September 3, 2004
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dear Friends,

Last June I promised another letter in July—wishful thinking! Winter recess was anything but a recess, except for the five days when my husband kidnapped our daughter and me away to the coast, where there is neither telephone nor computer to distract me.

It is time to start programming my six months of interpretation assignment from January through June 2005. I have recently heard from the mission committee of the church in Fruitland Park, Florida. There are other churches that have been in communication with me over the last few years that may also be interested in having me address their congregations or groups within the congregation.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, my database of email addresses got lost when the hard drive on my old computer crashed. I am eager to get back in touch with many of you, but I no longer know how to do so. Please contact me at kgriffin@interlink.com.ar so we can start making arrangements.

There are several ways, in addition to the regular worship services, that I can share my experiences in Argentina with your congregation. I can prepare presentations for or activities with high school youth groups, university students, seminary students, women’s groups, adult Sunday school. Themes can vary from mission service in general, ecumenical collaboration, or questions relating specifically to Argentina—church history, church and society, theological education, youth and society, women’s issues, Latin American Pentecostalism. The list could be longer, depending somewhat on what interests people in your congregation.

I will be staying in my home presbytery, the Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery, in central New York State, for the majority of my mission interpretation time. At this time, I can be flexible about arranging visits to churches in other parts of the country, however this flexibility will change as my schedule starts to get filled in.

My parents have invited our 13-year-old niece, Analía, to travel with us and stay for about two months, from Christmas through mid-February. During that time-period, my “family” will include my husband, our niece, our one year-old daughter, and myself. From the end of February through mid-June, my family will be reduced to three members. Church youth groups may be interested in getting to know an Argentine teenager while Analía is with us!

I include a picture of Analía, doing what most teenage girls excel at, and a picture of a workshop for church women that I led with another woman pastor in the city of Comodoro Rivadavia, in the Patagonian province of Chubut. I have many other pictures and video clips to share, along with the stories that accompany them!

Please feel free to share this newsletter with church members and presbytery groups. You may also want to review information that can be found on the Web site that WMD has set up for me at http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/griffink.htm

In the mean time, I eagerly await news from you. I will keep you updated as travel and interpretation assignment plans become more concrete.

May God be with you.

Yours in Christ,

Katie Griffin

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 145