Kristi Van Nostran, Presbyterian missionary affiliated with the “Joining Hands Network” in San Salvador, El Salvador, gave a presentation at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Aptos Sunday evening, June 2 to Church members as well as a contingent from their neighboring church, Christ Lutheran Church of Aptos.
Kristi told us about her father being a pastor in North Portland, Oregon, and her desire from a very young age to be a missionary in a far-off land. She started her work in Guatemala in 2005, and is now helping to build bridges of solidarity between churches in the United States and a network of churches, grassroots groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in El Salvador.
Kristi told how one in three children under the age of five in El Salvador is malnourished. Her group is working in grassroots efforts to find solutions to the problem of hunger. At one meeting, people remembered that their grandparents made use of the “ojusthe” nut, which was able to feed them through the whole winter. They now are cultivating these trees, which is helping to alleviate hunger.
The goal is to cultivate consciousness at the local and national level ensuring that water and other resources are used appropriately. She quoted Monsignor Oscar Romero, who was murdered in 1980 in the civil war; “God needs the people themselves to save the world.”
The congregations of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Santa Cruz and St. Andrew Presbyterian in Aptos are partnering in the “Living Waters” program which brings water purification systems, to El Salvador. Christ Lutheran Church, along with several other local member churches in Santa Cruz al Salvador, is sponsoring “Prayer Children” for whom they pray and provide money to buy clothes, textbooks and shoes, very expensive items for parents in third-world countries. Christ Lutheran Church of Aptos also supports Santa Cruz al Salvador that sends a medical mission trip each year. Volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses, and other people travel to the community of Guillermo Ungo, Suchitoto in El Salvador to help improve the health and lives of people there. Since 1994, they have collected over $200,000 for medical and scholarship support.
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For information on Joining Hands Network, please go to: https://gamc.pcusa.org/donate/E200479 • For information on Santa Cruz al Salvador, please go to: www.santacruzalsalvador.org.