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El Higueral is a mountain top village in El Salvador with some 27 families living in their adobe houses. Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, Kansas has had a sister relationship with El Higueral since 1992. The village was chosen after a visit by our pastor, Holly McKissick, and a lay member of the congregation. Both Saint Andrew and El Higueral were beginning – the village was starting over after the people fled during the civil war and had now returned. Our two communities were about the same size.

From the beginning our interest has been to stand together with our sisters and brothers there in Christian solidarity. Our worship bulletin each Sunday states that “Saint Andrew Christian Church and El Higueral invite you to worship.” We regularly include Spanish-language songs in our service.

Our almost twice visits per year are intended primarily to let the Salvadorians know that they are remembered in our prayers and that we care about them. Our teams do take with them medical supplies for the one-room clinic and clothing and a financial gift that is turned over to the village council to use as it wishes. If a work project is proposed, our team joins in as fellow workers. We have recently completed a water project were every family now has running water and a solar panel project were the village can enjoy the wonders of electricity in their homes. We take on special projects like funding additional training for the schoolteacher or paying tuition for some students to get more schooling in a nearby village. Soon we will need to help 14 wonderful students continue their education.

We go primarily as learners not teachers. We learn what it means to live in hope and faith and joy in the midst of poverty. We learn to get along with less of the material possessions we claim to be required for a good life. Team members inevitably report that the experience has changed the way they view the world.

Our teams always take a translator with them and we have been blessed to have a person who has had long experience with El Salvador and who keeps in touch with them by telephone (and with us by e-mail) between visits.

We continue to believe that Christian “presence” not “presents” is the best way to relate.