“They Were Your Family”: Church Social Activities and Community Building among Salvadoran and Guatemalan Latter-day Saints, 1960s–1980s

During the late 1960s and the 1970s, the Latter-day Saints of San Miguel, El Salvador, organized at least four or five group trips to the small coastal town of El Tamarindo, located in the southeastern part of the country. Around thirty people would pile into two pickup trucks and head for the beach. Their branch president, Pedro Flores, who had grown up near this fishing village, would sail out in a relative's boat and catch fish for the group with his “atarraya” (a fishing net). His two counselors in the presidency did not know how to fish, but they would still go out in the boat with him, helping pull fish out of the net and load them into buckets of water. Meanwhile, the other church members had made a cooking fire at the nearby house of Pedro's nephew, Miguel. The group gutted the fish, cut slits into them, pressed salt into the openings, and used pans and oil brought from home to fry and eat the fresh fish with tortillas. Pedro had also brought along loudspeakers and, while they ate, they listened to a cassette tape of Mormon Tabernacle Choir music. They would spend a lot of the day there. Some would sit and talk, while others would swim in the ocean. Pedro remembers that his mom (who lived in the town) was taken aback to see him come to the beach with such a large group of friends—almost all the branch would come along on these activities.1These were moments of joy for the San Miguel Latter-day Saints, through which they strengthened their relationships with one another. These branch beach trips are just one example of the many different kinds of social activities that were organized by Latter-day Saint congregations in Guatemala and El Salvador during the second half of the twentieth century. Church social events mattered to them. Yes, they let people have fun, but they also did much more than that. These activities and meetings created community. They created spiritual family. They cemented those church members in their religious identity and community, and also brought new people into that religious community and identity. Thus, social life and social activities were central elements of the Guatemalan and Salvadoran Latter-day Saint experience.2This paper is a social history that studies the processes through which religious community and identity are developed and sustained. Rather than a “top-down” history focusing on the organizational history of the Church and its demographic growth, this is a “bottom-up” history of how everyday Latin American Latter-day Saints created religious community.3 This research is predominantly based on oral histories collected from Salvadoran and Guatemalan Latter-day Saints, who serve as a case study for wider processes of community formation taking place in Latin America.4Specifically, this paper describes and analyzes Latter-day Saint social life in Guatemala and El Salvador from the 1960s to the 1980s.5 I begin by acknowledging how the choice to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could sometimes mean the end of participation in past communities. I then analyze the new community that these people would join and help create as Latter-day Saints. I outline some of the main church social events that Salvadoran and Guatemalan Latter-day Saints participated in, discuss benefits that they received from these activities (most importantly a vibrant sense of community), differentiate U.S. Latter-day Saint community from Guatemalan and Salvadoran Latter-day Saint community, acknowledge how community events could bind participants closer to their Latter-day Saint identity and faith, and discuss some ways in which community formation was impacted by the churchwide correlation project of the twentieth century.The choice to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was often a significant life decision that precipitated many changes in a person's life. One such change that some Latter-day Saint converts experienced was the loss of certain friendships and community connections. For example, Violeta López Escobar of western Guatemala was deeply connected to her Catholic community prior to her Latter-day Saint baptism. She sang in her church choir, and the people she relied upon to help her in life were tied to the Catholic Church. After starting to receive lessons from Latter-day Saint missionaries, she felt that they were teaching her “cosas muy importantes” (very important things) that could benefit her children. Nevertheless, even though Violeta was the first in the family to be taught by the missionaries, her husband Felicito was baptized before she was. In fact, three years passed after her husband's baptism before she finally decided to be baptized herself.6 Perhaps this wait was partly due to the difficulty of leaving the relationships and community she enjoyed within the Catholic Church.Of course, there were other converts who did not feel they had experienced meaningful religious community prior to becoming Latter-day Saints. For example, when José Armando Ventura Benavidez said he wanted to be baptized as a Latter-day Saint, his mother objected that he was leaving the Catholic Church, the church of their ancestors. He then countered by asking her how often the cura (Catholic priest) had cared enough to visit and interview her. From José’s perspective, the family's experience with interpersonal connection and priestly ministration within the Catholic Church had been lacking.7 Thus, some new converts struggled with leaving behind a cherished past religious community, while others did not feel that their past faith had offered them much of a community at all.8Along with leaving past religious community, Latter-day Saint conversion could also sever connection to other forms of community. Before his baptism, Carlos René Romero of El Salvador played in a “trío” (a popular type of musical performing group in twentieth-century Latin America). However, he felt that being part of the “trío” had negatively influenced him to take on bad habits, like drinking and smoking (practices that were not in accordance with his new Latter-day Saint beliefs). So, after his baptism, he told his members that they to he would be leaving the He from these and