Alotenango Step Team

View of Volcan Fuego from the team house.

The Step team working in Alotenango lived in the Pastors house and had this fantastic view from the kitchen 'window'.

Great way to start the morning.

 The active volcano gave them plenty of entertainment. Here´s their reaction when it erupted. Maybe.

The team were mostly involved in childrens work, helping with the after school programmes that the church runs, as well as visiting the local schools, assisting the pastor as he runs Bible classes for all the school children.  They also got involved in some building work, as the church wanted to build a classroom for all their activities with the children.

It started like this.

And ended up more like this. The church will be putting a roof on it soon.

With lots of hard work in between.

The team family portrait.

And they also had a bit of time off - and I played Tour guide and took them to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan.

I love Step teams.

This summer has been really busy  - with 3 different step teams working in Guatemala. As it´s my job to oversee them and make sure they´re all alright, it´s been busy and tiring  - but it also reminds me of so many reasons why I love Step teams. Here´s just a few

1. Step teams are a glimpse of real church. That sounds wierd I know, but let me explain. Step teams are Latin Link´s programme which brings together diverse people to create teams who live and serve together in another country. For me there´s a sense of heaven in it - although admittedly not the fluffy-clouds-and-harps kind of heaven. I´m talking more about community. In church - which is supposed to be the body of Christ, it can be so easy for us to ´buy into it´ for just a couple of hours a week, and then go back home and do our own thing. That´s not how´s it´s supposed to be. The book of Acts talks of a church of shared lives, shared possessions, shared experiences and challenges. Step teams seem like that to me. It´s not easy - but it is real. Living together in very close proximity - and often in very basic conditions, means that you can never escape from the rest of the team  - or from the inevitable frustrations and differences of opinion. You have to confront those things, work through them with your team-mates and get past them. It doesn´t mean denying who you are, but it does mean compromise and showing real love for people. You have to engage with each other on a deeper level than we are used to. And I think that´s what church is meant to be.
This year, I saw Steppers gather round and comfort a grieving team mate; I saw Steppers support team members as they dealt with past hurts and allowed God´s healing into their past; I saw Steppers recognise their own weaknesses and errors and ask for forgiveness; I saw Steppers encourage others in tasks they´d never tried before; I saw Steppers bridge the generation gap and work together; I saw Steppers learning from one another; I saw Steppers stay up all night to care for their ill team mate; and I saw Steppers celebrate together after they perform their first drama or their first song in Spanish.

2. Step teams are about opportunities to fulfill your potential. So much in life today tells us we can´t to it. Being on a Step team says you can! In a Step team everyone has a role. There are leaders, treasurers, childrens work coordinators, first aiders, drama coordinators, music /worship coordinators, translator and so many more. Everyone has a vital part to play in the team working well. As I´ve talked and helped teams evaluate their experience this year, I´ve been so encouraged to hear many team members express a greater confidence. Many felt able to lead a Bible Study for the first time in their lives, others to pray out loud, others to lead a children´s activity from the front, others to preach or share their testimony, others simply to cook a meal for 10 people and not burn the house down (although it got close a couple of times!). Some team members began their role with very shy and nervous fairy steps, but quickly took great strides as they realised the skills and gifts God had given them. (It´s fantastic to watch!) Some team leaders felt completely out of their depth leading a team, but learnt to lean into God´s presence for his strength and wisdom. And then there are those who God is clearly calling into longer term mission. I love the conversations with them - as they think about possibilities and get excited about how God is leading them.

3. Step is about cross -cultural relationships. Step teams always work in a church or project in another country. This year the 3 teams all came from the UK to work in Guatemala. (Latin Link Step teams also visit many other countries.... go to http://www.latinlink.org.uk/National-Sites/UK/What-can-I-do/Team-Mission-Step for more details). The idea is to live and work alongside the local church community. Even with limited language, teams are able to build friendships with local people. The interchange of cultures is a real blessing as Step teams and Guatemalans learn of each others cultures. This year, steppers learnt how to make tortillas Guatemalan style, and carry baskets on their heads. In another project, the teenager from the local bakery (which had been visited by a certain Stepper every day for 2 weeks), decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday with the team  - so brought the cake, the piñata and the whole party to them. In another project, friendships between Steppers and project staff were established over hours sitting side by side in the kitchen sorting beans.

Of course Step isn´t perfect - there´s challenges and difficulties along the way -  but I feel privileged to be a part of it all.

