Updates from El Salvador

Palm Sunday

2008-03-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

On our way to the procession

Little Robert Emilio checks out the palms outside his grandma's house

The Liturgy of the Palms

San Andrés celebrated Palm/Passion Sunday with style. We opted to make the procession shorter this year in order for more people to participate, and it worked. Almost 40 people processed down the street fron Niña Romana´s house to the church. The church was packed with 55 people, and the youth did a fabulous job reading the Passion narrative.

The youth of the parish read the Passion gospel

Back to Work...

2008-03-11T20:51:00.001-07:00

On my first day back at work, Jacob checks out the librería (bookstore) with new friends Vilma and Lupita

Vilma holds Jacob; Jacob makes me laugh!

We arrived back in El Salvador after spending the last two months of my maternity leave with family in California, and both returned to work, in mid-February. It's been good to be back in El Salvador, and while returning to work has been an adjustment for all of us (Jacob's not to big on Mommy not being around a couple of evenings a week, and since Vince has been working with groups we've had several adventures in tag-team parenting!), it's been wonderful to see Jacob with his many Salvadoran "amigos." He goes to the office with me two days a week, and my staff completely re-arranged my office because they weren't pleased with the placement of his "cunita" (aka playpen)!

I have been thrilled to return to a church and school which are not only still running, but doing better than before I left! A number of physical improvements have been made to the school, the staff re-vamped (both to meet more stringent Ministry of Education standards), and a new, wonderfully dedicated, highly qualified director hired. When I left there were three evening activities a week at the church, and now there are four! Vilma, the lay reader who the bishop put in charge of San Andrés while I was gone, did a fabulous job. We need to pray that she continues to respond to God´s call to ministry, hopefully ordained ministry!

Jacob visits with Don Emilio and Niña Romana;
Jacob gets a hug from Dieguito (below)

Change

2008-03-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

The Church must change, not only in order to attract new members and grow, not simply in order to survive as an institution. The Church must embrace change if it is to embrace the mission to which Christ is calling it in the 21^st century: a mission to be Jesus to a world which is increasingly divided, increasingly broken, increasingly secularized, and plummeting semi-obliviously toward disaster. How can we be Jesus’ loving hands (multiplying bread and fish); how can we be his healing presence (casting out demons and raising the dead); how can we live his Paschal Mystery—dying to ourselves and being raised up for others in our world today? A world that, in California, looks like four-lane freeways and identical shopping outlets; tucked-away migrant labor camps and lonely oncology wards? A world that, in San Salvador, looks like bright children with an uncertain future, unwieldy bureaucracies top-heavy with corrupt officials, the price of beans and corn doubling so people can eat half as much, a dozen young lives a day cut off by uncaring violence, families on two sides of a wall that prevents them from seeing each other, maybe ever again?

I don’t have a strategy or technique for being Jesus in the middle of all of this. I know that it is important to keep love several blocks ahead of fear. I know accompaniment is key—it’s important just to be there with people; to show up. And I know that mission is about transformation—of the world in Christ’s image, yes, but first and foremost, of ourselves. It won’t happen by sitting still. That transformation-that-is-mission happens when we allow ourselves to be turned inside-out by others’ reality, which we come to realize is our reality too. Then, there is true solidarity: we stand together. Then we can start to talk about change in the world, together, because we ourselves have been changed.

Change is terrifying to most human beings. Yet change is also the most organic, natural thing in the world. Our bodies’ cells are constantly changing themselves, being renewed and transformed every minute; if they weren’t, we’d be dead. Change can be drastic and sudden, or gradual, but it is never total—we always bring something of the old with us, even if it’s only in the imprints of our hearts and minds, in the shaping of who we are. Change is life. To be open to change is to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, it is she who will breathe into us the power to be Jesus to the world. -Amy+

Dani

2007-12-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

Noah, our friend and co-worker in El Salvador, was staying with us. He got a call on his cell phone around 11PM on Monday, November 19. I was in the room, and I could tell it was something serious. Cain, who works with Noah in rural Usulután, called to tell Noah that Cain’s son-in-law, Dani, had been shot. Dani and his compañera, Cain´s daughter Carolina, were members of my youth group at church and lived in the neighborhood. She 18, he 21; they had had a baby five months prior.

When Noah told me that Cain´s son-in-law had been shot, I stayed calm and just asked if he was alright. “They’re operating on him in the hospital in the neighborhood.” It took me that long in my fuzzy post-partum mind to make the connection between “Cain’s son-in-law” and Dani. But I still didn’t freak out. Noah was raging about the violence and the randomness and the injustice, Vince was listening sobered; I lit a candle to leave burning, made Noah and Vince pray with me, and went to bed. I felt like everything was going to be alright.

By the next morning we learned that Dani was in a coma, had been transferred to the hospital in Zacamil, over an hour away, and was to be operated on again. By mid-morning he had been transferred a third time to the large public Hospital Rosales in the Centro for surgery. After several calls from Cain, Noah decided to get on a bus to Rosales, about ten blocks from our apartment, to offer some moral support to the family. I decided to go with him.

There was a long line of people waiting with little pieces of paper to get in for visiting hours, but Noah and I, either because of our invisible “gringo pass” or because the gate guard knew the situation was dire, were let right in. We hurried through the tropical landscaped grounds of the hospital, passing open buildings which felt like odd crosses between Victorian wards and military barracks. We finally found the surgery unit, one of the few new buildings on the campus, and were again let quickly through a guarded gate. In the hallway beyond a closed door we found the priest who works with Noah and Cain and several women surrounding Dani’s mother, who was seated and sobbing. We had arrived moments after Dani died on the operating table.

The priest told us that Cain and Carol were outside and could probably use some support. I sat with Carol for two hours after she found out her life partner was dead. I sat with her on the sidewalk, backed up against the wall of the hospital, her baby playing with an older woman a few feet away. I sat with her in the car on the way to her parent’s house, and on the sofa. These are some of the things that she said...

“It’s not true, it’s not true. Dani’s not dead. He’s not dead.”
“My love why? Why? Don’t leave me! Fight! Fight for your son!”
“I love you, Dani, I love you, I love you, I love you...”
“O God, don’t take him away from me!”
“He wanted to marry me.”
“He loved my baby so much.”
“God please take care of him for me, wherever he is.”
“I know he’ll watch over us.”
“I’ll take care of our baby for you, I’ll be his mother and father.”

At the funeral the next day Carolina read a reading. She is one of the strongest women I have ever met.

After the service I dropped Vince and Jacob off at home and caught up with the funeral procession going out to the cemetery for the burial. It’s a lovely, grassy place in the hills above the city, with trees. Out of everything, the burial was the hardest part. The youth from the church, his friends, sang a song about having lost the best one. Irma, the diocesan youth leader, spoke about the youth needing to carry on in his footsteps—those of a humble, gentle, genuine, and good person. Cain spoke eloquently. Dani’s mother thanked everyone for their support. And Carol spoke, and sang a love song over her boyfriend of 7 years’ casket. Even small children were crying as she sang.

I have often thought that Salvadorans get melodramatic at interments, sobbing and wailing over caskets as they are lowered into the ground. The cries that day were real, and they were the most gut-wrenching sounds I have ever heard. Noah said afterwards, “I never want to hear anyone scream like that again.”

I need to tell you why Dani died. He was killed purportedly by a 13-year-old, who was given a gun by the gang in our neighborhood and told to stake out Dani’s mother’s house and wait for his brother. Dani’s brother, a taxi driver like he was, had allegedly refused the gang members a ride at 2AM to commit a drive-by shooting in enemy territory several weeks before. The 13-year-old needed to kill someone in order to become a fully fledged marero, gang member. If he had come back without having murdered, he would have been beaten or killed by the gang. So he shot the first person that drove a taxi up to their mother’s house and got out. Dani was shot on his mother’s doorstep—she saw him shot from within. And Carol and their five-month-old son witnessed the shooting as well; they were sitting in the taxi.

Days after the funeral Carolina and Dani’s families both moved permanently out of the neighborhood where they had grown up. It is not safe for them to go back.

Jacob´s Baptism

2007-11-25T22:46:00.000-08:00

The Bishop baptizes and Amy annoints Jacob

Jacob Ruben was brought into the Body of Christ, hecho miembro de la familia de Dios (made a part of God´s family), at a little less than a month old, on November 18, 2007, at San Andrés Apóstol. Bishop Barahona baptized Jacob, Padre Richard Bower, director of Cristosal, preached, and his momma got to put holy oil on his head and say in two languages, "Jacob Ruben, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism, and marked as Christ's own forever." His godmothers are Marta Muñoz, engineer and revolutionary, and Suyapa Pérez, liberation theologian, both Salvadoran friends, and his godfathers are Noah Bullock, a friend and fellow missioner in El Salvador, and José López, director of the Anglican Church´s human rights office. We are grateful to God for such wonderful compadres and comadres! (This is a special term signifying a special relationship that doesn´t exist in English-- the relationship between parents and godparents-- they are ´co-parents´.)

The godparents and parents hold the light of Christ for Jacob after he is baptized

Padre Bower holds Jacob during ´baptismal preparation´ on the eve of his baptism

He's Here!

2007-11-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

Just out!

Our son, Jacob Ruben Zuniga, was born at 8:30p.m. on Tuesday, October 23rd at the Hospital Centro Ginecológico in San Salvador, El Salvador. He was 7 pounds 8 ounces and about 20 inches long. He is healthy, beautiful, and has a lot of hair on his head! Thank you all so much for your prayers, congratulations, and well wishes. The world feels new for us with Jacob in it.

On our way home

News!

2007-10-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

Amy and Vince in front of the new mural painted by San Andrés kids and members of our companion parish (yes, that is a tiny blond ´Reverenda´standing in the church door on the mural!)

We have some exciting news to share... Vince and I are expecting our first child this month! He will be born in El Salvador, and so will be both a Salvadoran and a U.S. citizen (this is our Salvadoran friends' main concern-'If he's born here will he be able to go to the U.S.?'). We plan to spend a couple months around Christmas introducing our little one to California family and friends, and then will return to El Salvador to finish our third year here, Sept. 2007-Aug. 2008. We will continue our work here with the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador as Volunteers in Mission of the Episcopal Church, supported by Foundation Cristosal (www.cristosal.org.) Many, many thanks to all of you who have donated to our mission fund and helped make this year (2006-2007) possible for us! We feel called to continue growing in this crazy, difficult, wonderful place... both in our work and ministry, spiritually and as human beings, and now as a family. -Amy

Group Visits

2007-09-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

Delegation of clergy and laypersons from the Diocese of Massachusetts and members of Iglesia San Marcos, Izalco lay down some road up to the Villa Anglicana San Marcos.

All Saints Episcopal Church, Jacksonville Florida enact the story of Noah's Ark with students from Colegio Episcopal San Andres Apostol

Members of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Mobile Alabama join the chapel service at Centro Educativo Anglicano San Mateo.

UC San Diego students from the Episcopal & Methodist United Campus Ministry, youth from San Juan Evangelista, and Amy gather at the Plaza Salvador del Mundo for the Romero march to the Cathedral.

Members of St. Michael's, Brattleboro Vermont share nuegados (ground, fried yucca) and bible study with members of Santa Maria Virgen.

Members of St. John on the Mountain Episcopal Church, Bernardsville, New Jersey participate in a youth stations of the cross service at San Andres Apostol.

A visit from our companion parish

2007-07-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

The children at San Andrés painted a banner for our companion parish

Amy and Arrington Chambliss, Associate at St. Andrew´s, shared in the service

Our new bell was dedicated after the service

In mid-July, members of San Andrés shared a few packed, grace-filled days with members of our companion parish, St. Andrew's in Marblehead, Massachusetts. We visited some of the pilgrimage sites of San Salvador together, including the cathedral where Monseñor Romero is buried and the UCA, the Jesuit university which was the site of the 1989 massacre of six priests and two women; members of San Andrés were able to share some of their memories of El Salvador´s past with members of St. Andrew´s. We played, sang, made and ate pupusas, painted a beautiful new mural on the side of our building, and dedicated a bell donated by our companion parish at the end of an incredibly joyful, bilingual Eucharist. We also re-told the story of this relationship, which goes back more than 15 years, re-kindled friendships between church members, and re-affirmed our companionship, a commitment between members of our two parishes to continue walking beside each other, as sisters and brothers, despite our very different backgrounds.

The mural takes form! Romana, Dulany, and Judy prepare pupusas

Goings-On at San Andrés

2007-07-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

Amy celebrated her first wedding, of church members Jhoni and Alejandro, who have been together for 10 years. Being "accompanied" rather than married is very common in El Salvador, because of the cost of a wedding.

Children's sermon at Pentecost

Shelley, Amy's mom, hosted a t-shirt painting workshop for the women and children at San Andrés while she was here, at their request

The reining 'Queen of the Flowers' for San Andrés School led the parade of this years´candidates

A messy desk is a sign of... well, something good we hope.

Don Adrian Landaverde, a patriarch of the church, passed away this year. This is the altar that remained for 9 days in the family home after the wake (during which over 300 people filled the small house and surrounding neighborhood) and funeral.

