Atlanta Ministry for International Students (AMIS) (http://www.amis-inc.org/) sponsors a Christmas International House (CIH) Program. This is a program started by Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, who is a Presbyterian Minister at Peachtree Presbyterian and was the Moderator of the 214th General Assembly.
The CIH program provides volunteer housing for hundreds of international students throughout the country who would otherwise have no place to stay during the holidays when college dorms are closed.
During their two week stay in Altanta, students are lead on a number of cultural and recreational activities by volunteers and then return to the homes of their host families each evening. In past years, many SPC members have hosted students and have become great supporters and friends of this program. To name a few, Susan Ginn has hosted students for over 15 years, Martha Rosselot has not only hosted students in years past, but was host to two students from Taiwan and Japan this year. Richard and Alice Smith, Jay and Joan Scott, Nick and Mary Villaume and others are among those who have opened their homes to the program.
Every year, SPC's WWM Committee sponsors a dinner for the students participating in the program. This year, the dinner was held on December 27th in Heritage Hall and was attended by approximate 40 students, 7 members of SPC and 3 volunteers from the CIH program.
Each year, we start with a tour of the church. This year, the tour was interesting because, unlike past years, there were NO Christian students in the group. So, for me, explaining our order of worship, beliefs adn sanctuary was a bit of a chore, but they were very receptive and, I think, they understood me.
Chef Dooley Shabazz served a wonderful meal in Heritage Hall and each table was manned by one of our church or committee members. The students really enjoyed the food and came back for seconds and even thirds. Great job Dooley!
After the dinner, we watched a video about the Living Waters Ministry and took several questions from students and I believe it was a succesful and fun way to spread the word about our ministries.
The evening ended with the students baording their bus back to St. James Methodist where they were picked up by their host families.
Suzanne Ginn and I waited with a few students who were being picked up at the church and enjoyed sharing with them during that time.
Thanks to all of you who made this possible and I encourage each of you to get involved in this wonderful ministry.
In addition to hosting students during the holiday, you can become involved with the AMIS program where you are simply asked to make contact with a student here in Atlanta and invite them to dinner or lunch or other events. Mary and I have done this is past years and made some great friends.
If you are interested in becoming involved with mission at Shallowford, please contact me and attend one of our upcoming WWM committee meetings. All are welcome and you do not have to be a committee member to attend. Although, we will try to recruit you.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
A Christmas Greeting from .... India?
You read it right folks, just on the heels of the Hindu New Years celebration of Diwali, our partners, Koshy and Joicy Baby, are spreading the word about the Nativity in the slums of Delhi, India.
In a letter dated, December 24, Rev. Koshy Baby shares with us that:
"Christmas is the time that we use to proclaim the gospel. For the last few days we are going out for carols and preaching the gospel to the people. Our youths do street plays and give the message of the Christmas. There are many people who do not know the meaning of the Christmas in our city and people are more receptive now than other times."
As a suiting addition to our own Christmas cheer, SPC has recently helped facilitate the creation of a new Internet computer lab at the Carmel Community Ministry where over 1000 children are educated each day. The lab will allow the children to become acclimated to internet technologies and basic computer skills, which will open the door to a future career in any number of areas. Without the help of Carmel and this lab, many of these very poor children might never have the opportunity to expose themselves to technologies and we are so grateful to Rev. Koshy for masterminding this and bringing it to fruition. We are so excited about this.
The Rev. Koshy Baby and his wife, Joicy and family.
Sadly, there is some hostility there toward Christians and we are keeping the Carmel ministy in our prayers. They are very brave people there and their courage in sharing their faith is truly heroic. The following, regarding the receipt of our wire transfer in December, will give some indication of the challenges they have faced:
"We do have problems like due to non-cooperation of the banks because of our ministry in proclaiming the gospel."
However, by the Grace of God, the money has arrived and plans are underway! In the near future, we hope to make corresponding with the children at Carmel a regular part of our Sunday School and youth activities here at SPC. In the words of Koshy: "It will be great to have our kids from here write and communicate with kids there. We are looking forward for Feb. to have the communication start."
Our committee will be working in coming weeks with the SPC's Christian Education committee to help facilitate this unique sharing opportunity.
If any of you would like to start corresponding with the kids at Carmel from home, please let me know and I can get you in touch with them.
