Letter from Guido and Sara Mahecha in Costa Rica
November 27, 2007
San José
The Mahechas’ three months in the United States
Hello friends and colleagues in mission.
Merry Christmas and happy New Year 2008!
Thanks to all of you who participated in our visit to churches in the United States—to those who helped us with accommodations, transportation, food, prayers, and especially with opportunities to share the news about our work in Costa Rica with the Latin American Biblical University and the Presbyterian Church.
Guido giving a semina to Hispanic pastors from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
A Hispanic committee from churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area invited us to preach and to give workshops in September and November. This left us October to join, in our own way, the very successful Mission Challenge ’07. We heard from representatives of local churches and from missionaries about the interest and commitment to mission from the whole church. That is very good for our partners all over the world and also for us as missionaries.
The work
In September we visited six Hispanic churches in Dallas, and we gave two workshops, one on how to do biblical studies and a big one on preparing the people of God for mission. In the latter, we had a multicultural team that included Stanley DeVoogd, a Canadian working as PC(USA) area coordinator for Mexico and Central America; Ruth Mesa, a Dominican educator; Sara Baltodano, a Costa Rican psychologist and educator; and Guido Mahecha, a Colombian Bible professor. Forty-eight leaders from six Hispanic churches of Dallas attended. We also visited the Hispanic church in Waco, Austin Theological Seminary, and Faith Presbyterian Church in Austin.
In October, we drove about 5,000 miles visiting: First Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Clairmont Presbyterian Church of Decatur, Georgia; the PC(USA) central offices in Louisville (we were reappointed for another period); First Presbyterian Church of Howard County, Columbia, Maryland; he Overbrook Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia; First Presbyterian Church of Burlington, North Carolina; and Westminter-by-the-Sea Presbyterian Church, Daytona Beach, Florida. In some of these churches we participated in the two services and had meetings with committees and, of course, shared a lot of meals.
Sara and Guido with professors in Austin Theological Seminary.
In November, we gave a workshop on the “essentials of Presbyterianism” for Hispanic church leaders who are candidates to be commissioned lay pastors. In this we enjoyed the participation of Drs. Gonzalo Castillo Cardenas, emeritus professor of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. We also gave presentations at First Presbyterian Church of Garland, Texas, and Southlake Presbyterian Church, in Dallas. We preached in Gethsemane Presbyterian Church, Forth Worth, and Emanuel Presbyterian Church, Dallas. In our last activity, Sara led a workshop on family matters for the Hispanic community.
What we have learned
All the churches that we visited are growing. For example, First Presbyterian Church of Tuscaloosa has two traditional services that are very well attended. They have a senior pastor and three other pastors working in different ministries, two of whom were elected in October, and one of them is a woman. In Westminster-by-the-Sea Presbyterian Church, after the two services where we participated, they elected for the first time an associate pastor, also a woman. A leader from Southlake Presbyterian Church in Dallas said: “If we Presbyterians could plant 20 churches in each state in the next one to five years, that would be a thousand new churches.”
Presbyterians are diverse, but we can work together. For example, in Clairmont Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, there is a contemporary service at 8:15 a.m. with more than 200 hundred people, guitars, and modern music. They listened to the same sermon that was given at the 11:00 a.m. traditional service. It was similar at Overbrook Presbyterian Church in Virginia. We preached in Faith Presbyterian Church in Austin, where the church has a sign that says, “We oppose the war, in Jesus name.” In many other churches, in the prayer requests we read, “Please pray for our children and relatives in Iraq.” From a document adopted by the PC(USA) in 1983 (Historical Principles…) I learned that Presbyterians rarely make unanimous decisions. We are diverse, but we can work together.
Presbyterian churches that are investing in local and foreign mission are aware of the challenges that face the local communities.
Thank you for your support to our work during the last 15 years. God bless you.
Sara and Guido
P.S. We welcome your comments and ideas. Write us at mahecha.guido@gmail.com and mahecha.guido@gmail.com.
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, p. 56