La Casa de la Solidaridad

2007-05-12T19:09:00.000-07:00

San Andrés has been blessed this year to participate in La Casa de la Solidaridad, a college exchange program between Jesuit universities in the U.S. and the UCA (Universidad Centroamericana) in El Salvador. College students from the states spend four months learning in El Salvador--in the context of classwork in liberation theology, Spanish, and other disciplines, living in community with Salvadoran and U.S. peers, and spending two days a week in marginal community around San Salvador. Two wonderful people, Adam and Amy, spent from January through May with us in Amatapec-- assisting with English classes, playing at recess, hanging out in community members homes, teaching (and learning!) dance, interviewing community members about their experiences during the war, and even spending Sunday mornings and weekends with us outside of their scheduled community time. Their presence was a true blessing for the children and adults of San Andrés, who came to love them like members of their families. I believe this was because Amy and Adam were willing to step outside of their comfort zone and be vulnerable enough to receive hospitality. For more information on the Casa program, check out their website: www.scu.edu/casa/.

Newly Baptized

2007-04-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ronnie and Katya say their Baptismal Vows

Ronnie and Katya, siblings in the sixth and fifth grade at Colegio San Andres, decided they wanted to be baptized. When Amy asked Ronnie, during baptismal preparation, "Why do you want to be baptized?" he replied, "I want to be closer to God."
With all that has been going on in the Anglican Communion lately, it may seem like the Church is about to come to a standstill, at least that's how it gets reported sometimes from what we read. Bishops posturing, priests and congregations leaving or threatening to leave one branch of the Communion for another, news reporters framing the whole conflict as if the Episcopal/Anglican Church is about to fall apart! But, maybe they should get out into the streets and barrios where church is happening-- the places where the State Department tells Americans absolutely not to go. There is some church happening there- Anglican Church. What they'll find is the Episcopal/ Anglican Church growing, people being baptized, people joining the Church, filling it up, and celebrating the resurrection of our Lord until 2:00 in the morning.
Whatever the outcome of the current debate in the Anglican Communion, Christ's church will continue to grow, despite those who threaten to tear it apart in the name of God, in the name of their opinion, in the name of power... All we really need are people to say 'yes' to what God is calling them to do, which takes them out of where they're comfortable and into where Christ abides, with the poor. There is no salvation outside the Church, I've heard it pronounced-- but the truth is, as Jon Sobrino says, there is no salvation outside the poor, because that is where Christ is to be found. If this is indeed true, then those that say they have found Christ in some other context may need to examine themselves in light of this hard truth. Like a sledge hammer it can shatter your preconceived notions about your own faith and relationship with Christ, and bring about a renewal based in reality. -Vince

Katya is baptized

A very nervous Ronnie is baptized

Alegre Los Anglicanos!

2007-04-25T12:23:00.001-07:00

A "convivio" at San Andres Apostol celebrating Anglican Women in El Salvador.

Esta es la Luz de Cristo- Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Members of San Andres gather around the fire, which the women from the church had prepared, and wait for the vigil to begin.

Members of San Andres Apostol listen to the Exsultet during the Great Vigil

New church member Yanile gives her interpretation of the reading from Genesis and of what it has to say to the people of Amatepec.

Diocesan Youth Campout- Alto Lempa

2007-04-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

La Reverenda gets an explanation on how the game is played

On the rocks listening and not listening to the charla.

Jamming with Don Mario Peraza

Lay Missioner in the region, Eric, works with his group concerning their dramatization that night.

Gathered for a game

Amy rests after suffering from a bout of Pica Pica (It's a stinging pod from a vine and made her leg feel like it was covered in red ants that were biting her)

Images from Johannesburg: TEAM 2007

2007-03-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

LEFT: Amy with Diana, chaplain of the conference, an amazing priest from Uganda and its future bishop!
RIGHT:Brian from the Seychelles modeling a Salvadoran stole

Amy with other young women clergy:
Sally Su from Mexico and Irene Ayallo from Kenya,
currently studying in New Zealand

Amy con-celebrating the Eucharist planned and lead by the Latin American delegation with Bishop Julio Murray of Panama and Bishop
Maurício Araújo, primate of Brazil, with transitional deacon Sally Su from Mexico City.
Our tri-lingual liturgy (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) included music, dance, and was accompanied by artwork depicting some of the issues the conference discussed as lived in different parts of Latin America

Some members of the Latin American delegation grabbed a photo op with Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori

Members of the Latin American delegation and staff of the Episcopal Church center enjoyed themselves at a fiesta hosted by the Anglican and Global Relations office of 815.

Some Observations from the TEAM (Towards Effective Anglican Mission) Conference

2007-03-10T05:32:00.000-08:00

March 8, 2007 Boksburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

I have been given the enormous privilege of being a delegate from IARCA, The Anglican Church in the Region of Central America, to TEAM, a conference of the world-wide Anglican Communion on prophetic mission, development, and HIV/AIDS. It is a privilege for me, an Episcopal missionary priest in the Anglican/Episcopal Church of El Salvador, to be representing my colleagues at an event which will hopefully have global implications for the mission of the Anglican Church and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (if you’re not a bishop and don’t attend Lambeth!) to be gathered with Anglicans from every part of the globe—I have met people from England, every part of Africa and Latin America, Madagascar and Seychelles, which I didn’t even know existed before! Perhaps even more importantly, the reason for which we are gathered is I believe critically important to the relevance and continued existence of the church and the life of God’s children on earth. We are gathered to attempt to ensure that the gospel we preach is truly good news for the poor. (Luke 4: 18)

In the morning we heard a stirring address by the Archbishop of Capetown and Southern Africa, our host, Njongonkulu Ndungane, who, referring to the current conflicts in the Communion assured us that, “As we better follow Jesus’ example in mission in response to the needs of the world we will better know how to follow his example in other areas and will be able to address our differences.” The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, followed, giving a deeply intelligent and compelling “Bible study” on the topic. Noting that “knowing the Lord” is defined in Jeremiah 22:16 as “giving the poor a fair trial,” he defined the “essence of the law” in the Hebrew Scriptures as “ensuring that no one is forgotten and no one is invisible.” The law, and God’s final purpose for humanity, the Archbishop said, are “being uncovered in Jesus of Nazareth… as a human being creating community [in which] no one is forgotten.”

The spiritual head of our Communion (who actually is a lot taller than I thought he was!) went on to say something which, in conjunction with a question asked by a delegate from Canada, impressed upon me deeply the imperative and the necessary quality of the involvement of those of us from the “developed” world in this struggle to ensure that no one is forgotten by the tides of so-called progress. The question related to how, in the midst of the over-abundant prosperity in the rich countries, a gospel which is good news to the poor may be preached. The Archbishop said, “You can never settle down with the fantasy that one part of the human family can live at the expense of another part. There are no gated communities in the kingdom of God—none can be insulated from the loss and suffering of others… [for] when one part of the body suffers, all the others suffer with it. ” (1 Cor 12:26) He went on to quote St. Augustine as saying that the tragedy of injustice is “not only the suffering of the oppressed, but the corruption of the mind and heart of the oppressor.”

The imperative is this: our involvement in attempting to correct the injustices of this world, of which we are the beneficiaries, is nothing less than the working out of our own salvation, with fear and trembling. And the quality of that involvement is just as important (if not more important!) than the involvement itself. If we come knowing all the answers, ready to “fix” the problems of the poor (and just as unwilling to fix ourselves!) then we’ve missed the point. Several “first-world” delegates have brought up the question of how to deal with people in the churches who seem indifferent to these issues. The Archbishop’s answer was clear: what is called for is “that form of healing called conversion.” +Amy

Want to Be a Missionary?

2007-02-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

Cristosal board member Padre Kevin Dixon, Rector of St. Mary's Kerrisdale, British Columbia receives a birthday blessing along with church members baby Genesis -- (held by Pd. Dixon) and Sylvia Landaverde

Amy and I had a busy past couple of weeks involving two branches of mission support in the Anglican/Episcopal Church's work in El Salvador, both of which are supporting our work here. The first week we had a great time meeting with members of the board of Cristosal and were glad to have the opportunity to thank them for their support. Cristosal is a non-profit organization whose board is made up of Canadian and U.S. Anglican/Episcopal clergy and lay persons and whose mission is to support the work of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador. The Very Rev. Richard Bower is Executive Director and a founding member of Cristosal, and a person for whom Amy and I hold a very deep respect. In addition to acting as the channel for our financial support (and that of other missioners), Cristosal funds the Diocesan Human Rights Office, the Communications Office, and supports Continuing Education in the Diocese. A new Center for Pastoral Work and Development in the Bajo Lempa region is currently underway and in addition to the current clergy and lay missioners, will be staffed with a new Cristosal funded missioner- our good friend Noah Bullock.
We then were on our way to Florida for a Discernment Retreat hosted by the Episcopal Church's Mission Personnel Office, under the Anglican and Global Relations Office of the Episcopal Church Center. They have agreed to take us on as Volunteers for Mission of the Episcopal Church. Though we had already discerned our call and had a place in the field, we were invited to attend the Discernment Retreat to meet the staff as well as new potential missionaries in the various places in their processes of discernment. It will be interesting to see where they end up and hear about their experiences in the dioceses where they will be working.

Amy and I hope that anyone feeling even a slight interest to work in mission in another country would contact the Mission Personnel Office. Check it out and see where it leads you. They are great people to work with who can help you discern your call and provide tools to fulfill what you may feel God is calling you to do.
Specifically, in regards to El Salvador, we would also strongly recommend contacting Cristosal. They are doing important work here in accompaniment with the Salvadoran people and should be a contact for anyone working in the Episcopal/Anglican context here. Both organizations are strong agencies for helping one discern a call to mission and make it a reality. If you are feeling even the slightest pull or push from the Holy Spirit we urge you to get in contact with either organization. If the MDG goals are to be addressed to any kind of significance by the church, then its members need to overcome their fears and step out in action.
Contact info- Cristosal website- www.cristosal.org
Anglican and Global Relations Office of the Episcopal Church- www.episcopalchurch.org/agr.htm

Staff from the Anglican and Global Relations Office of the Episcopal Church with future and current Episcopal missionaries, and in the middle, the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade bishop of Southeast Florida at the Duncan Retreat Center in Florida.

Vacation Bible School at San Andrés

2006-12-16T14:35:00.000-08:00

Summer vacation from school in El Salvador falls between November and January, so Vacation Bible School at church comes in December. While it adds one more thing to an already busy month, having VBS in December has one big advantage: you get to do all the Advent and Christmas stuff. This year we explored the themes of Advent, the Anunciation, Christ´s Birth and the Shepherds, and the Visit of the Three Kings, with the enthusiastic participation of about thirty kids split into groups by age: 3-5, 6-9, and 10+. Our unifiying theme was "The symbols of Christmas;" most of the crafts the kids made each day were ornaments. On Friday we watched a cartoon movie of the birth of Jesus, ate popcorn, and decorated the tree (the kids got to choose which ornaments they took home and which they put on the tree; some took all, some left all!) Vacation Bible School was really fun.

The best part is, that our Christmas tree is a coffee bush! It happened like this: Leaving church the afternoon before the start of VBS, I was talking with Niña Romana, one of our pillars at San Andrés, about how we would need a tree to decorate. Not everyone has a tree here, but small fake trees are gettting popular (real pine trees are hard to get). The fake trees rub me the wrong way--not just because they´re fake, but because they are so completely out of context (like the singing of White Christmas at a Christmas concert I attended this week!) So I casually mentioned to Niña Romana, ¨Aren´t coffee bushes the traditional Christmas trees in the campo (countryside)?" "Of course!" she replied immediately, "We should get a coffee bush. I'll be in charge of the tree." The next day she shows up a little late for VBS, trailed by three grandchildren lugging an eight-foot tall coffee bush, with some coffee berries still on it! It was acquired, apparently, by one of her sons, who went up to the "monte" (the mountain behind the community, which still has some coffee farming) and paid $2 for it. Our coffee Christmas tree looks wonderful.

Most of the members of the San Andrés Apóstol vacation bible school before the Christmas coffee bush on Christmas Eve

Blessing and Inauguration of the New Anglican Village of La Divina Providencia

2006-12-11T13:56:00.000-08:00

Esther Cohen from ERD and Bishop Barahona cut the symbolic tape inaugurating the Anglican Villa de La Divina Providencia
On a slightly cloudy, warm day out in the Department of Sonsonate, the Bishop Martín Barahona, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) representative Esther Cohen, Rev. Mario Nunez, priest-in-charge of the congregation La Divina Providencia, and other members of the diocese celebrated the official commencement new Anglican Village, La Divina Providencia. The houses were constructed as part of Episcopal Relief and Development's reconstruction work after the 2001 earthquakes. Many volunteers who came to El Salvador through ERD worked hot hours under the sun shoveling dirt, and future home-owners worked weekends to get the houses built. In November a lottery was held among those who had been selected to receive a house-- all families with children, with no substance abuse issues or criminal record, and who had never owned property. The lottery determined which house each family would get, and keys were handed over. The Eucharist and ceremony December 9 officially inaugurated the village, but signs of unofficial inauguration abounded: about five families had moved in, chickens, hammocks, and all (included the lucky family who got the corner house by the school site, and had taken advantage of their suerte to start the first store!) and many others had "inaugurated" their houses by putting in fences, planting gardens, and installing the ubiquitous window-rails. After so many months of visiting El Maizal (the Diocesan property where La Divina Providencia is located), watching the village take shape little by little, it was so exciting to finally see it come to life. The bishop walked through the entire village when the service was over, blessing each of the 30 houses, sprinkling it with holy water. Many future residents, including the owner of the future pupuseria of the village, hurried ahead with their keys to open the doors so he could bless the inside as well.

