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Celebrating the environment
Youth from four churches in Lima came together for this event "How many of you have ever gone door-to-door to talk to people about the Bible?"
You could almost feel the tension in the room rise even before the question was over. I'm sure that many, like myself, felt nervous by the question, probably because they also anticipated the statement that followed--"Well, that's what we're going to do tonight..." "...except that we're going to talk about the environment." OK, I thought. I can handle that. Yet there were still many factors that contributed to my unease at this new activity in which I was about to participate. We were being divided up into pairs. Who would be my partner? We had to go out into the dark streets of a neighborhood that was not familiar to me. Would I be partnered with someone who knew the streets well? What am I going to say? Am I going to have any new information to offer those that I bothered? I couldn't say I'd ever done anything like this before, even in Mexico. As a born and raised Presbyterian from the US, the "E word" (as in Evangelism) makes me slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't shaping up to be a
Jammin'
Several youth and adults made up a pretty stellar praise band. typical Saturday night for me.
I was paired with Yvonne, my eager 11-year-old new amiga. She had requested to be my partner after getting to talk with me for a few minutes before the activity began. Seems she was very confused that I could speak Castellano (they say this here instead of "EspaƱol") since I didn't look a thing like her. My blonde hair and blue eyes told her I should speak English. And so we went off into the dark night together. One of us eager, the other slightly hesitant. We made a good team though and throughout our experience we seemed to switch roles. At first she just wanted to drop off our little informational sheets without talking to anyone. I encouraged her to speak. She was clearly fluent in Castellano, so she rattled off the details easily. I was more precise with my words, easing into this new form of Evangelism. She galloped through the dark streets, sure of where she was. I sped up when I had to pass groups of men staring a little too long. I encouraged her to remind those we visited of the location of the church and the worship times.
Recycle!
This is one of the banners that the youth from the host church made. Together we educated. Together we laughed. Together we competed our task and together we returned to the church.
Yvonne and I were just two of maybe 40 youth and adults gathered together in a church in northern Lima to celebrate the International Day of the Environment. June 5th. Did any of you know that Saturday was to be a day to celebrate our environment? I sure didn't before coming to Peru. Seems that many in the neighborhood didn't know of this day either. Yet there are many youth in the IEP churches here that do know and care. I was there with a few youth and adults from "my" church in Mirones Bajo. We were one of four groups that had come together to celebrate this day. After our activity out in the neighborhood, we gathered again to praise the Lord with music and see what each group had prepared. The first group had drawn pictures displaying the various ways and reasons our earth is sick. They also wrote a song concerning the ways we should care for the environment. The second group, the host group, was responsible for the awesome decorations around the sanctuary, encouraging and reminding us
And it says....
One of the youth reads the final phrases after the relay to "reduce, reuse and recycle," essentially. For our group, Marcos talked to the group about little gifts they brought. The small cloth bags with ribbons saying, "El mundo te da mas de lo que recibe" (The world gives you more than it receives) and "Dia mundial del medio ambiente 05/06/10" (International Day of the Environment 06/05/10) were to serve as reminders of the day and how cloth bags should be used instead of plastic. As we know in the US, it took awhile for the "green trend" to spread around the country. But it has enough that now it is not uncommon to be seen with cloth bags in stores. In fact, it is highly encouraged. Peru is where we were a few years ago though. Plastic bags are given out everywhere and for the littlest things. They live in the hands of Peruvians, on the streets of the cities and towns, and they choke the rivers and streams of the country. They. are. everywhere. And so it's very uncommon to see someone take a cloth bag into a store for their items. But if the cloth bag trend is going to happen, it's gotta start somewhere and that's what the youth of the church in Mirones Bajo is encouraging. Take a cloth bag to the store...even if others make fun of you.
The rest of the evening was filled with fun group activities and then a discussion about how we are to care for our environment. A presentation of some of the work of Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff gave us food for thought. I am grateful for having the opportunity to particpate in the evening's events with so many youth. It seems to me that on a holiday or not, the environment is a hot topic here right now. And it's hot in a different way than it is in the US. I continue to be impressed with the energy and dedication that various groups of people have while working with this topic.
I will touch on these specific groups more as I continue to process last week's trip through the Andes. Sorry for bombarding you with so many entries in just a few days now that I have internet access again!
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