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2001 - 2007
August, 2001: The first youth delegation
visited the Parish in Berlin, with two youths from Heartland Presbyterian
Church and two youths from Trinity Presbyterian Church, and with adult
representatives from each of those churches.
August, 2001: Tomas Antonio Ventura from
El Tablon and Jose Luis "Chepe" Guerreo from Berlin, visited the Des Moines
Presbytery to make presentations to several congregations and special
events.
September, 2001: Milagro del Carmen
Rodriguez Lopez visited the Des Moines Presbytery to make presentations to
several congregations and to participate in the Commissioning Service for
Reverend Robert Cook that designated him as Des Moines Presbytery's
Missionary to El Salvador.
October 19, 2001: Reverend Robert Cook
moved to El Salvador, as Des Moines Presbytery's designated missionary
to El Salvador and to live and
work as a member of the Parish Pastoral Team at the Parish of Saint Joseph.
October, 2001: An eight-person
delegation from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Iowa, visited
the canton of San Francisco in the Parish of Saint Joseph to investigate
possibilities for that church's participation in the relationship.
November, 2001: Drilling of a well
begins in El Tablon. It is a collaborative effort between Des Moines
Presbytery and CIS (Center for International Solidarity) from San Salvador.
Aguaviva, a non-profit drilling company, was hired to do the work.
November, 2001: Plans for the
construction of the sewing/health/community meeting house in El Tablon are
drawn and ground-breaking is planned for December, 2001 or January, 2002.
January
2002:
Don and Carmen Hampton, Trinity United
Presbyterian Church, Indianola, arrive in Berlin to spend two months
teaching English classes and to assist Reverend Robert Cook.
February 2002: Reverend Robert Cook returns
to Iowa to receive the Bishop Dingman Peace Award from Catholic Peace
Ministry, Des Moines, Iowa.
March 2002:
Karen and Wayne Martens, Trinity United Presbyterian Church, Indianola, join
Don and Carmen Hampton in Berlin. The Hamptons and Martens travel to the
cantons. It is determined that San Isidro will be the canton with which
Trinity establishes a partnership.
A group of fourteen people from
Westminster Presbyterian Church in Clarinda, IA, (Missouri River Valley
Presbytery)
visit Berlin and the cantons. The delegation was en route to
La
Concepcion, Nicaragua, where Missouri River Valley Presbytery has a partner
relationship with a group of churches.
Heartland
Presbyterian Church, Clive, Iowa, sends a six-member delegation to El
Salvador. Lisa Bock, delegation member,
trains
a group of Berlin residents to make custom, patchwork bags.
April 2002:
Lisa Bock returns to Berlin to deliver three new
sewing machines and to complete the sewing lessons.
May 2002: A
delegation from Westminster Presbyterian Church, Des Moines, travels to
Berlin. They celebrate the installation of the solar panel with the canton
San Franciso and visit the canton San Filipe.
August 2002:
Bill Fischer, Heartland
Presbyterian Church, Clive, visits Berlin and El Tablon to finalize plans
for the Community Center. He presented a "Document of Understanding" to the
Directiva and the community of El Tablon outlining the goals and
responsibilities for the project. He received support from the Directiva,
Codeco, the school teachers and other community leaders to proceed with the
project as planned.
September 2002:
Four members from Trinity United Presbyterian Church traveled in El Salvador
September 14 - 21. They spent two days and an overnight in their sister
parish, San Isidro. While there, they
distributed personal care packets to each home in the village. The packets
were donated by Trinity members. They also met with the San Isidro parish
team, the Directiva and the sewing academy. They visited the school and met
with one of the teachers.
October 2002: Linda Leedberg and Stan
Caldwell, Westminster Presbyterian, traveled to Berlin October 11 through
19. They visited the residents of San Francisco, Westminster's sister
parish, on several occasions and delivered donated musical instruments.
November 2002:
The Compañeros presbytery-wide delegation
of first-timers visited El Salvador from November 1-9, 2002. Participants
were from the Sigourney, Bedford, Dallas Center and West Des Moines
churches. They encountered El Salvador's painful history in places of
commemoration to the martyred American churchwomen, Archbishop Oscar Romero,
the six Jesuits and two women killed at the University of Central America,
and the massacred villagers of El Mozote.
January 2003:
Lisa Bock, Chicago, IL,
returned to Berlin to train additional residents how to sew Blanchard Court
Bags, an economic development project. Don and Carmen Hampton, Trinity
United Presbyterian Church, Indianola, IA, arrived in Berlin to assist in
English classes at the high school for both teachers and students. They also
spent a day in San Isidro, Trinity's sister parish.
February 2003:
An eight-member delegation from Heartland
Presbyterian traveled to Berlin and to El Tablon, their sister parish.
Heartland has partnered with El Tablon to help build four community
buildings. The delegation saw three completed buildings and the start of the
fourth. Borrowing a project idea from Trinity, the delegation delivered
personal care packages door-to-door to "from all the families of Heartland
to all the families of El Tablon."