A Bishop who walks with his people

Bishop Barahona preached about the
kind of community residents should
build at La Divina Providencia

The gathered community

Youth from the community enlivened the celebration with dramatic dance

The house-blessing procession
The owner of the future pupuseria (left) is exuberant as her house is blessed.

Advent I

2006-12-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

Advent is my favorite liturgical season. Advent is so very real. It reminds us that we're in the in-between-time, after Jesus came to announce the in-breaking of the Reign of God, and before that reign is brought to its full-ness. It reminds us that we're not there yet, neither individually, nor in our communities, nor as a human family. We are like the people waiting in the dark for the dawn, like the ancient people waiting for its Savior. There is so much to do... and not only to prepare for Christmas. There is so much to do to make this world look more like what God wants it to look like that sometimes it is completely overwhelming. Where to start? The Church starts its liturgical year with this time of waiting. Waiting in the dark during the darkest days of the year, for the light to begin to increase. Waiting for Emanuel, God-with-us, to come again on earth. Reminding ourselves that we are waiting for something. -Amy

Día de San Andrés Apóstol

2006-12-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

Participants in the bike contests line up and wait for the start of the events, which was delayed due to the failure of the police to show up to close off the street, which, in Salvadoran fashion, the congregation took it upon themselves and closed off the street, forcing buses to turn around and bringing much traffic to a halt, all so kids could have an event of their own.

The "fiesta patronal," patronal saint's feast, of a church, community, or city is always a big deal in El Salvador. The enthusiasm and love which members of San Andrés put into their fiesta patronal this year, compared to the same celebration a year ago, shortly after we arrived, was tangible evidence of the Spirit´s work healing and enlivening this community. Community members, especially members of the youth group, worked all day the Sunday before and each weeknight painting (we painted the entire bookstore/sacristy/classroom annex which was previously bare cinderblock), pruning, weeding, planting, cleaning, and decorating. The women came up with a new plan for hanging the Christmas garlands, in "curtains" from the ceiling, and were persistent until they had accomplished their goal! The youth made numerous trips to the mayor's office and police department to get the necessary permission to close the street for their "tape race", then valiantly closed the street themselves,( with the Reverenda's car!) when the police failed to show up (!) and held a hot flea market in which they made nearly $50 on two pews' worth of donated clothing. The "tape race" was quite something-- 10 boys got numerous chances to put a pencil through a key ring taped to a clothes line, while riding their bikes under the clothes line! Those who were sucessful got a gift provided by the "godmothers" of the event, the girls of the parish. The women cooked typical salvadoran dishes over wood fires all afternoon, and the day closed with a service at which three members of the congregation were received by the bishop into the Anglican Communion. The service, of course, was punctuated by fireworks!

Gathering before the start of the evening's service

When the People Leave

2006-11-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

Clay artisans from Ilobasco have created a series of "sorpresas" surprises, illustrating the journey north

“If she leaves, she won’t ever come back,” lamented the young woman’s mother-in-law in low tones to a neighbor after a home bible study. The young woman in question is twenty-three, and is thinking of traveling to the United States with a “coyote” (trafficker in illegal immigration) to find work. She and her husband are fortunate enough to both have jobs in El Salvador, but they make so little that they are now unable to make the payments on their small house (“really it’s a shack,” commented her mother-in-law). Energy prices have more than doubled recently, rising global energy prices being compounded in El Salvador by the simultaneous removal of government subsidies. “I am a penny-pincher,” a woman who lives next to the church told me. “I turn off all the lights we’re not using, and unplug everything except the refrigerator. My bill used to be $8 a month, and now it’s $22.” The recent increase in minimum wage (though most people actually make below minimum wage), from US $160 a month to $170 a month, doesn’t even cover the increase in the electric bill.

Immigrants from Central America face more dangers traveling by land to the United States than those from Mexico, because of the additional length of their journey, and because they face abuse by the Mexican police if caught. People who immigrate with coyotes often spend their first few years in the US, if they are lucky enough to “pass” and find work, paying off the loans they took out to pay the coyote, whose fees for Central American immigrants range from $5,000 to $10,000 per person. Coyotes do not give refunds if migrants are caught and returned. And those who opt to travel alone face even greater risks, not only of getting caught, but of death or dismemberment from trains, crossing rivers, or in the desert.

This is not a journey people undertake lightly, in order to flaunt the laws of the United States, or to steal from its people. People take on the enormous risks of an undocumented journey to the US simply because of economic need, and because the “sueño Americano¨ (American dream) is so effectively sold by the international media and the mall-builders in Latin America. Who wouldn’t rather work at a job that would enable them to afford a designer T-shirt rather than sewing those T-shirts together for $5 a day?

To me the most tragic effect of migration is the breaking apart of families. The 23-year-old woman, if she migrates, will not see her five-year-old son or her husband for years, if she sees them again at all. There are numerous children in our school who have one or both parents in the US (one small boy is now the only member of his immediate family still in El Salvador); their struggles and sense of abandonment show up in their academic difficulties and behavioral acting-out.

The Church does not promote or encourage illegal immigration. Bishop Barahona has been instrumental in founding two migration-related organizations: one non-profit that helps people seek legal means to immigrate to the US, and another which helps deportees re-integrate into life in El Salvador. We try to educate people about the risks of going, and encourage young people to seek higher education in order to get ahead and make a contribution to bettering the situation in their home country. But when people have made up their mind, there is little more we can do. I give them a cross or a small bible, a pamphlet on the human rights of migrants, pray with them for their safety and for their family. I pray that our migrant Savior, who was a refugee in Egypt, may go with them on their way.

San Andrés Science Fair

2006-11-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

Above: One student offers an explanation of his project

As the school year neared an end, students at Colegio Episcopal San Andrés Apóstol got a chance to show off what they had learned at the school science fair. The panel of judges reviewed the projects of students from kindergarden up to sixth grade, as parents looked on and children nervously awaited their turn to explain their project. The winning project in the upper grades was presented by 5th grader Mayra Aguilar, who gave a med-school worthy explanation of the process of human gestation and birth.

Rt.:Mayra Aguilar and her winning project on the birth process.
Lt.: Lissbeth Escobar stands above her detailed project onthe negative effects of deforestation in El Salvador.
Below: Students and parents mill about inside the church for the science fair

Events Honoring "Anglican Women's Month"

2006-10-30T06:10:00.001-08:00

Folkloric Dancers from the diocesan youth group perform at the dinner held in honor of the Anglican women of El Salvador

October is celebrated as "The Month of the Anglican Woman" in the Province of Central America, and it was well celebrated this year in the Diocese of El Salvador! The Diocesan Commission on Women's Ministry hosted a vigil, at which Amy and four other women from the diocese gave talks on "spiritual healing" for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our church. Each talk was over an hour long, a combined band from several of the local churches (a number of whom have studied guitar with Vince) enlivened the worshippers at intervals, and the vigil ended with the Holy Eucharist at 6AM!
A week later over 200 women, men, youth, and children enjoyed a "Prayer Dinner" hosted by the Diocesan Women's Commission. Women representing all of the congregations in the diocese were present and gave messages, a group of young women from San Salvador area churches enlivened us with traditional folk dance, and a wonderful time was had by all. Lt.-People from around the diocese enjoy the annual dinner. Rt.- San Andres Apostol vestry member Vilma Ayala gives a sermon at the all night vigil
Not to be left out, the churches in the greater Soyapango area to the east of San Salvador (San Andrés in Amatapec, Santa María Vírgen in Ilopango, and Santísima Trinidad in San Martín) hosted a ¨Mini-Congress" on women's ministry, lay and ordained, in the church. The mini-congreso began with a two-mile march for peace from the main boulevard that connects our communities (ironically, Boulevard de los Ejercitos, "Army Boulevard") up to San Andrés. All three of our communities have been heavily hit by violence over the past few months, and young men associated with both San Andrés and Santa María Vírgen have been killed in the gang's cross-fire. The march, in which about 40 people all dressed in white partipated, drew a lot of attention in the community. Once we arrived at the church, we continued singing some very enlivening songs, as Vince said "we freakin' rocked the joint!", and heard an encouraging message from Padre Julio of Santa María Vírgen. Speaking on the raising of Lazarus he said, ¨Christ asked the people to roll away the stone. That was possible for them. They couldn´t raise the dead. But they could roll away the stone. Christ asks us to do what is possible for us, and to leave the impossible to him, because God is a specialist in the impossible!¨ Amy gave a talk which answered theological and biblical objections to women´s ordained ministry, empowering people to explain these things to others who don´t understand in this heavily Roman Catholic context. Bishop Barahona arrived, vested in white (just a little too late for the march!) and spoke movingly about his experience with women´s ministry in the church. ¨We are very, very close to ordaining the first Salvadoran woman in El Salvador,¨ he said (the three women Bishop Barahona has ordained in El Salvador have all been North Americans). The mini-congreso closed with a Eucharist, at which Bishop Barahona presided, and just under 200 people were present. The people gathered signed a card of congratulations and support for Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. It was truly moving to share this event with our closest neighbor congregations, and we plan to have a lot more shared events in the future.

Soccer Victory and Gang Violence

2006-10-29T16:37:00.000-08:00

Team members celebrate after winning the finals match.

We arrived back from a short trip to California just in time to attend the "Copa del Obispo," the ¨Bishop´s Cup,¨ a male and female youth soccer tournament sponsored annually by the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador, this year on October 7 at El Maizal, the Diocesan agricultural development in Sonsonate. And, somewhat jet-lagged, we arrived at the Copa just in time to see the male team from San Andrés win the championship! The last thing I knew before we left, San Andrés was not going to present a team, as most of the youth had to work. But, they got it together, and, despite transportation problems (their bus ran out of gas halfway there), made it to the tournament. Even though they had few replacements and hadn't practiced, they played energetically and took the Cup!
who often have little opportunity for recreation. Of course people follow the games-- when Barcelona and Real Madrid play there's hardly anyone out (and forget going to the grocery store during the World Cup!)-- but just playing is almost as important, for everyone from kids kicking Soccer in the United States is not a good reference point for understanding ¨fútbol¨ in Latin America. Here, it is a passion. It is an incredible outlet of energy, especially among the youth, a hard plastic ball around in the streets to organized leagues in every small country municipality.
The San Andrés youth have been energized by their victory (this is the 3rd cup they´ve won in the eight year history of the tournament!) and plan to continue playing, planning soccer ¨encounters¨where they will go out and worship and play with the youth from other congregations around the country. They have dedicated their victory to Jorge Alberto Enriquez, who helped them to victory as goalie, and as his father commented, was a great soccer "aficcionado". Jorge was an active member of the church when he was younger. He turned 21 the day before the tournament, and just two weeks later, on October 22, was brutally killed by gang members from the neighboring territory, who mistook him for a member of the rival gang. ¨I hardly ever leave my house these days,¨ said our youth group president and team captain Luis Daniel Escobar at a youth meeting a couple of weeks later. ¨And when I leave to go to work, I wonder if I´ll come back.¨ Luis Daniel´s cousin was killed by the gangs a year ago in another case of mistaken identity. Everyone is nervous these days, but it´s the youth, especially the guys, that face the most danger every single day. The church needs to be there for them, to support them and encourage them in every way that we can. -Amy

Team Captain Luis Daniel receives the Champions trophy from Bishop Barahona

Team photo with La Reverenda

Julio César Rivera Received to the Deaconate

2006-10-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Our newest member of the clergy is presented to Bishop Barahona for reception as a Deacon.

Julio Rivera, 36, was received on October 14, 2006 as a deacon in the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador, bringing our total number of clergy up to 13! Julio was ¨received¨ as a deacon because he was already ordained as a Roman Catholic priest; the Anglican Church recognizes Roman Catholic orders and so does not re-ordain its clergy when they seek to join the Anglican Church. Those clergy from the Roman Catholic Church seeking reception into the Anglican Church of El Salvador undergo an intense process and spend a year of intensive Anglican study at the Anglican Seminary in Mexico City. Julio took all of the vows in the Prayer Book service for the ordination of a deacon, but rather than laying his hands on Julio's head, Bishop Barahona took his hand and said, "Julio, we recognize you as a Deacon in Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church." In his sermon, Bishop Barahona likened this reception to "untying Julio's hands," which had been "tied" when he left the Roman Catholic Church, for deaconal ministry. When Julio is received as a priest, Bishop Barahona said, we will "untie his feet."
Julio is the second-youngest member of the clergy in the diocese (after Amy!) and brings a lot of energy and fresh ideas about evangelism and pastoral work. He is re-organizing the pastoral life of Santa María Virgen in Ilopango, where he has been assigned, around a ¨small community¨ model, which draws both on liberation theology´s base Christian communities and Evangelical ¨cell groups.¨ The small communities will meet weekly in people´s homes in the different geographical zones of the parish (which he is explaining to priests from the U.S. in the picture), and will become ¨nurseries¨of Christian formation and outreach.
Julio himself has an amazing story of growing up in El Salvador during the Civil War. His village was bombed by the government early on during the war, and he was separated from his parents and picked up by the Red Cross as an orphan. He was raised by a Roman Catholic priest until the war was over, and then, after finding out that his parents, who had fought with the guerilla, were actually still alive, was then reunited with them. Julio's father passed away last year, but his mother was present at his reception.

