16 March 2008

The Acolyte's Story

This is the story of a girl and of her church. She is an acolyte at la Iglesia Anglicano de San Pablo in the settlement of San Juan de Letran in the Baja Lempe region of El Salvador. We attended services there on Sunday morning, March 9, 2008 and shared in Communion with the congregation.

This is a rural area, settled after the peace agreements primarily by former rebel combatants on land purchased and distributed under the terms of the peace accord.


Getting to church at San Juan de Letran involves dirt roads best traveled by cart or on horseback, particularly in the rainy season, when parts of the road must be nearly impassable. But the trip is worth it.

There is evidence of development activity with various NGOs and the European Union in the area. Like much of El Salvador, it is an area poor in material goods, and immensely rich in human spirit.





The new church building is beautiful, situated on a low hillside with shutters on all sides open to the breeze, and views of the surrounding countryside
















The people welcomed us warmly, the worship was heartfelt, and the singing was sublime.






























Click to join in the singing....



After the service we walked across the road to the site of a sustainable agriculture demonstration plot that Audrey, Eric, the deacon who lives a few houses away, and the jovenes, or youth of the church are building

This is also where the new clinic building is located. It is mostly an open air concrete block ramada, with locked rooms in the back to store supplies. A nurse visits the community once a week; the doctor and dentist visit once a month.
















The day we visited, the community was getting ready to raise a simple roof over the open air cistern for the church. There was also a new water tank and generator for the agricultural project and clinic.

While I was standing next to the church talking with Eric and Noah and looking out over the surrounding countryside and enjoying the sunshine and warm breeze, I commented on the beauty of the place. Eric and Noah then told the rest of the acolyte's story.

"See that line of low hills about a mile away?" they asked me.

"That is called las lomas de los pajaros....the hills of the birds. During the violence, this area from the Rio Lempa eastward was controlled by insurgents. There was a government army base near the bridge across the river and a gun emplacement on the hills to the right. The government conducted a scorched earth campaign through this area, destroying everything. In October 1981 the soldiers formed a human cordon and swept all the villagers before them into a ravine where the hills of the birds reach the Rio Lempa. There the soldiers massacred 600 men, women and children." The La Quesera massacre is a living memory for the people of this area. Forensic teams sponsored by NGOs and foreign governments continue to search for remains and attempt to identify them. As the scattered remains are identified, they are given a Christian burial. For more detailed account of this work, check the website of the Central Baptist Church's El Salvador Partners Mission Group here http://salvadorpartners.blogspot.com/2007/01/nueva-esperanza-and-la-quesera.html

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