Back from Guatemala

Got back from Guatemala last night. Amazing how fast a month can go by. Guatemala is amazing and beautiful and to even think about summarizing it would be nigh impossible. But I have a C-mail to put together and that is going to be difficult.

None the less, I hope to be able to go back some day and do the touristy thing. I spent most of my time focusing on spanish learning and hanging out in Xela so I didn't get out of the city much to see what there is in the country.

For the next week I'm trying to get everything organized to go, sell the car perhaps, and finish up all the details and preparation for Caracas.

And about Caracas...here are some letters from John and Birgit Shorack from the past few months describing what's been going on:

July 2007 -- Dear friends and family:
Manuel had been complaining about his elbow for several days. He injured it at work and was unable to do the heavy lifting his job required. If this injury and the lack of worker's comp were his only problems, then my simple visit at that moment of physical pain would have solved his problem. For God instantly healed his injured elbow when I held it in my hands and prayed a simple, yet authoritative, prayer. Pretty cool, right? I think so, too. And I am praying that we will see more such physical signs of God's love and care for the hurting.

Like many people who've suffered under grinding poverty, Manuel's problems were not solved by being able to return to work. Why, in fact, aren't he and his wife, Marlene, sending their six little boys to school? Why haven't the parents bothered getting birth certificates for the five oldest boys or an ID card for Manuel (without which you don't qualify for any assistance of any kind)? The issues and the problems run deep and wide.

Fortunately, there's another kind of healing that God is leading us into, a healing that goes deeper and wider than physical pains and illnesses. This kind of healing, of the heart, requires greater vulnerability and unfortunately, at this moment, Manuel and Marlene are not open to it. Other neighbors are, however.

Antonieta is an elderly woman across the street from us. Her husband, Uscatique, came to one of our house church celebrations. When Antonieta's teeth began falling out due to anxiety over her three sons, she asked if we could pray for her. Antonieta professes to know Christ, so we invited her to come before Jesus in prayer, bringing each of her sons and each of her burdens, laying them down at Jesus' feet. Jesus met Antonieta and touched her in a special way, bringing comfort and peace to her troubled soul. So far she still has her teeth, too.

Roiner is a nine-year old boy in our neighborhood. His parents, Tati and Elizabeth, are new believers and a core family in the house church. As long as his parents can remember, Roiner has refused to eat on his own. His mother had all but given up when, on the retreat in April with the house church, we prayed with Roiner, leading him into the presence of Jesus. Roiner was able to trust Jesus enough to let go of his long-held stubbornness and has been eating on his own since then.

I share these simple vignettes to give you an idea of the little steps we're taking in ministering wholeness, comfort and healing to the people of the barrios. As you can probably tell, Birgit, I and the team are in a new season of sorts. We know God wants to do more, through his Holy Spirit. We also know that we are babies, at the beginning of a maturation process.

Pray for us, that God continues to empower us and open doors to announce the good news to the poor and the hurting of the barrios.

God's peace,

John and Birgit Shorack

August 2007 -- Dear friends and family:

"…even as the Lord heard the cries of His people in slavery and raised up Moses to deliver them, your cries of sorrow over sons and husbands lost to the madness of violence in this barrio has reached the ears of God…"

The occasion was Mother's day. I (John) was invited by the organizer of the open air, block party to give a message and prayer for the mothers of barrio Pedro Camejo, where we live, too. Only ten days earlier, two men from Pedro Camejo had carried out the will of the entire community by viciously stabbing to death a young man whose street name was Calimero.

We stand in the middle, between two worlds -- friends of perpetrators and victims. On one side of things, we were privileged to usher Calimero--an orphan-turned-street criminal--into an experience of God's forgiveness two days before his death. On the other side, we face the rage and unforgiveness of the victims, who also kill in order to save the neighborhood.

Peace Initiative
As a team, we are launching a new thrust which we're calling the Peace Initiative. The impulse for the initiative is a vision of God's shalom in the barrios – that in the midst of violence and a spirit of revenge, we can see God establish peace and reconciliation between enemies. Where fear rules the streets, we can see children playing without concern for their safety, where garbage and pollution put the community's health at risk, to see responsibility assumed and care taken for the environment.

Signs of God's shalom are many – whether in the family, with neighbors or in the streets. We have identified three priorities for the Peace Initiative that we want to develop. In Spanish, they all start with the letter 'o':

• Organizar (organize): Work with neighbors to identify and addressing issues and problems that we all face.
• Orientar (teach/orient): Offer workshops on conflict resolution, parenting and grief; and tutoring for children.
• Orar (pray): Offering prayer ministry to hurting people who are open to God, and concerted, intercession for large-scale spiritual breakthrough.

From August 13 to 19, we will be offering a summer day-camp for 20 children from barrio Pedro Camejo who have lost fathers or brothers to murder. We will be using art in a therapeutic way, addressing issues of trauma and grief and creating a street mural as the culminating act with the children.

I have been reminded that Moses, God's deliverer for Israel, was himself a murderer, who killed in order to save his neighborhood. Pray with us that God will raise up deliverers like Moses for the barrios of Caracas--deliverers whose passions for justice may be harnessed and channeled by God's grace to truly liberate.

Yours for the kingdom,

John and Birgit Shorack