Jordan and I have two weeks left in San Luis La Herradura, amazing. We look forward to returning home and joining in the Christmas festivities with our families but leaving here isn’t a painless transition from an “experience” back to “real-life.” Not only do we feel like family, we act like it too. There are moments after I fart next to our sister Angie and she yells at me, or when Jordan and I are dancing in the middle of the TV room making stupid faces watching the entire family laugh at us, that we feel we’ve truly been given a second family.

Over these last few weeks we’ve struggled through some adversity on several levels but thankfully we’ve been able to get through it and continue looking ahead. Our leadership group, whose formal meetings ended a few weeks ago, put together an additional fundraiser for the school building in the community Los Angeles.  We made quite a misstep in our first fundraiser because we neglected to include the community we were attempting to raise money for. While we didn’t consciously do this, we did it nonetheless. Not this time. Los Angeles grabbed this fundraiser and raised it to the next level.

We sold a local favorite, marinated chicken sandwiches, at the church and near the school in Los Angeles. The community in Los Angeles came together through the help of our good friend and Health Promoter of the area Ismael and put on bike races/stick horse races for the children and the community bought over 150 tickets for the fundraiser. It was an amazing effort.

After this last fundraiser we were able to raise enough funds to begin construction on the school building. This week we’re hoping to see it begin! Jordan’s family was able to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday and lend a helping hand preparing the mountains of food for a few hours the day of the fundraiser. Later we travelled to Mayan ruins, ate fantastic food (let’s go Chillis!), experienced turtle eggs, and otherwise had a fantastic time with them. Thank you Johnson family!

This week our good friend Alex is visiting to provide the bookend to our time here in El Salvador. We’ll see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into and the frequency Alex will use the toilet. 

The Salvadoran school year is now over, and Matt and I have thus finished up our journey of traipsing around La Herradura helping out in any English class where authorities will permit two questionably qualified gringos to be in a classroom (which indeed is anywhere). It has been a great learning experience, and the two of us plan to sit down soon and put our heads together to distill our collective experiences into a world-moving dissertation, if you will, addressing the English education situation in the Salvadoran rural municipality of La Herradura. Yes that will come soon. But for now, we are shifting our involvement to other endeavors. The first of which is, yes you guessed it, teaching more English. This time at the local fishing coop (FECOOPAZ) for basically anyone who wants to learn English. Now Matt and I are on our own to come up with material and effectively lead class lessons. Fortunately, everyone that comes to our class truly desires to learn English.

Today was our first day at FECOOPAZ, and about 9 students showed up, ranging from 10 to 50 years old. Now, when Matt and I agreed to this opportunity, we were not certain why exactly this type of service was necessary. Ovidio, the president of the coop, had informed us that there was a desire among fishermen to know some common English phrases in order to offer boat rides to tourists that come into town. He also told us there was another group of younger students that had the desire to learn more English than they get in school. This class was also an activity that Westmont volunteers have offered in the past. Matt and I concurred that if there was a desire to learn, then we would be happy to help.

During three months of living here, we’ve discovered that El Salvador is rife with ethical dilemmas. After a while, one becomes desensitized to some of these issues. But when we step back and think about certain situations, we find ourselves perplexed by the complexity of factors at play. Of course, other issues are not so complicated. For example, last week, we had to renew our visas. Not a big deal - if we had remembered to do it on time, that is. On Tuesday night (Nov. 3), Matt reminded me that our 90-day tourist visas were probably up soon. I checked my calendar five times, counting days, and finally submitted to the fact that they’d expired that very day. Worried about what might happen, I searched the internet for advice, reading horror stories about people being banned from re-entry, getting arrested and having to pay their way out of jail (Thailand), etc. So we prayed. Matt and I remained illegally in El Salvador for 2 days. On Thursday afternoon, we arrived at the immigration office in the nation’s capital only to be received by the warmest immigration staff I’ve ever encountered (also, the only immigration staff I’ve ever encountered). We complied with all the hoops they put us through (photos, passport copies, etc), filled out some paperwork, and successfully received visa extensions with no problem. No one ever mentioned us overstaying the original visa. However, we may have fudged the first visa’s expiration date in the paperwork. Yikes. Ethical? Steve Limkeman suggests a necessary evil. I’ll go with that.

Not all ethical situations are so easy to reconcile. Back to FECOOPAZ. During class today, one student kept wanting us to teach English phrases that one would use when looking for a job. Matt and I quickly learned that this 18 year old intends to make the dangerous (and illegal I might add) journey to the States to find work and a better future. And we’re equipping him with language skills to aid his illicit success. After class, Matt and I looked at each other thinking the same thing: Is this ethical? We shrugged it off for the moment, because it’s hard to know what factors underly the situation without getting to know William better. I decided it’s most important to love him first, before passing judgment.

