El Salvador: Day 5 - "Romero + FUNDE + Shicali"

Today is Tuesday, July 23rd, and this as our first full day in San Salvador, and we first went to the National Cathedral where Monsignor Romero has been laid to rest in 1980 (with the park across the street that was a site of a massacre by the US-supported army in 1977): 

(this is Elba, our guide):

And here is the Parque Libertidad, the site of another violently repressed protest in 1979, and the beautiful and interesting Catholic Church across the street where the protestors sought refuge for 3 days and 21 injured people succumbed to their injuries:

The Hospitalito, where Monsignor Romero was assassinated by a sniper from the death squads trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA on March 24, 1980.  I am keeping photos of the inside for myself, because this is truly holy ground in my mind (not because Oscar Romero should be deified, but because it symbolizes faithfulness to its fullest extent, come what may):

After our lunch at a local Salvadoran Restaurant (Nelly's), we met with folks at an organization called FUNDE that works on economic and social development here), and then we went to Shicali (a pottery cooperative for people with disabilities to sell beautiful pottery in a fair-trade manner:

All in all, it is a pretty busy, full, rich and impactful day.  We are all processing the best we can, but also trying to remain open to the nudges of the Holy Spirit that call us forth to live faithfully, and not primarily concerned with our own comfort.  We'll see how God continues to work with all that we encounter, this week and beyond.

Paz, 

Gregg (or if you're in El Paisnal, it is "Pastor Gregorio!")