If you are interested in becoming involved with mission at Shallowford, please contact me and attend one of our upcoming WWM committee meetings. All are welcome and you do not have to be a committee member to attend. Although, we will try to recruit you.
In a letter dated, December 24, Rev. Koshy Baby shares with us that:
"Christmas is the time that we use to proclaim the gospel. For the last few days we are going out for carols and preaching the gospel to the people. Our youths do street plays and give the message of the Christmas. There are many people who do not know the meaning of the Christmas in our city and people are more receptive now than other times."
As a suiting addition to our own Christmas cheer, SPC has recently helped facilitate the creation of a new Internet computer lab at the Carmel Community Ministry where over 1000 children are educated each day. The lab will allow the children to become acclimated to internet technologies and basic computer skills, which will open the door to a future career in any number of areas. Without the help of Carmel and this lab, many of these very poor children might never have the opportunity to expose themselves to technologies and we are so grateful to Rev. Koshy for masterminding this and bringing it to fruition. We are so excited about this.
The Rev. Koshy Baby and his wife, Joicy and family.Sadly, there is some hostility there toward Christians and we are keeping the Carmel ministy in our prayers. They are very brave people there and their courage in sharing their faith is truly heroic. The following, regarding the receipt of our wire transfer in December, will give some indication of the challenges they have faced:
"We do have problems like due to non-cooperation of the banks because of our ministry in proclaiming the gospel."
However, by the Grace of God, the money has arrived and plans are underway! In the near future, we hope to make corresponding with the children at Carmel a regular part of our Sunday School and youth activities here at SPC. In the words of Koshy: "It will be great to have our kids from here write and communicate with kids there. We are looking forward for Feb. to have the communication start."
Our committee will be working in coming weeks with the SPC's Christian Education committee to help facilitate this unique sharing opportunity.
If any of you would like to start corresponding with the kids at Carmel from home, please let me know and I can get you in touch with them.
If you are interested in becoming involved with mission at Shallowford, please contact me and attend one of our upcoming WWM committee meetings. All are welcome and you do not have to be a committee member to attend. Although, we will try to recruit you.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
A Mexican Wedding
As many of you may be aware, we have been conducting an on-going discussion here at the Worldwide Ministries Committee about Shallowford’s relationship with the Frontera de Cristo (FdC) Ministry in Agua Prieta (A.P.), MX. This last December, I took advantage of the wedding of Adrian Gonzalez to visit Agua Prieta and discuss our relationship with Mark Adams, the coordinator of FdC.
Mary and I left Atlanta on December 3rd and arrived in Tucson, AZ that evening where we rented a car and drove, the following day, to Agua Prieta. A.P. is about 120 miles south of Tucson and shares the border with the town of Douglas, AZ, where the FdC office is located.
We arrived at the Frontera office at around noon and were immediately greeted by Mark Adams who insisted on taking us to lunch so that we could catch up and talk more about the issues our church is facing with regards to the ministry there. After lunch, we visited for a few hours with both Mark Adams and Tommy Bassett, on of the founders of Just Coffee and the Director of the Just Trade center. Our conversations covered many topics, but in particular, Mark and Tommy were able to lend a lot of clarity to some of the questions we have about the nature of FdC and some of the activities in which they participate.
After a productive afternoon, Mary and I had planned to go to our hotel in A.P., but Mark insisted that we stay at his home. So, we met Mark at his home around 6pm and caught up, briefly with his family, his wife Miram and children: Cindy (12), Anna Flor (6) and Nathan (1), before Mark and I prepared some dishes to take to the “bachelor party” for Adrian.
In Mexico, Presbyterians don’t drink, smoke or dance and they certainly don’t have bachelor parties in the traditional sense. Instead, Tommy Basset procured about 20 pounds of marinated rib-eye steaks and we all sat out on the back patio in the cool Sonora evening and had a semi-traditional Carne Asada. It was a great time to visit and laugh with friends from American and Mexico. I made the salso and pico de gallo for the meal and received a number of compliments, although I think they were just being nice. We had a lot of fun telling stories of funny things that happen on the border and Tommy video taped everyone giving Adrian “marital advice.” Apparently, Pastor Rudofo gets the price for most revealing tips. I do not know what he said, but it was enough to make Tommy blush, so I didn’t even ask.
