Our PC(USA) web page More links on how to financially support us, past letters, pages for other Mission Personnel, and lots more.

www.calledtocolombia.org
Our blog, with musings, photos, links, and other digitized thoughts on our journey.  We update this fairly often, so check in regularly, or subscribe to get notified about updates.

 

*Your continued prayers, particularly for rural farmers, as the US free trade agreement with Colombia is put into action. 

 

* Opportunities for the Reformed University to create international partnerships and engage guesst lecturers.

 

* Hopes for a calmer rainy season that there may not be such widespread displacement and devastation as occurred last year.

* Thanks to the churches in Chicago Presbytery, Blackhawk Presbytery in Illinois, Presbytery of New York City, and the Presbytery of Elizabeth in New Jersey for your invitations to share about Colombia while we were in the States in July. We remain deeply appreciative of your support and solidarity.

To Reach Us:

 

We recently had the chance to spend a week with a church that turns much of how we think of being church on its head. Instead of a mission committee, the entire congregation of Comundidad de Esperanza(Community of Hope) serves. Instead of deciding which projects to be involved in, they are involved in whatever project the members are working on. To some remarkably decent and in order folks stateside this might seem chaotic, but it works - not through rules and arm twisting to get people involved - rather through trust in one another as faithful followers of Christ in this

world.

 In one week with this congregation we:

• Visited a project for persons living on the street who are seeking a way out of homelessness and addiction and using their musical talents to develop a microenterprise.
• Visited a project on the mountainsides of Bogotá which is trying to organize displaced people (primarily Afro-Colombian single mothers) and enable them to receive appropriate services from the government as well as improve their struggling community.
• Visited the pastor of a church in one of the poorest barrios in the city serving its neighbors with a community kitchen – and thinking of how they could do more.
• Met with a non-profit group collecting data on violations of basic human rights and working for justice for the victims.
• Shared in worship, bible study, and enjoyed a women's retreat together

And in all of this, the church was present. One might ask, "Great, but how do they do anything together? It sounds like a free for all!"

What Comunidad de Esperanza has done is decide that every member will serve as an agent of diaconia (of service and justice) working with all of the above partners and organizations - wherever they are called. The church itself will be committed to one project - one effort in which all will take part. They are  founding members of an interfaith, ecumenical group calling for their neighborhood to be a territory of peace – a violence free zone – and they are working as a church to make that a reality. Their newest project is a community education effort to try and implement more peace councils around the city. In a country that has deep rooted violence like Colombia, it is a tall order. In an urban area with all the myriad of usual urban problems, it can seem a bit naive. But it is their task, their calling. And they will work for it all together.

 We have much to learn and absorb from our sisters and brothers in faith. We are constantly challenged (in a good way!) as we believe we "know the way things are," only to find that those things or those ways are often different here. As we celebrate marking two years living and working here in Colombia, we ask that you join us in thanking God for the witness of the Colombian Presbyterian Church and that you will think about your calling as a follower of Christ. How are you involved in diaconia?

 

 We continue to put new things up on the blog (though with slightly less regularity...).  Please go check us out at:

We appreciate your support, prayers, actions, and blessings as always. It is through each of you as well that we learn more about God and God's desire for this world. We give thanks for the gift of your presence in our lives as we come to the close of our second year on the ground, and we celebrate the many gifts God has given you to use for justice, kindness, and peace.  

Bendiciones~
Mamie and Richard, and of course, Nora Elena