In a very large script the most treasured inscription in our living room guest book reads:

Visitamos esta iglesia el 2 de Octubre del 2004. Somos
Salvadoreños de Cavanas Suidad Victoria Canton Santa Marta
Comunidad Vaya Nuevo José Salomé Asencio

[Translation: We are visiting this church October 2, 2004. We
are Salvadorans from Cabanas (the name of the department),
City of Victoria, Canton of Santa Marta, Valle Nuevo
Community, José Salomé Asencio]

Salomé's message makes me feel like I am living in the last chapter of one of Paul's letters to the early Christian churches. You know how they go. Something like this: “I will visit you after passing through Macedonia. And if Timothy comes, treat him well for he is very dear to me. The churches of Asia send greetings. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.” And Paul then would continue with several other greetings and instructions before he really signed off.

Paul did not have Salomé’s gift of succinctness. I am challenged by Paul. I am encouraged, inspired, and, well, loved by my Salvadoran campesino mentor, Salomé.

Since its inception in 1994, Hope Fellowship has pursued and nurtured relationships with other communities, the people of Valle Nuevo being one of those.

At the ripe age of five months our whole community—all two families of us—jumped in a car and drove 1,000 miles to Illinois for a Saturday afternoon picnic. Once there we asked Reba Place Fellowship (Evanston) and Plow Creek Fellowship (Tskilwa in western Illinois) if we could join their two communities in their Shalom Mission Communities association.

Some of them who didn’t know us that well were a little surprised, but they all said yes. Now, 32 years later, you could say the rest is history. And to put it more powerfully, if not for our relationships with other communities, Hope Fellowship would have had a very short history.

Just a few weeks ago Allison and Ruth, members of Hope Fellowship, joined others from Reba Place (Evanston and Chicago), Jubilee Partners (Comer, Georgia) for the annual SMC coordinators meeting hosted this year by Church of the Sojourners (San Francisco). Worship, sharing and prayer about life in each of these four unique communities, plus fellowship, filled the weekend.

Despite the miles between us, our groups have banded together for mutual aid, support in times of crisis, and accountability. We have spawned several inter-community marriages, the international relationship with Valle Nuevo in El Salvador, mission projects, and even at one point a cross-country youth group.

That same weekend, about 3,000 miles south of San Francisco, David Janzen from Reba joined Nancy and me for a visit with our Salvadoran sibling, Valle Nuevo. During the 1980’s Salvadoran civil war this community of campesinos fled their patria to escape a government death squad that was in hot pursuit. In 1989, after an eight-year sojourn in Honduran refugee camps, they returned with the signing of the peace accords.

For 34 years we’ve been visiting each other, always with an agenda of accompaniment, fellowship, story-telling, celebrations, meals, and pupusas. New Habitat for Humanity homes, a water project, financial support for community-based teachers and other projects also have resulted from the relationship, but it has never been our purpose. This January visit also resulted in the planting of a seed for a second book (Compañeros being our first).

**Barbara and Joel with Luis, Paloma and others from Casa de Esperanza**

And in December Hope Fellowship sent members Barbara Bridgewater and Joel Scott to visit another sister community, Casa de Esperanza in Oaxaca, Mexico. This community was founded by a former HF member, Luis Matias-Ryan, after he along with his children returned to his hometown following his wife's death. The community of 15 meets regularly and has started in Luis’ home a peace center as a resource hub and workshop space dedicated to practices of nonviolent resistance.

We continue to imagine and discern ways of mutual support between our two communities through delegation visits and possibly a youth trip from Hope Fellowship to Oaxaca.

We dedicate 40% of our annual budget to support mission efforts and local service organizations and to help sustain our relationships with other communities. Our missions and relationships ministry team just this month sent a message to our members:

We would like to encourage people to think of how to be involved in our outside community relationships; perhaps for someone in each family to try to do at least ONE of these activities over the next 2 years. We want to encourage our youth to taste one of these events as well:

Go to Valle Nuevo with the June delegation
Attend the Nurturing Communities gathering in Kentucky in September 2026
Attend the SMC Reunion at Jubilee in Georgia in 2027
Participate in one of the SMC quarterly Zoom discussions
Visit Casa de Esperanza in Oaxaca
Participate in a larger Mennonite event (such as Nathan's attendance at the global conference last year, camping with Dallas Peace Mennonite, or attending a conference or workshop of the larger Mennonite church)

Why put forth this significant effort that takes so much of our time, energy, and financial resources? What do we gain? Well, a number of things. Humility, wonder, delight, identity, support, fellowship, mission connections, new ideas, and relationships—just to start the list.

The Holy Spirit moves across the face of the earth, birthing new Jesus communities with novel charisms in unlikely places. We in Waco have not uniquely discovered a true way to live out the gospel, rather we’ve been blessed to have been visited, here in this place, by the Spirit and to be united with others close by and in far-flung locations.

Joe is a member of Hope Fellowship in Waco and on the Steering Committee of NCN