The following day, Mary and I met Adrian for breakfast at the Hacienda Hotel in A.P. Anyone who has been on a trip will well recall how good the food is at the Hacienda’s Café and it is a popular morning meeting spot for all the movers and shakers in A.P. In fact, we have even seen the Presidente (mayor) dining there in the past. We had a great meal of tortilla casserole, eggs and fresh fru
it.
After eating, we all met at the Lily of the Valley Church to clean and prepare the church for the wedding. We swept and mopped, setup chairs, raked the front parking area and dusted. We worked alongside Mark and his wife Mirian, Adrian and his soon-to-be wife, Febe. Chuy Gallegos Jr. was there from Colorado with his wife, Julie and many other friends who all made quick work of preparing the church.
After the church was cleaned, setup and locked-up, Adrian took us all to the town square for one of his favorite meals: Mexican hot dogs. These are basically just normal hot dogs, but are wrapped in bacon with salsa, pinto beans and guacamole on top. Those, along with the strawberry and pecan Paletas (Mexican popsicles) that we had for desert, pretty much finished off our eating for the day.
That evening we had a rehearsal at the church where I was then informed that I would be a part of the wedding. This was truly an honor, which I had not expected, but it was a small reading part and I would be allowed to do so in English, so no worries there. We then all shared funny stories about the inherent tardiness of the Mexican culture. Julie Gallegos, an American from Colorado who married Chuy, a Mexican from A.P., shared a story from her wedding where she told all the Mexicans that, if they did not get there on time, the Americans would show up early and steal all the good seats. That seemed to work, but it was unclear if they actually heeded her warning or if it was because their only rides to the wedding was with the American families hosting them.
The rehearsal started at 8:15 and the plans for the wedding the following day were well underway. I admire the Mexican attitude about planning and we could all learn a lesson from this. It is one of gracious and friendly acceptance and humor. They do not stress over time, in contrast to American clock-watching, is part of what I believe makes them such a happy and relaxed culture.
The day of the wedding was hectic, but great. Mary and I crossed back to the U.S. side to do some last minute shopping and make an ATM withdrawal. During our shopping, Adrian called and asked if we would go to the home of a woman name Monchi to pickup the wedding cake and deliver it to the church. Since Monchi lives next door to the community center we were able to find her home and knocked on the door to receive the cake.
However, as with any “planned” procedure, I have learned that there will always be one, or a dozen, critical steps that are always omitted from the plan as a matter of principal. In this case, the step that we had missed was to inform Monchi of a) who Mary and I are and b) that we were coming to pickup the cake. Now, my Spanish is just not good enough to communicate such a specific concept and Mary had, unfortunately, lost her voice from Bronchitis on the way into Tucson, so this left us attempting to explain to Monchi that we were there to retrieve the cake, which was sitting in 12 different pieces in the middle of her living room. I proceeded to explain that we were trying to take “that” (couldn’t remember the word for cake) to the “iglesia.” 
I believe she thought us to be two random Americans who had somehow found her home and were looking to buy a cake and she was not about to let us take it. Finally, I called Adrian on my cell and just shoved the cell into the hands of Monchi and let him explain it. Once she understood, she was all business and she, along with her two daughters piled into our little rented car and we carried the cake(s), in two trips, to the church with everyone holding at least two cakes and some more (see photo).
The wedding began at 3pm and there were three pastors involved. Pastor Rodolfo, who is the Senior Pastor of the Lily of the Valley, was the officiating pastor. A wonderful sermon was then delivered by Joca Gallegos. Jocabed is the daughter of Chuy Gallegos Senior, who used to be the Mexican coordinator of FdC. Chuy now lives and operates a Hispanic Church in Greenville. After the sermon, Mark Adams performed the marriage ceremony. 
In Mexico, they not only have a ring-bearer, but also a “lasso” bearer. There is an ornately decorated lasso that is placed over the bride and grooms shoulders at the end of the service to symbolize that they are bound together. Aside from this, the vows were exchanged and the bride was kissed just like it is in an American wedding and they left the church to the blare of Mariachi trumpets playing Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.”
