Walking With El Salvador

Sonia patted the bed. "Join me," she said, with a gesture because words were too hard. She knew. I knew. It would be our last time together, for a while. We snuggled up like little girls, whispering final secrets, feeling each other's warmth.  Sonia spoke softly, "There's so much more to do." She worried about the Sunday School children, her little store, the women's groups in Tonaca, the new health center at the church, all the children she watched out for on her pasaje, and el taller . El taller -   the workshop  is the short name everyone uses to refer to the Days for Girls Women's Project in Los Héroes. Sonia was the heart, the motivator, the trained educator, and the business manager for the project. Most importantly, she believed in the rights of girls and boys to have access to accurate education about their bodies and was committed to giving girls what they need to feel confident and prepared for menstruation. "We will keep your work goi...

When I was growing up, our Lutheran church celebrated Maundy Thursday (or Holy Thursday) with a focus on the Last Supper, and fifth graders received their first communion. Our kids remember Maundy Thursday as the night when Pastor Dave closed the Bible with a loud slam. The altar was stripped and we walked out in silence. For several years, our Milwaukee Church did something we called Family Camp during Holy Week, which included worship, art and outdoor activities instead of traditional worship on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. A Holy Week tradition for families in the Lutheran Church in Los Héroes is to gather at the church on Holy Thursday for an informal devotional with singing, scripture reading and the lavatorio de pies - foot washing. Folks sit in a big circle, and the pastors wash everyone's feet in the same way that Jesus washed his disciples' feet during the Last Supper. In our relationship as sister churches, we have a catch-phrase: better together. One way in which w...

During the third week of January, students began the 2025 academic year. After the kids were settled in school, the Los Héroes Women's Project got things organized and started producing this year's batch of   Days for Girls kits.    It didn't take long for school directors and community leaders to start sending invitations to Pastor Sonia, the Los Héroes Women's Project coordinator, to come and lead education sessions and distribute the menstruation kits to girls who need them. If girls don't have access to hygiene products, they cannot attend classes. Teachers and directors recognize this need. School staff are interested in learning about the kits themselves so they can promote their use. Over the past 9 years, it has been most common for teachers and community leaders to gather groups of women and girls, not men and boys, to participate in the menstruation education classes. Guys were never specifically excluded, but they were not typically included in the target...

Twenty-five years ago, our nurse practitioner did pelvic exams and pap smears for women in our Salvadoran sister community. She brought glass slides, used hairspray as fixative and somehow got those test results back to the women. She diagnosed many infections. We brought medications for that. It was a bold move for one of our first activities as sister churches together.  Girls in a remote community learning about their bodies, 2024 Helping women and girls to learn about their bodies, to listen to their bodies, to have agency over their bodies, and to have access to what they need to care for their bodies: this has been a  twenty-five year ministry of our churches working together. Twenty-five years of making  steady steps and bold moves  together. In many families, frank talks about sex, reproductive health and menstruation are open and honest. In other families, these conversations include misinformation or don't happen at all. Through the years of doing Missions ...

I received a quick email message a few moments ago from a new friend from St. John's Lutheran Church who traveled to El Salvador for the first time earlier this month. She asked, "How did the partnership begin?"  "Can I call you?' I texted. But then I gave it a little thought. Have I actually written down the origin story of our sister church* partnership? I searched my blog, and I did not find a story. It seems perhaps is it one of those twisty-turny tales that lives in the oral tradition of the few of us who are old enough to be originals. It might be easier to call, but I think it is time to write. I messaged my friend to watch for a link. Where to begin... The year was 1995. I had recently joined the church staff at St. John's ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) in Brookfield, Wisconsin as the Parish Education Coordinator for babies through adults. One of my responsibilities was to plan the programming and train the staff for Sunday School. I le...