this in to to his new Latter-day Saint conversion could sometimes people from community and this new church also them a new community. Church social activities played a in and that Latter-day Saint community much of the second half of the twentieth century. were a of activities and events to in, all meetings for the and for were in the late or they had a certain day of the the to and, on the would could take part in and were also group and important church in was in the U.S. as a for Latter-day Saints, the from the which was the of the in of as a in often as for the in the of a to a years In San Miguel, El Salvador, for for and for after which to group American sometimes these is that these in and is is that was in for to be for of all to the deeply of a important for community important of church activities is that they could Guatemalan and Salvadoran Latter-day Saints that was in everyday life. remembers her Flores, to they that were to in their One they how to some of like (a Salvadoran or She that they also how to for and These were taught by from the also along to these meetings and in on the lessons and remembers to the that the were She that they also how to the that was after the They into in their their from The to and them with a of when they passed through of of when they could not This is one that Guatemalan and Salvadoran Latter-day Saints could life through their participation in church activities could also sometimes be a to new and of El Salvador, taking part in a church or The was by in one of the church part of this was more and and, years she still remembers a they a in They could also sometimes more other from the of their For example, remembers on a church a Latter-day Saint from a with and a for be Guatemalan and Salvadoran Latter-day Saints were also to certain elements of U.S. through their with U.S. For example, the in San Miguel, El Salvador, the church members there to as they of the San Miguel Latter-day Saints the on a and a remembers that this was was not a that was in El least some San Miguel Latter-day Saints this new but was the U.S. who were For this when U.S. were from the at the of the Salvadoran the of with are all ways in which participation at church activities could be to other These social could also them other new In her Guatemalan community, remembers that the would with the church members and them She a to the before the out and the were a They also played musical as as the also that the had a that they would to project a These were church the or She that and wanted to to these and these with the missionaries, all these activities were new to The to new and was and a to church many church social also important in people that there was Salvadoran at his that family would to to church and she remembers the many that they in her Guatemalan church activities were on like church for or remembers a cooking that she the near El Salvador, part and made and a made (a Salvadoran which up the Guatemala and El Salvador, Latter-day Saints with their congregations to and with one another. These join people and were deeply into the of many Salvadoran and Guatemalan Latter-day with also important of social In San Miguel, El Salvador, a group the played at church popular of Latter-day Saints, they and of and Latin by was also a church in the branch a lot like the and his members that he at church would and Latin at In a coastal Guatemalan community El Latter-day Saint activities Guatemalan in which church members to Guatemalan or not just American or made into church branch Pedro of San Miguel, El Salvador, would Tabernacle Choir religious at church Some years in the late many of the in San Miguel from the U.S. and a that sang in to at a church would be in twentieth-century these American Latter-day Saints had musical to popular Latin and U.S. in their However, all of this the of helping them have a and with one were a of branch I have the trips that San Miguel Latter-day Saints to the coastal town of El Tamarindo, El for San Miguel congregations was a with just San the the of San Miguel had for group had been in El Salvador in and at least the the Church in San Miguel, like many Latter-day Saint congregations in the had the of a branch Pedro was their one they on the of a who had in the For they to the of the smoking that the of San Miguel. or who though the was for they of the had a and was to take and analyze the and they along the like and the end of this would a on they had a they the who part in these activities as a fire and out of the and that like They had some activities up there and also some the and of the sang told and spiritual remembers that the was a lot of and was a experience that the were important part of church social life for the from San Miguel said that was the popular the in was the popular Latter-day Saint the first San Miguel was in the 1970s, had in the and the to there. They would have and other as as Saint remembers that the a that played other while the a that played said that she and two of her played on the and would out to nearby like and to in Saint She that when one group of would go the other would go along to remembers that one of their was He said that this in the community and that who were not church members would up at the church just to also played important in and church remembers that part of a church that was in San Salvador, El Salvador, and when she and other Salvadoran to Guatemala for a In fact, of one of the main he remembers from a group to the was that he had in a church with the other American people I who had been during the how much they had during church activities and they had made music. These are just some of the many of activities that could be at a Salvadoran or Guatemalan Latter-day Saint church in the 1960s and the for that Latter-day Saints in did not have to not go to the was offered American church members of all these activities and a lot of their with their and from that were at the remembers that the Church be part of life the be this this there or some or a She the Church was a part of life and that was social they much American Latter-day Saints to one another. that through participation in she and her Latter-day Saints in San Miguel as a church and that sense of being one family all that was a lot of for other in the and would know they