Blogs from Western, El Salvador, Central America Caribbean - page 11

Guest blogger - Tim Lehman In preparation for our trip to El Salvador, each team member established a head (rational behavior/expectation) and heart (emotional behavior/expectation) goal. The reasons for coming on the trip varied widely, but some common themes bound the team together. Head goals: 1. Safely complete our work. 2. Opportunity for a team build with other Thrivent employees. 3. Represent Thrivent’s values of faith, family, stewardship and service. 4. Provide needy El Salvadorian families with a home. Heart goals: 1. Let Christ’s love and light shine. 2. Realize a deeper compassion for those in need - and talk action on it. 3. Fulfill a mission of my own or of someone who has passed on before me. 4. Reaffirm that we are part of a great organization. 5. Create lasting friendships with fellow Thrivent ... read more

“This is a lot harder than I expected.” We finally began work at the two build sites today, 20 minutes outside of Santa Ana. These are new sites, so we started at the beginning by digging trenches through the heavy clay soil for the foundation and tying rebar. After digging in the intense sun, rebar was a welcome break. The local children helped us get through the day - playing king of the hill in our dirt piles, sharing their treasures (Princess the rabbit and a toy guitar) and teaching us how to play marbles. Unfortunately, we are really bad at marbles. At lunch at we had a special treat. One of the children from our houses, Carlitos, wanted us to walk to school with him. In his village children can either go to school in ... read more

We got our first introduction to the family-centered culture of El Salvador at the airport. Huge crowds of extended families waited at the arrival doors. Team members felt they were stepping onto the red carpet. Grandparents, babies, cousins and neighbors warmly greeted each other - then 20 at a time - crammed into Ford Ranger size trucks and sped away. We rode a comfortable bus for two hours to Santa Ana through lush green mountains, past road-side cows and sugar cane fields. It seems to be incredibly green here because it rains several times a day. Our guide, Luis Fernando, said the heavy rains are washing away the mud, cardboard and tin shacks. Change of plans - the community center cannot be built because of the bad weather continues well past the rainy season. We will ... read more

Hello again. As the title of this here entry suggests, I decided that being as I´m in a country where surfing is pretty much the main tourist attraction, I´d give it a try. It might have given you a false impression of my ability though. Sorry about that, but I´ll get there in a bit. I did a bit more in El Salvador before I got to the beach, and I like to tell you about things in a nice chronological order. Santa Ana So when I left you last, I was in Chiquimula, Guatemala, not entirely sure whether I was going to go to Honduras or El Salvador. As you´ve guessed, I chose the latter, and headed for Santa Ana, reputedly a really nice colonial city. All lies. I really didn´t like the place at ... read more

El Tunco On the bus from Santa Rosa to San Salvador, a skinny old lady got on, with something wrapped up in her hands, and I saw a flash of claws. She had put a chicken in a plastic bag, pretty much folded it in half and was going to hold it on her lap the 4 hours. I dont know if it was her next meal or just her little mate. And this was not a chicken bus, it had AC, nice reclining seats and didnt have any funky smell. She sat right across from us and I had visions of it going mental and scratching someone´s eyes out, but the conductor came around to collect for tickets, and he was having none of the chicken. He grabbed it from her, went into the front ... read more