Mission

From: Karla Koll [kakjtb@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 6:08 PM
To: Karla Koll
Subject: July prayer letter

Dear sisters and brothers,

The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is now a reality. It was great to be in Grand Rapids for the Uniting General Council with sisters and brothers from around the world. My interpretation and translation work as part of the language services team kept me very busy. My next newsletter will share more about the WCRC.

I returned to Guatemala on June 26 in the middle of the rains provoked by Tropical Storm Alex before it became a hurricane. The rains continued for several more days, adding to the damage caused earlier by Tropical Storm Agatha. Several thousand more people lost their homes in new flooding. This June was one of the wettest months in recent history. Since the first of July, the weather patterns have been closer to what is normal during the rainy season, a brief period of sun in the morning followed by rains in the afternoon and at night. Yet many rivers are still above flood stage and the soil in many places is supersaturated.

My husband and daughter, Javier and Tamara, together with Yecenia, the medical student who helps in our home, took off for Nicaragua yesterday. The dogs and cats are doing their best to keep me company, but the house still feels lonely. They are planning to be in Nicaragua just over two weeks. Among other things, Tamara will be visiting her grandfather José and getting a new Nicaraguan passport. I hope to be able to use the time while they are gone productively.

The new semester begins at CEDEPCA tomorrow, July 5. There have been some changes at CEDEPCA. Veronica Perez has been let go from her position as coordinator of the Biblical and Theological Training program. I don’t know yet exactly what this will mean for me, but I imagine I will assume some responsibility for the academic direction of the program for the coming months.  I’ll know much more once I get to the office tomorrow. We will be evaluating how we might respond more effectively to church folks who are seeking to gain skills they need to meet the challenges of being faithful in this difficult context. We ask for your prayers as we discern where God is leading this program.

I also ask your prayers for Veronica Perez in this very difficult time for her and her family.

I will be spending more time in the CEDEPCA office in Guatemala City than I have usually done during the rainy season. Parts of the Interamerican Highway between Quetzaltenango and the capital have been damaged by the recent rains. The high degree of moisture in the soil means that landslides are likely. For the time being, I will be traveling every week by bus rather than by car. Please keep my travels in your prayers.

As I write, the General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is meeting in Minneapolis. Among other business, the GA will vote on the mission budget for the next two years and the new strategic direction that has been developed by World Mission. Fifteen new mission co-workers will be commissioned in a service on July 8. Among them is Kristi Van Nostran, who will be going to El Salvador to work with the Joining Hands against Hunger program. Several years ago, Kristi served with CEDEPCA through the Mission and Reconciliation program.  I invite your prayers for Kristi and the other mission co-workers who will be going through orientation before they travel to their fields of service.

CEDEPCA profile

This month I’d like to introduce you to one of CEDEPCA’s most gifted students, Arnoldo Aguilar. He is pastor in the Church of God and he serves a congregation in zone 7 of the capital. He is one of the most sensitive pastors I have ever met. In 2002, Arnoldo was one of the students in the first course I taught in Guatemala City. Over the last eight years, he has been taking theology courses at CEDEPCA. Like most of our students, he was only able to study at CEDEPCA part-time. He also earned a licenciatura in communication from the University of San Carlos. This year he finished the prerequisites to enter the licenciatura program at the Latin American Biblical University (UBL). He traveled to Costa Rica in the middle of June to take the integrated seminar, a nine-credit course taught by three professors. This year’s theme for the seminar is sexuality.  Courses at the UBL are taught in two month blocks. When Arnoldo left, he was planning on being in Costa Rica for only two months, but he’s considering staying for another bimester in order to take more courses. Please pray for Arnoldo. Also pray for his wife and three small children during his absence, as well as the congregation he serves.

Reading corner

I am often asked to recommend readings on the history of churches here in Guatemala. The best text available is Virginia Garrard-Burnett’s Protestantism in Guatemala: Living in the New Jerusalem. Ginnie teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. Her text goes through the Rios Montt dictatorship of the early 1980s. She explores the development of the different streams of Protestantism within the social and political context of Guatemala. A translation of her book was published here in Guatemala last year, so we finally have it to share with students.

The afternoon rains are starting, so I will close now. I’m still catching up with correspondence from the two weeks I was in Grand Rapids, so don’t worry if you haven’t heard from me. As always, thank you for walking with me and my colleagues at CEDEPCA in this journey in mission.

Blessings,

Karla

Rev. Dr. Karla Ann Koll

Professor of History, Mission and Religions

Latin American Biblical University, Costa Rica

Evangelical Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America (CEDEPCA), Guatemala

Presbyterian Church (USA) Mission Co-worker

www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/kollk.htm