August 2000

Dear Partners in mission,

We have been blessed having you and your congregation supporting us through prayer, visits, invitations, and giving resources to the overseas mission of the PC(USA). Dios les bendiga (God bless you).

Sara and I arrived in Costa Rica a year ago from Brazil. As any change is, it was a bit difficult. Our children, who were in Costa Rica by themselves for five years, are not little any more. Ebed (26) is working and planning to get marriage in September; Caleb (24) is working and studying electronic engineering; Saguid (19) is studying veterinary medicine.

We are teaching in the Latin American Biblical University (UBL), my alma mater, from which I graduated in 1973. I am teaching New Testament and Sara is teaching psychology and pastoral counseling courses. I also serve as coordinator of the Hermandad, a group of theological centers related to the UBL. These 15 centers, from Mexico to Chile to Cuba, use our programs and receive support from UBL in Costa Rica. More than 1500 people receive training in different programs, earning bachelors degrees, licenciatura, and masters degrees in biblical studies and theology. All our students begin their studies in their own centers and come to Costa Rica for two, four or six months to finish and to do research in the library. We give priority to women, black people, and indigenous peoples.

Sara and I are collaborating with the FIEC (Fraternidad de Iglesias Evangélicas Costarricences), a church that has a partnership with the PC(USA). They are growing, they accept women in the ministry, and they have a strong commitment to Jesus and to people. The moderator of the FIEC is Elizabeth Delgado. She and her husband Arturo Piedras, another UBL professor, are hard workers and give leadership and pastoral care to the FIEC .

We have three PC(USA) colleagues at the UBL who are retiring at the end of this year: Irene Foulkes, Gloria Kinsler, and Ross Kinsler. They have been committed to Latin American education and service for many years. The church—not only in Costa Rica, but also from Mexico to Argentina and the UBL—will miss them.

Sara has been involved in several meetings and committees in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Ecuador, discussing and encouraging a stronger commitment from the churches in favor of women. Violence and discrimination against women are common in our society and some times in the church.

I was invited to the Presbyterian seminary in Fortaleza (Brazil) to teach a course on Mark for the masters program (34 students, 17 in Bible). They have more than 200 students involved in several courses.

Please keep us in your prayers. The situation in Colombia is out of control. My family is there (four sisters and their children). Many people in the Presbyterian Church are suffering because of the danger of losing their homes and jobs. I, as a Colombian, cannot see a way out. There is so much violence generated by military and paramilitary groups, from guerrilla groups, and common outlaws that a solution seems out of reach.

Thanks again for your support to our work, and we are very pleased to be your missionaries in Costa Rica.

Sara and Guido Mahecha.

The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 231