El Salvador and Tanzania both have the distinction of frequently making international news due to the ways their controversial presidents have chosen to react to the pandemic.

On one end of the spectrum, El Salvador has been in lockdown. Only one person is allowed to leave the home to go to the grocery store. Currently each day has a number assigned to it, and if that number is the last digit of your national id, you may leave the house to go to the store on that day. But if your family runs out of food on Monday and your id number day isn’t until Wednesday, your family will go without food until Wednesday. These decisions have all been made by their president, often via tweet, without support of the congress, so there is concern about El Salvador returning to authoritarianism.

Tanzania has been receiving attention because their president has been on the other end of the spectrum. Although schools and some businesses were closed, the president decreed churches and mosques must stay open since prayer was the most likely way to combat the virus. In the last few weeks, he has declared the virus to be something of a hoax brought into the country on contaminated facemasks. In addition to prayer, he has added drinking lime juice, honey and ginger as the answer to recovering from the virus. While Tanzania has not closed their borders, most of the surrounding countries have, so there are many shortages in the markets. The economy is devastated by the loss of tourism.

Like in the US, parents in both countries are struggling with childcare with schools being closed. Education has come to a stop in Tanzania due to lack of education in the communities and resources. In El Salvador, they are trying to do online school. In nearly all cases, this means the family shares the one smart phone in the house to find the school work their teacher posted on a Facebook or WhatsApp group message.

Another common issue we have heard about from both partners are concerns about getting around. In both places, people are highly dependent on public transportation. In El Salvador, there is no public transportation running. So even on your day to go to the store, a person might have no way to get to the store. In Tanzania, there is still some public transportation running. We have heard from our partners that they are personally afraid to use public transportation right now due to crowded conditions.

Ascension has been working with Pastor Julio to help with salaries for the unemployed church hardware workers. We’ve also been working with Pastora Blanca to provide a basket of basic food staples for every family in San Jorge. With documents from Ascension in hand, she was able to get special permission from the police to deliver the baskets.

We are also working with Pastor Makenge and Eliudi (the chair of their sister parish committee) for the best way for us to support the people of Samaria. They will be giving us a report at the end of May. Typically during May we do our special offerings to support school lunches, but we want to make sure we are providing them with the help that is most needed during these historic times.

Sarah Aparicio
Global Mission Team Leader

(Reprinted from the June 2020 newsletter.)

While we are struggling with the pandemic, we are living in ever-changing times and uncertainty. We don’t always know what will be happening next week, next month, or next year… we try to prepare for these times. We believe there is no doubt that God is still with us. I have been writing daily health and wellness tips and daily psalms with devotions on Ascension’s Facebook page. God’s word may bring a sense of hope and peace in these days of uncertainty.

June is here and we see trees and plants budding, birds singing, and flowers blooming. It is a wonderful time to enjoy the outdoors, do some yardwork, gardening, and just to get some fresh air and sunshine.

Additionally, many of us have the opportunity to spend more time with our families now. To see new sides to our children, as we have taken a more active role in their education, to cook our meals, and sit around tables together. Connecting with others in new ways over phones or computers.
While I tend to see the bright side of all of this, there certainly is a side of grief right now over the sudden changes in our lives. Plenty of loneliness and solitude as well particularly for those that live alone or in care facilities. However, God’s gifts surround us if we can manage to see them and embrace them. Perhaps this is a time to reset our lives, embracing that which is beautiful and letting go of that which has caused us to take things for granted.

At the end of all of this, my hope is that we will emerge from this crisis as closer to friends, families, and neighbors in spite of the distance we have all had to keep now. God’s peace, goodness and beauty be with all of you.

Brenda Lytle, RN
Director of Care Ministries

(Reprinted from the June 2020 newsletter.)

“How are you?”

It is the question I keep asking and the question I keep getting asked. And after a little more than a month of safer-at-home orders followed; I am beginning to wonder how I really am? Truthfully, I am doing better than I expected at this moment in the journey. As the world and our daily living has been reshaped by this pandemic, I am struck by the creativity and adaptability of not only my wife and children, but by my colleagues across thousands of congregations and by everyday people. It is the first time in my life where I can say with confident surprise, “Look how far we have come, without going anywhere!”

I have pondered for some time the direction of this May article. I have struggled with what is most important for me to share with you. Ascension, our faith community, is strong. Without much additional preparation, we entered a new world of worship fully online. It is of course different and difficult to lead worship in a space with no one to reflect the energy and joy of engaging in the communal act of worship. Yet, we have found the opportunity to offer authentic and genuine worship experiences to the world outside the walls of our sanctuary. Some small groups are meeting by video conference, though most of our small groups are staying connected by email, prayer requests and the old school telephone calls. Our ministries with the Hope Center, Food Bank, and Cross continue to extend God’s love into our community.

With great sacrifice and love, you tended the building after long years of deferred maintenance and that sacrifice, and love have allowed a usually filled to the brim with activities building to slow down to a trickle of staff to maintain the basics of ministry. No roof is leaking, no siding is peeling off, no HVAC is breaking down, no mice have invaded – all of which I am grateful for in this time when we are doing our very best to keep the important things – the important things. After the closing of the building – we had the building deep cleaned and disinfected by our cleaning company. After the cleaning was complete, Tamie Greenwood, administrator for Joyful Worship and Spiritual Growth, removed every pencil, paper, hymnal, and visitor pad from the sanctuary and bleach-wiped every single item. Chairs and pews were wiped down. Since that cleaning was completed, only minimal worship staff have been in the sanctuary and only two staff people have entered the building. Cloverleaf Preschool, who rents much of the Spiritual Growth Wing, continues to stay open and is limited to the Spiritual Growth Wing. We are cleaning that area twice a week. It is a different feel, to walk through the church and hear no laughter, no studying, no praying, no music. For now, the church is just a shell, waiting for you to return to bring life and joy to the space once again.

