Student Missionaries or Missional students?

 

I´ve just finished 3 days of giving mission and cultural training to a diverse group. Some are preparing to study in Russia and China, a few of their parents came too, and others have plans to serve cross-culturally at some point in the future. 

We´re beginning to work with a University recruitment agency, and it was great to offer this training together.

 

My friend Pamela came along too, and shared her experience of befriending and supporting international students in the UK

Our Grandparents legacy

Whilst I was in San Pedro, I was SOOOOOO happy to see this!

It might not look like much .. but this is a rubbish collection - with separate recyclables and normal rubbish - which has been introduced in San Pedro recently. This is a HUGE step forward. Previously there was no rubbish collection at all  - so all rubbish ended up, sooner or later, in the Lake.
This is the work of the new mayor in the town. Recognising the contamination problem in the water, and the effect that that has on the tourist industry, the new Mayor has instigated this new rubbish and recycling collection service.

Alongside that, a new bylaw bans the use of plastic bags, straws and polystyrene /disposable plates and cups in San Pedro. Interesting this has brought a lot of interest. For many market traders and street sellers in San Pedro, who supply the traveller community with cheap food, this is a big change. For the local community too, who, like most of Guatemala, use disposable plates etc as a norm. Many would have said that a ban like this, would have been very difficult to pass (and enforce) but the Mayor introduced it using the rhetoric of 'la herencia de los abuelos' - our grandparents legacy -- a sense of recapturing the respect and value that our grandparents generation had for the nature that surrounds it. This particularly appealed to the indigenous population in San Pedro. So the law was passed, and has now been introduced. Market traders has returned to using banana leaves as packaging (or locals take their own containers to market), the restaurants having stopped offering plastic straws with the drinks and I saw a new shop in town, selling biodegradable food containers for take aways. It would be fantastic if other towns and cities could take inspiration from San Pedro, and make a change for the benefit of our planet - and everything and everyone that lives on it!

Serendipity

Last week I spent some time in San Pedro La Laguna, one of my favourite places in Guatemala. I had a couple of work reasons to be there, but also used it as a study week, reading and writing for an essay for my MA course.
It was great to be there - a wonderful place to be able to disconnect and focus (as well as start each day with a swim!).

'Don´t let the goal of your journey blind you from learning about your purpose along the way'.
That was a great quote from one of the books I was reading. It´s taken from the story of the Princes of Serendip (related by Lederach in his book, The Moral Imagination) -- which is apparently where the word Serendipity comes from -- a sense of taking notice of and being grateful for the surprising blessings which come along whilst we´re on our way to somewhere else. That is so often the experience in missions - when we have a clear purpose and goal, and yet God brings us lessons along the way that we didn´t expect. It´s always worth taking notice!

All Saints Day Celebrations

It´s been a few years since I went to one of the All Saints Day celebrations - the kite competitions - so yesterday I went with a few friends. Traditionally, families would go to the cemetery and fly home made kites in memory of their loved ones who have passed away. Now a couple of towns are well known for their kite flying competitions.

The kites are made by groups or clubs, who spend months planning, deisgning and making their kites. They are made out of tissue paper, supported by bamboo, and involve intricate designs, telling a story, or paying homage to someone, or supporting relevant themes ('No to child abuse', o 'Celebrate Nature'). The kite are of various sizes, some as large as 10metres across.

 On All Saints Day (1st Nov), everyone gatheres together to compete as they attempt to fly the kites. The smaller sizes (2, 3 or 4metres across) have a good chance of flying, but these days the larger ones are more of admiration, than for real flying.

 Thousands of people gather in Sumpango to see all the kites, watch the attempts at flying them, and also for the kids just to have fun flying their own normal-sized kites.

 So here´s just a few of the amazing kites that were on display yesterday.

 Friends and Latin Linkers appreciating the kites!

Kids all around us were successfully flying kites - but it´s actually not as easy as it looks!! But this is proof that we eventually managed to get the hang of it!

Panama part 2

My second week was still in Panama, but as part of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commision Consultation. The theme was polycentric mission  - ie mission from anywhere to anywhere - which is the reality of global missions today - and how our organisations and structures can reflect and support that. It was great to meet others involved in global missions, and hear others persepctives.

 I was invited to be a plan of a panel to discuss young leaders in mission -- which was an interested prospect at the age of 41!

The event was in a spectacular place so I enjoyed an early swim every morning, preparing for me for the days of networking!

 And whilst we were there, we had the chance to visit to the Miraflores locks on the Panama canal, and watch as a cargo boat moved through the locks - and moved crazy amounts of water to operate the locks.

 It´s a slightly different scale to the locks on the Caledonian canals I travelled through in Scotland just a month before!!

Panama part 1

My first week back in Latin America was spent in Panama, for a week of meetings with the Latin Link Core Team. We were planning the programme for our enxt International Assembly, as well as discussing various other issues affecting Latin Link.

 On a lunchtime walk to the waterfront. The water wasn´t particularly inviting given the traffic that passes fairly closeby - which we could see on the horizon!

 We had chance to explore the old town of Panama - colonial buildings, boutiques and restaurants!

Step Legacy

During my time on sabbatical over the last few months in the UK, I´ve really enjoyed catching up with various friends who I first met when they participated on Latin Link´s short term mission programmes in Guatemala.

It´s been lovely to see Step teams who still enjoy getting together and encouraging each other- even 7 or 8 years later - still sharing the same jokes - but also their achievements and challenges as they work out grown up life (kind of!)

And it´s intriguing to hear how each of them look back on their experience of Step or Stride.

Several ex-Striders talk of their plans to return - some more concrete than others.

One talked of her experience as being instrumental in her career choices since, as she discovered her God given gifts whilst jumping out of her comfort zone in a Stride placement.

One ex-stepper talked of the 'formative' time he spent as part of a team.

Another talked of having found faith during that time. Even though she had grown up in a Christian family and spent years in  church youth groups previously, it was her time on Step that brought her to a real relationship with Jesus.

On the flipside I also know one or two for whom Step was the beginning of their faith slipping away, as they discovered that their faith-through-family-and-youth-group didn´t have the personally held foundations they needed once they were away from that.

Those two sides of things still show something about the authenticity of life on a Step team - when the superficial is striped away, and we have to interact with our real identities.

So I still love Step!

Wind n Spirit

I´ve had a great week with Latin Link Scotland sailing the Loch Ness, Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and the Caledonian Canal connecting them all.

1 week

12 people

2 (small) boats

6 different church visits

A huge amount of food

5 swims

A bit of sunshine

A LOT OF FUN! 

So here´s a few photos...