March 2003:
A
seven-member delegation from Ankeny
Presbyterian Church, Ankeny, Iowa traveled to El Salvador
March 14 through 21. The
first-time delegation experienced Berlin
during the national and local elections. The delegation delivered
educational supplies to two marginalized schools in Berlin, visited the
coffee finca where Our Sister Parish coffee is grown and meeting with the
residents of Corozal to explore a partnership of working together to make
improvements in their community.
First Presbyterian
Church and Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Newton, spent March 22-30. The
education team
delivered 600 pounds of school
supplies and visited local schools. A medical team held four clinic days
with 150 adults and children seen per day. The construction team finished
seventy-five percent of the 1000 square foot hospitality house which is now
Reverend Cook's home. Cash donations totaling $17,300 were made to a variety
of projects during the delegation's visit.
May 2003:
Westminster, Des Moines, sent a three-person delegation from May 20-27. The
three women
walked to and photographed all 94 homes in San Francisco, their sister
parish.
They met with the Directiva of San Francisco to hear about the canton's
efforts to raise enough money to have a solar panel installed in every home
in the canton. They planted a tree near the church to symbolize the
long-term nature of this commitment between San Francisco and Westminster.
The delegation also presented them with a banner bearing signatures and best
wishes from other Westminster members.
August 2003: Heartland lead a trip with
10 first-time visitors to El Salvador. The group joined residents of El
Tablon for a day-long celebration of the completed health clinic, sewing
center, bathrooms and kitchen for their community center. They helped feed
more than 325 people on this day. The delegation also visited the cantons
of Virginia, Munosis, San Felipe, San Isidro and San Francisco.
October 2004:The
Westminster delegation completed the task begun by the previous May
delegation who had spent two- and-a-half days walking to every household in
San Francisco to take a picture of each of the 94 families that reside
throughout the sprawling canton. This delegation shared in a Celebration of
the Word with a congregation that spilled out of the packed church in San
Francisco. The following day, 92 of the 94 families joined the delegation in
another celebration us to receive their photos and a small packet of items
they could use in their household.
November 2004:
Nancy Lister-Settle and Rev. Kate Stangl accompanied six first timers from
West Des Moines Covenant, Corning, Atlantic and Dallas Center churches to El
Salvador. The purpose of the first timers' delegation is to introduce Iowans
to the history and reality of our Salvadoran partners. They learned about
the causes and horrors of the long civil war; they visited memorials and
museums; they got to know the Pastoral Team in Berlín and went to see water,
building and coffee projects in the parish; they enjoyed a beautiful day at
the beach; and they celebrated Thanksgiving and the First Sunday in Advent
with Salvadoran brothers and sisters.
December 2004:
Lois Crilly, Kent
Newman, Meredith Bruns and Erick Davidson visited Berlin and the cantons.
January 2004:
University of Iowa Wesley Foundation
Delegation
February 2004:
A 16-member delegation from
Heartland visited Berlin from February 11 through 18.
There
were 11 first- timers including three teenagers and three members from
Wakonda Christian Church. The group delivered kitchen supplies for the
Parish Team, special boots, gloves, pants and raingear for the Berlin
sanitation workers and two computers -- one for the puppeteer and one for
the on-site psychologist. These were all gifts from other church friends.
They also delivered school books, cash donations and many other items. The
group visited historical sites,
met with the Mayor, visited the women’s prison
and spent time in El Tablón meeting with the community leaders and spending
time with the residents.
May 2004:
Saint Catherine of Sienna, Des Moines.
May 2004:First
Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Newton
medical delegation.
June 2004:Saint Boniface
Catholic Church, Waukee, IA, visits.
July 2004: Kansas churches visit.
July 2004: A seven-member
delegation from Trinity United Presbyterian Church, Indianola visited from
July 17 to July 24. They visited San Isidro and their new sister parish,
Casa de Zinc.
August 2004: Gary and Diane
Badgett and Amy Bickford, from Corning, Iowa, members of Corning
Presbyterian Church, brought three portable machines from the church that
use salt to make chlorine to purify water.
September 2004:
Heartland
Presbyterian Church sent an eight-member delegation to El Salvador. They
visited the canton Las Talpetates and their sister canton, El Tablon.
September/October 2004:
A
Westminster, Des Moines, delegation
visited and delivered Bibles to their sister canton San Francisco.
November 2004:
Des Moines First sent their first
delegation. They
participated in a march to
commemorate the anniversary of the killings of the six Jesuit professors and
two women at the University of Central America on November 16, 1989.
December 2004: Lois Crilly, Des Moines,
went Berlin to visit Claudia, the young woman she is helping and to
celebrate Claudia's birthday!
January 2005:
Don Hampton,
Trinity-Indianola, traveled to Berlin to assist Rev. Cook with the
delegations visiting this month and with additional scheduling and computer
assistance.
The University of Iowa Wesley Foundation
and School of Social Work sent a delegation to Berlin. They presented a bust
of Oscar Romero to the Pastoral Team for the Casa Pastoral Chapel.
Lewis Randa, the director of the Peace Abby
near Boston, MA, presented a mold to the Divina Providencia where Monsignor
Romero lived and was martyred, one to the University of Central America
where there is a Monsignor Romero Center, and one to the Casa
Pastoral. The mold will be used for making a plate of Monsignor
Romero for the 25th anniversary of his martyrdom, which will be the 24th of
March, 2005.
