Where do I start to write about my recent trip to El Salvador to visit the village of
San Diego de Tenango? So many memories. I find it difficult to process at this point in my journey. I felt the same after a visit to the same village last year. My brain and heart fills to capacity, and I need some time to let the joys and sorrows sink in. Our main purpose in visiting is to build relationships with the people. We do some physical labor, working with the people, but mostly we are challenged to work on relationships. Our village has had an ongoing relationship with
Agros and
UPC for 6 years now. But it has been the last 3 teams (July 07, January 08, and July 08) that have seen an opening up of the villagers to us. Many of our team members were now on their second visit to the village. We have one member who has visited this same village 5 times now. The villagers are beginning to trust us and seek us out during our visit. And we find commonality in the hopes, dreams, worries that we all share as humans.
I have always noticed that returning missionaries show slide after slide of people. I confess I have often found myself slightly bored, waiting for the pictures of scenery, houses, animals, flowers. But anyone with a heart for missions soon realizes that the faces of the people are the pull on the heartstrings of the caring. I give you faces from San Diego de Tenango .
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
3 comments:
What beautiful faces! And how cool that this was a RETURN trip for you - such a privilege, and probably a different experience entirely.
Yes! So fun to go back and visit old friends. We saw a real openness if the villagers this time around. We will be going back, Lord willing.
Hi Terry, I work with Ken and when I seen the pic's. I could just picture Ken talking with all the people trying to help them in any way he could, just like at work. You guys are very blessed to have experienced this trip.
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