Advent 2003

Greetings from the Wehmeyers in southern Mexico

To the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, Wonderful, Mighty, Prince of Peace; to Him we offer our sacrifices of praise and service.

Christmas is the best time of year for giving thanks for the blessings we have received and renewal of our lives in Christ. Valerie has finished her first semester as an Austin College freshman. She is studying classical languages and philosophy. Her grades were very good but she said Greek is really hard and pretty boring. (This assessment was shared by a million other freshman Greek students that were informally polled.) Kristen gave us a big scare when an ovarian cyst ruptured and she lost a liter of blood to internal bleeding! The evening before the emergency she went to enjoy the mechanical rides at the State fair. Apparently the jolting and jarring that kids find so much fun was too much and caused the injury. Thankfully, the Lord blessed us each step of the way through the experience and she is now back in school. David is going to both soccer and French classes after school. He really wants out of French but if he stays home there is not much but TV or computer games, so we are trying to keep him in the class.

Martha finished her classwork for her degree in family counseling and is now seeing clients. She has not yet made up her mind about a private office or joining a group of other therapists. Unfortunately there is plenty of work available. Yucatan ranks second among Mexican states for suicides, yet has one of the smallest populations. Pray for her as she often works with families in desperate economic conditions.

Please consider coming to live with the sisters for a while. You will be blessed during your stay and discover that Benedictine life is based on simple values such as worship, work, and service to others. In terms of evangelism, which is what most of our visitors seem to be concerned about, Benedictines have an obligation to receive each visitor as Christ himself. So the evangelism is done not knocking on doors in the neighborhoods but by leaving the community door wide open and allowing the Lord to bring in whomever He leads there.

In addition to the Benedictine work I am continuing my sometimes lonely advocacy for liturgical reform. I am encouraged that two presbyteries have adopted the use of stoles for their clergy and many students at the seminary now have seen me preaching with alba, stole, and sometimes even a cross! The churches where I officiate now understand that when I am there, there will always be the Lord’s Supper. There are many reasons for liturgical reform but this is perhaps the most important. Why Presbyterians have been so slow to restore the Lord’s Supper to every worship service is a mystery to me but so long as we are negligent in sharing the grace of the Lord through the sacraments, it is difficult to imagine how the membership will ever recover the Reformed teachings about the Church as the mystical Body of Christ.

One special place I want share with you in this letter is Balboa, Chiapas. This is a small town of about 1,000 people, nearly all of them Presbyterians. They are Tzeltal Mayans and live mostly by raising corn and coffee in the Lacadon jungle. This little community has a very mature Christian faith, and they’re reaching many other isolated villages with the gospel. They could do more if there were support for the elders who have make long bus trips on terrible roads. To improve the church evangelism funds, they need help to buy a heavy-duty truck and water purification equipment. They will use the truck for freight and sell bottled water as a little business. In addition, the sisters from Getsemani and I are planning to return there in March to teach hammock-weaving, piñata-making, beekeeping, and hopefully start a small bakery. If you are intested in helping, let us know. Even small amounts of money can make a significant improvement.

Prayer requests this Christmas season are for the continued growth of the Church here. Pray for a young seminary graduate, Isaias, who is studying to be a Presbyterian Benedictine in a Lutheran Benedictine community in Michigan. Also for two of our sisters, Ivonne and Nelly, who are studying the same thing in York, England, with the Episcopalian Church. Finally, pray for the courses I teach at the different seminaries and for time to develop a new advanced course for liturgy.

We remain ever grateful for your continuing support, which allows us to stay on the field, and look forward to seeing many new and old friends who arrive each year with the mission work teams.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may His peace abide in you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from

Donald and Martha, Valerie, Kristen and David Wehmeyer

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 138