(18 Sep 03) Two-thirds of M.O.S.T. Ministries mission trips next year are destined for Latin America. Five teams are going to Venezuela and four to Mexico. Guatemala and Nicaragua each will host three teams. Many of the teams will be focused around eyeglass clinics, construction, or conducting Vacation Bible Schools. Some trips will include a combination of services.
Based in Ann Arbor, M.O.S.T. Ministries has been helping organize short-term mission trips to Latin America and elsewhere for thirteen years. They also have trips to: Russia, India, China, Sierra Leone, Latvia, Slovakia, and Macao.
Click here to go to M.O.S.T. Ministries
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Guatemala celebrates Independence Day with parades, races, and fun
(16 Sep 03) September 15 is a day of great celebration in Guatemala, marking the country's independence from colonial rule and from control by its much larger neighbor to the North, Mexico.
Redentor del Mundo Lutheran School (Santiago Zamora) went all out in marking the occasion through special activities, parades, and carrying the "torch."
Parade in San Antonio: Friday (Sep 12) the early childhood and elementary sections marched along with all the area schools in an Independence Day parade in neighboring San Antonio. Afterwards, they performed folkloric dances including the "Dance of the Giants." (Everyone seems to think Redentor gave the best presentations.)
Culture Night at Redentor: Saturday evening the students entertained their parents and friends with skits depicting the Maya culture, dances, and music. They also mixed in some comical acts.
Water Park and the Torch: Sunday over 170 students and parents traveled to a small water recreation park a couple hours away by car. After enjoying a day of fun fellowship and relaxation, the race back to school began, but now on foot. Each took a turn carrying a lit "Liberty Torch" along the roads from the park back to the school. Others ran beside the torch bearer awaiting their turns and still more followed in vehicles. Once back at school, a stationary torch was lit, much like athletes light the large torch to mark the beginning of the Olympics.
The Liberty Torch race is a popular tradition in most Guatemala communities and schools. The highways and roads are scenes to hundreds of groups carrying the lit symbols of freedom to their communities. It is a somewhat new tradition, begun several years ago to balance the parades of soldiers and students dressed as soldiers so prevalent during the civil war years.
If You Could Live in Peace: Independence observances actually began earlier in the week with scholastic competitions. Earlier in the week, Karin Maricela took third place in persuasive speech and second place in dramatic reading. The competition's theme was "If You Could Live in Peace." Also participating were Glenda Magali, Elder Vinicio, and Augusto Enrique.
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Guatemala: Pink Eye outbreak; school affected
(17 Sep 03) An outbreak of conjuntivitus is sending hundreds of Guatemalans to area hospitals for treatment of the highly contagious eye infection. Also known as Pink Eye, the infection is striking adults and children alike across the country.
"Today, we had to send home [three students] with this illness because it is very contagious," writes Guadalupe Zamora, administrator of Redentor del Mundo Lutheran School.
He goes on to explain that this is a major worry since many families cannot afford to pay for the needed medical treatment.
According to the national newspaper "Prensa Libre," the outbreak has not reached the level of epidemic, but the Minister of Health is calling upon the public to exercise extra care in preventing the spread of the disease.
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Delicate balance in Cuba between church and state
BY VANESSA BAUZA
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted on Tue, Sep. 16, 2003
HAVANA - (KRT) - Laura Pollan remembers the days when rocks were thrown at Havana's churches and priests were expelled. After Cuba's 1959 revolution the government closed her Catholic school and she, like many practicing Catholics, began a tenuous relationship with the church, rarely speaking of her faith in public.
As the church gradually regained some ground, so too Pollan, 55, found her place back in its pews.
Today, she is one of a group of wives of Cuba's political prisoners who attend church every Sunday to pray for their husbands' release.
