Musings from the makeshift housing Tuesday June 1, 2010

With the amounts collected over the weekend, we only need to collect another $13,790.95 to make the goal!

God is good! I arrived back in Plymouth on Tuesday morning after the holiday break and looked at the housing. There had been a rather powerful thunderstorm come through the area. I feared the worst. Well, it is all dry and looks as though there was no disturbance at all. Praise God! I thought of the many rain storms I have been caught in while In El Salvador. You get wet quickly and you dry off quickly. Perhaps that is what God has in mind over the last two days.

We had a chance to speak to a young woman who was visiting a friend at OLGC over the weekend. She was from Washington, DC and is a nurse. She works part time volunteering her time in a free clinic in Washington. She said about 30% of her clients are Salvadoran. I am remained that there are three large communities in the US that have large Salvadoran populations—Washington, DC, Boston, and Los Angeles. She asked if we spoke fluent Spanish and we both looked at her and smiled. She smiled back and said I can’t speak it very well either. She also asked if we had noticed how gracious the Salvadoran people were when they said we spoke so well when we knew we really did not. She gave us a substantial donation and thanked us for helping to work with the Salvadorans in El Salvador so that they can have a future in their home country.

I reflected on the six year period that it takes to get a college degree in El Salvador. Many of these kids can’t even start college until they are in their early 20’s since they often cannot get through high school until then. I recently completed my second master’s degree and it took me 7 years after I retired from my first career to accomplish. It humbles me to see the struggle that so many of the Salvadorans have to face in trying to get an education so as to make a decent living. Education for me is actually more of a luxury rather than a necessity.

Pray for me as I will continue to pray for you.

Deacon Don