September 2002

Dear Family and Friends,

What a long, strange trip this has been.

The Presbyterian Church called Julie and myself and another co-worker couple to headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, to attend a Missionary Sharing Conference, and for consultation about some negotiations between the PC(USA) and our partner in mission here, the Reformed Church of El Salvador/Alfalit. We left August 3, hoping to be back to our work in Colima within a month, but the dialogue between the two unfolded more slowly than expected, so that by the time all was said and done, we were in the U.S. for all of August and most of September.

While there, we made the most of it, though! We were able to squeeze in a visit with our daughter Simone and her husband Darien and our precious 10-month-old granddaughter Taneli Marie in Atlanta. We were also able to get to Oregon to the wedding of one of Julie's nephews, Sam Morgan. The time with Julie's mom, Mary, was very good. Bob was able to videotape her identifying the family members in old black and white photos that dated back to the beginning of the 20th century. She recalled many fascinating anecdotes that will be of great value to the family over the years. We were recharged by the visits with family and friends, meeting with Bob's men's group, and hiking through the rainforest of the Coastal Range.

We received good news while we were in the States. The Colima eco-tourism project has been receiving excellent newspaper and TV coverage, which has resulted in a marked increase in visitors coming to enjoy the hacienda, the typical food served there, the pool, the forest reserve.

There have been strong rains here this "winter." Winter here means rain. The result in Colima is that the restored lake is teeming with waterfowl and other wildlife from the Central American Biological Corridor. Hundreds of organically fed tilapia are reproducing into thousands of fingerlings. This project will directly benefit the cooperative and the community, as profits from the sale of fish will be theirs in early 2003.

The trash collection, fuel log, language school, natural sugar, arts and crafts projects have been able to continue, with varying degrees of success, in our absence. We are seeing many signs of community ownership in the work we have undertaken with them over the last five years. Yes, it will have been that long in December!

So we will be keeping you updated on our work with the reconstruction of homes and also the on-going work in Colima.

In the good struggle, la buena lucha,

Julia y Roberto

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 241