I know plenty of people who would discount this case immediately, declaring it clearly unacceptable to teach English in these circumstances. But I would submit such an easy decision cannot come from wisdom and discernment. We know not whether William is living in painful separation from family living in the States. The majority of people Matt and I meet, upon learning we’re from the US, tell us they have family alla (over there). We met a 21-year old named Chamba, who has never known his parents because his mom moved to Atlanta right after he was born and his father deserted the family. He has been caught and deported twice during efforts to find his family in the US. Chamba’s story broke my heart. It also affected how I consider this issue. Furthermore, we know not whether William’s family can’t afford food due to the incredible unemployment and underemployment that plagues El Salvador (especially in rural areas). According to the CIA’s World Factbook, “El Salvador leads the [Central American] region in remittances per capita with inflows equivalent to nearly all export income and about a third of all households receive these financial inflows.” Clearly, William’s plan is not unique. He’s just enterprising enough to pursue skills that will empower him later and bring him an upper edge in the job market, an endeavor I consider to be admirable. The issue must be more complex than we can fathom outside of forming a relationship with and extending love to this young man. Thus, we must withhold judgment and search deeper down while building a bond with William. I believe that to be the Christ-like action here. After all, resembling Christ has to be our definition of “ethical.”

new album up on the Picasa page - “Suchitoto” (colonial town in ES)

check it out…more pics on the way soon

Paz,

J

new album up on the Picasa page - “Los Angeles School/Gran Cena Oración”

Our leadership group labored for months to complete a fundraiser dinner called the “Gran Cena Oracion.” Our group from the local Catholic Church wanted to raise money to complete a new classroom at an elementary school and to finish painting several art pieces at the church. Over the last two months we incorporated the preparation of this dinner into our twice-weekly leadership Bible study. While the two months certainly helped, much of the work was done these last two (hectic) weeks.

This last Saturday night we held the dinner with the help of 40 youth from the church and the community. Did we know we would have 40 youth helping us? Definitely not. Needless to say, our group had plenty of help with cooking, cleaning, organizing, serving, and everything else that goes into a dinner of this size. We had over 400 people from the community come to the dinner! We sold tickets for $2.00 each around every community of La Herradura and even tried selling some at a neighboring city Zacatecoluca. For those interested we served a Plato Tipico: plantains, beans, bread, cream, and a cup of coffee with plenty of sugar.

It was a success on every level and the tropical storm that was forecasted to come right over us the day of the dinner was nowhere to be seen (thank you Lord). We even had the kids from the elementary school perform a song called “Que Canten Los Ninos” which has been eternally burned into our minds. It’s been an interesting last few weeks but this was certainly the brightest highlight. 

Tropical Storm Matthew (Ironic) Charges Through Central America…

http://bit.ly/9p9IXG

Minutes ago, as a thunder storm materialized over La Herradura out of seemingly nowhere, the family alerted Matt and I that a tropical storm, coincidentally named Matthew, is heading north through Central America out of Nicaragua. The thundershower we’re experiencing is only the edge of the tropical storm system, and gracias a Dios, the eye of the storm is not predicted to pass through El Salvador directly (although there a yellow alert has been . But unfortunately, it has already wreaked havoc in Nicaragua and is heading for Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. Please pray for those this storm will affect - families that already have been and will be forced to evacuate, who will lose homes and possibly even loved ones.

Paz,

Jordan and Mateo

Well we’re still in El Salvador and we’re still sweating every day. We went on a three day voyage spanning from Thursday morning until Saturday night to our neighboring country Guatemala. We left Thursday morning at 7:30AM, in a chicken bus, and arrived at 10:30PM. You don’t even need to do the math to know that it was a ridiculously long bus ride. We traversed through two fallen bridges, rumbled on numerous dirt roads, enjoyed the constant lurching of a thirty year old clutch, and nearly drove off a cliff. By the time we neared our destination we had only stopped for one bathroom break (at 10AM) and eaten a piece of chicken that one of the gracious church ladies on the bus let us dissect.

                After the record-breaking drive which we thoroughly enjoyed (we did actually), Jordan and I slept at the house of a very gracious family connected to a church organization that houses guests during their travels. We quickly befriended a man named Francisco and he told us all about the coffee, chocolate, and beans that Guatemala has to offer which are in his opinion the best in the world. We soon agreed. We boarded the bus on Friday the next day to attend an ordination of a new Sacerdote in an indigenous village high up in the mountains. The liturgy was given in three different languages: Spanish, Mam, and Quiche. Guatemala consists of over 80 different dialects, 30 of which are recognized as official dialects of Guatemala. We tried speaking to a group of children in Spanish and wouldn’t you know it, they didn’t understand a word.

