Usulutan weekend stay

On the weekends we have been taking short homestay trips out to the campo, sometimes in groups of two and sometimes all together. The first weekend we were split up into groups of two and sent out all over El Salvador. My friend Linda and I were sent to Usulutan, which is a city of about 20,000 located 2 ½ hours south east of San Salvador. There we met with Pastor Julio who is the leader of a small Lutheran church called Nueva Esperanza. It was a very simple church with a small worship hall, classroom, kitchen and office all centered off a small patio that has two large lime trees in the center. We spent the afternoon there with Pastor Julio talking to him about his studies in Agriculture and Theology and how he began this small church. That evening we went with him out to the real campo where he lived, some 15 min away outside of the small pueblo of San Jorge, and were we would be staying with him and his family for the weekend. It was very interesting getting to his community. We drove onto the cobble stone streets of San Jorge off the main highway and then down, into what I can only describe as a dried up riverbed, before taking a steep dirt road up over the ?bank? to his small community of maybe 20 house. It reminded me a lot of the campo houses we stayed at in Chuitziribal only slightly nicer and more tropical. Another difference between Guatemala and El Salvador is that hammocks are an absolute staple in pretty much ever house hold. Pastor Julio had one in the church and two in his simple home. We stayed with him and his wife, elderly aunt, three daughters and one son. His eldest childer, a daughter of 21 years old, attended medical school in San Miguel and traveled there 4 hours round trip by bus, 5 times a week. Made me put my appreciation for education on a whole other level. The point of the weekend trip was to understand a little bit of how religious communities work on a day to day basis and see how liberation theology functions in practice and to get a feel of the culture of El Salvador outside of the capitol. Saturday mornings Pastor Julio runs a small bible school in a pueblo just next to his called San Rafael. The school is held in the patio of a woman who is a member of his church and taught by a Vladimir who are two youth co-pastors in training and they‘re about our age. The  school is split up in to two groups, teenagers and younger kids, with about 10-12 in each group. After this first class Linda and I hung out with Juan Carlos and Vladimir, walking around San Rafael and talking to them about their lives, their faith and their dedication for working with these kids and with Pastor Julio. The two of them and Pastor Julio all spoke of the immediate danger these communities faced with the violence and recruitment of gangs getting stronger by the day. They all agreed that the most important front of this fight was to protect the next generations. The bible schools and getting the kids active in the church was a way to keep them off the streets and to teach them an alternate way of life other then the corruption of gangs. Since coming to El Salvador, and living in the guest house with my fellow English speaking travelers and taking a class in English I haven’t had a lot of motivation to use my Spanish. But hanging out with those guys (who spoke pretty much no English) I was forced to try again and more over I was forced to come up with more creative was of trying to get my point across (as were they so I could understand them) because I was so interested in what they were doing. It was a really proud moment for me.  I will never forget that morning, sitting in the central plaza of San Rafael, drinking water out of a plastic bags, talking and hanging out with two Salvadorans that really care about their country and community and are committed to change the status quo as we watched the many of the towns local people dancing and having fun at a cultural festival on the other side of the park. After having lunch at the house of the woman who hosted the bible schools (also Vladimir’s mother) we all went with Pastor Julio to another bible school and worship service at a church even further in the country side. We drove to a house outside of San Jorge and then walked for about 10-15 min to this one room chapel at the base of a volcano. Adults and children came on foot, bicycles and horse back. Pastor Julio held service inside while another youth bible class was held just outside. After the both were over an English class was held in the church by a missionary woman from Wisconsin. She and her husband have been living and working in Usulutan for almost two years now and it was fun talking to them and hearing their story. That night Linda and I went with Pastor Julio’s family to a birthday party for one of his brother-in-laws. His wife has a huge family and if was a beautiful and happy occasion. Lots of laughter, happy chatter, delicious food, children playing and singing to carry the night away. Sunday we went to morning service at Pastor Julio’s church in Usulutan and then were picked up and headed back to the capitol.