Dear Friends:

Jerónimo and Margarita left last week. We were getting used to having them around. To seeing their youngest, a baby, sitting in his stroller during Margarita’s classes (the first newborn to attend theology classes!), to hearing Jerónimo sharing about the latest struggles of the indigenous people in Ecuador.

Like most of the students here, Margarita and Jerónimo came to Costa Rica for a short period of time. They began their studies through the UBL distance program and came to take their final courses and work on their theses. It wasn’t easy for them to adjust to being at the university. Spanish isn’t even their first language, and their children had a difficult time adjusting to the new culture. Margarita and Jerónimo come from the Chimborazo region of Ecuador, where they belong to the kichua people, one of the many indigenous groups in Ecuador.

They arrived in March shortly after having participated actively in protests against the government’s prejudicial policies against the indigenous population. The churches in the Chimborazo region were very involved in organizing and participating in the protests. For this couple, as Christians they felt they could do no less. They are in a battle, a battle to preserve their culture and identity as a people.

That battle goes on in the classroom as well. How to understand Western rational thinking and theology from the life experience of the indigenous peoples? Does accepting the gospel mean accepting Western culture as well? These are some of the issues we grapple with here at UBL as we welcome students from a variety of cultures and ethnic backgrounds throughout Latin America.

As administrator at UBL, my job is to make sure everything functions properly so the students have the housing, food, study materials, and other necessities for their time here in Costa Rica. It also means juggling the scholarship budget to prioritize those students who have the least access to educational opportunities. In Latin America these are the indigenous and Afro-Caribbean peoples and women of all races.

Every two months new students come and go from UBL study centers in Honduras, Guatemala, Perú, Bolivia, Cuba, and several other countries. The experience of sharing with people from different church and cultural backgrounds is enriching and challenging for all of us. We have interesting experiences together—from men learning to cook and clean for themselves to women learning to speak up for themselves freely.

I am challenged daily to broaden my world, to recognize that my priorities are not always what they should be. When I find myself caught up in budgets, broken water pumps, or the urgently needed materials for the next theology class, these students help me to remember what this is all about. They are on the front lines in their churches and communities, struggling for a more just world, for a new creation in God’s love. Yes, I’m behind the scenes, but the view from here is just great!

Blessings,

Elisabeth Cook

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 81

P.S. As I draw close to celebrating my twelfth year as a diaconal worker with PC(USA), I can’t help but feel tremendously grateful for the opportunity to serve both in Costa Rica and with our church. Having grown up in Latin America, I have the joy of serving where I feel at home and of having my immediate family nearby. (I’m the third generation in my family involved in mission work in Latin America.) UBL has long been a partner of PC(USA), and several mission workers have made an important mark on the ministry of theological education in Latin America here. The commitment to ministry in Latin America and even more so, to ministry partnership, makes it possible for me and others to work together with Latin American church leaders and educators. This means a lot of learning for me and a feeling of being in just the right place at the right time.