March 6, 2006

Dear Friends,

As I live and work with Guatemalan women, I often think how important it is for Guatemalan and North American women to find ways to be in ministry together. I have witnessed change in the form of new ways of thinking and acting in women from both north and south as they live together, learning from and with one another. The simple act of North American women trying their hand at making tortillas, a process which results in lots of laughter and some very misshaped tortillas, is a way of affirming the skills and abilities of Guatemalan women who often see themselves as having less value than North American women. Women from both countries have shared testimonies of God at work in their lives and the faith of all has been strengthened; prayers connect us to one another across the miles and to our God who hears us in all our languages. Money has been sent from women’s groups in the States to make it possible for Guatemalan women to study theology, to attend conventions and workshops, to learn to sew, to travel to parts of their country they never knew and meet new sisters in Christ.

I am always looking for new ways we can be in ministry together, and so I rejoiced when a group of women at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina, wanted to do something special for their Guatemalan sisters at Christmas time. They came up with the idea of a “baby shower for Jesus.” They bought new clothing for infants—little gowns, tiny shirts, blankets, diapers, caps, booties—and sent them to Guatemala where the Presbyterian Women divided them among the presbyteriales (a geographical grouping of Presbyterian women).

The Guatemalan women then gave the clothing, “in the name of Jesus,” to mothers in clinics, to midwives, and to mothers in their communities and churches.

One of the Guatemalan women adapted this idea so that next Christmas season she had the women in her sociedad (group of women in local church) collect clothing for newborns; then two days before Christmas they took the clothing to a hospital where they shared the Christmas story, prayed with each new mother, and gave them clothing.

Two suitcases full of new baby clothes have just arrived in Guatemala from the Christmas 2005 “baby shower for Jesus,” and once again the women are busy distributing the clothing and making plans to use it. I recently met with the governing body of the Presbyterial Mam and brought a bag of clothing with me. The women were delighted to receive it and immediately began making plans to use it. One said, “In my church there is a new mother. The father deserted her before the baby was born. She needs a lot of help.”

Another commented, “In my community there are two single mothers with many needs. We can take the clothing along with food and tell them about Jesus, how he came into the world as a baby like their child, with no clothes. We cannot give clothes to Jesus, but we can give them to your baby in Jesus’ name.” A tiny gown, a blanket, a cap and booties have become tools of evangelism!

Each group of women has played a vital role in this ministry, the North Americans buying and sending the clothes to Guatemala and the Guatemalans sharing it in the name of Jesus with those in need.

Juntos en la familia de Cristo (Together in Christ’s family)

Ellen Dozier

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 64