Día de Independencía- Colegio Episcopal San Andrés Apóstol

2006-09-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Students from Colegio Episcopal San Andés Apóstol prepare for the Independence Day parade

Central American Independence Day, September 15, was a wonderful opportunity for the youth from Colegio San Andrés to show off all of their hard work and talent. Members of the band, baton squad, tiny pre-k cheerleaders, children from every grade dressed in traditional costume and as representatives of the different processions, and students looking smart in their school uniforms waving Salvadoran flags filled the streets with their music, moves, and marvelous selves. At the show following the parade, students danced traditional dances, sang the national anthems, and explained the national seals, flags, and flora and fauna of all the Central American countries.

The school baton squad poses for a picture in front of the Banda Paz.

Kindergarteners wait for the parade to start

Members of "La Banda Paz de Colegio Episcopal San Andrés Apóstol" stay focused during the long march

Women from the neighborhood watch as the parade passes by

Students from San Andrés participate in one of the folk dances for the event

Our Top Ten Reasons to Stay in El Salvador

2006-09-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

We can finally answer the question so many have been asking... Amy's Fulbright grant is up, we have passed our one year anniversary of arriving in El Salvador, we have decided to stay another year. To give you an idea of some of the reasons we find it so difficult to leave, we've created our "Top Ten List of Reasons so Stay in El Salvador Another Year." Enjoy!

# 10. Mango season lasts from February to July!

Mangoes from Bajo Lempa tucked away in the Alley Cat's (our fellow missionary Noah's) satchel for the bus ride to San Salvador were the best. We're looking forward to the first one in '07.

# 9. So we can see the houses finished and folks move in at El Maizal, the Episcopal Relief and Development Village being built for people displaced by the 2001 earthquakes.

# 8. Cooking lessons from our Co-Madre Mercedes! Mercedes cooks wonderful meals for the volunteers who come to work on the ERD projects, and we are God-parents to her children, Jenni and Abel, 7 and 6.

# 7. Expanding the school at San Andrés. Amy has a lot of ideas about acquiring more property, adding seventh, eight, and ninth grades, and working to improve the education offered at Colegio Episcopal San Andrés Apóstol.

# 6. Guitar classes. Vince has about 50 students from different congregations from all over the country learning guitar. A few have started to play in the eucharists. With the help from the man of a thousand songs, Don Mario Peraza from Santa Maria Vírgen, soon they'll all be playing in the churches. We also started piano classes with 15 or so steady students. Stand-up bass, guitarron, vihuela, drum lessons(for San Pedro/San Pablo), and possibly mandolin are next.

#5 Watching our baby trees for the reforestation/ag development project grow! This is a baby Moringa tree, a remarkable tree that can help cure malnutrition, combat parasites, regulate insulin in diabetes patients, act as a super-fertilizer for crops, and even purify water! We hope to plant several experimental plots of it on church properties around the country.

# 4. Because the "Obeez-po" says sooo! (Actually, he says he'd like us to stay for twenty more years, but he'll settle for one to start with.)

# 3. Helping the church to grow. There is so much potential for outreach and growth both at San Andrés and in the Anglican Episcopal Church around the country.

# 2. We still have a lot to learn...

# 1 The TOP reason is...
LA GENTE– The people of El Salvador, who are so incredibly welcoming, loving, resilient, and inspiring, and whom we've come to love so much.

We hope to stay on in El Salvador as missionaries of the Episcopal Church in the U.S., either through the National Church, the Diocese of Northern California, or some other arrangement. We do know that in any case we will need to raise our living expenses for this next year, which total about $15,000, and that the people who really "send" us on mission will be those who partner with us in this work both by their prayers and financial support. If you (or your congregation) would like to be a part of our work in El Salvador for the next year in a very real way, Foundation Cristosal, a U.S. non-profit which supports the work of the Anglican Episcopal Church in El Salvador, has agreed to receive donations for us, which are tax-deductible. Checks should be made out to "Foundation Cristosal, Inc." with "Denney Zuniga Mission Fund" in the memo line and mailed to Cristosal at 681 North Hill Cross Road, Ludlow VT, 05149. Additionally, Cristosal will be updating their website ( cristosal.org) in the next month to include information about our work and a link to our blog along with options for donating online. If you choose to donate, you will receive an acknowledgement from Cristosal and a thank you from us, and you will be participating in a tangible way in the exciting work God is doing in this little "pulgarcito de América" (little thumb of America, El Salvador's nickname). We also hope you will consider a trip to El Salvador! We can tell you from experience it can be a life-changing visit.

Hablando del Sexo

2006-08-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

The Rev. Jim Hagen, Continuing Education Coordinator, moderates the youth panel discussion on sex and sexuality

From August 17 to 22 the Episcopal/Anglican Church of El Salvador was abuzz. Everyone, from clergy to youth to lay leaders was talking about... sex. In a week of continuing education designed to “romper los tabus” (break the taboos) about everything related to human sex and sexuality, over 200 people from around the diocese participated in parish and diocesan gatherings, and the clergy gathered in a special two-day retreat. Topics were discussed in the historic Church of San Juan Evangelista at the diocesan education day which would probably get this website censored! The Rev. Canon Lee Crawford spoke to the group about the goodness of creation, including human sexuality, and of a theology in which Christ’s incarnation leads us to take seriously the dignity of every human being created in God’s image. The Rev. Jim (“Padre Jaime”) Hagen lead a panel of young adults from around the diocese in a discussion of provocative topics, and likened sex to a table full of food: “the food itself is not a sin,” he said, “it would be a sin, for example, if I ate all the food myself and didn’t give you any.” Youth and adults met in groups separated by gender and age to discuss the issues of human sexuality relevant to their lives. In an anonymous question time, leaders received questions ranging from “What should I say to my boyfriend when he pressures me to have sex?” to “What do you think of orgies?” It is clear that our young people are having sexual experiences and facing difficult questions related to sex. In a heavily Roman Catholic culture, the tendency is to simply pretend sex doesn’t exist. This week the Anglican/Episcopal Church opened the doors to an on-going conversation about human sexuality in all its aspects. Youth and adults went away with the message that we can talk about sex positively in the context of church, and hopefully together find ways to face the difficult sexual issues that confront us from a perspective of giftedness and celebration rather than one of prohibition and sin.

Youth Connection- ERD-IAES at Cielo Mar

2006-08-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you combine five days at the beach, ten youth from El Salvador and ten from the US, good food, a renovation project, daily prayer, a bonfire, a whistle, a pool, and a soccer ball? Episcopal Youth Connection or Enlace de Jovenes Episcopales was a joint venture between Episcopal Relief and Development and the Episcopal/Anglican Church of El Salvador that endeavored to find out! We spent five days working on renovating (scraping and painting, moving sand, rocks, and cinderblocks, pick-axing and laying cement, etc!) Cielo Mar, the beautiful but severely run-down diocesan retreat center near La Libertad, El Salvador. Cielo Mar provides churches and members of the Anglican/Episcopal Church in El Salvador with a much-needed spot for relaxation and reflection in the midst of their difficult lives and challenging ministries. For Vince and I and ten late teen to early twenties youth and young adults from around the Diocese of El Salvador, Cielo Mar became our home for these five days. We so enjoyed getting to know these remarkable young people better-- they all receive scholarships through the Diocese to study at universities, and they have an incredible vision for this church and for their country. Their lives have all been affected by the civil war that was their childhood, and their families struggle economically today. One bright young man who currently works at a maquiladora (internationally-owned clothing factory) putting stickers on clothes hopes to begin a business raising partridges to sell to five-star restaurants! When I asked about their dreams, I got answers like, "I want to start an orphanage," "I want to build houses for people in the countryside," "I want to help my family to a better situation," and "I want to see the church grow." The group from the US travelled back and forth every day to San Salvador, but during the daytime "connection" definitely happened, through work teams, mixer games, hammock time, bilingual evening worship, and soccer on the beach. We sweated together, ate together, prayed and sang together, and creamed each other at "water soccer." Enlace de Jóvenes Episcopales was a success! +Amy
Members of the Episcopal Church USA and The Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador

Colegio San Andrés Apóstol

2006-08-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

4th graders take a break on the playground for a picture
(Picture courtesy our companion parish St. Andrew's Marblehead Mass.)

When we came to El Salvador a year ago I had no idea I would be running an Anglican elementary school! My only qualifications for this position are that I attended an Episcopal elementary school (St. Paul´s School in Visalia, California), and fondly remember chapel services and religion classes. The bishop challenged me with turning Colegio Episcopal San Andrés Apóstol into a ¨little Yale,¨ and set me loose.

The school year here runs from January to October, with November and December being vacation months, so I came in at the end of the 2005 school year (landing in the middle of September, Independence Month, which was chock-full of parades, civic acts, food sales, sports days, and science-project judging at the school!). Our 2006 enrollment is 104 students, from pre-k (four-year-olds) to sixth grade. We have two pre-school and kindergarten teachers who teach in a small (5 x 15 meter) house next door which was purchased to house their classes last year. Three elementary grade teachers teach 1st through 6th grades, the lower grades attending in the morning, and the upper grades in the afternoon, because they share classroom spaces tucked around the church. Next year I hope to add seventh grade, but space is at a premium. Students mostly come from the neighborhood immediately surrounding the church, which is working class to working-poor, with pockets of severe urban poverty. Their parents are making an extra effort to send them to a private school, where tuition is twelve dollars a month, and where class sizes are capped at twenty (as opposed to 40 or 50 students to a teacher in the free public schools). We have ten children who receive partial or full tuition scholarships. In 2007 I hope to identify some children from the poorest sectors in the neighborhood, who might not have a chance to study otherwise, and offer them scholarships to the school.

Though I was unprepared to run a school, I quickly developed a passion and a vision for it. I have come to believe that education really is the solution-- both for individuals and for communities, to poverty. Well-educated individuals have a better chance at obtaining higher education and a good job, and are less easily manipulated by politicians and business owners. They also tend to have more time and resources to contribute to improving their community. In a neighborhood and a society where just being young puts your life at risk (because of gang activity and the societal and police backlash), I feel like educating these children in morals and values, helping them know that God loves them, giving them skills in computing and English and helping them develop a passion for music, reading, dance, or art may literally save their lives, in that it may better equip them to resist pressure to join a gang when they are 12-15.

We have made a lot of improvements to the physical plant in the last year, painting the classrooms (this was initiated by last year's graduating 6th grade class, who contributed to the purchase of paint and put in their labor as their gift to the school), refurbishing desks and kindergarten chairs, installing fans, organizing the library, and installing a brand-new computer center. All of this has been accomplished with a great deal of help from friends in the US, people who have visited, and members of the community. The dream which we are currently working toward is to buy some property beside the church, next to the house we currently own, and begin a multi-phased project of constructing a 2-3 story self-sufficient school building, with a classroom for each grade. I realize that a great building is an element of a great education, but not a guarantee of one, so we are also taking steps to improve the quality of the education in other ways-- through teacher trainings, weekly staff meetings, and hopefully bringing on a dedicated director in 2007. Any assistance, advice, or contributions you might wish to make would be more than joyfully and gratefully accepted! The lesson I have learned through all of this is that a little bit goes a long way in El Salvador, like the loaves and the fishes, and that is a tremendous blessing.
+Amy

Visitors

2006-08-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

In front of the Kinder class, Bishop of San Diego, The Rt. Rev. James Mathes, and his wife Terri, visit with Amy and a contingency from the Anglican Church of Canada. Left to right with backpacks are Enid Eckstein(St. Martin's, Calgary), Chris Longson ( Christ Church, Calgary), and Lloyd Wilson(Christ Church, Calgary).

We have been blessed with a number of visitors since our arrival to El Salvador. Family, friends, members of companion parishes and dioceses from the US and Canada, North American youth groups, ERD volunteers, and fellow missionaries have all come to share in the experience of the life of the church here in El Salvador. For us it has given us a chance to share our knowledge and experience of El Salvador, in particular of Amatepec and other places where the Anglican church is active, describing the social problems and difficulties, relating the stories and experiences of the people to those that come to visit, since many times because of the language barrier, such vital knowledge may be missed. We also are able to listen to those who are visiting, and help them, if they need it, as they work through their experience here, which can often be an overwhelming one.

El Salvador is an intense place and as one learns about its history and experiences the challenges to one's own Christian faith brought about by hearing about the lives of the Salvadoran martyrs and seeing their relics, encountering the extreme poverty and violence, learning about the destructive and unjust involvement of the U.S. government throughout El Salvador's history and during its Civil War, and meeting fellow Christians who survived the US funded massacres or lost family members to them--in this encounter, with many visitors, a "choque" as they say here, a collision, can happen inside of their psyche involving their faith and their perceptions of their own country and of the world around them. It is a blessed event. Challenges may arise to one's lifestyle and as to who one is in the world. Questions arise: How did I come to my way of life? At whose expense? As they learn about Romero, the UCA Jesuit Priests and their deaths, they may begin to ask, "How is a Christian truly supposed to live? Like an average American? ...or differently? Is the American way of life "just" in the eyes of God? Does it oppress people in other parts of the world? Is the poverty I am witnessing in part a consequence of US intervention and policy? Some become overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness. The American adage of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps becomes irrelevant-- for many here the means to significantly prosper don't exist or are kept out of reach. El Salvador strips away the lie that we are completely self-made people, and maybe as a consequence there is a closeness to God here, especially among the poor. So the American can-do spirit takes a relentless pounding and for those that accept this blessing, they find God moving and doing something amid the violence and poverty that can bring a resurrection within them. In this, a realization can break open that it is not the poor so much who need salvation and a renewel of spirit as it is "those who have much."
It often seems to depend on how open an individual is to God's movement through the experience of El Salvador and how willing they are to let themselves be changed amongst the collision. Changed more to what Christ has called us to be, unified with the poor, fighting the injustices that oppress people, letting people know that Christ shares in, is vibrantly alive in, life in the streets and campos, and hard to find in the houses of the wealthy and satisfied.
-Vince

Youth from the Diocese of New Jersey and San Andrés Apostól talk about what life is like where they live.

