sends us to risk our own peace and comfort in compassion for our neighbors…[and that] Christ calls each of us to a life appropriate to [God’s] kingdom: to serve as he has served us; to take up our cross, risking the consequences of faithful discipleship; to walk by faith, not by sight, to hope for what we have not seen.”

None of this means we are, or need to be, reckless. It is important that we each discern and understand the risks of what we choose to do and to know what level of risk we are comfortable with. But it is also just as, if not more, important that we remember who we are and who we are called to be. We are children of God and called to be God’s hands and feet in the world. And we remember God’s promise to always be with us and that assurance we find again and again in Scripture, “Do not be afraid.”

So, I'm on my way. We're on our way. Here's hoping these last two flights go smoothly and as planned. We'll jump right in tomorrow morning by going out to Alejandría, greeting everyone, meeting with the Directiva, and then starting our family visits in the afternoon. I'm going to try and write a bit each night, so feel free to follow along.

Grace and Peace,

Jessica Paulsen

As we in the United States deal with the pandemic of COVID-19, our friends at the Pastoral House in Berlin and in our community of Alejandria are looking at how to prepare to do the same. Included below are the letters we have received from them, updating us on their current situation. Please keep everyone in prayer throughout this time.

Written on Saturday, February 22, 2020.
​Eleven days after landing back in the United States.


Coming home. Words that might have been said with a sense of relief. But also a sense of sadness. You hit about day 6 and start thinking of what it'll be like to return home and how nice it will be to be home again--sleeping in your own bed; water on demand (and hot water); and so many of the other creature comforts that we often take for granted. At the same time, there's a sense of sorrow or sadness--leaving behind new friends not knowing when (or even if) you'll see them again; hoping they have what they need and wishing you could do just a little bit more. It's a struggle. 

Ending the time in the community with a party, a celebration, helps with the transition. The focus is on fun, laughter, fellowship--an appreciation for the time we've had together. It takes the focus off of the struggles that the families have shared with us during our visits and reminds us, or at least reminded me, that joy can always be found. While that might make it slightly easier to leave the next day, once home, there's still the need to process all we've seen and done--to reflect on all that's been learned and then to tell the stories.

This blog has been helpful to me in that way for it's been a reminder each day to remember and reflect on all I saw and learned. So, thank you, to all of you who have taken the time to read it! At the same time, it's also been a bit of a challenge. How do you find words for all you've seen and heard that convey to everyone the depth of the experience? How do you share what it meant to be present with a family when they received a photo that included their son who died 3 months ago? And how do you process all of these experiences in the midst of the transition back to "regular life" -- the work, family, personal things that happened while you were away?

My transition back to life here at home has not been an easy one these past 10 days. I came home to many different and difficult pieces of news--a pastor friend was facing major surgery to remove a pre-cancerous mass, different family members were facing additional stress in their work, and 2 short days after I returned home, news came that a good friend of mine had died of the cancer that'd only recently been discovered. I've tried to take some extra time over the past 3-4 days for myself. My brain and body needed the time to rest from all the news; rest from everything I'd done and seen in El Salvador and was still trying to process; rest from my feelings of grief and uncertainty; rest so I might once again have the energy to put things in perspective and process this overwhelming month of February.

Having had some time to do that, to rest and to allow things to settle, I have some additional thoughts to offer about my time in El Salvador. Some of the them are funny and interesting. Others are not. And still others will continue to require time and additional thought. But as I continue to return my focus to Corning, Iowa, USA, here they are (in no particular order of importance):

Hot water on demand and a flushing toilet is something I will always try to remember to be thankful for. The picture to the left is our bathroom in the pastoral house. It was actually really nice and much more than I had necessarily expected.

But while it may look like a flushing toilet--it is not. All toilets in the pastoral house must be dump flushed, which is when you dump water into the toilet bowl and force gravity to do the flushing for you. I discovered the trick is no hesitation--dump that water like you mean it!

The built in storage in the corner of the shower (behind the shower curtain) is the pila (pronounced: pee-la). Every place water may be needed has a pila (bathrooms, area where you do your dishes and laundry, etc.) because the pila holds water and only water. That way when the water is not running, you still have access to water.

The pastoral house is fortunate to be connected to the city water so they often have running water. And when the city water is turned off, they also have a water tank that can be opened so guests can have running water even if there is no city water. Now, I tell you all of this to talk about the "hot" water. There is no hot water because there are no water heaters. 

Although, if you look closely at the picture, you may see the wires and white contraption around the shower head. In theory, once you turn on the shower, you can reach over and turn on the electrical box (shown in the close up picture below) and then you would potentially, possibly, with no guarantees, have warm water. I come from family of electricians and so I didn't even try to turn it on---you do not mix water and electricity in my world. Besides, it was so warm outside that the cool water felt good.

​Still, it is nice to be home with hot water and flushing toilets.