A First Timers' Delegation from the Des
Moines' Presbytery arrived mid-month for a visit. There were many highlights
of the trip including visits to several schools, Virginia (the sister canton
of Dallas Center First), and visits to El Mozote and Perquin.
January/Feburary 2005:
A delegation of 14 visited Berlin between Jan. 28th and Feb. 4th 2005. The
highlight of a Heartland trip is always their visit to El Tablón. This year
was even more special because Bill Fisher and Joie Hand chose to celebrate
their 25th wedding anniversary with their friends and ‘family’ in El Tablón.
The Pastoral Team went above and beyond to make this celebration a reality!
Feburary 2005:Tim
Maxa, moderator of the Des Moines Presbytery and Jennifer Hines,
administrative assistant in the presbytery office, visited Berlin.
March 2005:
Newton First Presbyterian and Sacred Heart Catholic Church visited El
Salvador during the 25th anniversary celebration of Oscar Romero's death.
The delegation also
had clinic days in Berlin, El Tablon
(2), and San Felipe Abajo and saw just under 1000 patients. Dr. Ron Charles,
an orthopedic surgeon traveling with the group, performed a surgical procedure in
the hospital at Santiago de Maria, opening new possibilities for future
trips.
The group hand-carried 1600 pounds of medical and school supplies. They
provided school resources to four primary schools in the Berlin area
identified by the Pastoral Team.
The Saint
Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Drake students' delegation, painted a
home and purchased a stove and refrigerator for a family in Berlin.
Ankeny visited their sister canton, El Corozal. In addition to meetings, the
group visited every home in the canton.
The canton presented the group with a handmade cross for the Ankeny church.
April 2005 :The
delegation from
St. Boniface saw the distribution and use of the “Four Barrel” water
collection systems. With the rainy season beginning soon, these systems will
be put to full use quickly. The visit to every home in El Recreo was a giant step in establishing
their relationship with
the community of El Recreo.
June 2005:
A
delegation of six from Dallas
Center visited El Salvador from June 3-11, 2005. The week included
pilgrimages to the martyr sites in San Salvador and El Mozote, a day at the
beach, and visits to schools and the women’s prison in Berlín. The group
spent two days in their partner cantón of Virginia, where they went house to
house and left a gift with each family along with a photograph of one of our
Dallas Center families.
June 2005:
A 12-member
delegation from Wakonda Christian visited to El Salvador at the end of June.
Among other highlights, they traveled to Las Delicias to celebrate the new
water tank which they financed for the canton. They visited the marginalized
schools in Berlin and delivered Beanie Baby dolls for the children.
The last night we listened to medical
personnel from Provida located in Berlin.
July 2005:
Kathy Mahler,
coffee coordinator, traveled to El Salvador as a solo delegate. She, along
with her son Paul who was a summer intern, spent time teaching English in
the schools and immersing herself in the culture and language and every day
life of the Pastoral Team.
July 2005:
Topeka, Kansas
delegation
August
2005: Westminster
sent a delegation to Berlin. In addition to visiting their sister canton,
San Francisco, Sue Hotovec visited several of the locations where sewing
machines had been donated and were in use.
August 2005:
Heartland visits El Salvador and their sister canton, El Tablon.
October 2005:
St. Boniface Catholic Church went
on their third trip to
El Salvador and their sister Canton of
El Recreo. Twenty-five different members have now made the trip.
January 2006:
The University of Iowa Wesley
Foundation
January 2006:
During their trip the Compañeros delegation met with the Pastoral Team
to discuss the coffee project, the Just Light candles, Blanca’s Bags, and
the designated missionary job description. Each of the meetings was
productive and great opportunity for the respective volunteer teams to
discuss the mission face-to-face and heart to heart.
January 2006:
Newton and Sacred Heart Medical delegation.
March 2006:
Drake student delegation from St. Catherine of Siena.
April 2006:
St. Boniface, Waukee, delegation visited their sister canton, El Recreo
June 2006: St. Henry's,
Marshalltown, delegation.
June 2006:
Kathy Mahler, Don Justo Coffee Coordinator, spends nine days in Berlin
working with the Pastoral Team and coffee matters.
August 2006:
Heartland, Clive, delegation delegation visited
their sister canton El Tablon.
January
2007: Heartland travels to visit El
Tablon.
January
2007: St. Boniface delegation.
February
2007: Des Moines Westminster
delegation.
March 2007:
Newton and Sacred Heart Medical delegation
March 2007:
Ankeny delegation
April 2007:
Newton First delegation
May 2007:
Wakonda Christian delegation
June 2007:
Heartland delegation
August
2007: St. Boniface delegation
October
2007:
St. Catherine's delegation
January 2008: St. Catherine's delegation
January 2008: Compañeros delegation
February 2008: St. Boniface delegation
March
2008: Newton Medical delegation
April: 2008 Westminster delegation
June
2008: Des Moines Central delegation
July2008: Heartland delegation
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