A letter from Katie Griffin serving in Argentina
September 2014 - Interpretation Assignment Delayed
The human mind plans the way,
but the LORD directs the steps.
—Prov. 16:9
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. —John 3:8
Dear friends,
Life is anything but predictable. As human beings, we like to be able to plan ahead, know where we stand in the midst of circumstances, and know to whom to turn in the midst of life’s storms.
We had been planning to be in the States as of last July for my interpretation assignment. Alas, here we are in September, and we still do not have a departure date from Argentina. The process of applying for an immigrant visa for my husband is much more complex than we had imagined it would be. We hope to find out when his interview appointment at the embassy will be early in January.
I may need to cancel mission interpretation activities I had planned for February. I should be able to keep speaking engagements that I have planned for March and April.
The lack of decisiveness is especially hard for the members of the church that my husband is pastoring. The congregational and denominational leaders have a hard time planning how to take care of the congregation. It has been decided that my husband’s leave of absence from this particular ministry will start on October 4, even though we are not yet leaving the country. An interim minister will be installed the first weekend of October.
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Anita making goodies for the year-end Sunday school festival, December 2010
I would like to share the story of one of the church’s deaconesses, Anita. She has been a widow for two years. She never referred to her husband as a husband, but rather as her lover. She has been struggling to get used to life without him. She has also had to undergo surgery for cancer twice in the last five years.
Anita is a woman with a huge heart, a great capacity for organizing and for taking care of people. She was responsible for the soup kitchen aspect of the church’s ministry to children in low-income homes in the neighborhood for at least 50 years. Her health no longer permits her to perform the same tasks as she used to.
In a word, Anita is in a stage of life in which she is grieving losses. A pastoral change is difficult for her right now. Yet her hope is anchored on the Rock of Ages. God healed her of tuberculosis when she was 20. Her first cancer disappeared without medical intervention. The reality of God’s presence in her life shepherded her through the loss of her oldest son after he was hit by a drunk driver. The love that Anita has so generously shared with so many children returns to her as some of her younger disciples now call on her.
Just as Anita grieves this pastoral change, so do many other members of the Comunidad Cristiana Manantial de Vida, the particular congregation of the denomination Asociación La Iglesia De Dios (ALIDD) that my husband has been pastoring for the last 18 years.
Pray for this congregation in this time of transition, that they may continue to place their hope in the everlasting God, find strength under the shelter of God’s wings, and continue to follow where the Spirit leads.
In happier news, I have had the privilege of guiding a thesis student through his licenciate thesis over the last three years. Javier has just turned in the final copy and is now getting ready to defend the thesis in late November. The change in our travel plans means that I will be able to accompany him to the very end of his pilgrimage at the Instituto Superior Evangélico de Estudios Teológicos (ISEDET), our global partner in Buenos Aires. Javier’s thesis is an excellent essay on oral history. He has researched how the period of social and political tension in Uruguay in the years just prior to the last military dictatorship influenced the community processes of theological reflection and expressions of companionship in the Waldensian Church in Uruguay. The period of his thesis goes from 1967 through 1974, when the dictatorship closed the denomination’s monthly newsletter that circulated primarily among the various congregations of the Waldensian Church both in Uruguay and in Argentina. Javier interviewed several lay leaders and pastors for this project, and told their stories within the framework of the difficult political and social situation that many of the Southern Cone countries were forced to live through as a result of the Cold War that divided so much of the world.
I hope to be able to share some of the life stories about which Javier has written, as well as others, when I am finally able to be in the States for interpretation assignment.
Please let me know if you would like to hear from me. I will have lots of pictures to share! I am planning on being in western Pennsylvania in the second half of April. I may be in Alaska and Washington State in May or June. I could make a trip to central New York also. If our housing is still available, we will be stationed in Decatur, Georgia, and will be able to travel easily to sites in Georgia, North and South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. You can write to me at kathleen_m_griffin@yahoo.com.ar and to Rachel Anderson at rachel.anderson@pcusa.org to start organizing a visit for me to your congregation. Please also check out resources online at: www.pcusa.org/missionspeaker/ and www.pcusa.org/kathleen-griffin.
In closing, thank you to the many who have sent me notes of encouragement, financial gifts to support my work through Presbyterian World Mission, and to those of you who have been praying. I would encourage each of you to continue the journey with me in learning about the love of God in Argentina and Uruguay.
In Christ’s peace,
Katie Griffin
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 63
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