And we are back!

It was almost 3 months ago we wrote our last blog. The last 3 months have been a whirlwind of leaving Colombia, Home Assignment in the US (2 1/2 months), and returning to Colombia. During Home Assignment we visited churches in Colorado, South Carolina, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. We attended the Summer Missionary Conference just outside Chicago, and Curtis presented at the World Hunger Leadership Gathering in Chicago. We visited with friends and family. And so much more!

Sporting our Colombian colors!
Upper left: Curtis and his best friend Andrew
Upper right: Katie and her niece, photo credit Curtis
Bottom: Colombia Ops Team from the Southeastern MN, photo credit Pastor Mark Johnson

The name of our blog is 8000 Feet and Counting (because of the elevation of Bogota, which is just over 8500 feet). So to stick with the tradition of counting things, here are some counting we did during our Home Assignment. We drove over 8000 miles! A huge thank you to my Mom and Dad who loaned us my Mom's car for the majority of that driving, as well as Curtis' parents for loaning us his Mom's car and renting us a car, and Andrew and Leah who loaned us their car. We also stayed in 30 different houses/hotels....I can't list all the gracious people who housed us, but I can say, every single place we were so warmly welcomed and attended to. Thank you! We visited 14 different congregations, attended the South Carolina Synod Assembly, Curtis preached 9 different sermons (each was based on the Lectionary text for that week and how it related to Colombia and our work in Colombia) but because many churches had more than one service, he preached more than 9 times, and I lost count of the number of presentations.

Left: Curtis preaching at St John's Lutheran Church in Northfield, MN.
Upper right: Katie with Pastor Vera at Evergreen Lutheran Church in Evergreen, CO
2nd right:Our display table at St John's Lutheran Church in Beaufort, SC
3rd right: Katie giving the Children's sermon at Faith Lutheran in Dodge Center, MN
4th right: Welcome sign (special for us) at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Johnston, SC

We celebrated my Dad and his twin brother's 70th birthday with a surprise party. Visited my grandparents in Duluth, MN (not really grandparents, but I call them that). Visited with both of Curtis' grandpas. Visited with lots of extended family. Met our niece for the first time - now a year and a half old! Also, visited our other niece and nephew, who are now 9 1/2 and 4 (they've changed so much)....and visited with so many friends.

Happy birthday to my Dad and Uncle Denny! Left photo: Uncle Denny (left) and Dad with their birthday cakes
Right: My Dad and his siblings together for the birthday party, who came from all over the country to celebrate (left to right) Uncle Denny (Arizona), Aunt Julie (Minnesota), Aunt Elaine (Colorado), Dad (Wisconsin)

And some great family time! Upper left photo: Curtis and his Grandpa Kline.
Upper right: Katie's (Andert) family (photo credit, Katie with a timer).
Lower left: Katie's 'grandparents', Don and Barb Garnett, Duluth, MN (photo credit, Bob Garnett).
Lower right, Curtis (Kline) family (photo credit Katie with a timer). 

And some photos are too cute not to share: Curtis and his nephew...no doubt they are related! 

Curtis with what we brought back to Colombia with us!

Last Wednesday as we finished our Home Assignment we packed everything up, and flew back to Colombia! Thank you to everyone we saw and everyone we met. Thank you to all who welcomed us, the churches who sponsor us, and the churches who support and are interested in Colombia. Thank you to all who listened to our stories and asked such thoughtful (and difficult) questions. The time went too fast, but we are so thankful for the time together.  

P.S. We will return to our regular schedule of blogging every Tuesday, starting next week. 

ProFILE - Leadership Retreat

Some of you may remember last year I wrote 4 times about ProFILE, a leadership training series we held. We were so happy with the results, as were the leaders who completed the program, and the churches they came from, that we decided to start again this year with a new group of leaders. We held the first retreat during Lent, so there was just a quick picture. But, like last year, I will tell the story for the second retreat (and the rest) through photos.

For all the activities we do, we divide the participants into groups. This is one of the groups (back to the camera) Cristina, to her left, Alba, Juan Esteban, Danna, Elisa, and Maribel. They are playing a game we made about the history of Martin Luther and the Reformation. All the participants were giving homework to prepare for the retreat, they had clearly done their homework and came very well prepared. 

Pastor Ata is leading the whole group. He was main presenter for the retreat. He lead about Lutheran Confessions and Doctrine. He did a very good job making a potentially dull topic (albeit important) very interactive and vibrant. Everyone participated, even our youngest participant, 13 year old (son of the women). 

One of the pieces of homework the participants were given after the last retreat was to replicate at least one part of the retreat in their own congregation. Here are some of the evaluations of the presentations (green leaves - areas to improve and colored fruit are the things they are already doing well) (In the middle with the hearts were put from some jokers in the group, also all affirmations). 

We also studied the Luther Rose, and its's meaning. Each participant decorated and designed a frame for their Luther Rose. Everyone participated in this activity, here is Ricardo with his frame. 

Here is the whole group. It is a good group, and will be a good year working with them! This retreat was in Bucaramanga in the Oriente (Eastern) Region. 

Children's Retreat

One of the goals of the Education/Christian Formation Ministry is for each of the regions of IELCO to sponsor a retreat for the children. On Saturday we held the retreat for the Central Region, this also corresponded with the international day of the child. As we continue to prepare for the celebration of the 500 Years of the Reformation, the children learned about the Luther Rose, and its significance. 