Youth and staff from Rock Point School Vermont and the Diocese of El Salvador

The Rev. Hannah Atkins, St. John's Lafayette Square, Washington D.C. and formerly rector of Santísima Trinidad, San Martín, El Salvador welcomes Amy to the order of priests.

Contingent from one of our companion dioceses, the Diocese of Central New York,
join in singing at the San Andrés Apostól youth dinner

Hanging out in El Salvador with friend and fellow Californian
Rev. Rob Fisher

Visitors-

2006-08-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

Members of Fundación Cristosal with Amy lt-rt Michael Kingston, The Rt. Rev. Skip Adams-Bishop of Central New York , Rev. Scott Trull- Diocese of New Jersey, and The Rt. Rev. Thomas Ely- Bishop of Vermont.

The Rev. David Starr co-celebrates the Eucharist
at San Andrés Apostól.
Members of the Anglican Church of Canada/ Habitat for Humanity
volunteers from Calgary and Toronto after the eucharist.

Lt: The obispo discusses Shannon's time here in El Salvador.

Rt: Crispaz board member and St Andrew's Marblehead( a companion parish) congregant view the band instruments San Andres bought with money donated from St. Andrew's.

Lt: Rev. Anna Olson from Trinity Episcopal Church, Los Angeles poses with Amy and the past Reina de la Independencia.

Below: Ben Ansbacher, ERD volunteer from North Carolina works on a San Andres computer that was having problems.

Rt: Volunteers Jim
and Ellen O' Hara from
Pennsylvania work in the new
school library at Colegio San Andrés Apostól.

Bilingual instructor, Mary Ann Zuniga,
works with teachers from the various
Anglican schools in the diocese on
developing new teaching techniques

Amy with lt-rt Rev. Matt Calkins-St. Paul's Bridgeport CT., Rev. Lee Crawford- St. Mary's VT, Rev. Jim Hagen-Diocese of New York

Consecration of the Newest Anglican Bishop in the Province of Central America

2006-07-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Bishops from IARCA and ECUSA Lt-Rt.- Rt. Rev. Sylvester Romero-El Camino Real(CA),Rt.Rev. Lloyd Allen -Honduras, Rt.Rev. JulioMurray-Panama, The Most Rt. Rev. Martín Barahona- El Salvador, Rt. Rev. Armando Guerra- Guatemala, Rt. Rev. Héctor Monterroso- Costa Rica, Rt. Rev. Charles Bennison-Pennsylvania

Amy visits with priests from El Salvador and Nicaragua before the service.
Clergy from various dioceses in the Anglican Central American Province and members of the Anglican Church in Guatemala prepare for the consecration.

Bishop Martín Barahona presents the new Suffragan Bishop to Guatemala, Virgilio Arreaza, to the congregation

"Holy Land, Holy People": The 26th Anniversary of Romero's Martyrdom

2006-05-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

I left the studio on March 24 at 7 in the morning, after the broadcast ended. I had been invited to share my thoughts on Oscar Romero, along two Roman Catholic bishops-- Ricardo Urioste, the head of the Romero Foundation and a personal friend of Romero's, and Rafael Urrutia, who is overseeing his canonization process, on El Salvador's equivalent of "Good Morning America." Urioste had invited me, after we had both spoken on a panel the night before, my topic being "Romero Outside of El Salvador"-- his witness around the world. I was definitely out of my league on the show, especially because Mauricio Funes, the journalist, did not receive my email the night before and mistook me for an expert on Romero, rather than just an admirer!

After greeting and chatting about Romero with a homeless gentleman, I made my way to the Chapel of the Divine Providence at the small Catholic cancer hospital where Romero lived during his three years as archbishop, and where he was gunned down behind the altar on the evening of March 24, 1980. The ecumenical service was already underway, but I found a seat next to a friend. Many people spoke-- people from different places in Central America, people of different faith traditions, campesinos (peasants), and even the mother of the first Salvadoran soldier killed in Iraq. I always feel myself to be in the presence of the Holy when I enter this chapel, but today there was a special energy there. One of the speakers characterized it when he said, "We are in the holy land. This land is holy because so many have given their lives here for the sake of the Gospel. And this people is holy." Holy land, holy people. Tierra santa, pueblo santo.

The inscription behind the altar reads simply, "At this altar Monseñor Oscar A. Romero offered his life to God for his people.¨

The most wonderful thing about being on national television was that people came up to me after the event and told me their memories of Romero. There is an on-going love affair between the people of El Salvador and Oscar Romero, and his love for them, and theirs for him means that his memory gives them permission to speak about things which are usually kept silent.

At the seniors meeting at my church that afternoon, virtually at the mere mention of Romero's name, the floodgates opened. For an hour and a half I heard the little old ladies at my church tell the most horrific stories of what they had suffered during the war. One usually quiet woman talked with ferocious animation about her experience fleeing with the people of her village while military planes bombed them and soldiers chased them. Later she listened while death squads tortured and killed her son and pregnant daughter-in-law. Since March 24, but not before, I have begun to hear these stories of the war from the people in my parish, most of whom were refugees from rural parts of the country that saw the most fighting, Suchitoto; Berlin. I hear a new story now every few weeks.

In the evening we participated in a two-mile march from the Salvador del Mundo statue to the steps of the Metropolitan Cathedral, where Romero is buried. Probablly five thousand people participated in the candle-lit march, singing, shouting, talking, and laughing, and another ten thousand were waiting in the plaza in front of the Cathedral for the Eucharist that would begin the all-night vigil. But as one speaker remarked, this was a people, not a crowd or a mob--"un pueblo, no una masa," and they were gathered for worship. There were shouts that peppered the Eucharist, "We want bishops on the side of the poor!" (The bishops who officiated were in the theological line of Romero, but the current Archbishop, who is extremely conservative, was no where to be seen.) And "You can see it, you can feel it, Romero is here!" I took communion, because I knew Romero would have invited me, and one small girl was very persistent in passing me the peace.
+Amy
To learn more about Oscar Romero's story, look at these bios: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/tour/martyrs/6_or.htm and http://salt.claretianpubs.org/romero/romero.html or watch the movie Romero. Romero's compete sermons (in Spanish) can be found at http://servicioskoinonia.org/romero/, and you can listen to them at http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/bib_autor/romero/fonoteca.shtml.

Mission in Las Canoitas

2006-04-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

Preaching to the congregation of Las Canoitas and to the greater community of Bajo Lempa over Radio Mangle (Mangrove Radio)

Lay Missioner Cain Hidalgo conducts the Prayers of the People

Visiting after the service with the people of Las Canoitas, Bajo Lempa

Left: Heading home after the misa

Gran Vigilia Pascual

2006-04-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

Viernes santo

2006-04-15T08:29:00.001-07:00

What my hands did on Maundy Thursday

2006-04-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

Embraced the shoulders of friends whose mother/grandmother had past away
Held the Bishop's bible as I read the gospel at her funeral
Kneaded communion bread
Grasped a broom handle and swept the church and front steps
Washed and dried feet-- baby feet, children's feet, old women's feet, feet that had survived massacres, feet that had fled from fighting, sturdy women's and men's feet, my husband's feet
Offered bread and wine to friends-- the body and blood of Christ
Held Vince's hand as we fell asleep

A Holy Week Reflection on Suffering

2006-04-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

View from Puerto del Diablo, a notorious body dump during the war

Today, Miércoles Santo (Holy Wednesday) I lead a mini-retreat on “Following Christ in his Passion and Resurrection.” The retreat didn’t go precisely how I had planned, but I really got something out of it, and I think the other eight adults present did as well. I thought I would share a few of the reflections that came out of the group with you.

We read Mark 8:34-37, and asked what it might mean when Jesus says, “Those who try to preserve their lives will lose them, and those who sacrifice their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel will save them.” First, we tried to come up with examples of people who try to preserve their lives, but in the end, not only die, as we all do, but end up killing their interior lives as well. The immediate example that came to mind was the very wealthy. In this country anyone with money has a ten foot high wall, usually with barbed wire on top, around their home. We talked about the fact that walling out the world might help give a sense of security, but that it also cuts one off from the reality of the world outside, and in the end will not protect. We talked also about people who turned others in to the death squads during the war. Romana spoke right up, ¨Yes, if someone had an enemy in the town, that was it, because they´d turn them into the death squads, and they´d be killed. And then that person felt all important.¨ ¨But their soul?” I replied. When we make decisions to preserve ourselves at the cost of others—big or small—these decisions kill a piece of our soul. That is how some individuals in this country arrived at the point where they could do unspeakable things to other human beings—those who committed atrocities were simply dead inside already.

We then looked at the other alternative—the option for life. What does it mean when Jesus says we must be ready to sacrifice our lives? Or when he says we must “deny ourselves”? We came up with a lot of different answers—literal examples like Oscar Romero and the Salvadoran martyrs who gave their lives in the struggle for justice, and people more recently who have been willing to risk and sacrifice their lives to save others during the disasters. But how do we give away our lives on a daily basis? What if we were to hold our lives, our time, our possessions, our comforts, our pride, our resentments, etc, more loosely, to let go of our death-grip on them? What if we were to take the words of Jesus, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” as a daily motto, keeping in mind our mortality and handing over our lives to God, and remembering that everything we have and are, and our very breath from moment to moment, come from God? What if we were to give thanks to God for everything, even the things we don’t like?

Then we came to the part about the cross. I have the immense privilege at the moment of auditing a class taught by the liberation theologian Jon Sobrino, who talks about “carrying/bearing reality”—“cargando con la realidad,” as a necessary requisite for the redemption of reality, on the pattern of Jesus. Henri Nouwen talks in his book on the Stations of the Cross about this kind of solidarity—as being truly present to the reality of the poor and those who suffer injustice. He goes one step further, however, in saying that if we are unable to be present with and carry our own crosses, the suffering which is particular to our selves and situations, our own reality, then we will be unable to bear and be in solidarity with the reality of the world. In his characteristic vulnerability Nouwen names his own crosses—loneliness, depression. So our little group spent fifteen minutes writing down answers to these questions: (1) What are your crosses? (2) How is Jesus calling you to follow him with these crosses?

When we did this reflection, something quite remarkable happened. I thought we would all be very depressed after writing about our crosses, and that we would need a whole discussion about resurrection, which I had prepared. But as we shared about the experience of writing about the deepest sufferings that afflict us in our daily lives, the mood was quite joyful! I had found that as I wrote about my crosses, and what I thought Jesus would want me to do about them (most of which had to do with a change of attitude or approach on my part), the weight of them grew less and less. If I approach these crosses as Jesus is asking me to, it turns out, I will actually suffer less pain in my daily life! Jesus doesn’t want me to suffer! Others had the same experience, and shared about how much it helped to write, how wonderful it is to know that we don’t have to carry these things on our own, that God is there wanting to help us, if we’ll allow it. We no longer needed a discourse on resurrection. We had experienced a moment of it, right then and there. We had experienced that entering through the narrow door of being truly present to our suffering and mortality, “carrying reality,” and we found life springing forth from those very crosses, not only eternal life, but the abundant life that Christ wants for us here and now. For the first time in my life I think I truly understood why Jesus asks us to “carry our crosses,” and follow him, and truly believed him when he says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” It’s not Easter yet, but this merits an ¡Aleluia!

Holy Tuesday Children´s Retreat

2006-04-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

We had a fun (and slightly chaotic!) time Holy Tuesday with about twenty children from the parish, taking a walk through the events of Holy Week. They had experienced Palm Sunday dramatizing the triumphal entry, so we started with Jesus in the Temple at the entrance to the church, where I charged a ¨temple tax¨ for the kids to enter the church, and ¨Jesus¨ did away with that! Subsequent stations included Judas betraying Jesus, the Last Supper with communion (with sweet bread and orange juice) and foot washing, the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus before Pilate (the kids washed their hands and felt a crown of thorns). Then we followed Jesus as (s)he carried the cross, stumbling. We all helped carry the heavy cross, and found it was much easier when we all helped. Real nails were driven into the cross, as we recited the seven last words of Jesus, and then we returned to the church to ¨bury¨Jesus (the crown of thorns and ¨Jesus¨ sign wrapped in a white sheet) behind the altar. After talking about what death is like, and what Jesus´death means, we told the resurrecction story, complete with the ¨Aleluia¨ sign the kids had made. Thanks so much to +Steve Kelsey for sharing his Children's Good Friday service with me!

Domingo de ramos

2006-04-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

Gathering and beginning the Palm Sunday procession at the Mercadito (little market) in Amatepec

Niña Romana passes out the palms and crosses to those in the procession and to nearby people in the neighborhood

Processing down Calle de los Abetos to the church

Jesus hangs on while attempting to peer over his donkey's massive ears. A very suave animal the kids created that could even do wheelies.