were one of that her small Guatemalan felt (very felt that they were with and that people received a lot of from their religious were different ways in which this could be remembers that church to them, or they were go from them to that branch members would of their or to serve church members who were in remembers that after the church meetings in San Miguel, the and would into to visit the of those who did not that would a small for the who had not made to like a a or a (a type of for she did not to church and was by her branch She she could that they were not to or but out of for her. She felt by her Latter-day Saints and she that she did not she would be by the the the and the that could be in Latter-day Saint many Latter-day Saint community in Guatemala and El Salvador in the second half of the twentieth was to Latter-day Saint community in the western during this After the for Latter-day Saint and activities like church and had been in the U.S. the the of church and then into in when the Church was there. This would in many western U.S. and American Latter-day Saint church and social there were also certain ways in which the of church community in these was from its U.S. One significant from the in the in these two Latter-day Saints had played a significant in of the of much of and a during the late twentieth Latter-day Saints were a and group much of this the of the in like and southeastern In Latter-day Saint were and starting to converts in the and of Guatemala and El Salvador during the twentieth in to the and sometimes demographic in the U.S. was a and often religious group in Guatemala and El Salvador during this who the Church in these at that the of leaving the Catholic Church and a church that was by many as This was significant the of in which many Latin were more and of the and its in Latin was the activities of the to the of in the the in Latin American the of the In for example, the a in Guatemala that This and other U.S. many Latin who felt their to the had Latin American and had the and of the this in Latin that was to have U.S. could be of being a of the and the U.S. in their activities in the This with or U.S. which Latter-day Saints as as other like and there was a popular that the U.S. the was the of these new in to pull Latin from the Catholic of that many and the more U.S. in to that the Salvadoran and Guatemalan Latter-day as members of a church was important their religious community and The that people their religious and many those and would have these American Latter-day Saints to closer to and spend more of their with those who did their and with their they would be to receive in their new and feel a sense of I that this Guatemalan and Salvadoran Latter-day Saints to be even more to community than were Latter-day Saints in the (who did not the as their American that made Guatemalan and Salvadoran congregations from many U.S. Latter-day Saint congregations (most of which were and of people of is the and interpersonal In her on Latter-day Saint congregations in the some U.S. Latter-day Saints and their of and These Latin American members that one is the of that place at They Latter-day Saints as at the church before the and leaving when In Latin American Latter-day Saints to and before and after the For example, in the of members would spend at then for three that this is a of the U.S. and Latin For example, that are and like to take of and He that this be by as and he that this is not the of is for Latin American Latter-day Saints to people in the U.S. church as they not see people in the U.S. as or One of the American Latter-day Saints I up in San Miguel, El Salvador, and in the U.S. people in El Salvador to people in the she as more and people in the U.S. as more that when are they visit when are Guatemalan Latter-day Saint in the U.S. U.S. church members that they to of the to which the is in I that U.S. and Latin American in I that U.S. often and while Latin American to community and I that the Latin American and interpersonal Latin American congregations as those in Guatemala and El congregations when to vibrant and meaningful religious community. This is in which American Latter-day Saint community was as significant U.S. Latter-day Saint community and Guatemalan and Salvadoran Latter-day Saint is that was the was a to a years these activities were for they to bind people of all closer as a significant of Latter-day Saint community with and Latter-day Saint community, church activities also often to bind participants closer to their Latter-day Saint identity and their to their of San Miguel, El Salvador, remembers that even a like the of She that these are to have fun, but at the to spiritual She that she and others up with this of the Church activities at the spiritual them to their that the of the Church were She that the to the Church from these activities was important in many Latter-day Saint in her to of Guatemala that participation in the and activities did a lot to her religious and to all of her as as church activities could to the faith those who were Latter-day Saints, these activities were also a of new people to the Church. remembers that the first that him to the Church was first with the Church she was in the activities that were offered there. She and her four and was after three of to activities that they that some of her Saint who had come along on the up the up to join the Thus, in the social and activities could to a religious in the activities in Guatemala and El Salvador were often for in the not just for the as in the However, with was that the in to be in accordance with church as in the This of in Guatemala and El Salvador, taking in some before did in For example, in Guatemala was made a or in remembers that this did not in San Miguel, El Salvador, the remembers that this was a change for her. had been her first to church when she was the Church, and her experience at had her to to meetings as The to while she was as a in the American from to In her she that when she from that a go to she was to in the activities of a church However, of the she had before her were by the she not leaving many people for her to with when to the of people she would have with at activities the This the sense of connection to community that she felt in her Guatemala of her connection to the