Space
I have been given a tremendous gift - the space to write in solitude that is not in my home. One of my boundary rules is that I will not write about abuse in my own home. I do this for my own mental and spiritual health, but our office is very crowded and none of us have much thinking space. Because of this, I've been writing at home for almost a year. Today, I'm going to my new writing space that is at a Methodist Church in Hot Springs. I have been given access to the pastor's library - which is removed from the offices and other activities of the church - to come and go as I need to without a phone or
interruptions. This comes at the perfect time because, upon returning from Ecuador, I have a great many front burner projects that will require my undivided attention. In addition, I have several more books in me that I need to get written, as well as many new translation projects. This writing space is a great blessing for me, for the ministry, and for those we hope to reach.
www.committedtofreedom.org
Report from Ecuador
I returned from Ecuador last night. Here is my report:
Ecuador Journal
July 22-26, 2007
Quito, Ecuador
Monday, July 23, 2007
I arrived in Quito at midnight Sunday night and settle in for a brief night of sleep. After breakfast this morning, I went with Bob and Diane Peterson – volunteers from Hope Presbyterian Church in Memphis who have really taken Ecuador into their hearts – to an amazing school in Carmen
Bajo. My translator was a lovely woman named Sandra and her 14 year old son, Gonzalo accompanied us. His English is amazing and he’s a beautiful, bright Christian young man. The administrators of this school, Pancho and Pity, are two amazing people. Their school is in the midst of remarkable poverty – raw sewage cascading down the majestic mountains, shacks as far as the eye can see, stray dogs and people everywhere. In this setting, they have managed to build an oasis for children where they eat 3 meals a day, attend classes, computer classes, English classes from babies through 6
th grade. I met with a group of their teachers and “Community Mothers” to discuss the issues of sexual abuse and their stories were sadly familiar. Then I asked them what solutions they saw were possible through this school. These insightful men and women know what needs to be done – parenting classes, sex education classes for the children, partnerships between parents and teachers, and support groups for both victims and offenders. I know that Committed to Freedom and Hope Church can assist them to meet these goals.
From Carmen
Bajo, we went to
Pifo Church,
pastored by Ramiro Baez to teach the first night of my seminar to a group of pastors. When we first planned this trip, we guessed that about 10 people would be there. We were surprised to have over 60 people show up from all around the area, pastors and lay leaders, eager to understand the issues of childhood sexual abuse. This one day seminar (when taught in English) will be stretched over three evenings since most of these people work during the day. The church is a very nice structure and they have a school, recreational courtyard where children can play, and a sanctuary for the congregation of about 400.
Danielle, a major reason why I was contacted to come to Ecuador, was at the seminar. I have communicated with her several times by phone and email prior to coming, and it was a great pleasure to finally meet her in person. She is a woman of great vision and heart for the people of Ecuador, and is especially concerned about how to help people who have been sexually abused.
On our way home from
Pifo, there was a boy, about age 9, holding a tiny infant who was probably no more than a few months old. He was running in and out of traffic, holding the baby up to the windows of cars, begging. This is not an unfamiliar scene.
Ecuador seems to be a country of great contrast – from the very little I’
ve seen. Quito is a progressive city with good roads, beautiful buildings, and a LOT of traffic. The Andes mountains that surround it are breathtaking and the weather is wonderful – mild and varied – sitting right here on the equator at 9000 feet! I’d like to come here just to explore! In the midst of such progressiveness, there are raw sewage waterfalls and disturbing poverty.
At the end of the day, Bob, Diane, and Tucker Strickland – the man overseeing the work of Hope Church in Latin America – to summarize what took place today and determine what needs to be the next step in bringing the tools of Committed to Freedom to these new friends.
Tuesday, July 23, 2007
We learned early this morning that Pastor
Holguer Molineros was in a terrible accident after the seminar last night. His leg shattered and his wife injured. Danielle’s husband was right behind him when it happened with a doctor he had just picked up from the airport. They were terrified of bandits who roam the highways and are extremely violent and dangerous.
We traveled to
Yaruqui today to see another school and church
pastored and run by Pastor
Holguer (pronounced
olehair). Of course he was not there and his school is on summer break, but some people from Hope were there to conduct Vacation Bible School, so there were lots of children. It is not nearly as well kept as Carmen
Bajo, nor was it very well supervised, but they are still doing an incredible work in their community that
doesn’t seem to be as desperately poor. They work with Compassion International to have a substantial feeding program.
After seeing this school, we went to
LaHacienda, an old Spanish plantation that Danielle is converting into a school to serve over 1000 children. The kids from Hope Church are doing the renovations and working very hard with an incredible attitude. Diane, Danielle and I went to lunch at Sally
Melenke’s house. Sally as been a missionary in Ecuador (from the US) for over 23 years. Had a good conversation and got better acquainted over a great meal. Sally had been without water for several days. She heads back to PA at the end of the week. We left and prepared for the seminar. Tonight, we had 73 there and it was a great evening of teaching and sharing – even if my computer crashed mid-presentation.
Wednesday, July 24, 2007
I met with Tucker and Emil
Borja this morning to discuss the strategies for what was next in the area of sexual abuse issues. We determined a course of action that included coming back in a few months to have a seminar with all the congregations of the
Pifo’s Pastor Network, identify potential leaders, and develop support groups using The
Uncaged Project. We will translate this into Spanish and have these groups in place as follow up for the next seminar. These are exciting plans and there is much to do to implement them. Emil will begin work to translate our website into Spanish as well. Funding is a big issue, but I am certain that God will provide the resources to get this done.
