It has been a tremendous first 10 days in El Salvador. I have received nothing but open arms and incredible hospitality. Earlier this week, a pastor whom I have yet to meet composed this poem in honor of my arrival. Although still a stranger, his words express perfectly the warm welcome I have received in the land of volcanoes and poets.





Missionary and Friend

Sent by higher powers and plans
To work with those of mixed Indian and Spanish blood
Welcome to this part of America
Because of love you are not a foreigner
Even though you come like the migrating birds

Blood and language will be neither barriers nor borders
If we work under the same banner
Speaking the universal language of love
With much passion and fervor we will build a paradise together

We must walk slowly and in unity because we are always in a hurry
Building a Kingdom, a utopia of laughter and tears
Welcome to this country of many virtues and contradictions
Of eternal struggle and unending nights in wait of liberation

Like Queen Esther we say, “perhaps you have arrived here ‘for such a time as this’”
When the guillotine of hunger and poverty leave us in a frenzy of fear,
Your friendship, your smile, your hands, your voice, will be valuable instruments
In a rainbow of churches at advancing and falling in search of victory

I am not a poet nor author, but these verses I send with love
For a friend, a colleague, and missionary serving with passion
The present will be our best ally in each moment of life
Because ours is today and in every difficulty there will be a way out

J. Ramón Ramírez A.
Metapán, El Salvador Aug 7, 2009