It had been seven years since I had
last been to El Salvador and worked with Bishop Juan de Dios Peña. While a lot
looks the same from seven years ago, the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista de El
Salvador (IEMES) has been busy! Now
25 years old, the IEMES has 13 churches (with a new church plant planned for
January 2020), 15 pastors, and reaches 12,000 people. There are health clinics
attached to three of the churches, two of them government run and one owned,
run, and funded by the IEMES. These clinics, charging $5/patient and usually
offering medicine for free, have seen over 300,000 people! New since my last
visit is a mission house, formerly Bishop Peña’s house, renovated in 2014 to
sleep 26 adults. Also new is a Methodist school with 420 students from age 4
through grade 9. Even more students applied and were turned away after they
reached their enrollment capacity. In addition, land is already bought for a
high school. The IEMES has one more hurdle to go through before construction
can begin: figuring out how to connect the sewage drainage from the school with
the city’s sewers two blocks away.
My companions on this trip were
Emma Escobar (Conference Coordinator of Hispanic/Latino Ministries and a native
Salvadoran), Rev. Stacey Cole-Wilson (Conference Executive Minister of Justice
and Service), and Rev. Tim Warner (pastor of Emory Grove UMC and Mill Creek
Parish UMC); these latter two were on their first visit to Central America. Two
common themes we heard throughout the week were about trouble with gangs and
broken families (the Spanish phrase was ‘familia desentegrada’ – literally,
disintegrated family). The family problems lie in often having the father in
the U.S., working to send money home, the mother taking on 1-2 jobs herself,
and the children then being left unsupervised. Gangs are a related problem as
they target children ages 11-14 and threaten, “Either join us or we’ll kill
you.” This is why there have been so many unaccompanied minors trying to enter
the U.S. – they have literally fled for their lives! (Also, ‘unaccompanied’
means not with their parents; they are usually with another family member or
friend and not solo.) When the U.S. saw an increase in minors trying to enter our
country, IEMES saw a corresponding decrease in the number of children in their
churches. Thanks be to God, however, that there is also a correlation between
IEMES becoming more involved in a community and gangs becoming less involved in
that community.
We visited six of the churches
while we were there. One church has now become the reference point when giving
directions within their community. Another church sends people out into their
community to gather the children on Sunday morning for Sunday school. Pastor
Gloria is from the community where she pastors and as the church became
involved in the community, so did the government. The church fasted and prayed
for electricity, running water, and a paved road into the community and
gradually the government provided each piece. God gave this pastor a detailed
vision and slowly it is coming to pass. They have a beautiful church building,
complete with a kitchen, which is empty waiting God to provide the $3,000 for
appliances. Once stocked, Pastor Gloria has a vision for training women in
baking, one of her God-given talents, so that the women can be empowered
economically and at the same time, care for their families.
Bishop Peña also took us to two
churches near the Guatemala border. One is in a town that used to be on the Pan
American Highway, and thrived because of the travelers who passed through and
bought their fruit and ‘artesania’ (art and craft work). The new highway
bypasses the town and they have been in an economic slump ever since. The other
church is in a quiet border town right on the river between the two countries.
Bishop Peña took us there to show us how easy some border crossing is: a
hanging hammock rope bridge, with fencing on each side, over the river and no
check points of any kind on either side. Many Guatemalans cross here each day
to work in one of the nearby factories, including Kimberly Clark (Kleenex,
Huggies, Cottonelle, etc.). We walked over the bridge to Guatemala, and then,
to return, since I alone was dressed for it in short capris, I took off my
sandals and waded through the water to cross back, ‘mojada,’ (wet – also the
term used for those who cross illegally into the U.S.) into El Salvador.
On the last day, we learned about
the ancient history of El Salvador. We visited Joyas de Ceren, a Latin American
Pompeii. It’s a whole village buried under 15 layers of ash dating to around
550 A.D. What was interesting was that each house had a room that was for
communal use: a meeting room, a community kitchen for special rituals, and a
sauna (for purification for rituals, childbirth, etc.). We also visited
Tazumal, which dates back to 2,000 B.C. This temple changed hands over the
centuries and each new people added onto it, rather than destroy anything
pre-existing.
My question this entire time was
what can we, the Baltimore-Washington Conference, do that isn’t already being done? What needs can we uniquely
fill? There are a few opportunities. One is that 8 of the pastors will be
losing their salary funding from GBGM over the next couple years. It’s helpful
for pastors to be fully funded ($4,200/year) so that they can focus on their
ministry and not also on earning money. Another one is Pastor Gloria’s kitchen,
which Rev. Tim Warner is spearheading. Medicine for the clinics can be sent in
the suitcase of an accompanying traveler. Sponsorship for students is always
welcome. And finally, one that does not necessarily involve finances, Bishop Peña
spoke several times about creating sister churches between local congregations,
which could be as simple as covenanting to pray for each other and occasionally
sharing worship on Skype.
Why did I go to El Salvador? I
thought it was because I look for any opportunity I have to strengthen and
reconnect with my ties in Central America (before seminary, I served for over a
year in Nicaragua and I’m always looking for what that part of my life has to
do with my life as a UMC pastor). However, when worship began Tuesday night at
Iglesia El Shaddai, tears came to my eyes. ‘Vengo adorar.’ The real reason I
went to El Salvador was to worship God with God’s people in Central America.
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