We met with Danielle and Mauricio
Cevallos, and an Ecuadoran couple, Milton and Carmen
Gurado, who are pastors. The
Gurado’s work with an indigenous tribe, the
Quecha (pronounced key-
schwa), who are regarded as second class people by the majority of Ecuadoran’s, who are called Mestizos (meaning mixed blood).
Quecha are migrant people who’s daughters are routinely raped, uneducated, and forced into a life of poverty and subservience. In
Yaruqui, a province in Ecuador, there are almost 3,000
Quecha with only one pastor to serve their spiritual needs. We are looking into a model of US ministries to the migrant workers as a way to help these people living under difficult circumstances.
The final evening of the seminar was deeply moving for both me and those who attended. We returned to hotel where Tucker joined us and we had a time of prayer and fellowship, humbled and excited about what God is doing in Ecuador.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Bob, Diane, and me were driven to the airport by our dear brother Pancho at 4 am. Standing in line to get our plane tickets was a large group from Arkansas returning from their missions trip in Ecuador. After a long day of travel, all of their luggage and mine were lost somewhere between Houston and Arkansas. As of Friday morning, our luggage has still not been located.
NYC Trip
I drove in last night from my trip to NYC. I have to say it was great to be home, but the drive alone really exhausted me, especially because I had the same stomach flu that my NYC friends had. Made the drive challenging, to say the least!
The seminar at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC on Saturday, 7/7/07, was great. There were almost 50 people there. I could see the "ah ha" moments throughout the day. Even though the teaching pace is very fast, the seminar always seems to be a door opener to help abuse survivors jump-start their recovery process. The
Diaconate (who sponsor the seminar) did a great job of putting this together. This is an annual event that they hostand I think it was my fifth year of presenting this.
I taught two retreats for Brooklyn Teen Challenge last week after the seminar. The first was for men and the second was for women. The men's retreat was quite challenging because so many of the participants arrive with iron and stone walls up, thinking this had nothing to do with them. Of course, the retreat process dissolves those walls of hurt and fear, and by the end I saw real life changes taking place. One young man actually apologized to me for being so unreceptive the first day. Another man who spent twenty years in prison saw the application of the tools I teach as a way to move beyond the scars he carried with him from prison - not just his childhood. We actually ran over our scheduled time because they asked so many questions and saw the very real applications of what I taught to their addiction recovery too.
The women's retreat was equally amazing. Several of the women had been to the retreat from the previous year and heard the information in a different way. This happens because they are at a different place in their lives, but they came to new places of experiencing God and received new layers of healing. That's the thing about abuse recovery, it is one step at a time, layers exposed and healed, then new layers and new strength occurs. One woman who had already been through the retreat finally used her voice in such an honest way that she clearly saw for the first time how deeply injured she was by the bitterness she carried. The depth of pain was almost breathtaking at the beginning of the retreat. The depth of healing was completely breathtaking at the end.
In between all of these seminars and retreats, we threw a surprise birthday party for our worship leader, Cindy. She flew in from Colorado to be with us. We had great fun as her NYC friends gathered to share a meal with her, let her know how special she is to us, and then we topped it all off by hiring a singing telegram "Birthday Fairy" to
publicly let the world know about her birthday. As I surveyed all of us who gathered to celebrate this precious friend, I realized every one of us had experienced
devastating abuse and suffering, and yet here we were, laughing, enjoying life, free to honor each other. It was a beautiful thing and a true testimony to the grace of Christ in our lives and in our journeys.
www.committedtofreedom.org
On the Road
I drove about 11 hours yesterday in very heavy interstate traffic. It was almost eventful when a woman decided to come over in my lane at the very same place where I was, but I skidded to the next lane without a collision. Remarkably, there wasn't a vehicle in that lane - remarkable because it was bumper to bumper traffic and we were all going about 70 mph. Other than than, it was just a long day. I stop to visit family for the next few days before I go on to NYC. As I drove and listened to music and news, I was struck with deep sadness over all that we, the people, have lost over the past few years. Driving gives you lots of time to think. Driving at such high speeds with so many people going in different directions, I just couldn't help but reflect on how much the gasoline that powered all of us costs our sons and daughters, and other nations' sons and daughters. It made me want to pull over and walk, but of course, I didn't. I'm as addicted to oil as the next guy. It seems like everything is broken, yet we keep using it, even when it's dysfunctional and wrong. Today is the 4th of July - and I pray that we, as American people, reflect long and hard about what it was we were supposed to be and look long and hard at what we've become.
www.committedtofreedom.org
Preparation for NYC
Today, my staff and I will be preparing for my trip to NYC. Packing, last minute articles to write, getting the car ready for a long cross county drive, and spending time with my family will fill the day's activities. En route to NYC, I will be able to visit my parents and brother, so that's a nice bonus for me. I hope to post entries during the trip, but that will depend on my
Internet access, which shouldn't be a problem. I will be teaching a seminar for Redeemer Presbyterian Church on July 7th, and then conducting two retreats (one for men, one for women) for Brooklyn Teen Challenge. Between these meetings, I will work on our retreats in November and getting things arranged for that. I expect great things to come from these three events next week and know God is already preparing people for a surprise encounter with love and peace.
www.committedtofreedom.org
