Delegation: January 2016

The January, 2016 delegation consisted of 11 people from St. Stephen’s Lutheran, Lutheran Community, St. Andrew Presbyterian, Advent Lutheran and unaffiliated congregations. Lucas Grams from Lutheran Community and Pr. Karla Norton from St. Andrew Presbyterian co-led the delegation. There were 5 first time members on this delegation: Dr. Lorena Russo and Marian Langdon from St. Andrew Presbyterian, Greg Katterhagen from Advent Lutheran and Mara Rutherford and Sue Hertless from unaffiliated congregations. St. Stephen’s members included Jean Calvert and Kent Madsen. Lori Katterhagen from Advent Lutheran and Joey Amrhein (Woodland) completed the roster. In Guillermo Ungo, there was a craft project and the Scholarship Awards Ceremony where we met about 90 of our scholarship recipients, presented them with their sponsor gift bags and took their picture. We visited the community of El Pilar, a developing community southwest of San Salvador. The conditions in El Pilar remind us of what Guillermo Ungo was like 20 years ago. We held a craft project under the trees and then met with the leaders of the community to discuss ongoing projects. We met under a simple shade structure built next to one of the wells we have facilitated for the community. The land around the well was purchased this year with funds from Santa Cruz al Salvador. We also visited a Permaculture project sponsored by the Joining Hands Network, enjoyed a presentation by members of the indigenous Pipil people, visited a pottery factory and hiked to a beautiful waterfall near Sonsonate in western El Salvador.