On the way down the mountain after the service we had to evacuate the bus in order to let the breaks cool down after the driver noticed the billowing smoke emerging from the back wheels. For some odd reason Jordan and I were the only nervous ones in the entire bunch. As soon as we reentered the bus we had already determined our way of escape if the breaks were to completely melt away but gracias a Dios, we made it down safely. We had one massive voyage and it was topped off when we were invited to stand in front during Mass on Sunday to talk about what we liked most. We are referred to as the “Norte Americanos.” 

 Some wonderful happenings in El Salvador:

-  attended a soccer game in San Salvador at Estadio Cuscatlan (the largest stadium in the nation). Our friends, John and Adam, two Agua Viva interns from Canada, live in San Salvador and have befriended the chief engineer of the stadium. Thus, we had free tickets for the palcos (box seats). It was awesome.

-  Independence Day here in El Salvador (as well as for Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) is September 15th. The Catholic School put on a huge parade with a marching band (drumline + horn section), dancers (called cachiporristas), and a color guard. It was impressive. The sun was sweltering, and Matt and I sweated through our shirts as we tried to keep up with our family as they weaved through the masses of onlookers standing on the sides of the skinny street, following the parade all the way through La Herradura. Fireworks are not a part of this nation’s birthday celebration…rather, they save fuegos artificiales for Christmas festivites during the whole month of December.

-  Two weeks ago, Matt and I began our month-long stint of helping in English classes in the municipal high school. The students are older, and at first our task seemed intimidating. But we have adjusted well to the challenge, and we have found the students are very friendly and excited to learn. On our first day helping Sonia (the english teacher), we met an amiable group of three guys who were interested in hearing our story - where we are from, what we are up to in El Salvador, and what life is like for us back in the States. They invited us to join them in their English cooking video project, which just happened on Sunday. We helped them prepare carne asada, rice, and chirimol (like pico de gallo), while they explain everything in English. It was great to hang out, fellowship, cook some good eats, and help them with their English, as well. The high schoolers are very thoughtful, at least those that we’ve spent time with. Matt and I have had some interesting conversations with them addressing the bad blood between the Catholic and Protestant churches in this country, politics and the current government, access to clean water, gang activity, NGOs, and experiences in America (a couple of our friends have been to the States).

-  A few Wednesdays ago, we were talking with Jorge (English teacher who works at the town hall), and he re-stoked our fire to get something started along the lines of English teacher collaboration. Our vision as of now is the following: to speak to as many English teachers in the area as we can, get them interested in the prospect of working together for the cause of teaching the youth of La Herradura, and to convene in a formal meeting at least once before we leave. Jorge is super excited about this idea, and he has expressed confidence that we have a unique position in the community that might actually be the key to getting something like this off the ground - that we might be able to circumnavigate whatever disinterest or pessimism might cripple an effort like this. Please pray for us - for multiple items: we are going to try to set up meetings with teachers and oftentimes, as is our experience, these meetings can fall through for any reason at all…so that these meetings will happen; for us to be humble, respectful, and filled with love when we speak with teachers (so as not to step on toes or offend anyone); and that the Lord would orchestrate this meeting for his purposes and therein prepare these teachers to work together for a common cause. Collaborating in this manner seems to be a fairly progressive idea in these parts.

-  Sometimes it is easy to forget how harsh life can be in a developing nation when we are living in such a wonderful town with a beautiful family. Recently, however, a new law in El Salvador was ratified that makes gang membership, alone, punishable by 6 years in prison. In protest of this law, the two largest and infamous gangs in El Salvador (Mara 18 and MS 13) publicly threatened to burn every public bus (with or without passengers) that operated for the three days after the law’s approval. Consequently, for three days there was no public bus transportation in the whole country. Such a hiatus creates great inconveniences for the population, as many people lack cars and depend on bus transportation to get to work, buy groceries, seek medical care at big city hospitals, among other necessities. The government refused to back down to the gangs’ threats. On the first day of the bus stoppage, Matt and I watched as policemen carrying automatic weapons boarded local buses, ready to protect civilians from terrorizing gang members. This permitted a few buses to operate on limited tracks for the time being. And fortunately, after three days, the buses began to operate fully again.

Check out a whole boat load of pictures from our trip at http://picasaweb.google.com/jordan.johnson28 

You are all constantly on our minds. Please continue praying for us and asking that God’s will be done in our lives and yours as well.

Que te vaya bien!