The reception was held at a “wedding salon” just one block from the church. The venue was called “Mundo Magico” and I can assure you it was truly a magical place for a reception and conveniently had a court yard with a playground so the children were all safely and conveniently removed from the reception area. Dinner was BBQ chicken and cole-slaw and each table was amply equipped with 2-litre bottles of Fanta Orange, Pineapple and Apple (my favorite) soda. There were at least
2 dozen Americans in attendance and even some that I had met on past trips to Southern Mexico or with whom I have crossed paths in other areas of mission. We enjoyed the music of the authentic Mariachis and visited for a couple hours before we had to make a mad-dash back across the border and then to Tucson where we caught a 1:00 a.m. red-eye back to Atlanta just in time to make it to the 11am worship on Sunday the 7th of December.
This trip was such a great experience for us and we are so grateful to Shallowford for having gotten our family involved in these relationships. I never would have thought, just 5 or 6 years ago, that I would one day have such close and familiar relationships with people from other countries and of other cultures. It has been of such importance to our family to be able to understand and share this culture and common faith with folks in Mexico.
The information from the final report and recommendations of the WWM committee on FdC will be available in February. Please email nick@villaume.net to receive a copy of the report in digital form.
If you are interested in becoming involved with mission at Shallowford, please contact me and attend one of our upcoming WWM committee meetings. All are welcome and you do not have to be a committee member to attend. Although, we will try to recruit you.
Mary and I left Atlanta on December 3rd and arrived in Tucson, AZ that evening where we rented a car and drove, the following day, to Agua Prieta. A.P. is about 120 miles south of Tucson and shares the border with the town of Douglas, AZ, where the FdC office is located.
We arrived at the Frontera office at around noon and were immediately greeted by Mark Adams who insisted on taking us to lunch so that we could catch up and talk more about the issues our church is facing with regards to the ministry there. After lunch, we visited for a few hours with both Mark Adams and Tommy Bassett, on of the founders of Just Coffee and the Director of the Just Trade center. Our conversations covered many topics, but in particular, Mark and Tommy were able to lend a lot of clarity to some of the questions we have about the nature of FdC and some of the activities in which they participate.
After a productive afternoon, Mary and I had planned to go to our hotel in A.P., but Mark insisted that we stay at his home. So, we met Mark at his home around 6pm and caught up, briefly with his family, his wife Miram and children: Cindy (12), Anna Flor (6) and Nathan (1), before Mark and I prepared some dishes to take to the “bachelor party” for Adrian.In Mexico, Presbyterians don’t drink, smoke or dance and they certainly don’t have bachelor parties in the traditional sense. Instead, Tommy Basset procured about 20 pounds of marinated rib-eye steaks and we all sat out on the back patio in the cool Sonora evening and had a semi-traditional Carne Asada. It was a great time to visit and laugh with friends from American and Mexico. I made the salso and pico de gallo for the meal and received a number of compliments, although I think they were just being nice. We had a lot of fun telling stories of funny things that happen on the border and Tommy video taped everyone giving Adrian “marital advice.” Apparently, Pastor Rudofo gets the price for most revealing tips. I do not know what he said, but it was enough to make Tommy blush, so I didn’t even ask.
The following day, Mary and I met Adrian for breakfast at the Hacienda Hotel in A.P. Anyone who has been on a trip will well recall how good the food is at the Hacienda’s Café and it is a popular morning meeting spot for all the movers and shakers in A.P. In fact, we have even seen the Presidente (mayor) dining there in the past. We had a great meal of tortilla casserole, eggs and fresh fru
it.After eating, we all met at the Lily of the Valley Church to clean and prepare the church for the wedding. We swept and mopped, setup chairs, raked the front parking area and dusted. We worked alongside Mark and his wife Mirian, Adrian and his soon-to-be wife, Febe. Chuy Gallegos Jr. was there from Colorado with his wife, Julie and many other friends who all made quick work of preparing the church.
After the church was cleaned, setup and locked-up, Adrian took us all to the town square for one of his favorite meals: Mexican hot dogs. These are basically just normal hot dogs, but are wrapped in bacon with salsa, pinto beans and guacamole on top. Those, along with the strawberry and pecan Paletas (Mexican popsicles) that we had for desert, pretty much finished off our eating for the day.That evening we had a rehearsal at the church where I was then informed that I would be a part of the wedding. This was truly an honor, which I had not expected, but it was a small reading part and I would be allowed to do so in English, so no worries there. We then all shared funny stories about the inherent tardiness of the Mexican culture. Julie Gallegos, an American from Colorado who married Chuy, a Mexican from A.P., shared a story from her wedding where she told all the Mexicans that, if they did not get there on time, the Americans would show up early and steal all the good seats. That seemed to work, but it was unclear if they actually heeded her warning or if it was because their only rides to the wedding was with the American families hosting them.
