Jason
Fisher – 4 Aug 2016
(Photos coming later.)
Leg 2 of my summer whirlwind tour has
begun. After spending a week in the Quad
cities for Leadership Lab with 400 of my closest Lutheran friends, I was able
to get back home to see my wife, Samantha, and our boys for a few hours before
leaving for El Salvador. My parents were kind enough to drive me to the
airport in Bloomington, IL, at 3:15 a.m. so that I could meet up with Nathan Hack (grandson of Jim)
Atlanta and then join the rest of our group in Ahuachapan.
After arriving to our hotel, Nathan and I were
greeted with a plate of fresh fruit as a snack to tide us over until the group
got back from their trip to the coffee plantation and Mayan ruins. It was so good to see our whole group
gathered together excited for the work that lay ahead of us. We are able to see people in the square
across from where we are eating and I fell asleep listening to children playing
in the alley by our window.
God always provides for us on these trips
and it has been amazing to see the Lord come through on the weather. Each night when I go to sleep my weather app
says we are going to have 100% chance of rain all day long. We wake up each day and work all day long
with little more than a sprinkle. One of
my greatest fears was that we would travel all this way and not get to do any
work during their rainy season.
The first day was mostly shoveling and
moving dirt, then replacing it with better dirt to be tamped down and made
level for the rebar. Day 2 was spent
moving cinder block from one pile to tinier piles inside the footprint of the
house. Day 3 was concrete mixing,
making, and pouring, with day 4 being to have the masons put brick in place,
and we followed with the mortar. I love how
we get excited to do lots of work and Douglas (Habitat assistant to Francis)
has to slow us down. Instead of saying “Cool
your jets,” he says, “Calm down your Tiger.” He is so much fun!
I love learning about subtle differences
in our cultures, traditions, or expressions.
Our Habitat guide Douglas was talking to us about the claw machine game. You know - the one you see at Steak & Shake
or carnivals where you put money in and move the claw to try and grab a toy. Inevitably you spend way more trying to win
the toy than the toy actually costs. Douglas
explained that in El Salvador that game is called “Mano de Diablo,” or “Hand of
the Devil!” Apparently in their culture parents were not excited about kids
getting caught up in spending so much money on toys and actually petitioned to
not have toy vending machines brought into the country from Japan.
We have had the chance to visit an ice
cream shop and were shocked that for 10 people to all get ice cream cones it
only cost $12. A 2-scoop cone was $1.40,
but we also recall that the ladies at the coffee plantation make $4.25 per day.
One of these ice cream shops had toy
vending machines from Japan and it cost $2 to get a toy! I was shocked because so many families here
only make $4-$5 per day and even in the states you rarely find vending machines
this expensive.
I had the group each write down 5 songs
they would love to hear at the work site the next day. I then made a playlist with the groups
greatest hits and it was fun seeing everyone’s reactions to the songs and
figuring out who chose what song. Through
work, games, and meals we continue to grow closer as a group and learn more
about one another. I am honored to work
alongside all the amazing people from Good Shepherd and the Salvadoran people.
“And the God of all grace, who called you
to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will
himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.” – 1 Peter 5:10.
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