July 6, 2004
Buenos Aires

And now these remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Cor. 13:13

Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

During these last weeks we have realized how a saying from Latin America is quite true: Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar, which means “Traveler, there is no path, the path is made by walking). This saying points to the fact that life is not already “made” but is built as we live fully our joys and sadnesses, our experiences and encounters. As we are preparing to leave the mission field for a year of furlough in the United States we are taking some time to say our goodbyes and are enjoying visiting, remembering, laughing, and sharing time with church partners here in Buenos Aires. We celebrate friendships that have developed over the thirteen years that we have been serving here. We are grateful to God for so many people who have been in partnership with us from all corners of this huge city of Buenos Aires in the same way that we are grateful for all of you who have allowed us to serve here in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs)

One of the important stepping stones in the YAV program is when the whole group gathers towards the end of a year of service and celebrates the richness of the experience: celebrating God and his company always, the new people in their lives, a new language, and a way of understanding life from the Latin American perspective. In the midst of laughter and tears the young people prepare to go home and share their life-changing experience with their families, churches, friends, and those who would invite them to do so. We want to share with you part of a prayer written by the group:

God, we give you thanks for allowing us as imperfect humans to be stewards of your unconditional love and bringing us here to learn of your love in another culture and stretching us to our limits and beyond.

God, we give you thanks for the threads that weave us together, bright and dark, thin and thick. Thank you for being the master weaver, even when from below we might only see knots and confusion, from up above you are weaving us in an amazing tapestry.

Ministry to the homeless

“I finally feel I can believe in myself again. There is hope. I am re-encountering myself,” exclaimed one of the 12 men gathered in a little room. The man, part of a team working in a program of the Anglican Church, was radiant, at peace, he had something to share about all the work and the learning that he had been doing the last two months. And people were once again listening to him. He had a voice once again!

Juan and other co-workers have been working with these men, who were selected for the program because they haven’t been too long in the streets of Buenos Aires or too affected by the solitude and degradation that come from living in the streets. During these last two months Juan gently shared his basic knowledge of how to start a small business in a cooperative effort.

The conclusion of this part of the training, which lasted two months, needed to be celebrated and appreciated before starting a new phase of learning, and so we did, joyfully!

Return to the United States

Yes, this is the time for us to come back to the United States, to walk with all of you, to see, speak, pray, and embrace you. We arrive on July 21, 2004, and will stay until July 2005. We’ll be in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and would be glad to visit and worship with you. Our address will be:

1838 Jennings Street
Bethlehem, PA 18017-5235

Our email addresses, kauerfamilyba@sion.com and juankauer@sion.com, will remain the same, unless we are faced with unexpected difficulties, but in that case we will be in contact with you again via email.

Until we get our own phone you can reach us via Shirley Jacobson at our local church, First Presbyterian Church, in Bethlehem at (610) 867-5865.

During this time of changes and adjustments we ask you to continue keeping us in your prayers. Please also keep our co-workers in the mission field and staff in Louisville in your prayers, which are a great support to all of us. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Your brother and sisters in Christ,

Juan, Manuela, Laura, Camila Kauer

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 257