I am sitting on top of a tower on top of a roof. The sky is soft, hazy clouds in pastels of pink, blue, and yellow, slowly turn to gray as the sun sinks down below the mountains. My mind wanders as I look over the city spreading around me, watching as more and more lights blink on in the fading twilight. My mind wanders to another twilight, two and a half weeks ago.
We had traveled from San Salvador to Costa del Sol and were on a small boat – packs and all – heading across the channel to this island called Tasajera. We weren’t sure what we were getting into. We weren’t sure where our hosts lived. We weren’t prepared for how these next two weeks would shape us and change us and how our hearts would become enraptured by this island.
Upon disembarking onto a dock of shifting plastic blocks, we lugged our too large packs up a ramp to the dark brown sand we would so quickly become inseparable with. We had been told that there are three trucks on the island and that we would be able to hire one to take us to our hosts, Shane and Rebecca. As night surrounded us with its opaque embrace, we asked the first person we saw if he knew where Shane (aka “Chain”)’s place was. He didn’t know. We asked someone else. After some slight struggling with the language, we find someone who knew Shane and could drive us. After traveling since around 12:30 (on a grand fiasco through San Sal, where we swear we were led through the maze that is the bus system by an angel who rode every bus with us to make sure we got to the terminal), we were almost to our destination.
In the darkness, we could tell the island was sparsely populated but that was all. As we rode along in the back of the truck, elation welled up in my soul. I was where I was supposed to be. It was going to be an amazing two weeks.
How do I even go on from here? There are too many stories, too many things that God began to work in my soul, too many beautiful sites and beautiful people. In our time on this little island, it became a home. It became a place of peace. It became a place where we developed a little family. So before I launch into the stories, first let me tell you about this little known island.
Isla Tasajera is home to two communities. The bigger of these, Tasajera, is on the western side of the island while Colorada, where we stayed, is on the eastern. There are approximately 110 families on the island in total. The Pacific is to the south and the Rio Lempa is to the east with branches of it carving this swath of land off from the mainland on the north and west. The island is surrounded by mangroves and is one of seven tropical savannahs in the world (six months dry season, six months rainy season). The beach likens to that of Ocracoke on the outer banks of North Carolina. There is nothing built on it and you have a better chance of seeing horses or cows than people. It made me feel like I was home.
Because electricity came to the island around ten years ago, the islanders have one foot in the first world and one foot in the third (sometimes at night, you walk past people out along the only road, where service is better, on their smart phones and then past a herd of cows). Electricity is a great thing to have, however, many people struggle to find work to pay for food, much less electricity. Shane and Rebecca’s main goal on the island is to help people see what the body of Christ is like by helping people with their physical needs (you know, things we take for granted like bathrooms, roofs, sturdy supports for our houses) and to figure out how to create sustainable jobs for a people who want to work. Their heart for the people is so genuine and full of the love of Jesus.
This heart and love impacted our entire time in Colorada. One thing we hear on the Race a lot is “life is ministry and ministry is life.” During our two weeks on the island, we saw this lived out daily. It’s challenging. It’s beautiful.
The island itself is also incredibly beautiful. However, more will be coming on that in my next few blogs! Thank you to everyone for taking the time to keep up with me and read my blogs! It honestly means the world to me. Love you all!
