Christmas milking

Early Christmas morning in Chile... time to milk the cows and, later, make Christmas cookies!

Mother Teresa

  People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

  If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

  If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

  If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

 What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

  If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

 The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

 Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

 In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

Favorite Photo of the Week

I took this at the Shalom Center this week!

Community metamorphosis

Hello to each of you!  I wanted to share with you a selfie video filmed by Marta Espinoza and Elisabet Martínez about the values they have received from the Shalom Center.  I hope you enjoy it!

Shalom
E
Community metamorphosis

José Martí

Todo es música y razón
   Todo es hermoso y constante
Y todo, como el diamante,
   Antes que luz es carbón.

All is music and reason
   All is constant and beauty
And all, like the diamond
   Before light is coal.

José Martí

Traveling by Wendell Berry

Traveling 

Even in a country you know by heart
its hard to go the same way twice.
The life of the going changes.
The chances change and make a new way.
Any tree or stone or bird
can be the bud of a new direction. The
natural connection is to make intent
of accident. To get back by dark
Is the art of going.

—Wendell Berry

Little Piece of the Sky

Highlands of Paraguay,
   Butterfly garden, giant wings of blue and black.
Deep orange patterns painted on mushrooms.
   Pearled weavings of spider webs stranded
Across green grass and red mud paths.
   Wind whispering in palms,
Emerald parrots screeching above the distant
   Rumble of trucks.  I look down, down,
Down to the distant valley.  Smoke from
   Clearing forests for soybeans and cattle,
Patches of yellow fields fallow, foreign pines
   And eucalyptus plantations.  Here up, up, up,
above, I rest in
                 A little piece of the sky.

Elena Huegel
July 2015

Dignity

Dignity:

I recognize the "you" in "me" and the "me" in you.
Common humanity.
Frail yet strong.
Surviving, even thriving.
In the midst of the past
of the past
and the future
of the future.
Wonderful and full of wonder.
Created and creating.

EH
June 2015

No need for wings, to take flight

NO NEED FOR WINGS TO TAKE FLIGHT.

Graffiti on a wall in Resistencia, Argentina.

Open Hearts

Sharon Kimball

MACUCC

Feb. 2015

Jeremiah 29:13  You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.

I believe that God is omnipresent.  He is present in my waking and in my sleeping.  He is at my left hand and my right.  He is my sun by day and my moon by night.  However, I do not take God's presence lightly.  I believe we must invest ourselves in our relationship with God.  We are the ones who must seek God.  We must listen for God's word and look for God´s guidance and be thankful for the gifts God gives us in and through others.

I cannot just assume God will knock on the door and say, "Sharon, I am here!" though I do believe that is exactly what happens sometimes.  As followers of Jesus Christ, as children of God, we must work to seek God every day.  We must open our ears to listen and to truly hear his word.  It may be the word a friend, a pastor, a child, a stranger.  How will we hear if we are not listening?  We may find it in the silence and meditation and I truly believe we hear it in prayer.  We may hear it as we struggle with our labors and personal challenges.  But first we must listen, we must be open to listening.  If we simply set our minds firmly on one path or one idea - we may not hear what God is saying.  This week we have heard God in so many ways.  In what ways have you heard the voice of God this week?

 Jeremiah reminds us to open our eyes to see, and open our hearts.  It has warmed my heart to experience to kinds of open hearts this week.  One heart is open to give love - to share a hug, to share a home, to share a meal, to share a faith, to share a concern, to share a worry, to share a hidden prayer o secret. The other open heart receives this concern, this generosity with love, with care, with an open mind and willingness to share the other's burden and a commitment to pray for the other's need.  These two hearts exist within one body, within our own bodies and within the church body of Christ.  And individual needs as much to love as to receive love.  The Psalmist  writes: ”I lift my eyes to the hells, from where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” 

We in the MACUCC delegation are so blessed to have been able to lift our eyes unto the hills this week.  We with your youth were surrounded by the beauty of the Shalom Center of the Pentecostal Church of Chile.  There it may be easier to realize how very close to us God really is.  There, working, singing, sleeping, eating, laughing, praying, paying and worshipping side by side, it is easy to feel the presence of God.  But none of us need leave our homes and travel thousands of miles to know that we may seek God wherever we are.   We must only open our hearts. We must look into the eyes of another and follow the commandments of Jesus:  Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and all of your mind and all of your soul and love your neighbor as yourself.

How is it that we can come from the North and South and East and West and find community and peace?  We can seek Good with all our hearts.  May God´s blessing be with all of you as you seek God every day with an open heart.

The Shalom Center Staff 2015-2016

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings from a wintery Chile in the name of our Lord Jesus!  I am writing to you so that you can join me in celebrating a finished project... Chalice Press is publishing my book of testimonies and stories from Chile and Paraguay!  The book will be launched at the Assembly and Synod, so if you are going to be at those church gatherings, you may look for it there.  I assume that they will be selling it at the Global Ministries booth or a the Chalice Press booth.  