Financially, Ascension is also standing strong – thanks to your generous hearts and faithfulness. As you will read later on in our Treasurer’s article, giving in March was consistent and our electronic giving increased. I am also grateful to each of you who took the time to mail in your offering or fulfill your yearly pledge earlier in the year to tend the needs of the church. It bears repeating – that I am grateful for your faithfulness to our God and to the ministries entrusted to Ascension during these days.

I will also take time to share with you the incredible reach of our online worship services through Facebook, our website and our YouTube channel. We expected that many people would go online. We did not expect that many of you would share worship on Facebook via your own pages. We are also overwhelmed at the response to our Spanish Worship. Edwin and Sarah Aparicio have been holding their own in planning, preparing, and executing worship from start to finish with video recording as well. We received news that during this pandemic in El Salvador that many people are viewing our Spanish worship. It is an incredible gift and moment of hope that the people of Ascension provide far beyond the borders of the state of Wisconsin. We expect to continue to offer recorded worship through the entire month of May believing that even if the safer-at home order is lifted, we still may be constrained for the amount of people who will be able to gather at one time. Of course, God might surprise us. The heat might reduce the power and scope of the virus. Time will tell. At this point, Ascension’s staff and leadership are asking questions about how we will return to life, knowing that, at least for a time, life will not be as it was before the pandemic arrived at our doors. We are reflecting on questions around communion practices, sharing of the peace, passing the offering plate, greeting at the doors, coffee stations, and a multitude of other ministry items. We are seeking guidance and asking more questions.

In the world of Ascension, there are three Ps for the days ahead: Proaction, Preparation, Prevention. Those words are shaping our expected return to worship in the near future. I am grateful for Director of Care Ministries Brenda Lytle and other medical professionals within our congregation for their sage advice in these most strange days of life and ministry.

All that being said, I am also wanting to ask you to continue your prayers for those in our community who are struggling with their health or afraid to leave their homes for their ongoing health conditions that make them more susceptible to the coronavirus. We have members who own their own businesses and are afraid for their futures. Students are missing out on milestone moments including graduations from high school and college. Most importantly, as we have said for so long, social media can only offer so much to each us to connect in relationship. And so I ask for your prayers for our community as we all struggle with the loss of engaged relationships with face-to-face interactions. It will take time to both move forward in our world and process our grief at what has been lost over the past months – both in relationship and in life. In the meantime, I will invite you to remember the words I offered in the first video I posted after the Church Council voted to close the church campus to in-person activities: from John, Chapter 1, “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Those words are my never ceasing prayer and reminder as many of us are feeling more and more disconnected.

I am excited to dream about our first Sunday back in worship: to hear your voices lifted up in song; to hear us speak the words of our confession of faith together; to offer you a word of forgiveness in-person; to celebrate the gift of children running up for children’s time; to preach to a room full of faces (I will try to keep it under 18 minutes); and to join with my brothers and sisters in the celebration of communion – gathering together once again to offer promise and peace and a tangible sign of God’s love and presence in the world.

Until I can see you in church, trust that I am seeing your faces in my prayers.

Pastor Chris

(Reprinted from the May 2020 newsletter.)

El Salvador

El Salvador continues to be in a nation-wide lockdown due to the coronavirus. Schools and most businesses are closed. The agroferreterrias are closed, so those workers are without any income. Only one person per family is allowed to leave the house to go to the store; everyone else is expected to stay at home. There is a lot of fear about the virus and people who lived through the civil war are used to having to stay home and go without in order to stay safe, so there has not been much unrest about the lockdown.

The federal government has promised a one time emergency payment of $300 per family and most families in San Jorge have received their payments. Some families do not have current government ID cards, so they are still waiting for their payment. While $300 is a lot of money for most families in San Jorge, the cost of food in the local Super Selectos grocery store is the same or more than in our stores here in Wisconsin. The $300 will not go far. The municipal government is doing what it can to provide families with emergency supplies of food. As of now, the nearest case of coronavirus is in Santa Elena, about 8km from Usulután and 18km from San Jorge.

Pastor Julio and Pastora Blanca are beginning to use Facebook to share worship services and mid-week Bible study since many families have at least one smartphone. Neither one of them is familiar with technology, so their children are helping them. During this crisis, evangelical churches are loudly proclaiming that the end of times is here and people must join their church in order to be saved. These churches are beginning to grow as people continue to be afraid.

Tanzania

The good news from Tanzania is they are having sufficient rain and the crops are growing well. However, a recent report from Facebook tells us that the rains have intensified in the Meru area. On April 23, the floods destroyed over 50 homes and took two lives.

As of the writing of this article, there are 147 people in Tanzania with the coronavirus. Crowded markets and places of worship are still open, but schools and many other businesses are closed. There is no online or homeschooling. The markets have started to have some scarcity due to border closings. Their president continues to rely on prayer as the best method of preventing the spread of the virus. He has said that all worship services should continue and declared April 17-19 as days of prayer for people of all faiths against the virus. In spite of the president’s declarations, attendance is beginning to lessen at Samaria due to both fear of the virus and lack of transportation as many independent transportation operators have stopped driving people.

Pastor Makenge and other church leaders are traveling around the community, educating the members of Samaria about the coronavirus. Samaria leaders have shared concerns with us that people are not taking the virus seriously enough and worry that if the virus spreads, their country does not have the medical capacity to deal with an epidemic. Pastor Makenge has used some of the funds from Ascension to purchase hand sanitizer, handwashing stations, face masks and other medical supplies for Samaria and the other preaching points.

(Reprinted from the May 2020 newsletter.)