Day 2 - San Salvador to Berlin

We are having strong winds at the moment here and it's unseasonably cool. But, it was a beautiful morning with the bluest of blue skies. We sat on the porch with coffee and the best of company. Rev. Bob Cook was also staying at the Los Pinos guest house, so we got to visit with him, also! It was great to see him in the place where he's so happy - here in El Salvador. As usual, he was arranging something for himself and for someone else who needed something and he was going to be sure that they got it and someone else heard about someone where he might be able to get it...and as usual, he lost me... But, if you know Bob, you know that he's always trying to help someone and he'll find a way to make anything and everything happen for anyone who needs it. We said our goodbyes after a refreshing fruit breakfast and left for a morning in San Salvador.

During the morning, we drove past the American Embassy, and we got a quick picture through the window of the microbus, as pics aren't allowed. We saw the place where a mudslide had happened in 2002 and Denise Core and Dave Endriss had been here right after it happened. They were able to see how it looked now, after having seen it at its very worst at that point in time. We went to the chapel where Monsignor Oscar Romero was shot and saw the modest home where he had lived before he was assassinated. We saw the war memorial and all the names and a mural where Kathy Mahler was able to give us a brief history of El Salvador. It was a very meaningful morning for all of us.

On our trip through the curvy streets of the San Salvador area, we nearly lost Blair... his stomach had had enough as were pulled into the shopping area parking lot. I won't go into details, but let's just say that we all gave him credit and thanks for his aim and Alfredo was especially pleased! There wasn't much to clean up as he literally lost his breakfast. But, he was hungry for lunch about 15 minutes later and had no problems the rest of the day!

While eating lunch we were surprised to see Bob again and Daniela and so we had to say our goodbyes all over again! It was good to see her beautiful smile that always brightens any room where she is.

We hit the small shops pretty hard nearby and got the shopping bug out of our system, as this was our one chance. Everyone was so excited to see the gringos walking from shop to shop! We bartered and changed our minds and bartered some more. But, we were done by about 1:30 p.m. and piled back into the microbus. Alfredo claimed that we'd probably not make it up any hills now, as we'd packed the microbus so full of stuff!

It was now time for us to "head home", as Kathy said. And I was excited to finally be on that route. After a couple of hours, we came to Berlin... the town that we've all heard about for years. If you've ever had a delegation come here, or ever heard anyone in the Des Moines Presbytery give a talk about El Salvador in the last decade, you've heard them talk about the Casa Pastoral in Berlin. That's where a group of wonderful human beings work and some stay while taking care of all the delegations who come to visit. It's where Kathy lives and works.

For me, well, arriving here is hard for me to put in words. In fact, when we actually sat down and met with these wonderful women and everyone had to put into words what they wanted to say to the whole group, well... I know all of you who know me will find this very hard to believe, but I had no words. I found myself literally speechless. I know that has to be extremely hard for all of you to believe, but it's the honest truth.

After hearing about this place for close to 10 years and for the past 3 years; wiring funds, sorting coffee, paying bills for flavoring, paying bills for various other things, talking to Bob on the phone and by e-mail, talking to Kathy on e-mail from here... and on and on and on... actually finding myself sitting with the people who's names I have heard about and I've talked about... well, it was so overwhelming that I found myself in a state that I'm not sure I've ever experienced.

God was in that room with all of us – I felt him so strongly – telling me to pay attention because these wonderful women who do so much every day of the year were in my presense and I should sit up and take notice. I had finally found myself in this place that I'd only heard about and it was so real... finally.

Well, I guess I should sign off now. I just really can't say any more or add anything to it. These faithful women have touched me in a way that you couldn't know unless you've actually been here. It's only Day 2 and I'm already a different person. I thank God I'm having this experience. And I look forward to the next 5 days with wonderful anticipation. I'll write more tomorrow.

– Betty