November 21, 2002

Dear Friends:

I am writing from Pasadena, California, where I am spending a few months on interpretation assignment. Among other things, I am spending time doing research on a master's thesis in Old Testament studies and trying to catch up on work from the Seminary. The publication of study guides for non-university pastoral and biblical studies is one of the responsibilities I have. We are finishing a guide on pastoral counseling, which I hope to edit during my time here. My administrative responsibilities at the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana (which I still refer to as the Seminary) are being shared by several people on staff and, as the Seminary closes for a month in December and January, and the scholarship committee I am on held its last meeting of the year in November, this was a good time to slip away.

When I think about what I would like to share with you, I can't help but think about a response I got to one of my letters last year. "What are you trying to achieve?" was the question I got back from one of the people on my short mailing list. My immediate reaction was, "What do you mean? I'm just sharing what some of my experiences have been working at the Seminary in Costa Rica." But then I got to thinking about why indeed is it important, or should it be of interest to anyone, to hear what is going on in other parts of the world.

I grew up in Latin America, as a third-generation missionary, and I am grateful for the perspective this gave me on the world. Even so, I needed to have my eyes opened by the poor of Latin America to realize that there is a majority of God's children who live in situations of extreme deprivation and to realize that my middle-class lifestyle was made possible because there are others who are deprived of access to this lifestyle.

Being at the seminary where students come and go constantly from all over Latin America, I am re-evangelized time and again by their life stories, stories of faith and struggle. Our largely Latin American staff of professors has the opportunity to experience the reality of these students countries as they teach intensive courses in the local study centers connected to the seminary.

Walter Brueggemann speaks against the myth of scarcity—there is enough in God's creation for all to have enough to live with dignity. But there is another myth, the myth that what I do, the way I spend my time and money, the lifestyle I choose, has no effect on anyone but myself.

These are issues I've struggled with living in Latin America where the gulf between the rich minority and the destitute majority is so noticeable, but at the same time easy to ignore until I started to see things from "the underside of society."

So yes, the challenge is to broaden our horizons, to realize that those who live in very different circumstances and cultures are intimately related to us. I challenge myself, from my world in Latin America, to open my eyes to the situation in other regions of the world, the Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq.

So what am I trying to achieve with these letters? Not much. Only to provide a fleeting glimpse of another world, of a people who are brothers and sisters of us all. Perhaps as we broaden our horizons we can counter the globalization of the free market economy with a globalization of the love of Christ, the unity of the body of Christ, suffering together and rejoicing together.

I would ask you to pray for

• the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana, for the president, Jaime Prieto, the students and those who make decisions that affect the lives of these students (scholarship approvals, for example)
• the leaders of the nations, that they would listen to the voice of the victims, of the poor in their countries, and stand up to he pressure of powerful wealthy interests
• the PC(USA), for its ministry in the United States and around the world.

Sincerely,

Elisabeth Cook

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 237