2002 Annual Report to Members
A Report from the Delegation to El Salvador November 22-29, 2002
The delegation: Kent & Christine Madsen (Light of Life Lutheran), Michael & Ruth Cruddas (St. Stephens Lutheran), Rev. Larry Morkert (Chicago), Steven Barrett (Good Shepherd, Salinas), Rev. Meg Lumsdaine (formerly interim Associate Pastor at Good Shepherd, now at-large).
A Very Brief History
The Peace Accords, ending a long and brutal civil war (is there ever a non-brutal war?) were signed in El Salvador in 1992. At that time people began to “repopulate” the countryside, that is, they would go to places that had been decimated from the bombing and start building a community from scratch. The peoples of the communities of Guillermo Ungo started to repopulate the countryside near the Guazapa volcano during that time. It was during this time that the Rev. Larry Morkert made a visit, and discussed a “sister parish” idea with Bishop Medardo Gomez. Bishop Gomez took Larry to help celebrate the Word and Sacrament to these people loading their few possessions off trucks, and told him “you should partner with this community”.
NOTE: Guillermo Ungo is the name of the central and largest settlement. The Ciudadela de Guillermo Ungo is really a collection of settlements all very close to each other with separate leadership, but often working together on common problems, such as education, water, electricity, and roads.
Continue reading Comments (0) Added by Kent February 4, 2009 (12:24AM)
2000 Trip Report
This past November 12 people from St. Stephens Lutheran Church in Santa Cruz and 2 people from Light of Life Lutheran church in Scotts Valley went to visit our sister communities in El Salvador. Of the 6 “new-timers”, four were family members brought by people who have gone on previous trips. They wanted their families to meet the wonderful people we have learned to call our friends.
The sister community relationship started with the first delegation of 4 people from Light of Life in 1994. We were encouraged by the Lutheran Bishop of El Salvador Medardo Gomez to form a relationship with this group of communities. They are located in the countryside about an hours drive from the capital city of San Salvador, and have been built from the ground up since the peace accords were signed in 1992. Much as the name of our county is the same name as the largest city, we call our communities by the collective name of the largest, Guillermo Ungo. There are five other communities that we consider part of our relationship. In 1998, a group from St. Stephens Lutheran joined the delegation, and we have been working together ever since.
Continue reading Comments (0) Added by admin February 2, 2009 (10:18PM)