I loved the food! I mentioned to someone that this was probably one of the easier trips I've made to a developing country with regard to food, amenities, and so on. As you saw above, we had water! But, oh my goodness, the food. The volunteers of the pastoral house and then everyone who hosted us in the community made sure we were well fed. I'm not usually one to take pictures of food but there were moments when I couldn't resist. Enjoy some of those pictures below!

The beauty! El Salvador is a gorgeous country. From the mountains and volcano to the valleys and ocean--to look out over the country is to look out over beauty. And we were even there during the dry season, when not everything is in full bloom--imagine what it's like in the rainy season! When we went up to visit the cross, I ended up telling the group, "Just grab me and let me know when we need to leave, because I could sit up here all day." It was calm, sunny, and beautiful.

And yet, as I mentioned in a previous post, in the midst of all that beauty, so much violence has taken place. I think I'm still trying to process and wrap my head around the atrocities I learned about while in El Salvador.

​It was a little strange to learn all of the context and history of the country, and then not talk about it with the people in more detail. To see a diploma for a member of our community dated 1983, knowing that she'd received that diploma a few years after the start of the civil war. What was that like for her? What did it take for her to get that in the middle of everything that was happening?

It was also strange to have those experiences and then return to the United States, a country that supported many of the people who committed such violent acts. And, at the same time, to acknowledge that if I wasn't who I am (a young, white, woman who is a U.S. citizen) it would probably be more difficult for me to visit El Salvador in the first place. Is it possible to ever reconcile the facts (or should we even try to reconcile them) that the same things that have made/make it possible for the U.S. to support violence and oppression around the globe, are also that things that have made/make it possible for churches and other organizations to have a presence and relationship with people around the globe? 

This might help explain what I'm trying to say:

The newsletter of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship recently came in the mail and it had an excerpt of an article talking about accompaniment programs along the U.S./Mexico border and something the author said really struck me. She wrote, "We trust power dynamics we don't support in order to operate. We use the power dynamics we are actively working to undo--the supremacy of whiteness, U.S. exceptionalism, the vision of the United States as moral authority and enforcer to the globe--in order to achieve our goal of nonviolence." (You can read the full article here: https://wagingnonviolence.org/forusa/2019/11/navigating-dilemmas-unarmed-accompaniment-us-mexico-border/)

I don't know the answers to those questions but I do know we at least need to be asking and discussing them, especially as we work to continue to be in relationship with each other.

And last, but certainly not least, the people. It was, and is, and will always be about the people and the relationships we build with them. I come home with so many stories of the people. Stories about their joys and sorrows, celebrations and difficulties. Stories about their lives. Stories I've been entrusted with so that I might share them with all of you. This ministry is about the people. Not about what we do or accomplish or build. But about presence and relationship and being. And it is oh so wonderful to be granted the privilege of witnessing and learning all of their stories.

I could talk and write about my time in El Salvador for quite awhile but this hits the highlights. If you do have other questions or want to learn more, let me know.

Until next time...

​Jessica

Actually...one more thing...I'll try and update the blog as we get updates from our community so you can continue to hear and learn their stories.

Also, if you'd like to support the community of Alejandria or the Southwest Partnership's next trip to El Salvador, donations are always being accepted. You can donate online to the El Salvador fund by clicking the give now button below or if you prefer you may mail a check made out to First Presbyterian Church and memo it for El Salvador to:
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First Presbyterian Church
907 Grove Avenue
Corning, IA 50841

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​Our final full day in Berlin kicked off with some fun as we went out into the street in front of the Pastoral House and passed out pencils to everyone. Each student and person received 2 pencils. It was fun to greet them as they headed to work or school and as people started realizing what was happening, even cars started stopping to get pencils for the students who were getting rides to school. There were a lot of smiles and thanks.

Then it was time to eat breakfast and prepare to head back out to Alejandria for our final day. We began the time in Alejandria by hiking up to their water source. Alejandria is very fortunate to have a fully functioning water system that provides water to the families of the community and the big reason for that is they have a dependable water source. The water source is plentiful enough that it continues to flow even in the middle of the dry season. Also, it is farther up the mountain than the community and so gravity keeps the water flowing through the system—there is no need for pumps because the water is always flowing downward.

It’s a fascinating system and something the community is proud of (rightfully so). They even have their own water association—a family pays $2 per month for a certain amount of water. There are even water meters for each home and if a family goes over their amount of water for a month, they pay an additional fee. These monthly and overage fees have enabled the water board to maintain the system without dipping into any of the financial reserves the Southwest Partnership has designated for the water system. Here’s an overview of the system with pictures from the source on down the mountain:

After visiting the water source, we had a final meeting with the Directiva summarizing our visit as well as allowing all of us to share any final thoughts or reflections. We then had lunch with them before going to the party/final gathering.

The whole community comes once again to the final gathering where we all had the opportunity to share some final thoughts with each other. Then we had some fellowship and fun, including pinatas! See some of the photos below:

To visit El Mozote is to visit what it is about ourselves that we would prefer to ignore. That we can be cruel and that we can be so indiscriminately. To visit El Mozote is to face that actions are taken, in our names and with our money, that we do not control and that we do not choose. El Mozote places everything in perspective and it is simpler to leave wondering if we ever understand anything at all.

