November 23, 2005
San José, Costa Rica

Christmas 2005

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We thank God for the daily care and support he gives us and for the people in churches and Christian communities that also give us support. This year is ending. For many people, natural disasters have touched their lives, family members, and friends. The war in the Far East has not ended yet, and pain and hate surrounds many lives.

In Latin America the drug problem continues, the economic situation does not improve at all, floods and landslides occur in many countries. In Costa Rica, there is hard opposition to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas because peasants are afraid of losing their land and jobs. But over all, Jesus is coming and hope and joy will be in our communities during Christmas time. Merry Christmas to all people.

In the Latin American Biblical University (UBL), where we teach, we are ending a very good year under the direction of Professor Violeta Rocha, a Nicaraguan biblical scholar. The UBL is a de-centralized organization with 15 centers around Latin America. During the year, university professors taught 50 courses in San José and 26 in our centers from Chile to Mexico, including the Caribbean (Dominican Republic and Cuba). Furthermore, the centers also taught their own courses, which together total more than 150. In all the UBL has around 1,100 students enrolled at the university level and another 1,500 receiving lay training.

Sara taught six courses in the field of pastoral psychology in San José, one in the Dominican Republic and one in Chile. Nowadays, she is supervising a student in her masters degree research on pastoral care in poor Christian communities.

This year Sara wrote two books, both about pastoral care from a Latin American perspective. These books are used in courses in our centers. Guido taught six courses on the New Testament in San José and three in Colombia. He is also supervising two research students, one from Costa Rica and the other from Chile.

Our family is fine, Saguid will be finishing her university in August. Caleb is now finishing the university and working with Hewlett Packard. Ebed continues working with Sykes Costa Rica. We are both in good health, with only aging difficulties, such as high blood pressure and high triglycerides for Guido and low calcium for Sara. We are attending a small Presbyterian congregation outside the city of San Jose and preaching there from time to time.

We will probably be in the United States from February to April 2007 for interpretation assignment, and we hope then to see many of our old friends and visit their churches. Guido will be 61 in December and is planning to retire in 2009, God willing. Sara will be 56 in January and is still eager to keep writing, counseling, teaching, discussing about how best to counsel poor families and women.

Thanks to all of you, and please keep us in your prayers. Also keep praying for the UBL and for Latin America. We are praying for you, for your church, and for the world.

Sincerely,

Sara and Guido Mahecha

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, p. 240