Happy Christmas! Feliz Navidad!
A piece of my heart will be worshiping with you on Christmas eve, amidst all the shiny new Christmas stars.
I have been in El Salvador for three weeks now, and am feeling quite at home, though my Spanish is still lacking. I say that I understand 70% of the words, but the 30% I miss are usually critical to the meaning of the sentence. Amy and Vince have been wonderful. I have so enjoyed shadowing them, and getting to help every now and then. Amy’s school is on summer break at the moment, but they were having Vacation Bible School, so I got to meet some of the kids. Such joyful, friendly, well behaved kids. These kids are growing up in a neighborhood where each one of them is pressured to join the gangs that so violently disrupt their way of life. With the support of their family and the church, the ones I met had survived, and were holding onto hope for their futures. Amy’s church is a critical force in these kid’s lives. Amy is working with the Catholic church in the area to develop a prevention program to help kids stay out of the gangs.
Vince has a music ministry with the dioses, he is fixing and purchasing guitars, and teaching people all over the country how to play the guitar, so that music can further enrich the worship life of the Episcopal/Anglican Churches.
I have a happy Christmas story to share with you. I got to spend today passing out Christmas food baskets and toys. My mom and Amy and I went to help. We felt a bit guilty that we got to help with such a wonderful job when we hadn’t done anything to prepare such great gifts for the community. Hector Mira, who is the custodian at CDSP (the Episcopal seminary in Berkley) was the miracle worker that made it all happen. Every year, he works a second job to make money so that he can give away food and toys to the needy people in the community where he grew up in El Salvador. He takes a month off of work, and comes down to El Salvador to prepare the gifts. This year, he gave away 1,000 decorated Christmas food baskets, and 1,300 toys. The Catholic Church identifies people in the community who most need assistance, and gives them tickets and then they line up with their ticket on a certain day to get their gifts. It is difficult to describe the humbling, touching, wonderful feeling that comes from the look on a little girl’s face when you give her what might be her first doll, or the way a little boy clutches his new toy car to his chest, or the smile that breaks across the old and care worn face of a Grandmother when you hand her a decorated basket of food. Amy’s best way of describing the feeling is that it’s like giving someone communion. And it was. In honor of Christ’s birthday, one man works all year to bring joy to thousands of people in his hometown. One man. And we got to be present and participate in the miracle. Christ is born in each of us. Christ turns us into to miracle workers.
May your Christmas be full of the mystery and wonder that is God among us.
Love and Peace,
Robin