In 1981, El Mozote was a remote rural settlement of less than 1000 people. Amid the northern mountains of El Salvador, its inhabitants survived on subsistence farming. When the Atlacatl Battalion, one of what soon came to be known as death squads, arrived in town, it was another day in a series of days when armed men would exert power over the people. It had become ordinary amid a civil war.

The facts of December 11, 1981 are this:
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All of the inhabitants of El Mozote were assassinated, save Rufina Amaya. Girls and women were raped, men were burned to death, children were tortured. Many inhabitants were only identified due to forensic science after the remains were disinterred from mass graves. The perpetrators of the violence were members of the Atlacatl Battalion, which received training at Ft. Benning, Georgia in the United States (at one time known as the School of the Americas).
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The way that the world learned of El Mozote was in large part due to a woman who, because she did so little, survived the worst of human possibilities. While her fellow women screamed and cried at the soldiers, Rufina prayed and then slipped away.

Rufina Amaya told her story for more than a decade and for most of that time it was considered a collection of lies by a peasant woman.

If your stomach can stand it, you can read Rufina Amaya’s testimony in the article published by the New Yorker magazine in November 1993 (http://www.markdanner.com/articles/the-truth-of-el-mozote).

I first visited El Mozote in the 1990s. Today it is a town that is nearly unrecognizable from that time. When our van arrived in El Mozote on Thursday, I did not realize that we were across the street from the memorial wall because so many more buildings were surrounding it than when I visited in the 90s.

I doubt any American could visit El Mozote and not feel, at best, a twinge of guilt and, at worst, total despair at the depravity of humanity. For the Our Sister Parish partnership, the purpose of bringing American visitors to El Mozote is to help us understand the reality and context that is the living history of El Salvador.

The woman who served as our docent at the memorial wall is named Raquel. She is the daughter of a man who was killed in the massacre. She never knew her father. The reason she and her mother survived is because her mother, while pregnant with Raquel, was in the capital city of San Salvador, having been advised that things were getting very dangerous around El Mozote. Raquel is now the same age as my youngest brother.
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I translated as Raquel shared with us both her family’s history related to El Mozote and the events of the horrendous day. I had to close my eyes to translate one particular sentence. Raquel said that Rufina Amaya’s 8-month-old child, a child the same age as my sister in 1981, was taken from Rufina, thrown in the air by a soldier, and bayonetted mid-air.

When we speak of Rufina Amaya as the lone survivor of the El Mozote massacre, we mean she was the lone victim of the atrocity who survived. But there were more survivors of the trauma. Those in the military during conflict are taught to follow orders. The members of the Atlacatl Battalion behaved like monsters, but they were and are human beings. When El Salvador went through the process of the Peace Accords which ended its civil war in 1992, all ex-combatants were exonerated.
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I had to wonder what the lives of the perpetrators – those who survived the trauma of having done the evil that was the massacre at El Mozote – had been like. Some of them, the members of the Atlacatl Battalion, were killed in later combat. But some survived. Rufina Amaya is said to have told a journalist that for the rest of her life, she could not sleep at night. I doubt she was the only one.

I first visited El Salvador when I was 19 years old. It has been a part of my entire adulthood. All of the friends I have here have their own stories of war and trauma and loss, most of which they have never shared with me. The public memorial at El Mozote is miniscule in comparison to the living memorials that are all of the adult population of El Salvador. It must give the parents of today, my peers, who were children during the civil war great comfort that the children of El Salvador today know about the civil war from memorial walls, not from their nightmares.

Annika

Sunday was a bit of a slower day. We started the day with a trip to the market. It's wonderful and overwhelming and there are so many different things. The main market days are Sundays and Thursdays as there is more transportation from the rural communities into town on those days - especially Sundays because of Catholic mass and other worship services. From the market we headed up the road to the cross that sits atop a hill just on the edge of Berlin. The views from there were spectacular. Enjoy the photos below and then I will continue telling you about the day.

After visiting the cross we came back to the Pastoral House for lunch and then left to visit the community of El Rescate. This is the partner community for the First United Presbyterian Church located in Atlantic, Iowa. They haven't been able to send a delegation recently due to RAGBRAI and their 150th anniversary celebrations. So, our visit out there today was on their behalf. It's an interesting community with a very different feel to it from Alejandria. They have a different history and different struggles. Alejandria has a functioning water system and running water. El Rescate has very little water. It was a good opportunity to talk with some more people about their life here in El Salvador. We presented gifts from the Atlantic congregation, they offered us a snack (which was basically an additional lunch), and then a tour of a community. I have a few pictures from the visit which are included below. I'll add more once I'm back in the States (I forgot the USB Apple adapter in my office so can't load the photos off of my camera. Oops.) :-)

After El Rescate we came back to the Pastoral House for a little rest before heading out to 5 o'clock mass at the church on the square, supper, reflections, and then bed.

And that was Sunday.

​Jessica