Letter from Guido and Sara Mahecha in Costa Rica
September 2007
Dallas, Texas
Guido teaching a New Testament course in Huancayo in the Peruvian Andes.
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Jesus Christ,
We have now been working with the Presbyterian Church for the last 34 years of our lives. From 1973 to 1987, we were in Colombia serving as pastors and educators in the Presbyterian Church of Girardot and as principal and professor of the Colombia Presbyterian Seminary in Bogotá, which is now the Reformed University in Barranquilla. From 1987 to 1990 we attended Saint Andrews University in Scotland, where Sara obtained a master’s in pastoral care and counseling and Guido a doctorate in New Testament.
In 1990, we were commissioned as PC(USA) mission co-workers and accepted an invitation of the Presbyterian Church in Bolivia to work as professors in a Presbyterian University (founded by Korean missionaries) as a part of a partnership between the Korean Presbyterian Church, the PC(USA), and AIPRAL (the organization of the Reformed Churches in Latin America). We served there for five years. It was a very good experience, and we became acquainted with Aymara culture and churches.
From 1995 to 1999 we worked with the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB) as professors in the Presbyterian Seminary in Fortaleza. During this time, the IPIB accepted women in ministry and a couple of our students from Fortaleza were among the first women ordained by the church to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. Also, Sara and I participated actively in planting a church in Nova Metropole in Fortaleza.
Sara teaching a course on pastoral care and counseling in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Since 1999, we have been teaching in the Latin American Biblical University (UBL) in Costa Rica. We teach pastors and leaders from all over Latin America because the UBL has partnerships with more than 12 institutions. Altogether, the UBL serves about 2,250 lay people and 1,100 in the bachelor’s degree programs. About 7 percent of them come to Costa Rica every year to finish their degrees. All UBL professors travel to our partner institutions to teach two courses every year. The UBL has a strong commitment to women’s ministry and indigenous programs. We are happy to be part of the PC(USA)’s work in Latin America and represent all of you who invest time and resources by planning missions trips, praying, and supporting Presbyterian World Mission.
We are now on interpretation assignment in the United States (September 1 to December 10, 2007). We were invited to participate in a special effort of the Hispanic ministries in Dallas. In three weeks we have preached eight times, presented five workshops, and made three other presentations about the UBL. In October, we will be visiting churches in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Decatur, Georgia, Burlington, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia. We return to Dallas in November and have two workshops scheduled here on Reformed tradition and family counseling. Please pray for us and continue supporting our work and overseas mission through Presbyterian World Mission.
God bless you all.
Sara and Guido
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, p. 56