The rehearsal started at 8:15 and the plans for the wedding the following day were well underway. I admire the Mexican attitude about planning and we could all learn a lesson from this. It is one of gracious and friendly acceptance and humor. They do not stress over time, in contrast to American clock-watching, is part of what I believe makes them such a happy and relaxed culture.The day of the wedding was hectic, but great. Mary and I crossed back to the U.S. side to do some last minute shopping and make an ATM withdrawal. During our shopping, Adrian called and asked if we would go to the home of a woman name Monchi to pickup the wedding cake and deliver it to the church. Since Monchi lives next door to the community center we were able to find her home and knocked on the door to receive the cake.
However, as with any “planned” procedure, I have learned that there will always be one, or a dozen, critical steps that are always omitted from the plan as a matter of principal. In this case, the step that we had missed was to inform Monchi of a) who Mary and I are and b) that we were coming to pickup the cake. Now, my Spanish is just not good enough to communicate such a specific concept and Mary had, unfortunately, lost her voice from Bronchitis on the way into Tucson, so this left us attempting to explain to Monchi that we were there to retrieve the cake, which was sitting in 12 different pieces in the middle of her living room. I proceeded to explain that we were trying to take “that” (couldn’t remember the word for cake) to the “iglesia.” 
I believe she thought us to be two random Americans who had somehow found her home and were looking to buy a cake and she was not about to let us take it. Finally, I called Adrian on my cell and just shoved the cell into the hands of Monchi and let him explain it. Once she understood, she was all business and she, along with her two daughters piled into our little rented car and we carried the cake(s), in two trips, to the church with everyone holding at least two cakes and some more (see photo).
The wedding began at 3pm and there were three pastors involved. Pastor Rodolfo, who is the Senior Pastor of the Lily of the Valley, was the officiating pastor. A wonderful sermon was then delivered by Joca Gallegos. Jocabed is the daughter of Chuy Gallegos Senior, who used to be the Mexican coordinator of FdC. Chuy now lives and operates a Hispanic Church in Greenville. After the sermon, Mark Adams performed the marriage ceremony. 
In Mexico, they not only have a ring-bearer, but also a “lasso” bearer. There is an ornately decorated lasso that is placed over the bride and grooms shoulders at the end of the service to symbolize that they are bound together. Aside from this, the vows were exchanged and the bride was kissed just like it is in an American wedding and they left the church to the blare of Mariachi trumpets playing Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March.”The reception was held at a “wedding salon” just one block from the church. The venue was called “Mundo Magico” and I can assure you it was truly a magical place for a reception and conveniently had a court yard with a playground so the children were all safely and conveniently removed from the reception area. Dinner was BBQ chicken and cole-slaw and each table was amply equipped with 2-litre bottles of Fanta Orange, Pineapple and Apple (my favorite) soda. There were at least
2 dozen Americans in attendance and even some that I had met on past trips to Southern Mexico or with whom I have crossed paths in other areas of mission. We enjoyed the music of the authentic Mariachis and visited for a couple hours before we had to make a mad-dash back across the border and then to Tucson where we caught a 1:00 a.m. red-eye back to Atlanta just in time to make it to the 11am worship on Sunday the 7th of December.This trip was such a great experience for us and we are so grateful to Shallowford for having gotten our family involved in these relationships. I never would have thought, just 5 or 6 years ago, that I would one day have such close and familiar relationships with people from other countries and of other cultures. It has been of such importance to our family to be able to understand and share this culture and common faith with folks in Mexico.
The information from the final report and recommendations of the WWM committee on FdC will be available in February. Please email nick@villaume.net to receive a copy of the report in digital form.
If you are interested in becoming involved with mission at Shallowford, please contact me and attend one of our upcoming WWM committee meetings. All are welcome and you do not have to be a committee member to attend. Although, we will try to recruit you.
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