El Salvadorian men are notorious for putting on tough guy faces when the camera comes out. Here’s Terry (who happens to have one of the best smiles in the world) trying his hand at their approach.
How we get around in El Salvador. This commute style will be missed.
The joy of a mother seeing her family come together again is one we will not soon forget. We were privileged to build a home for Tina and her two sons, Fernando and Miguel, who are 18 and 19 respectively. There does not appear to be a father/husband in the picture and we didn’t know their story until we were finished building the home. Tina shared with us how her and Fernando rent a place in the village of Victoria, while Miguel lives on the farm where he works taking care of the cattle. The home that we built for them is on a lot that overlooks the field of that farm. Tina will have her boys together with her again. She is not a young lady anymore, so this will be a big help for her to have both boys around. They are so very thankful to God and to us for their new home. We can pray for Tina’s health as she has had some issues with high blood pressure. Tina asks that we also pray for her two boys. She was fighting back the tears as we presented her the keys to her new home. Tears from a heart filled with joy and thankfulness.
Jose Sigfredo, Yamileth and their baby boy Erick Sigfredo “Eddie”. As you can see, this is the family Paul wrote about in the “humbled” post. Sigfredo is a corn and bean farmer and Yamileth stays home with Eddie, who is 6 months old. They married a year ago, after meeting at a football game that Sigfredo was playing in. This was probably the most joyful family we worked with all week, our conversation with them flowed freely and generously. There was a spirit of gratitude palpably present in them the whole time. We first observed this in Sigfredo’s face the morning before building their home. He was helping us build his neighbor’s house that morning and as we were finishing he heard the translator say over the open radio that we’d be heading up to his property next and Sigfredo lit up like a lantern. They were so happy at receiving the new house and they knew just which way they wanted the patio portion of the house to face. After finishing their house, during our conversation time, Brandon asked how parenting had been so far. Yamileth responded with the same light and said, “So happy, Eddie is a gift from God”. *OK… I’m going to switch this post back to first person, because what I want to say next can only be said in a personal context – this is Paul* When Yamileth answered Brandon with that answer I immediately cried (with joy). And the reason I cried was because her answer was such a strong confirmation of what I believed I was seeing the day before in her with Eddie. Humble and joyful gratitude. There’s a certain light that shines in a person who believes and knows their life is a gift and not something they’ve earned or achieved. I believe this is one of the greatest riches a person can have, the belief and knowledge that life is a gift. And isn’t it amazing how often that can be imprisoned in all of my ambitious persuits of status, material wealth and whatever else? Have mercy, let me internalize this precious experience of meeting people with so little and yet exuding this richness. I’ve known this before this trip, but so often it can just be head knowledge. Experiences like this have a way of spreading knowledge from the head to the heart as well. And now I can see Monday back in Vancouver coming towards me like a crashing wave. Let me remember the gift of navigation I was given (again) through Yamileth, so I can live and move and have my being with thankfulness for everything I have.Reina Isabel and García Pedro have one daughter, Crissia del Rosario Gómez, who couldn’t be with them for this photo. They shared that Crissia is currently in prison in the US, after attempting to illegally immigrate there. This valley has been their home their whole lives, Reina is a bean and corn farmer and García is a seamstress. Reina can’t work as much as he’d like to with his age and injuries – he sustained a serious leg injury and lost an eye while fighting in the civil war, which was a savage war from 1979-1992 (we don’t know which side he was fighting for). They asked us to pray that Crissia gets released from prison early.Florentio and Emilia have been married for 20 years. He’s a farmer and she’s a homekeeper. Both born here, where they now share a brand new home! They have three daughters, Emerita, Gloria and Brenda who just started kindergarten. All three daughters help out their mom around the house. Oscar their son wasn’t there the day of the build as he was out on the cattle ranch being a cowboy. Both parents have neumerous siblings and cousins that live in the area, as well as both sets of parents, amazing! Florentio asked us to pray that this new house would stand a long time and that their families health would remain strong.
The pure look of pride on Luisa’s face as she looked into her husbands eyes will never be forgotten. Gumersindo, her husband, is 57 years old and has worked as a farmer for many years. As he gets older he finds it increasingly difficult to provide for Luisa (52) and their 8 beautiful children. The past few years Gumersindo has struggled with crippling joint pain in his arms which has taken away his ability to work as a farmer. Tears streamed down his face as he described his current situation, his family depends on him yet he finds himself physically incapable of providing. His new home has brought on a sense of hope moving forward which he is beyond grateful for. The most significant memory of the trip was the sight of him walking off into the distance, keys in hand traveling back to his new home with a grin of hope and tears of joy. Looking towards the future we can pray for Gumersindo and Luisa that his health would improve to enable him to provide for his younger children.
José Estanislao Escobar and María Santos Martínez, with one of their many grandchildren. Jose is a bean and corn farmer and they’ve lived in this valley for 20 years, having lived not too far away before that. Jose is 76 years old and helped us build his house the whole time (and other neighbor’s houses too!). We spoke a bit about the fact that one of their son in laws abandoned his daughter and son, William, for another woman and now lives in the US. William helped us the whole time too, he was incredibly bright and a very keen helper dispite the language barrier. We were happy that he has such a great grandfather, it was obvious that they were a healthy family unit. In closing, we can pray for the health of their family and farming crops.
Local restaurant that we eat at every day. Sharing a table with these quality men has been a rich experience.
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The joy of a mother seeing her family come together again is one we will not soon forget. We were privileged to build a home for Tina and her two sons, Fernando and Miguel, who are 18 and 19 respectively. There does not appear to be a father/husband in the picture and we didn’t know their story until we were finished building the home. Tina shared with us how her and Fernando rent a place in the village of Victoria, while Miguel lives on the farm where he works taking care of the cattle. The home that we built for them is on a lot that overlooks the field of that farm. Tina will have her boys together with her again. She is not a young lady anymore, so this will be a big help for her to have both boys around. They are so very thankful to God and to us for their new home. We can pray for Tina’s health as she has had some issues with high blood pressure. Tina asks that we also pray for her two boys. She was fighting back the tears as we presented her the keys to her new home. Tears from a heart filled with joy and thankfulness.
The pure look of pride on Luisa’s face as she looked into her husbands eyes will never be forgotten. Gumersindo, her husband, is 57 years old and has worked as a farmer for many years. As he gets older he finds it increasingly difficult to provide for Luisa (52) and their 8 beautiful children. The past few years Gumersindo has struggled with crippling joint pain in his arms which has taken away his ability to work as a farmer. Tears streamed down his face as he described his current situation, his family depends on him yet he finds himself physically incapable of providing. His new home has brought on a sense of hope moving forward which he is beyond grateful for. The most significant memory of the trip was the sight of him walking off into the distance, keys in hand traveling back to his new home with a grin of hope and tears of joy. Looking towards the future we can pray for Gumersindo and Luisa that his health would improve to enable him to provide for his younger children.