Each child put together a Luther Rose on a little backpack as they learned about what each piece meant. 

Some of the children aging 3-4 just finishing up their bags

Here is more of the process of the bags, all the pieces of the rose were pre-cut so each child only had to assemble and let it dry. 

Of course there were lots of games! 

Playing a version of an egg rally, but with a ping pong ball so as not to waste any food. 

The group at the end of the day, as it was starting to rain, so some already ran to the bus! 

It was a great day, with a great group of kids, and an amazing group of adults there to make the whole thing happen! 

P.S. As we finish up our Home Assignment plans, if you would like a visit, and we haven't already scheduled one, please let us know! Looking forward to seeing (and meeting) many this summer.

Theology, Theory and Practice

In Medellin, the “Misión Emaús” (Emmaus Mission) community supported by IELCO, is growing and strengthening its members. I was able to visit the community this last weekend and participate in some of its activities.

A poster of German Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonheoffer during
WWII, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Photo by Curtis.

Every second Friday is Café Lutero (Luther Café), a space for open conversation about a selected theme. The theme for last Friday was based on International Mother Language Day, focused on cultural resistance and indigenous peoples. The conversations were incredible, talking about the importance of language for indigenous peoples, the revitalization of the Wampanoag language in Massachusetts (the indigenous people from the Thanksgiving story), and the need to recognize what other cultures have to teach us. 

Poster at the Luther Cafe "Because thought is tax free". Photo by Curtis.

On Saturday I led a workshop called "Human Rights: Theology, Theory and Practice". Great conversations continued as the community started the process of forming its identity regarding their work in protecting human rights. We will continue this process with two more workshops this year, hopefully developing a plan for the community to continue its involvement in human rights defense.

Yvonne and Carina getting ready to present
their conversation about what it means to be made in the
image of God. Photo by Santiago Giraldo.

One of the small groups during a break-out
session of the workshop  discussing the
inter-relatad values of the
Jubilee laws of the old testament and
the human rights of today.
Photo by Santiago Giraldo.

On Sunday I was able to participate in worship before I headed back to Bogota.

Cries of Creation

The interconnections between the protection of human rights, the care of the environment, and the causes and consequences of poverty are strong and deep. 

• Protecting human rights means attacking the root causes of poverty, as well as caring for the environment which sustains human life on the Earth.
• Taking care of the environment means protecting the rights of the people that directly depend on it for their livelihoods, as well as confronting the poverty that always follows environmental destruction.
• Alleviating poverty means to equitably and sustainably use the abundance of resources the Earth provides, as well as to defend the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized. 

The promotional poster for the video forum series.

This past Friday, the 15^th of April, we began a video forum series called “Cries of Creation”. It is a series of documentaries that touch on various related subjects to the above. The goal of the forums, in addition to opening discussions on these issues, is to develop a research group together with the Lutheran School of Theology here in Colombia that will promote theological thinking on these issues. At the first forum there was a large number of youth and college age students committed to participating in the series. 

The group to start the series and to develop the research group (from the left; Jairo Jr., Liria, Curtis, Pastor Jairo, Marian, Mauricio, Caterin, Jenny, Javier, and Katie taking the photo). 

Empowerment Through Rights

In the far south of Bogota is the neighborhood of Caracoli, made up mainly of people displaced from the conflict or from a lack of economic opportunities. In this community the Lutheran Church of Colombia is involved in various projects. One project, called Proyectándome a un Futuro (“Projecting myself into the future”, is a close English translation) which Katie has been involved in and written about before, is a project focused on empowerment of girls age 10-16.

The girls divided up into small groups to discuss the different needs for different identities; the differences for young girls, versus women in their 30's versus senior citizens. Photo by Curtis. 

This year, the project is focused on empowerment through rights, and has asked me to help plan and lead some of the activities focused on learning about human rights. This past Saturday, April 9, was the first workshop on the theme. There were some incredible discussions with the girls as we talked about human necessities and how they have rights to have their needs met.

The group of "young girls" (small children) discussing not only the needs to survive, but the needs that develop a life of abundance and dignity. Photo by Curtis.

Not for Sale

On Saturday, the Lutheran women of the central region, which includes Bogota, held a retreat "Human Beings Are Not For Sale". The theme came from the Lutheran World Federation in preparation of the 500 years of the reformation.

Group of the women, photo by Jorge Diaz, communication for IELCO

Throughout the whole day we talked about what was in our control, each one of us as individuals. We talked about the different ways humans (specifically women, because it was a women's retreat) can be sold, not only through trafficking, but also labor exploitation, domestic abuse, etc. It was a very deep and powerful retreat, with heavy conversations. It was also relevant to the Colombian experience where 40% of men feel that a woman's place is in the home caring for the family, women on average work 10 hours a week more than men and receive 20% less pay, and where a woman is killed every four days by her partner (Colombia Department of National Statistics). 

It was also positive, focusing on the differences we as individuals can make, we as Lutherans can make, and we as the church. At the end of the day we all made a commitment to do better. To not accept the current status quo, but to work to change it. To work on educating the current little ones about equality.

Closing activity, lifting our prayers and everything on our hearts to God. Holding hands in the way so everyone is being supported and supporting others.