Building Relationships for Better Lives

Entries Comments

• Home
• Archive
• Contact
• Site Map
• About Us
• Photos

November 2009 Delegation

The November 2009 delegation, our thirteenth since starting in 1994, is now history — and what a delegation it was!

The 24 delegation members returned home yesterday, Saturday 11/28/2009. The time we spent with the people of the ciudadela Guillermo Ungo was filled with lots of activities — but also much love and emotion. We heard and saw messages of hope, from the worship service on our arrival day, to the moving graduation ceremony (photo above), to the awarding of 2010 scholarships, and finally, to the message from Bishop Medardo Gomez of the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod.

There were several firsts on this trip. We held our first clinic days (two of them) where many children and adults were seen by the medical personnel who were part of the delegation -- two doctors, a chiropractor, a physical therapist, two nurses and a nursing assistant. We also had the first movie night. We scheduled two childrens' activity times in addition to the major craft project. Due to the size of the delegation, we split into two groups for many of the meals. This meant that more families could be visited at mealtime.

We spent most of the delegation time in the community (six days) and had a short time in San Salvador on the last full day. Most of us visited some of the important historical sites in the city, while a smaller group visited the San Salvador volcano. Our delegation closed with Bishop Medardo Gomez, Pastor Abelina Gomez and Pastor Martir Vigil sharing their thoughts with us after dinner. Now, we return to our daily reality here on the central coast of California, our memories rich with the sights, sounds and experiences of El Salvador.

We thank everyone who contributed time, money or gifts to help make this delegation special.

Added by Kent November 29, 2009 (11:05PM)