A perspective on immigration reform from El Salvador

2006-03-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share with you all the letter I sent to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on immigration reform. The legislation the committee is working on is in my opinion preposterous and in-humane, to put it mildly. Being in El Salvador has really given us a chance to look at immigration issues literally from the "other side"--and the perspective is very different. Bishop Barahona says that no human being is "illegal," that all of us are citizens of the Earth, and should have the ability to move about it freely. Recalling Matthew 8:20 ("Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head"), he points out that birds, foxes, and little animals cross international borders freely, but human beings are not free to do so. The day before my friend Becky Noonan Heale got on the plane from El Salvador to the U.S. after my ordination, she was struck by the fact that she was doing something most of the people around us in El Salvador are not allowed to do.

Here are some other resources on immigration reform:
+A recent Episcopal News Service Article http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_72859_ENG_HTM.htm
+The website of No More Deaths in the Desert
http://www.nomoredeaths.org/

Here is my letter:

Dear Senator,
I am a 2005-2006 Fulbright grant recipient working on the subject of social justice and religion with the Anglican Church of El Salvador. I am also an Episcopal (Anglican) priest. During my six months working and studying in El Salvador so far, I have gained a unique perspective on Latin American migration to the U.S. There are the statistics: approximately 700 people a day leave this small country, which is the size of Massachucetts, to attempt to immigrate to the United States without documentation. They leave in hope of finding a job where they might make $6 an hour as opposed to $6 a day (if they were lucky enough to find work in El Salvador, which many are not). There is no one here who is untouched by immigration-- families spend years apart, without the freedom to travel and see one another. Then there are the personal connections: I experienced the angst that 700 families experience daily when a young woman from the church where I work set out with her two-year-old daughter to re-join her husband, who is working without documentation in the U.S. I was aware of the conditions of fear and deprivation that undocumented immigrants live under in the U.S. from my work with the immigrant community there. Living in El Salvador I have learned about the incredible dangers that migrants, especially Central Americans, face just to arrive in the U.S.: migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras must travel for days through Mexico without documentation-- they run the risk of capture and gross human rights abuses at the hands of Mexican police-- before they must face the well-known perils of the deserts, rivers, and trains at the U.S. borders, where people die daily, for the "crime" of desiring a better life.

I understand that the immigration bill under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee would in fact make it a felony to enter or remain in the U.S. without documentation-- increasing the atmosphere of fear that people live under who have already risked their lives and split up their families to come to the U.S.-- not to steal, not to commit terrorist acts, but simply to work, at jobs most people born in the U.S. would never do, and to earn a wage. I also understand that this legislation would criminalize humanitarian assistance to undocumented immigrants. In that case, Senator, I have to tell you that my faith will force me and many others in the churches to become criminals. In Matthew 25 Jesus commands his followers to give food to the hungry, clothing to the naked, to tend to the sick and to visit prisoners. We will continue to do these things, caring more for those in need and the state of our souls than for the Federal Government's legislation. In that case we would take our places in the prisons, like Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, volunteers with No More Deaths, who are facing 15-year prison sentences for medically evacuating immigrants in critical condition in the Arizona desert.

U.S. immigration law needs to be reformed. You have the opportunity to make things better for people who have come to the United States seeking a better life, like your ancestors. Please do not make them worse.

Sincerely,
The Rev. Amy Denney Zuniga
2005-2006 Fulbright Recipient
Iglesia Anglicana Episcopal de El Salvador

Elections Day El Salvador

2006-03-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

International observer team from Iglesia Angicana de El Salvador ready to head to the polls

Left: A man, Jose Humberto, was denied the right to vote because of the poor condition of this identifying document, even though his name, picture, birthdate, and other vitals were in the elections roster.

Left: Jose Humberto's info posted on the board

Above: Interviewed by the Co-Latino. According to a Site Boss, 4 others were denied suffrage at this site alone (the last name begins with "A" site for the Soyapango area) because of the poor condition of their DUI's, the Documento Unico de Identidad.

"The Anglican International Elections Observer Team," consisting of Amy and our friends Jeff and Noah, after a perfunctory certification and training process on Friday, headed out on Sunday to observe the process of Salvadoran democracy in Soyapango, where members of Amy's church would be voting. There were 11 different voting sites in Soyapango, one of the largest municipalities in the greater San Salvador area, and we stuck to one-- the site for people whose last names begin with "A". The process went a lot more smoothly than I anticipated-- our site had about 40 different tables, each table with a multi-partisan group of officials each with their job to do in assisting the citizens assigned to that table to vote (including checking the roster, taking the citizen's DUI, passing DUI's and grease pencils to the other officials, marking the citizens thumb black once he or she has voted, and making sure the citizen deposits the municipal and legislative assembly ballots in the corresponding pink or yellow box, etc.). The counting process was even more interesting, as each table went through the procedures for counting their ballots, invalidating unused ballots, and filling out the official "acta" stating how many ballots were received for each party.
In some ways the process is more simple and direct than voting in the U.S. (especially in California, with our obscure ballot initiatives and voting for officials of whose exact responsibilities I'm often unsure), and participation is definatley better-- this election had a better than 50% voter turn-out. In some ways, it is more nit-picky, like many things in El Salvador that have to do with bureacracy and procedure (see the photos of the man who was unable to vote because his DUI was in poor condition). And in some ways, it felt much more significant, because of the recent struggles and lives lost to obtain the level of democracy that does exist here. (Although Noah reminded me that universal suffrage has not always been a given in the U.S., either.)
The results? ARENA, the "offical" party of the president, which was in control during the war and has had control of the presidency ever since, and the FMLN, the party of the former guerilla, were neck-in-neck, both in the municipalities and in the National Assembly. The hotly contested mayorship of San Salvador is still being contested-- Bush-Gore style-- and we are awaiting the official results. I did feel like our vigilant presence at the "A" site in Soyapango made some small difference-- an inlegal ARENA flag behind a table official was removed, our opinion was listened to in debated cases, and somehow people got the message a little more deeply that the process of democracy matters-- not only to Salvadorans, but to their friends in the rest of the world as well.
-posted by Amy and Vince

Right.: All three of these contested on the elections rosters votes were allowed.

Above Left: This vote, apparently for ARENA, was thrown out. Voters are supposed to place an X on the flag of the party they wish to vote for, which lead to some comical advertisements where the advertiser's party flag was crossed out in the ads.

A young FMLN supporter

Taller de guitarra numero tres en San Salvador

2006-02-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

Students from El Carmen out in the Bajo Lempa region work on new songs

The third workshop went well despite a whigging out by the piano teacher (we're currently searching for another one). The turnout was a little smaller than the last one, but we continue to gain new students from different parishes. The students spent most of the day practicing what they've learned so far while we fostered interchange among them by forming small groups where they were encouraged to help each and teach new students the basic fingerings and chords. Ideally we'd like the workshops to turn into a place where students teach each other and learn from one another. By doing so, it won't be so dependent on us and can continue to flourish in the future and grow into a unique music program that reflects the soul of the church. Songwriting is another area that I'd like to address in the workshops and encourage the musicians to write their own songs and see what we come up with. I have a feeling we could come up with some pretty powerful songs. Transportation continues to be an obstacle for students. Those in the outlying areas are finding the five dollar bus ride to and from San Salvador to be too expensive, and so hopefully we'll start workshops this month out in the Western part of the country to address this issue and reach them. There are a number of eager students out in such areas as El Maizal and out near Ahuachapán with newly donated instruments from the diocese of Arizona, so hopefully we'll put the new guitars to use soon. We are set to order our next batch of guitars for the rest of the parishes with the grant from the Celtic Cross Society at Church Divinity School of the Pacific. -Vince

Service for Schafik Handal

2006-01-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

FMLN leaders wait in line to pay their last respects.
It was a zoo trying to get into the National University last Thursday night, where one of four night's consecutive wakes was being held for Schafik Handal, ex-comandante of the guerilla, and leader of the FMLN socialist political party that the guerilla became after the peace accords. Schafik was 75 years old, born into priviledge, and had spent most of his life struggling for social justice in El Salvador. He died of a heart-attack on the 24th of Februrary in the national airport, where he was returning from the inauguration of the new leftist Bolivian president. The airport in this country is not equipped with a defibrilator.

After having the trunk checked for bombs or weapons at gate, I parked the car and we made our way toward the mass of people in red. My companions and I made a bit of a spectacle-- four priests in clericals-- three North American, one Salvadoran-- and an elderly North American woman with a cane, as we made our way through the sea of red and finally where allowed through the ropes that were blocking the entrance to the law auditorium, where we understood the ecumenical service was to be held. During our forty-five minutes of waiting in the auditorium, we began to converse with a gentleman in his fifties who had been in the guerilla, and now works as an accountant. He looked earnestly into my face, and said, "Thank you. I can't tell you how much your support meant to the people during the war. It lifted us up when we were failing." My stomach dropped sickeningly for a few moments as I thought he was talking about the U.S.-- our government pumped a million dollars a day into the repressive regime's military, and was largely responsible for the failure of the revolution. Then it became clear that he was talking about the Episcopal Church of El Salvador.

When there was still no sign of an eccumenical service, our new friend looked into it for us and let us know that the place had been changed-- it was being held outside on the platform, so the more than 5,000 people present could particpiate. We knew the service would be mostly over, but we had come for this-- so we made our way out of the auditorium and back into the crowd. The Salvadoran priest went ahead, asking people to let us through, and when the people saw the group of priests and the elderly woman they started calling to the people just ahead to let us through, and supported our companion who was using a cane by both her elbows, almost passing her along from person to person. "Be careful-- there's a step here! Be really, really careful!" we were told. We heard the voice of Pd. Luis Serrano, the Dean of the Anglican Cathedral, coming over the loudspeaker as we made our way to the podium. We stopped just short of the podium, where Schafik's wooden casket sat, and then were invited up on to the podium for the remainder of the service. At the conclusion, we were given roses to place on the casket.

After placing our roses on the casket, we followed the bishop, at who's suggestion we had come, back toward the auditorium, where the viewing of the body was to be. This time we were walking through a roped-off pathway in the crowd, where the casket would pass through on its way to the auditorium. The red sea, crowding in on either side of this open walkway, was marked with expectant faces, who had been waiting for hours outside the auditorium to see Schafik's remains; posters with his face were being held against the ropes. They were shouting, "Vive Schafik! Que vive! Schafik vive! La lucha sigue!" (Schafik lives, the struggle continues.) This mixture of grief and energy and the awe of being treated as an honored guest, walking where his body was to pass, was overwhelming, and almost frightening to me. As we entered the auditorium the bishop raised his fist and joined in the shout, "Que vive!" And the person calling out shouted, "Que viven las iglesias progresistas!" and all responded, "Que viven!" (Long live the progressive churches-- May they live!).

We waitied in the auditorium a long time for the casket to arrive, and then finally it did, and we were some of the first to be allowed up on the stage to see his body. While I'm not to into viewings, it was a priviledge not to be forgone. -Amy

Below-Bishop Martín Barahona in the auditorium

The pall bearers lift Schafik's Casket onto the stage

Taller de Guitarra Numero Dos

2006-01-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

The second guitar workshop was very successful. We had over thirty students altogether and people from other congregations who did not attend the first workshop attended as well. We added a piano teacher for this workshop and she had ten very eager students. Those who attended the previous workshop showed progress, which should improve since we received the first batch of guitars from the luthier who we contracted to make guitars for the various churches in the diocese. Practicing and improvement should increase now with reliable access to instruments. We handed them out at the workshop and a few of the students later said that their biggest worry was hoping that the guitars would not be stolen from them on the bus ride back to their churches. This was something we did not fully take into account. All of the guitars made it back to the churches safely, but having enough guitars for the students to play on at the workshop may be an issue, since they may be reluctant to bring the church guitar on the bus. Judging by the progress I've seen so far, we should have music in churches who've never had music relatively soon. Now, we're working on getting keyboards to those parishes who have interested congregants, and we would like to introduce other instruments such as the standup bass, which one parish does have, and vihuela. -Vince

Youth Retreat- Cielo Mar

2006-01-21T18:59:00.000-08:00

Jovenes (youth) from San Andres Apostol and San Pablo Letrán gather for breakfast

Left: The jovenes lead Morning Prayer

Right: An exercise in" Do Unto Others"

On January 20-21 Vince and I acompanied a group of 30 youth from our church and from a mission church in the countryside on a retreat at Cielo Mar, the rustic diocesan retreat center right on the beach. I gave a talk on self-esteem, the lay missioner from the campo church gave a talk on our relationship with God, there was Compline, Morning Prayer, a 1 AM serenade by the boys outside of the girl's room, soccer, body-surfing, horseback riding on the beach, and swimming in the pool. We closed with a Eucharist in a little enclosed patio overlooking the sea, where the bishop would like to build a chapel someday. The kids asked for the self-esteem theme-- the president of the youth group, a real go-getter whom all the kids look up to, was heard to say, "I've got my self-esteem on the floor. It's really bad." I think these kids are amazing-- they are so smart, and so organized (they planned the entire retreat themselves), and they're the ones that have survived, that have somehow made it past the temptations and pressure and have stayed out of the gangs. But now they're looking toward a future which is entirely uncertain, with little hope, and faced with a society that discriminates against them just for being young (the general feeling is that if you're under 25 and not a jet-setter there's a good chance you're a gang member). It's not so surprising then, that they have a hard time believing that they're worth anything. I don't think I will ever forget looking them one by one in the eye during the sermon, with the waves crashing behind me, telling them over and over again-- "Dios te ama. Dios te ama. Dios te ama." God loves you. If you can come to really believe that, if you can absorb the love of God into your life and begin to act like it's true, to treat yourself as the beloved of God-- it's the one thing that can change everything.-Amy

Amy's Ordination 27, dic. 2005

2006-01-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

Above: Amy receives congratulations from el Obispo.

