Vacation Bible School at San Andrés

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

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

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

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