Cultural Reflections

It´s been strange (in a good way) to be in another country for a few weeks - and to recognise the differences in culture - even though there are similarities as well. Cuba is a bit of an enigma in itself. Outside of the country, it´s portrayed in so many different ways - depending on your political leanings or which aspects of society you put greater emphasis on. It´s achievements in education and health service are some of the best in the world, but the same can´t be said for freedom of speech and human rights. And within the country, even the great acheivements of the government aren´t quite what they seem. The Cuban newspapers are always full of good news  -- which is a breath of fresh air compared to Guatemala where the most popular newspaper is nicknamed 'The Daily Death' -- but of course if you only ever hear good news, people doubt it´s authenticity and accuracy.
And the Cuban people are very different from Guatemalans -- they seem to be much more outgoing and extroverted, they speak very directly and loudly,  - whereas Guatemalans are more reserved and conditional in the way they speak.
Although I speak Spanish, the Cuban accent is very strong and with certain people, I found it difficult to understand. And even when the words were clear,  there´s so much more to communicating in another culture. In many ways I was back to square one - learning about the appropriate ways to interact with people and of course making mistakes along the way. I was reminded again of how a missionary life is not suited to perfectionists! It´s humbling to realise (again) that you don´t understand what´s going on, or how you should react to people and events... but equally encouraging to see the God works in us anyway! 

Recent Travels

 I have just returned from 2 weeks in Cuba. It was a great time of meeting different Latin Link friends and contacts there  - thinking about ways in which we can work together. For several years, Latin Link has been developing friendships with churches there, and some of the possibilities now are a result of those long term friendships.

 

I spend a week in Havana -this view is from the Baptist Seminary

 Retired Latin Link members were able to teach in the seminary as well as lead a conference for retired people with a church in Havana. Their humility and years of experience in Peru was a real advantage as they shared with the church and with pastors.

 

I then spent a week in a small town, 2 hours west of Havana. Strider Hollie has got to know the church and pastor over the last couple of years, and was able to organise the visit of a Step team who are now helping out with a children´s holiday Bible school and youth activities.

 The Step team got around in a variety of modes of transport.....

 Here - the Edinburgh Step team in the back of a truck.

 

It was highlight for me to spend an evening with the Step team as they visited a house church. As building new churches is virtually impossible, the vast majority of growth in the Cuban church is through house churches - who meet together in someone´s home - not more than 12 people - and study the word and encourage each other. For that reason, leadership training is a huge need. During our visit, a few members of the step team shared testimonies and preached, and we prayed for each other. It was a real privilege to be invited to share with them. Most of the church, particularly in that area of Cuba, have never met people from outside, and were encouraged by hearing of what God is doing in other places

Airport farewells.

Practicing

I´ve eventually finished another book that has been on bedside table for a while.... The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. It´s a small - but very dense book - if you know what I mean.
Brother Lawrence was a french monk in the 1600´s. He quietly worked in the kitchen of the monastery for several years but gained a reputation for his sense of peace and of being in God´s presence in the every day normal stuff of life. People sought out his advice and wanted to know his secret. The book tells some of that.
But there was no magic formula or easy answer. Or rather his secret was simple and easy  - but hard to live.
He talks about merely inviting God into your thoughts at every moment  - and yielding every action to his will. I guess it´s about an frame of mind  - or rather choosing what (or who) to focus on at every moment - so that the external circumstances aren´t the defining factors in how we live our lives or experience God in them.
Lots to think on... and practice.. I think I´ll leave this one on my bedside table.

Environment Workshop

 On Tuesday this week, I was involved in delivering a workshop about the environment from a Christian perspective.
We were really pleased to have 50 pastors and leaders come along -- a couple of them even came from San Marcos and had to leave at 1am in the morning to get there!
It was a good mix of people and we started with Israel giving a Biblical basis of why we should care for the environment.

 Then is was my turn. As it was just a morning workshop, we focused on just one aspect of caring for the environment -- rubbish. In small groups, the participants had to sort through a bag of rubbish - working out (or guessing) what was recyclable or reusable - and how long different materials take to biodegrade. It´s a sobering thought that throwing one plastic bottle in the rubbish - means that I am leaving that pollutant in the ground - and contaminating the soil and water systems - not only today - but for the next 100 years.

In Guatemala, environmental issues are still quite new and unusual - but there is huge potential for the church to be pioneers in this.
One of the surprising things about recycling in Guatemala - is that you can get paid to do it! In Europe it´s great that we are obligated to recycle (and in some cases even fined if we don´t) - but here recycling companies will buy the raw materials to be recycled.

So churches could easily use some of their space for collecting recyclable materials  - and kill several birds with one stone  -- it would help prevent the 80% of the rubbish that ends up on the city rubbish tip which could be recycled, thereby helping to care for the environment -  and it would give an income which could be used for church activities or missions or whatever. Some recycling projects - or creative projects to use rubbish materials to create new stuff - also create social enterprise projects that enable communities in poverty to create sustainable businesses. It´s a winner all round.

This was very much a first step for most of the particpants. But hopefully it will have opened their eyes - not only to understanding our responsibility as Christians - but also to the enormous possibilities in responding.

Booklets

I haven´t written a blog for a while ... I´ve been busy writing these - a couple of booklets about a Christian perspective on the environment. Thankfully they´re now printed and ready for the pastors workshop next week.