Above: Collegues from theDiocese of El Salvador and the Lutheran Church of El Salvador look on.
Middle: Acolytes from San Andres Apostol watch the ceremony .
Above right: Amy celebrates her first Eucharist. Below: Rev. Cesar Hernandez, Rev. Hannah Atkins, Rev. Amy Zuniga, and Rev. Mario Nunez serve communion. Over 240 people received communion including 3 Roman Catholic priests from nearby parishes.

Above: Censing the altar prior to celebrating her first Eucharist.

Amy's Ordination Amatepec, El Salvador

2006-01-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

Amy's Ordination Amatepec, Soyapango, El Salvador 27 dic.,2005

2006-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

note-the order of the misa starts at the bottom of the posting

Left: The laying on of hands, Amy becomes a priest.

Below left:The Bishop anoints Amy's hands saying, "Eres sarcedote para siempre, segùn el orden de Melquisedec." (You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek)

Above: The Examen in Spanish and in English

Above: The Rev. Hannah Atkins preaches to a packed church. People were standing halfway up the aisle.

Below left: Amy is presented to the Bishop. Below right: Present and past mentors Rev. Germàn Lopez and Rev. Hannah Atkins present Amy to the Bishop.

Bishop of El Salavador and Primate of Central America, The Very Rt. Rev. Martìn Barahona censes the altar at the beginning of the misa.

Above Right: The Lutheran Bishop of El Salvador, The Rt. Rev. Merdado Gomez and Capellena Betty Escobar.

Right: Rev. Sarah Motley, Rev. Hannah Atkins, and Presentor Maura Alas process toward the altar.

The procession begins outside the church along the street.

Feliz Año Nuevo

2006-01-01T05:52:00.000-08:00

The neighbors near our apartment share their estrellitas with Amy.
New Year's Eve mass
Below: La Reverenda visiting with some of her boys.
Below: Visiting in the house of Don Victor and Niña Vilma Ayala
"Cohuete!"

Waiting to chuck a Silvadore (a small whistling rocket)

She's A Priest!

2005-12-28T11:55:00.000-08:00

Celebrating the Eucharist after a joyous, raucous service.

Christmas Eve, Silent Night? Nope------BOOM!

2005-12-25T19:39:00.000-08:00

Lighting the Advent Wreath before the Christmas Eve misa, good practice for the firecrackers later that night.
Christmas Eve was awesome and loud, very very loud. Fireworks are big here on Christmas and yes, I hit up the stands, which were numerous in the city and loaded up on my share of dangerous minor explosives to celebrate and welcome in Christmas Day. It was a joyous celebration, I'd have to say much more joyous and happy than Christmas in the states tends to be and not so caught up in commercialism, thankfully. Christmas Eve was about being with friends and family to Celebrate the birth of Christ, loudly. Amy pretty much had to yell out the Eucharistic prayer, "El Señor...Boom!...sea...Boom!....con....Boom!.....uste--des!!!!.....Boom!Boom!Boom!"
We're not talking little lightweight wimpy American fireworks here. I saw kids lighting off firecrackers about the size of sticks of dynamite. After the service we were invited to the Senior Warden's house for Salvadoran tamales, different than the Mexican tamales I grew up with, dodging fireworks along the way, and after returning home, sat around sipping Flor de Caña Rum( made from sugar cane flowers). We then opened a few presents, then at midnight, with the rest of the city it seemed, lit off fireworks. I've never seen anything like it, the noise was incredible. I did miss my family vey much (Most of Amy's family was here for the ordination) but had a great time and look forward to next years celebration.
Vince Right: kids from church light off some tamer fireworks for a change of pace.
Above: Audrey attempts to send off a Silbadore

The Neighborhood

2005-12-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

We thought we'd take some time and describe the neighborhood around the church a bit more. It is a mix of poor working class and extremely poor people with a high level of gang violence in amongst, and surrounding, the neighborhood. Soyapango, the city in which the colonia Amatepec sits has the second highest rate of gang activity in the country. Lourdes, a city just outside of San Salvador, has the highest, though lately, it seems San Martin may unfortunately be steadily moving toward that designation. There, if the kids from the church enter the plaza in town, they will be killed by the gang that claims that territory because the kids are from a rival gang's territory. It doesn't matter that the kids do not belong to the gang who claims the territory where the church sits, just being from that area is enough.
In Amatepec, the area where the church sits is considered neutral for the time being. There is one gang territory above the church-Mara Salvatrucha and one below the church Calle 18. The narrow strip in between is nuetral and is where the church sits. Within the past few months near the church and surrounding streets, 10 people have been killed due to gang violence, 6 in a span of three days, which gave rise to a protest march against violence which Amy participated in with the Catholic and Lutheran clergy in the area--three of the people murdered were members of the nearby Catholic church. Some were family members of gang members killed in retaliation, others where drug addicts who crossed the gangs, some were gang members, and some were cobradors(money changers on the buses) and bus drivers--shot either during robbery attempts or for refusing to pay "renta", ransom, for going through gang territory. The buses in Amatepec are notorious for getting robbed by the gangs. Not surprisingly, the rise of the "mara" or gang problem here, which is enormous, has U.S. roots. Over the past years the U.S. government has had a policy of deporting Salvadoran gang members who grew up in the U.S., and have been arrested, back to El Salvador. Many are the children of refugees who fled with their families to the U.S. during the war, though they were never officially given refugee status by the Reagan administration because in the eyes of the Reagan administration they were not fleeing a tyrannical or dictatorial government at odds with the U.S. I guess U.S. trained death squads attacking your village were not considered a great enough threat to one's well being. The two main gangs Mara Salvatrucha and Calle 18 were formed in the U.S. in L.A. where they learned their vicious tactics and were imported with the aid of the U.S. government back into El Salvador. The reaction against them has been violent and has had an adverse effect on the youth, especially in a colonia like Amatepec where all young people are viewed by the police as possible gang members and treated as such. The youth in our church would actually like us to make cards for them that show that they are members of the church so they can easily let the police know that they are not gang members. They are routinely frisked and asked to remove their shirts, where the police look for tatoos, a sign of membership in a gang. All members of our youth group have been approached by the gangs and have said that it has been communication with their parents and involvement in the church that has kept them out. Though in some areas, the gangs have now taken to shooting kids who refuse to join.
Yet it is not all darkness in the neighborhood. It is a very vibrant place with vibrant hard working people. People who have been through alot and have an incredible resiliency about them. The neighborhood is made up of mostly refugees and ex-guerillas from the war. Due to this it seems, the government tends to neglect the area, except after the spats of violence (now on the corners are military soldiers with M-16 rifles, and the police have been checking the buses for gang members) and basic things such as reliable water service and utility service are spotty. The neighborhood is not that far from rural El Salvador, so we see cows wander in from time to time and eat at the piles of garbage that tend to accumulate along the street and from the church you can see the hillsides lined with rows of corn. It is a close community where even the thieves and drug addicts seem to be known by people, and in a way, accepted as part of the community. Tiendas dot the street and you can get fresh tortillas at a little store across the street from the church and pupusas at a little stall further down the street. It's a very rough area, but full of life and it is in these places such as Amatepec, San Martin, or Ilopango, where Santa Maria Virgen sits, in amidst the darkness of violence and poverty, that God is raising up a church full of life and vibrancy.
Vince

Santa María Vírgen

2005-12-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

Inside the sanctuary.
Statue of Mary inside the church.
Members of the musical ensemble at Santa Maria Virgen

Today I had the priviledge of officiating at the Anglican church in El Salvador dedicated to St. Mary, on the fourth Sunday of Advent, with the beautiful Gospel reading from St. Luke on the Annunciation. There were only 50 congregants today--usually Santa María Vírgen has a hundred or more crowded into one of our smallest sanctuaries, actually a house with its interior walls knocked out-- but perhaps the smaller service contributed to the sense of peace and holiness in the celebration. I took the service today for Padre German López, a dynamic veteran priest who is in charge not only of Santa María, one of our fastest-growing churches, but also of three missions in Usulutan along the Lempa River. Padre German and a number of congregants went to Usulutan today (along with my sister Robin and David Starr+) to help in a major celebration of one of these communities-- the anniversary of its founding after the war. But at Santa María we sang (Vince mentions their incredible music ministrybelow--we had a five-piece musical ensemble today, despite the fact that the leaders had gone to Usulutan-- Vince's said after, "This is the second string??"), and prayed, heard scripture (with a dog stretching on the floor during the readings) and meditated on it, and received the Body and Blood of Christ. Santa María is one of the oldest Anglican-Episcopal congregations in the country, and the bishop is looking for someone to help finance the construction of a new church building for them-- a national sancturary dedicated to the Virgen María.
Tamales after the service
Santa María from the street

Guitar Workshop

2005-12-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

Top: Members from various congregations work on chord changes. Middle :Music Director, Mario, from Iglesia Santa Maria Virgen leads
a small group on the basics of guitar.
Bottom: Members from various congregations work on chord changes.
Bottom-Chord changes 1 y 2 y 3 y 4!

On Saturday we held the first all day guitar workshop for the diocese and had a great time. The Bishop has set a goal of having at least two church musicians in every church and mission, and it looks like we are on our way. The students exceeded all expectations, since beginning to learn to play an instrument can be very difficult and frustrating, but all attendees hung tough, and by the end, were strumming the first few bars of Pescador de Hombres. I gave the more advanced players some exercises and techniques to chew on and incorporate into their playing. It's an exciting time, since what music the diocese does have, mainly at Santa Maria Virgen and San Mateo, has an incredible energy to it. Hopefully all I'll be doing is feeding a fire that'll turn into a blaze. A local luthier we discovered down in the depths of El Centro, the chaotic, somewhat dangerous, mercado down in the center of the city, is currently making guitars for all the churches and missions in the diocese which will be paid for by a grant we received from CDSP. Thank you CDSP! We plan on posting pictures of the guitars and luthier's workshop soon. -Vince

Our Patron Saint Celebration

2005-11-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

Left:Presidente de la Junta Directiva (Vestry), Victor Ayala, sets off liturgical fireworks during the Dia de San Andres service. As la Reverenda says, "The heck with incense, we've got liturgical explosives!" No one was injured during the service.
Above right: La Reverenda watches the children's games with a few younger congregants.
Bottom right: The procession of the mass with the Bishop, with a little St. Martin's influence at the head of the procession, enters the church.

Thanksgiving in El Salvador

2005-11-26T10:33:00.000-08:00

Top: Shannon and Noah offer their made from scratch pies for the meal.
Bottom:Amy, Shannon, Noah, Jose, and Padre John
look forward to dessert.

Thanksgiving was pretty "tranquilo". We had a few friends over and prepared a turkey and could not find any canned cranberries in any of the stores. We had a great time and are thankful for much here especially the diocesan community and hope all our family and friends in the states had a great Thanksgiving.--Vince

Copa del Obispo- Finals

2005-11-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

Top to Bottom: 1.The SAA boys and girls teams 2.SAA boys play Santisima Trinidad. 3. San Jose del Congo play the diocesan Milagros. 4.Boys and Girls teams from SAA 5. Coach and Missioner Caen gives a pep talk to his boys. It worked. They won it all. 6. SAA girls take on Santisima Trinidad.

Out in the department of Sonsonate at the Community development project of El Maizal the finals of the Copa del Obispo took place. Competition was fierce (one of our girls received a black eye in a scrape-- a little lesson on Christian love may be in order-- though maybe we have a future priest on our hands, you gotta be tough to be a priest here!). In the heat and dust the teams scrapped hard on the field prepared by Inginiero Cabezas and his crew, which included some ERD volunteers. At the end of the day the trophies were bestowed by the Bishop, 1st place in the boys division to San Pablo Letran who defeated San Andres Apostol in the final match in sudden death. The boys from San Andres Apostol told Amy that they were actually happy for the team from San Pablo Letran since it was their first championship. Their is a kindredness between the two teams since the team from San Pablo Letran is from the mission church that was started by San Andres Apostol. She was very proud of their sportsmanship and grace in defeat. In the girls division the girls team from La Divina Providencia from El Maizal won the championship. We had to leave early to get back for the San Andres Apostol Colegio's graduation and learned the scores when Amy called up our feisty backfielder to find out who won. She failed to mention her black eye in the conversation. -Vince

Clergy Retreat at La Palma, Chaletanango

2005-10-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Top- Mural by local artist Juan Carlos who has taken the well-known Llort style in a new direction.
Middle Top-Padres Alex Tobar and John Habeker relax on the patio
Middle- The Very Rev. Dean Bower and Rt. Rev. Martin Barahona hold a discussion after breakfast.
Bottom-Bishop Barahona and Rev. Ramiro Chavez discuss the morning service.

