April 5, 2004

Dear Friends:

A visit to Guatemala is always a wonderful experience. The vibrant reds, greens, yellows and purples woven together into intricate, beautiful cloth designs by Mayan women attract people from all over the world. The weaving together of the Guatemalan societal fabric is as, if not more, intricate. Sometimes the product is not as pretty as that of the indigenous cloth.

In February I had the opportunity to be present in an exciting moment in Guatemalan history—a commemorative ceremony of the dignity of the victims of “the violence” (what they call their 36-year civil war) and a reactivation of the 1996 peace accords. In a hall of the Guatemalan national palace human rights leaders and government officials shared moments in which they remembered the violence that brought and still brings individual and collective pain, a national pain, since all Guatemalans suffer the marks left from the war. Victims, family members, former exiles, and representatives of the present government were seated together to bring a new nation into existence in the very palace where former governments planned maneuvers for the extinction of their own citizens. President Oscar Berger says a new nation implies that “we accept what happened, ask forgiveness, and teach our children about it.”

The event was inspiring. But one cannot be chastised for being doubtful that the Guatemalans will ever realize the lofty goals and ideals they espoused at this ceremony.

The United Nations Ministry in Guatemala, MINIGUA, did not present a positive report concerning the country’s progress in becoming the “true intercultural nation where the needs of the majority of Guatemalans are met” about which President Berger talked.

The Ecumenical Forum, a group of religious leaders including the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Guatemala (IENPG), was present at the ceremony and lifted up the event and the nation in prayer. The Permanent Secretary of the IENPG, supported by the Executive Committee (the IENPG’s equivalent to the General Assembly Council), is active and committed to being present in the nation’s struggle for wholeness.

We pray with them that in this troubled land the possibility now exists for dignity and well being for all its citizens. As many of you who were in Guatemala in the 1980s know, simply having these particular participants together sharing sorrows and also dreams for a better tomorrow is an extraordinary event. We pray that our country will play a positive role in helping the Guatemalans achieve their goal. For God’s people in Guatemala I give thanks. For God’s people in the United States I give thanks. I pray for wisdom and courage for all of us. May we never lose the hope for a new tomorrow. May the relationships in a new Guatemala be as vibrant and beautiful as a Mayan weaving.

Being able to spend time in Central America again is truly a gift. I am grateful to you in the PC(USA) who give to the General Assembly so mission personnel can be present throughout the world.

Shalom,

Julia Ann Moffett
Regional Liaison in Central America

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 124