Kate Joslin, a friend from California, writes about San Jose El Naranjo
Leaving the hustle and bustle of San Salvador in the rearview mirror, our jeep bounced along roads to the rural town of San Jose El Naranjo. The sights were common for my companions but pigs roaming the streets and old men strolling with machetes in hand were not something I was accustomed to in California. During my two-week visit to El Salvador, I was blessed with the unique privilege of visiting a local church ENLACE has been building a relationship with and training for the past five years. 
Upon arriving at the Jerusalem Church, sparks flew as many teenagers welded iron bars together. Pastor Marco Antonio Melara informed me these teenagers were part of a vocational training program launched in November 2006. With twenty-seven local students enrolled, I assumed this was one of the many projects ENLACE helped organize. How surprised I was to learn that ENLACE had no direct role in the initiative, but that the Jerusalem Church had designed it on their own. Resources were pulled from within the church and contact was even made for government funding through the Mayor’s office and Ministry of Education. Instructor Elio Adonai Moran Lopez explained the reason for his involvement with the students, “I’m doing all that I can so that later they can fend for themselves.” This training program, complete with a certificate of completion, will help young men learn a skill they may potentially use in the workforce.
The ENLACE workers and I were greatly encouraged to see the Jerusalem Church reaching out to their local community. Pastor Marco explained, “as a church we have the responsibility and a mandate from God to help people however we can.” I felt very fortunate to be able to witness firsthand the fruit of ENLACE’s ministry. This church was applying the training provided by Enlace to serve their community in new ways.
As we left San Jose El Naranjo my thoughts drifted back to the buzz of the welding torch. The love the Jerusalem Church displayed toward those in their community was clearly evident. These were believers in the same God I worshipped and yet they were doing so much with the little they had. I was greatly challenged to serve those around me in California with the same unselfish and focused commitment. As a Christian, I say I believe a lot of things. But if my life is not radically different because of God’s transforming grace, then what do I really believe? My actions either confirm or deny the words that come out of my mouth.
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” Matthew 25:44-45
-Kate Joslin
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