It’s been over 2 weeks since Matt and I have posted - so sorry for the long delay, we’ve been busy. Some choice mentionables from the past couple weeks:

• we attended a quinceañera
• climbed Volcano Izalco
• sang karaoke in San Salvador
• attended an Agua Viva discipleship group graduation ceremony
• observed a traditional 40-day bereavement ceremony
• cruised with Padre David to a celebration dinner for the ordination of Padre Pedro Sergio
• Matt had the legendary conchas negras (mussel-like creatures, served raw, in their blood, accompanied by red onion, tomato, and dousings of hot sauce and lime juice….delicious?) at the muelle (the pier) yesterday

So far, we have adjusted pretty well to the environment down here. The mosquitoes (“sancudos”) are finally letting up on our flesh. Now we generally wake up with about 5 new bites, as opposed to 10-20. We’ve become more accustomed to the heat and humidity. The climate down here feels pretty good now. It has been raining a lot lately - so much that a huge branch broke off a tree somewhere near San Salvador, sadly crushing a microbus full of students. Apparently, this sort of thing has happened before, because the family told us it was too dangerous to travel to see ruins in the vicinity this weekend. As far as food goes, the familiy has a wonderful cook, Mirna, who makes all our food at the house. She has the cutest little son named Alex - who is 4 years old (pictures to come). His nickname is brujito (little witch). He’s warmed up to both of us, and we enjoy playing “mica” or tag with him. Back to food…despite the great food at our house, Matt and I have both had a couple bouts with good old Montezuma. But I suppose it wouldn’t be a complete experience without enduring traveler’s diarrhea a few times.

So far our weekly work schedule has roughly taken the following form:

Monday: 

AM - Teach English at the Catholic School with Wendy (9^th grade)

PM - Help Wendy with her English, volunteer with the niños at the school in Colonia Los Angeles

Tuesday

 - work with Agua Viva, constructing and installing water filters

- youth leadership group meeting

Wednesday

AM - More English at the Catholic School with Wendy (8^th grade)

PM - Help in Jorge’s English class at the city hall (high school)

Thursday

 - generally networking, brainstorming, and planning

- in the coming weeks we will be working with the local Health Clinic, assisting in rural medical clinics,   home visitations, and hopefully giving public health presentations

- youth leadership group meeting

Friday

- meetings (with teachers, school directors, nonprofit directors, etc) 

- volunteer at the school in Los Angeles again with our leadership group

We are getting into the swing of life down here in La Herradura. Unbelievably, today marks one whole month here - time is starting to move quickly for us. Matt and I have seen a lot so far and are excited to continue learning, thinking, and being pushed out of our comfort zones.

At times, we do feel as though we lack a specific direction. There is no tangible goal after which we are seeking - for instance, we are not here to build a school, or run a series of 5 medical clinics, or translate the Bible into an indigenous language. Instead, we our time here is heavily based on learning and loving people. Matt and I are here to continue the string of americanos in La Herradura who are interested in developing this community - aiming to build trust among the locals, assess the needs and strengths of the town, and above all, to love people. It is an incredible blessing to be able to live down here for 4.5 months!

We are excited about a few things, though:

• Our youth leadership group has been awesome. It has taken the form of a Bible study, where we discuss topics pertaining to leadership, like faith, community service, and spiritual discipline (so far, and many more to come), and review passages in the scriptures that instruct us regarding these ideas. Matt and I spend time preparing for each meeting, thinking up discussion questions, and going through the Word, and consequently, we have been learning a ton, too. Last week, Amilcar Chavez, the assistant to the mayor, visited our group as a guest speaker to talk on leadership.

• Also, we are planning a fundraiser even for the grade school in Colonia Los Angeles. Apparently, an NGO has supplied funds to for the materials to construct a new school building, including walls, roof, floor, windows, doors, and metal curtain divider (to make two classrooms). As it sits now, the building’s walls, roof and floor are constructed. The doors and windows are ready, but funds are lacking to pay for the manual labor. $400 to be exact. Matt and I brought this up at one of our youth leadership group meetings, and the kids loved the idea of holding a dinner to raise money. We will charge $2 entry fee for the meal, have donated prizes for a raffle, have Padre David talk on the topic of loving one’s neighbor, take an offering, and have a musical group accompany the event. The date is Saturday, October 2, and we have a lot of work to do to make sure everything comes together! Please be praying for this! 

• Matt and I were pumped at the kids’ energy for the fundraiser dinner, and we hope that we can inspire them to continue leading and planning events like this. Our next plan will be a community clean-up day. If we do a few more of these, I think they will feel empowered to continue this work even after we leave. With youth leaders who think this way about their community, who knows what kind of great things could happen!

That is all for now, but please stay posted — we are committed to updating on a more regular basis. Next time with pictures, too!

We love and miss you all very much.

M & J

Sure.