A letter from the Adams Maldonado Family serving in Mexico

March 2016 - Faith vs. Fear

“Do not be afraid,” the angel told Mary when sharing the shocking news that she was to be the mother of Jesus.

“Do not be afraid,” the angel told Joseph in a dream.

“Do not be afraid,” the angel told the shepherds announcing the birth of Jesus, the babe born to Mary and Joseph, who had traveled to Bethlehem seeking to get their “papers” in order and be registered with the immigration officers of first century Palestine.

Jesus was born into a world of danger and intrigue and his birth was perceived as a threat by the religious and secular authorities of his day.  “Do not be afraid” is one of the most often repeated commandments throughout Scripture.  God told the actors in the greatest birth narrative of all time that they need not be afraid—not because there was no danger, not because bad things would not happen to them, but because God was with them every step of the way.  In the same way God says to us, “Because I have called you and you are mine do not be afraid, because nothing in all of creation can separate you from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ.”

A letter from the Adams Maldonado Family serving in Mexico

November 2015 - Boxes, Bags and Gratitude

"Muchos de nuestros hijos fueron al norte, y unos regresaron en cajas.  Pero ahora gracias a Cafe Justo nuestros hijos estan regresando a cultivar café con nosotros. Many of our children went north (to the U.S.), and some returned in boxes (coffins).  But now thanks to Café Justo our children have returned to cultivate coffee with us."

Reynaldo Cifuentes, founding member of Café Justo, welcomed the delegation of small business owners that we facilitated at the end of September with these words. Café Justo is the farmer-owned coffee roasting and exporting cooperative that we helped start 13 years ago to address root causes of migration.

The delegation was a wonderfully strange mix of millennials, Gen X-ers, and baby boomers; Presbyterian, Catholic, Pentecostal, Jewish agnostic, evangelical and religiously disaffected “seekers”; white, brown, and black; Chicano, Mexican-American, Dominican-American, Mexican, and Anglo-American; a synod executive, the chef of Stony Point, one of the national conference centers of the PC(USA), coffee shop owners, shoe store owners, a mayor, a member of the Mexican consulate; politically conservative, moderate and progressive—in short, a slice of heaven.

A letter from the Adams Maldonado Family serving in Mexico

June 2015 - Blessings Out of Suffering

“What do you think about when you are suffering?”

For the Good Friday service the leaders of Iglesia Presbiteriana Lirio de los Valles (Lily of the Valley Presbyterian Church) had asked seven persons from the congregation to give a reflection on one of the seven last “words” of Jesus.  Among those asked to provide leadership for this solemn service were two children—one being Anna Flor, our 11-year old daughter.  The “word” that she was given was Jesus’ words to his mother and beloved disciple from the cross:  “Dear woman, here is your son. . . . Here is your mother.”

Anna Flor looked out at the congregation—a congregation that has experienced a tremendous amount of suffering: the sickness and subsequent death of Pastor Rodolfo in December; the loss of leaders; broken relationships; a large percentage of the congregation far from their homelands and in “economic exile” in Agua Prieta, where they seek to respond to the question “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”  Anna Flor looked out at them and asked, “What do you think about when you are suffering?”

A letter from Mark Adams serving in Mexico

April 2015 - Seeing Clearly

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

Have you ever prayed to be spit on?

Last month we received a letter from Chuck, one of the delegation members from First Presbyterian Church of Farmington, New Mexico, who visited us in February.  In addition to sending some incredible pictures from his time with us, he commented on the final biblical reflections that we shared together at the U.S./Mexico border before they returned home, reflections based on Mark 8:22-26 about some people leading a blind man from Bethsaida to Jesus and begging Jesus to touch him.

Before he touched the blind man, Jesus spit on his eyes . . . and after Jesus’ touch the man could only see people who looked like trees walking around.  It would take more than one touch for the blind man to see clearly.

Toward the end of his letter Chuck wrote: “My prayer now is that Jesus will spit directly in my eyes so that I can see clearly any issue that arises.”

This week while in the line of cars that forms in Agua Prieta waiting to ask permission of our U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enter the United States, I was watching for David, one of Dad’s former Carolina neighbors.  Dad is visiting us and was with me in the car.  Dad had never met David although he had passed by his home on Highway 321 between Gastonia and Clover hundreds, if not thousands, of times during the six years David lived in the Carolinas, working in construction.

A letter from Jonathan and Emily Seitz serving in Taiwan

March 2015 - Lessons From Jonah

A letter from Bob and Kristi Rice serving in Congo

January 2015 - Annual Ministry Update, 2014

Tears came to my eyes on a hilltop church in Bukavu, overlooking Lake Kivu in Eastern Congo.  We were worshipping together the Thursday before Pentecost Sunday.  Just the previous day we heard story after story of human tragedy.  However, watching Pastor Elia Kalume of Goma dance and sing with such joy amidst this backdrop of suffering and personal struggle was almost more than I could handle.  Our partners in the Congo, living marginalized lives in a marginalized land, are leading us to God’s mercy seat.  They are showing us, by example, what it means to trust God in the midst of dire circumstances, tragedy, death and pain.  They exude a resiliency that defies human capacity.  Our story as mission co-workers begins and ends with the precious people of Congo.

A letter from Karla Koll in Costa Rica

June 2014 - Annual Ministry Update

Dear Companions in Mission,

Karla (3rd from left) with CEDEPCA students

My time of service in Guatemala with the Evangelical Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America (CEDEPCA) came to an end in June of 2013. I went to Guatemala in 2000 at the invitation of the Latin American Biblical University (UBL) to strengthen the Biblical and Theological Formation program of CEDEPCA. My last semester there was the best I had there in terms of the response from students. I taught three courses, including a course on mission in which 21 students participated.

At the graduation service held shortly before I left CEDEPCA, I offered a reflection about theological education based on Mark 12: 28–31: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all of your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. . . . And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Studying theology is one of the ways we love God, making use of the intellectual gifts God has bestowed on each one of us.

The odd and wondrous calling of a new pastor

A brief reflection from a participant in the Presbyterian Mission Agency program Company of New Pastors

By Karen Ware Jackson

My husband and I are both in full-time ministry, and we have certainly experienced our share of both the challenges and blessings of new pastors. Amid efforts to form a pastoral identity—both as individuals and as a couple—we struggled to balance work and family life and experienced great success as well as heart-wrenching failure in ministry. To borrow from Lillian Daniel and Martin B. Copenhaver, this is …

A Seminarian's Journey

Young adult, child of God

The challenge and blessing of entering the ministry as a young adult

By Lynn Hasselbarth

My favorite yoga pose is balasana, or child’s pose. It’s a crouched position, much like kneeling down to pray. The chest rests over folded knees, arms stretched outward or tucked alongside the torso, with the forehead or a cheek resting heavily on the ground.

In this huddled fetal-like position, you are utterly defenseless, and yet there is a feeling of safety. I have been using this pose a lot lately—to …

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