The weather was perfect for the clergy retreat in La Palma, which is a small village up in the northern mountains of El Salvador and is well-known for its artesans. The time of relaxing, spiritual reflection, and learning was much-needed by the clergy who are all in very intense work situations here. It was a time of building and strengthening relationships among the clergy and remembering to slow down and take care of one's self in the midst of all that is going in the neighborhoods and parishes. The retreat was led by the Very Reverend Richard Bower and focused on fostering the spiritual growth of the clergy. I was lucky enough to be asked to handle the music for the retreat and was graciously included in all the discussions and teaching, which was very beneficial for fostering my own spiritual growth. As things pickup with the music and get busier, I'll need to be even more aware to focus on setting aside time to commune with God and develop my interior life to better handle what occurs in the world around me. To be able to get to know the clergy from around the Diocese and to hear their stories was amazing. Their personal stroies about their spiritual journies in El Salvador are powerful and I hope that one day they will share them with the wider church, especially the church in the U.S. The Episcopal Church in the United States has much to learn from the Anglican/Episcopal Church of El Salvador- much to learn about relationship and mission and how to do God's work in spite of limited resources, in spite of violence and poverty. "God is not in the church buildings," the Bishop told Amy and I once, "God is in the world--in the streets." This is where the Anglican Church of El Salvador is thriving out in the campo, in the streets, where God is calling his people to work. These were a few meditations I mulled over at the retreat. It was challenging and edifying.

Jamming In San Salvador

2005-10-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

The The Very Reverend Richard Bower jams with the Director of
the Diocesan Office for Human Rights, Jose Lopez in our apartment
for Vince's B-Day.

Messages from the children of San Andrés Apostol Episcopal Church and School to Gulf Coast Hurricane Victims

2005-10-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Above: Students from San Andres Apostol

create cards for Gulf Coast hurricane victims.

Below: The completed cards

The children's messages:
“We love you with all our heart. We love you a lot, with this hurricane we hope you are well. The day it arrived we were praying.”

“Don’t be sad, my brother, God loves you. This flower is about to be born, like you in the heart of God. Be happy like this bear and this squirrel.”

“I hope that you are fine after the Hurricane Rita and that you can return to your homes.”

“Dear people I want to tell you that I hope you are very well in your houses. Be careful with the hurricanes. I would like to meet you one day.”

“For those who suffered the Hurricane Katrina, I wish you luck and that your family members are well.”

“We love you a lot and are sending you these cards to tell you we love you. We know that the hurricane left you without a house.”

“I am very sorry, don’t feel alone. May God bless you a lot. Don’t be sad my brothers and sisters. We know what has happened to you.”

“El Salvador is with you. Friend, I am sorry about what has happened, but don’t loose heart, keep moving ahead. May God help you to move ahead and be strong.”

“I want to tell you that we are praying a lot for you. I am very sorry for what happened.”

“For the United States. Lord, I ask you to bless the United States.”

“I desire for those who suffered Hurricane Katrina that they have faith and that nothing else happens to them.”

“Don’t be sad, all this will pass, I’m telling you as a friend. Everything that you lost God will give back to you, and I believe God will give you more than you lost. God bless you.”

“God is the light of the world. God bless you. In our country we hope that you will be protected by our almighty God. After this tragedy, we hope that you get better with blessings from the almighty.”

Independence Month Activities at Colegio Episcopal San Andrés Apostol

2005-10-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

September was a full month at Colegio Episcopal San Andrés Apostol, the pre-k through sixth grade elementary school I became director of when I assumed responsibilities as clergy-in-charge of the parish. September 15 is Salvadoran Independence Day, but the festivities really last for the entire month of September. A Salvadoran friend told us that it was only recently, as a part of the peace accords that ended the Civil War in 1992, that the schools started teaching 2oth Century history- up until then, history lessons stopped with Central America's independence from Spain in 1821. According to our friend, that was why the Month of Independence traditionally got to be such a big celebration.

At San Andrés, the Independence Month festivities included three parades around the neighborhood featuring the school drum and trumpet band (recently funded by a donation from our sister parish in Massachusetts) and baton team, numerous "actos" featuring the singing and dancing talents of the students, a contest/fundraiser to see who would become the "Queen of Independence," a drawing contest on the subject of peace, a sports day, and a science fair. Click on the pictures below if you want to see them in greater detail.

Amy poses with the four-year-old "Queen of Independence" of Colegio San Andrés Apostol.
Two students work on their contest drawings on the theme of peace.
Students and teachers recite the pledge of allegiance in the church, decorated for Independence Month.
Members of the band march through the neighborhood on the parade route.
Two candidates for ¨Queen¨ share a vehicle in the candidates´¨coming out¨parade. Picture a line of these!
The baton team in action.
The banner carriers head up the parade.

The drum and trupet band, or ¨Banda Paz¨ stands at attention before the parade begins.

I just have to tell you how much I love these kids already! I feel like I have 82 children. Besides being extra-adorable (I really think they got an extra dose of cuteness- maybe it's the Spanish!) they just have such pure hearts. The fourth-grade girl who was the incumbent Queen looked like a super-model riding on the taxi at the very front of the first parade, and after she passed on her crown, she was just as happy marching with the other children in her school uniform at the back of the last parade. They come from low-income working families and do not have much (monthly tuition is $10, going up to $12 next year, and we could use more money for scholarships), but they are so ready to give--they have such open hearts. I really want to give them the best education possible, and we've got a start-- small class sizes (10-20 versus 50-60 in the public schools), enrichment activities like the ones you see above, and for next year greatly improved computer and English classes due to the generosity of friends, with the possibly of an environmental stewardship class as well. I hope that some of you get a chance to meet "my kids" in person! I'm sure they'll steal your heart as well. -Amy

La Copa del Obispo- preliminaries

2005-10-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

La Reverenda leads the girls team from San

Andres Apostol in a prayer before the game

San Mateo, Lourdes plays San Jose del Congo

Bottom picture: San Juan Evangilista hammers

it out against San Marcos, Izalco

It was a rainy Saturday morning in Lourdes for the preliminary games of the Copa del Obispo (Bishop's Cup) for the section in which San Andres Apostol resides. San Andres Apostol kicked butt and set themselves up in good position for the tournament in two weeks out in Ahuachapan. The tournament will consist of teams from all over the diocese and should be a lot of fun. They take their futbol (soccer) seriously here and even the preliminary scrimmages has an intensity to them.

Mucho Trabajo-Sunday Sept. 21

2005-09-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Left and below: Members of San Andres Apostol

Above: Visiting after the morning service

Sunday was a bit of a long day. It started at 8:00am and ended around 6:00pm. We sleepily started with the morning service at San Andres Apostol, the night before was the Vigilio de Avivimiento that lasted from 7-midnight which meant we got home around 1:00am. It doesn't have to be Easter around here to have a vigil, in fact there's another one this Saturday for the women of the diocese. After the morning service, we headed out to the outskirts of a pueblo called El Congo to the Iglesia Anglicana San Jose del Congo. Surrounding the church is a community "Via Anglicana" built with the help of Episcopal Relief and Development. Via Anglicana is one of four such developments in the country and is made up of families who lost their homes due to the major earthquake in 2001. We were in Via Anglicana to attend a gathering of youth from another church in the diocese, Santisima Trinidad from San Martin, an outlying town that is apart of greater San Salvador. Amy was asked to speak to the youth about women entering the priesthood and other ministries, which seemed apt since most of the youth group was made up of girls. The youth around San Salvador and the outlying cities and pueblos have enormous issues to deal with. The pressure from the gangs to join them is intense(every member of the youth group at Amy's church has been approached and pressured by the gangs). Teen pregnancy is very high, an occurence that has stopped some from pursuing a call to the minstry, with girls as young as twelve years old sometimes becoming pregnant in the more rural areas. Poverty, the lack of adequate employment, all of these are issues that the youth here are immersed in, among many others. In talking with them you realize how important the role of family and the church is in their lives- an anchor among situations that have swept others away. These kids have incredible heart and strength, and if they survive, can lead the church in a powerful direction. I pray that God would protect them and that they would embrace the call, which was apparent at the retreat, that God has for them.
-Vince
P.S. The title of this posting is a double-entendre-- there certainly is plenty of work here, and Vince told the kids at the youth retreat that being my husband was "mucho trabajo"! -Amy

Youth Retreat at El Congo

2005-09-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

The Rev. John Habeker and the Rev. Cesar
Hernandez preside over the evening service
at San Jose del Congo

Above: Rev. Amy Zuniga, Rev. Cesar Hernandez,
and los jovenes from Santisima Trinidad, before
a discussion on calls to ministry, in particular
women in the priesthood.

Above: Youth fromSantisima Trinidad, San Martin at the retreat.

The afternoon coffee club of El Congo stops
for a bit of Java, well, a whole lot of Java and
philosophizing. These hearty young men
after a long and grueling day in the throes
of their recent green coffee bean fight, like
to enjoy a good cup of coffee like any other
six year old. They start 'em on a good cup of Joe
young here in El Salvador. Here as they relax
after discussing the correct way to prepare a good
cup of coffee,"Is it five or ten spoons of sugar per cup?"
they engage in applying the universal sign
of annoyance and which has ruined millions of
pictures the world over, "bunny ears".

Vigilia de Avivimiento

2005-09-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Above: Members of San Andres Apostol sing with our
Roman Catholic brothers at the Vigilia at San Andres Apostol.

Above: Members of San Andres Apostol
sing at the Vigilia de Avivamiento
(Enlivening Vigil) at San Andres Apostol.
7pm-midnight!

Anniversary Trip to Suchitoto

2005-09-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

Top-Iglesia Santa Lucia set on the edge of the plaza in the middle of town. Built between the

years 1853-1858.

Middle-In front of Lago Suchitlan
Bottom- Villa Balanza where we stayed the scales were done by a local artist. On the right are a stack of tortillas and on the left is the head of a bomb.

This is backtracking a little, but we did take an anniversary trip last monthe for our one year anniversary. We took a bus to Suchitoto which is an old colonial town about fourty-five minutes north of San Salvador and sits above the Lago Suchitlan. We had dinner in the bell tower of the Restaurante Villa Balanza and had a great time in the city, except for the bee sting Amy received in the open air mercado. Luckily it happened in front of a booth that was selling handmade soaps and herbal remedies where they gave her a salve made from a tree in El Salvador which relieves pain. It worked, though the sting did still swell up a bit. While hanging out in a cafe talking with the guy behind the counter, he asked Amy where she was from and what she was doing in El Salvador. She said she was a deacon with the Anglican/Episcopal church in El Salvador. He gave her a funny look and she asked, "Do you know the Episcopal church?" He answered "Yes, of course, a friend of mine was a priest here and is now in Washington D.C." Amy exclaimed, "You know Hannah?!" Turned they both had mutual friends, Rev. Hannah Atkins and her husband Elmer Romero who now live in Washington D.C. Incidents like that sure make the world seem small. Pretty cool. --Vince

Translating at El Maizal

2005-09-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with the delegation of
clergy from the Diocese of L.A., and
ERD volunteers from Arizona at the
community of El Maizal and doing a
bit of translating.

San Andrés Apostol, Amatepec, Soyapango

2005-09-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

Amy and Vince in front of Amy's new church.

Settling In

2005-09-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

Family and friends,
Well,now that we've finally gotten somewhat settled in we can work on the updates! We have an apartment about a block away from the Diocesan office. It's a nice spot not far from the buses and near a good pupuseria(for those who don't know what pupusas are, you'll just have to come down and try them!).
We've met quite a bit with the Bishop of El Salvador,the Rt. Rev. Martin Barahona, who is also the Primate of Central America, and he has lined us out on our jobs. I will let Amy explain in another posting what she is doing, but I too have a job. It was a little unexpected. I knew vaguely, when I came down here, I might do a little something with music, but I wasn't quite expecting to do it in the scope that the bishop has lined out. In his conversation with us,which was all in Spanish, I kept hearing the words Ministerio de Musica. I thought, "Oh, well, that's kind of a cool title for playing a little guitar in Amy's church." I come to find out he meant for the whole diocese! His plan is to have two musicians and instruments in every church. I'm working on a curriculum for teaching guitar and people in the diocese are excited. Music has been an area the bishop has wanted to strengthen for a long time, so here we go. The songs here are awesome. One church here has a few guitar players that lead the music and it is so cool.The people sing with such heart. Hopefully theses guitar players will assist in the classes. Things are well. More postings on the various projects in the diocese to come.
Vince

Diocesan "Convivio"

2005-09-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

Above:Salvadoran Anglican laity and clergy gather to listen to presentation on Our Anglican Heritage.
Below:Amy talks with Mario and Rafael, members of the music ministry at Iglesia Santa Maria Virgen, our congregation's nearest Anglican neighbor. We hope that Sta. Maria Virgen will help with the guitar lessons!

Over sixty people from almost all 25 congregations in the Diocese gathered last Saturday for a "convivio" (loosely translated, a lively gathering!) where we learned about Our Anglican Heritage, using a wonderful book by the same name in Spanish written by The Rev. Hannah Atkins when she was here as a missionary with the Anglican/Episcopal Church in the 1990's. Each congregation was assigned several aspects of Anglicanism to describe, and our group from San Andrés got "naturalist, political, tolerant, humane, moderate, and historical"- thanks, Hannah! It was really great seeing some of the women from our church get into describing these different aspects of Anglicanism. My favorite part was when Wilma, describing the church's commitment to a humane society said, "If we don't cry out, the stones will cry out, and we're not going to let the stones cry out!" Amen! -Amy

Recién Llegados-Recenlty Arrived

2005-08-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

Vince and I arrived night-before-last in El Salvador. Already we have discovered a thumbnail-sized baby lizard called a ´cantil,´ which, it turns out, has a potentially deadly bite, experienced a rainstorm it seemed would never stop, and had several conversations which included the topics of gang assasinations, army kidnappings, and the social committment of the church. Not a bad beginning!