A letter from Karla Koll serving in Costa Rica
March/ April 2015 - A Lenten Reflection
Dear Sisters and Brothers in mission,
Greetings from Costa Rica as we journey through this Lenten season.
I am sorry to have been out of touch for a couple of months. I was having technical difficulties sending my prayer letter out via e-mail, but I have resolved the problems. I will try to do a better job of staying in touch.
It has been cooler here in San Jose than normal. Strong winds have blown over trees and damaged roofs. We have even had some rain, though this is the dry season. Weather patterns continue to change.
We are well into the new academic year at the Latin American Biblical University (UBL). We have changed our academic calendar to 15-week blocks instead of intensive 8-week blocks. The students in my history of Christianity course are enjoying having a bit more time to explore the first 15 centuries of the life of the Christian movement. The five students taking the class in residence are from Costa Rica, Mexico and Germany. In addition, six students in Honduras and one in Colombia are taking the class through distance learning. At the moment we are examining the changes that occurred in the church when Christianity became a legal religion under Constantine and then seven decades later was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire. The persecuted church became the persecuting church. Here in Costa Rica questions of the relationship between the church and the structures of political power have particular resonance, given that the Roman Catholic Church is still the official state church.
When the faculty returned to work in January, I became the interim director of the School of Theological Sciences of the UBL, our language for chair of the department. This meant a lot of administrative work at the beginning of the year, but that aspect of the job is now easing somewhat. One of my tasks has been to make contact with UBL students throughout Latin America to encourage them to finish their studies. Several have shared with me about how important the UBL has been in their lives and their ministries.
My husband, Javier Torrez, is spending most of his time in Nicaragua. We are happy to report that the waterwheel, which has been Javier’s major project on our farm for the last couple of years, is now pumping water from the river up to the pastures. Javier is planting varieties of drought-resistant grasses. Like other farmers in the region, we are looking for ways to continue to produce food as weather patterns change. As we look toward May when the rainy season is supposed to start, we are hoping for more rainfall than we had last year.
Our current courses will come to an end on May 1. As always, I ask for your prayers for our students. In particular, I ask you to pray from Danitza Chirinos, a student from Peru. She is writing her bachelor’s thesis on children as active participants in mission. In her church she has noted that children are the objects of various outreach and educational programs, but they are not considered to have any role in mission. Writing is a struggle for her, so I am sure she will appreciate your prayers. She will be returning to Peru at the end of April. We hope she will have her thesis done or almost done by the time.
Our daughter, Tamara Torrez-Koll, is coming to the end of her own bachelor’s degree in literature and history with a focus on Latin America. Her graduation from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, will be on May 18. Javier and I will be flying to Portland for the big day. Tamara’s immediate plans are to stay in Portland and work for a year a two before starting graduate studies.
After Tamara’s graduation I will be staying in the U.S. for ten weeks to visit churches and share about the work of Presbyterian World Mission here in Central America. For most of that time I will be based at my father’s home in Colorado Springs. If you would like to have me visit your church, please contact me as soon as possible.
UBL Profile
This month I would like to introduce you to Blanca Valencia Salinas, who is here at the UBL working on her licenciatura thesis in environmental ethics. Blanca is from Chiapas, Mexico, where her family has been involved in the Presbyterian Church for three generations. Blanca is an educator who has taught students of different ages. She became interested in studying theology when she was working with women through an ecumenical organization in Chiapas. She started her studies at the UBL in 1998. Though she finished her course work in 2001, she wasn’t able to come back to work on her thesis until late last year. Blanca told me that studying here at the UBL has transformed her faith and her understanding of herself as she has learned to live with people from other cultures and other denominations. Her interest in environmental ethics arose out of Bible studies at her home church. Together with others from the church, she started a project to promote urban gardens. They began by using the space on the roof of the church to plant a garden. Here at the UBL Blanca has organized the students to care for the vegetable garden behind the student residence.
Blanca always reminds us at our worship services to pray for those who are working for change in Mexico. She asks your prayers as well for those who are speaking out against the ongoing murders and disappearances in her country. At times she tells me that she finds her work on her thesis very difficult, as she becomes depressed by the information about the destruction of the environment. She asks that we pray for the earth and that humanity will turn from the path that leads to self-destruction. Blanca has been granted a scholarship that will allow her to stay at the UBL until May. She hopes to have her thesis close to finished before she returns home.
Closing thoughts
During Lent we pause to reflect on the suffering that human beings cause each other and the rest of creation. As we look to the cross we know that God suffers as well. We live in the hope that suffering will not have the last word. May your Lenten journey bring you closer to the heart of God and may you find resurrection joy.
Blessings,
Karla
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 66, 67
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