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Serving Christ in Ecuador |
Check out this article on the Covenant newswire that quotes Kim: https://covenantcompanion.com/2019/02/15/j2m-journey-in-midwest-conference-stirs-pain-hope/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+covchurch%2Fnews+%28Covenant+Newswire%29
Here are a couple of posts from Kim:
Just 2 weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be involved in Journey to Mosaic (J2M). It was in the Denver, Colorado area during our denominations annual conference for missionaries and pastors. It was life changing, eye opening and many other emotional and unexplainable words that I have not even defined yet. Since this is Black History month and I am still trying to wrap my head around what to do with the information I received, the history realized and not being able to go about life quite the same, I am very much thinking, “now what”? In light of that, I felt I needed some type of action plan for myself and for any one around me willing and wanting to engage in education and journey.
Journey to Mosaic is defined as by our denomination as: a multicultural ministry experience to explore the historical and present-day injustices related to the ethnic communities.
Our first full day of the journey, we drove 3 and a half hours to visit Amache, a Japanese internment camp and also the site of the Sand Creek Massacre. Some of you may know about these historical events, but I really had no idea. If you want to learn more, here are 2 very good documentaries to learn more.
I am not writing this for any other reason than for education. I had no idea a lot of this information and I should, I need to.
I wanted to follow up from my post from yesterday about my experience of Journey to Mosaic. Our first full day we visited Amache and then the sight of the Sand Creek massacre. While we were looking at the sight of the massacre, one of our professors read a 1st hand account of the massacre. Some of which you could read here: http://sandcreekmassacre.net/witness-accounts/
We were told and shown a tree over the horizon that sprung up from the blood of the dead because so many people were killed at that spot.
After this reading, our professor asked how we were feeling. Some people were able to respond, but others of us, said nothing. It is difficult to explain, but to do my best, I had never felt those emotions before. I couldn’t put words or feelings to it because I had never experienced it. This was so hard and I know I am not doing it justice here.
I had never heard this before. I knew the general history of how lands were stolen, people were killed and they were given less than ideal lands, but the story of the Native American is so much more than what is written in most history books and for that I am really sad. I feel like if we don’t REALLY know the actual history than we are very likely to repeat it. Maybe not in the same exact ways, but even though packaged differently, still similar. So, again, I am giving information here. More information to give people ideas of actual stories, real stories of and real voices of those who lived and died trying to just be who they were. Theirs is a story we should know and learn and grieve. Why do I think this is important? Well, I will speak for me and me only. It is very easy to go through life with a way of thinking that is comfortable for me and doesn’t affect me. However, when you know truth and understand it, you can’t go about life the same way. That is where I am right now. I am trying to figure out my response because for me, there has to be one. I can’t go about life not seeing those that are different and not having a response to their tragedy, their stories, their voices. SO, for me, I want to learn more to be better, to be a better human because we have to be.
Here are more links and info if you want to learn more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUCIMqlztd0&t=1122s
To learn more about the Sand Creek Massacre, here is a great documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnPT1qYa64
Last year, the International Little Artist Foundation in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin partnered with the Santiago Partnership and specifically the Home for at-risk children. Children from Turtle Creek Elementary school made and decorated backpacks to send to each child in the home! The Walworth County Food Pantry also helped send two mobile libraries that have books in Spanish for the kids in the home and other children that the home and clinic will come in contact with. We so appreciate the help of this amazing foundation and the kids involved who want to serve our kids in Ecuador in such a tangible way. The last picture is of our project coordinator Rolando, our dentist Lucy and Pastor Jose receiving these gifts. Thank you again! We appreciate you so much! 
We’d like to share a prayer request for you. We have had a plan for this year and we are finally getting to the point where we are slowing down enough that we can finally start to enact that plan. For many of you who have followed along with us over the years, you know that we have struggled to find the correct balance of ministry and personal life to where we have struggled in maintaining good healthy eating and exercise habits and routines for ourselves and our children.
We are extremely busy in Ecuador with ministries where we have helped to start a Home for At Risk Children and a Medical Clinic as well as we hold a lot of Medical Caravans in which we partner with many international volunteers. This, along with having three small children, has made it extremely difficult for us to develop healthy patterns and routines for ourselves for both diet and exercise (and sleeping and personal time…. you get it!!!). Plus, when you add in the multiple international moves and local moves within Ecuador all of this has prevented us from finding stability and good family health. We both actually love to exercise and healthy eating and so we have really struggled with all of the weight we have put on. I specifically played competitive soccer through college and ran a marathon while in Seminary. I hate not being fit and not being healthy! I actually started growing facial hair in 2014 with the idea that I would not shave it off completely until I was living a healthy life-style that I was happy with. It is my goofy form of a penance that provides a daily reminder that I am not putting my health needs as a priority in my life. Though I do trim it down of course, I have not been able to shave it off yet. You can actually see the original post here: http://blogs.covchurch.org/delp/?p=3356
During this year of Home Assignment, we will have more time than what we normally do with our lives in Ecuador, so we are committing to getting healthy and even more we are trying to create a plan and a pattern for our lives that we can replicate once we move back to Ecuador and get very busy again. We have tried many things in the past but we have always had trouble keeping things going as we get busy, one of us is traveling, etc, etc. Our plan for this year will include a nutrition plan, exercise routine, gym memberships, daily water intake, sleeping commitment as well as various other components like a spiritual retreat. I am shooting high and hope to lose 41 pounds in this 16 weeks. I am going to be running 2.3 miles three times per week and I want to see my time drop as the pounds drop. My eventual goal is to run a half-marathon by the end of the year.
Please pray for us as we undertake this endeavor. We want this to be the change in our lives that sticks. We feel like we are finally getting to the point where we can better balance things than what we have in the past so please pray that this plan helps us change our routines and lifestyle to be a more healthy one for us and our children.
We just want to give a shout out to Mark Hjelmervik, a fellow Covenant pastor, who has created an accountability/encouragement group that we have formed to help encourage us down this path. Also, we need to the thank our Serve Globally staff as they have been very supportive of us as we pursue our goals. Thank you everyone!!
Meet the newest employee of our Medical Clinic in Cayambe, Jenniffer Gordon.
Jenniffer started this past week as we launched a brand new service for the community of Physical Therapy. You can see our new Physical Therapy/Occupational Therapy room that is a part of the new wing of the clinic.
Both the equipping of the Physical Therapy services and the hiring of Jenniffer are possible due to a newly formed relationship that we have with Compassion Physical Therapy. We are so excited to have Jenniffer on staff with us and to be partnering with Compassion to better serve the greater Cayambe area. Please join us in welcoming Jenniffer to the Santiago Partnership!
It was crazy for us once we made it to the U.S. arriving from Ecuador. Since landing in Minneapolis a little over a month ago, we had put over 5,000 miles on the vehicle, visited 13 churches, met with 18 different individual supporters and had the time of our lives. We had traveled in car as far north as Norquay, SK, Canada and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and then as far east as Boston and Maine. We had visited churches in Minnesota, Canada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine and then with additional supporters in Ohio and Massachusetts as well.
The Santiago Partnership