church community was by the that her had a new who did not know her as and often her with her She was also to to changes in her her had during her her had for to and had in the Church. remembers that this was (a for to come from her and that much was and she in the just as the loss of a sense of community her from the Church, community connection her Latter-day Saint would come by her house to her to church a a not to go to in the She that at this she as Latter-day Saint, the loss of for and the community deeply impacted is that there were others who were did not their in the that was the when for the in San Miguel, El He the change when to them. how the change impacted the San Miguel Latter-day Saints, he said were by but there were many other at that of the of the Salvadoran a significant in Church due to the did not as large of as have However, even years after the fact, a church in San Miguel the loss of the activities that were for remembers the of years with the was a the change from a for to a for the had a significant on Guatemalan and Salvadoran Latter-day Saints. had as important of community and American Latter-day Saints were by its to church was part of a twentieth-century churchwide in correlation to or and church and the Church. to church past that and many church and the central of the and the of the significant for the project of correlation was the difficulty of and the of church that was during the twentieth century. that correlation in this for to a He that important in which correlation the church was through that in other as they to the church in their was in Guatemala and El to correlation and its and Salvadoran and Guatemalan congregations did not have to their church from They had a for their and the for their of vibrant religious community. The that enjoyed in El Salvador, and the in San Miguel, El Salvador, were also of The that did in helping religious and social life to be in not be one of the of the in church was the loss of some activities and like which were meaningful and to Guatemalan and Salvadoran have that at the of a certain of In the there were also some of a in all church change that brought benefits and to American Latter-day Saints was the of the which brought and some into a of at least some of the of the be to From to and his as the of the Guatemala that some Latter-day Saints in the Guatemalan lived from the church and had to to For example, one had to to to the The and of these Guatemalan Latter-day Saints the to that would church for those who lived that they in a The of and at the then by was by the church in the was for Guatemalan people and them to take part in more of the meetings of the Church. However, the that was for one group of American Latter-day Saints was not as for another. remembers that important the Church was such a significant part of her life was had to go during the to meetings on would be part of life the the people of the western Guatemalan did not for Latter-day Saints in like San Miguel, El Salvador, to to the church The that they at the Church the them more with their and made their community However, through the changes of as for and also of their meetings they had many during the to with their Latter-day Saints. This important of religious community in of Guatemala and El the that religious community are still important to the Latter-day Saints in his of San Miguel, El However, the of that community members in the 1960s and 1970s, the San Miguel Latter-day Saints would they were and take part in church activities the branch they were being on a or a In that church in San Miguel to during the church members often is to come on and that the be to a Thus, in that social the church activities have just one of elements in their social that this of church social life is at least a of the in the and of many church is that when activities church members their with other and events of their religious community. that have up to the that is to during the at The have passed when the Church community was of life the when could that Church was social changes have come to the church community through the of Latter-day Saint church in church congregations were often small during the of the Church in the they have grown is much for the branch to for like the beach to El In some could be said that these the of their as they is often to to the of interpersonal that in church many of those who were a part of the church congregations of past still to feel a sense of community connection to one In the case of the Latter-day Saints of San Miguel, El Salvador, many of those who were part of the Church during the 1970s, and to feel a sense of connection to their church In of the that many San Miguel Latter-day Saints to the and during the Salvadoran a lot of them still to in with other the years some San Miguel church members a group of San through which they could in and of past and other of the of church The of San Miguel Latter-day Saints to connected to one that the social they even many years that some of the people she many years through church activities in San Miguel are still her and that they still those that they had of this the and of the religious community and identity that American Latter-day Saints in the late twentieth much of the 1970s, and Latter-day Saint congregations in Guatemala and El Salvador were to social and a vibrant sense of community through Church social For their more than just or even family. In the they a religious community and identity that was connected to Latter-day Saint community and identity in the also had its that was with of the American Latter-day Saint this to to the of The of Latter-day Saint that with the of studies have to on church in the and such as research on this However, there been to Latter-day Saint activities in Latin I have in this American Latter-day Saint activities had and spiritual on in El Salvador and a of the Latter-day Saint experience in that these activities often in ways from Latter-day Saint in the through the deeply of these which the is to study American Latter-day Saint activities their U.S. also to of the of Latter-day Saint acknowledging the important of church American Latter-day Saints, I have also the of other forms of church such as trips to the beach. on other of the is to and of the and of Latter-day Saint