If you are not going to these national gatherings, you may order the book either from Chalice Press or Amazon - but I understand it is cheaper on the Chalice Press website.

All proceeds

​ from the sale of the book​

 will go 

​to​

 support of the work of Global Ministries around the world!

​  I hope you enjoy the​ stories and that you will let me know if there is any testimony that particularly blesses your life.

Thank

​s to each of you for your prayers and support of my ministry over the years.

¡Dios les bendiga!

Shalom,

Elena Huegel​

http://www.chalicepress.com/The-Earless-Man-from-Chile-P1553.aspx

The Earless Man from Chile

Mission Stories of Healing and Resilience
Print format

Print ISBN 9780827208476 List Price $14.99 Print Price: $11.99 EPUB Price: $7.50 EPDF Price: $7.50 More about Ebooks

by Elena Huegel

As a third-generation missionary, Elena Huegel is an adult “Third Culture Kid,” someone who spent a significant part of her life outside her parents’ culture. Elena’s experiences as a missionary in Paraguay and Chile provide the stories in The Earless Man from Chile.Testimonies of faith from the Pentecostal Church of Chile and Shalom Center are at turns humorous, tragic, and inspiring, particularly in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. Elena’s own spiritual growth challenges us to heal relationships with God, ourselves, each other, and all of creation. These stories are part of an endless thread connecting the teller and the reader to create new possibilities for healing and resilience.

Yellow Kayak

Sept 6 2011

Elena Huegel

Sitting under a tree in a yellow kayak

Stray drops from the steady drizzle

Reach me under the canopy of leaves.

Across the pond, millions of circles flash

Winking green mirrors

Reflections broken of the gathered trees and

Overcast sky.

I wait

For the rain to stop.

As others have waited before me

Others in birch bark canoes

Exploring these whispering shores for food

Detained in their homeward

Trek by the fall showers bringing down

The temperature and the leaves.

And I wait.

For the rain to stop

As others have waited before me.

The birds chirping from their nests

The deer curling snug in a tree nook

The squirrels and chipmunk hiding with stores

But not the beaver in his underworld

Unperturbed by water falling from the sky.

It is a green gray world

Not waiting

Just being this moment

No need for patience, no though of later

Simply living, breathing

As long as the rain lasts.

Vulnerability

"Vulnerability is not weakness, it is courage.  Our most accurate measure of our courage is whether or not we are willing to be vulnerable.

"Vulnerability is the birthplae of innovation, creativity and change."  Brené Brown

A great leader knows when to be vulnerable in order to create the human space where dignity outshines shame allowing others to risk being vulnerable themselves creating a safe space for innovation, creativity and transformation.  - Elena Huegel

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost (1874–1963).  Mountain Interval.  1920.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;         5   Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,         10   And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.         15   I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.         20

Stop! Look and Listen!

STOP! LOOK! and LISTEN!

The theme at the Shalom Center this last summer (January to March in the southern hemisphere) was traveling along the Pan American highway that stretches from Canada 30,000 miles south to Argentina with a small gap in Central America.  We have been reflecting on the signposts, markers and city names as symbols of the guidance of God in the voyage of our lives.  The small group Bible study areas have been names with villages and towns in Chile that are along the highway: Nueva Esperanza (New Hope), Tolerancia (Tolerance),  Peor es nada (Better Than Nothing) have become our meeting places. 

In the middle of the camp season, I had to take a trip along a road feeding into  the Pan American highway,  and I made a wrong turn in the village of La Huerta (The Orchard).  As soon as I made the turn, I knew I was heading in a direction different from the one I wanted  to get back on the Pan American highway, so I began looking for  a place to turn around.  In the process, I spotted a young man by the side of the road in front of me.  He must have been about 13 or 14 years old, sitting all alone in a patch of morning sunlight that made his blue wheelchair glisten.  He looked at me intently, with a warning or surprised look on his face, as I drove slowly past and straight into a steep dead end where I could barely turn around.  After some maneuvering to avoid the barbed wire, the steep gulley, a light post and someone's carefully tended bed of flowers, I got the car turned around and stopped, facing the young man again.  From this new perspective, I could see he was sitting directly under a red "disco pare" or stop sign!  Since the signpost was facing the dead end, and unseen from the main highway, I had driven right past it.    

And I stopped.  I turned off the car, and I looked and listened.  All summer we had been talking about watching out for the signs.  The young man under the stop sign looked back at me bemused - I am sure I was his morning entertainment!   If only I had looked backwards, or at least glanced in my rearview mirror, maybe I would have stopped to heed the young man's warning look.  Before turning on the motor again and heading back to the Pan American highway,  I remembered the song my four year old nephew, Joel, used to sing to me...

STOP! LOOK! and LISTEN! is the teaching of a popular children's song about crossing the street, but maybe I should adopt it as a theme song for my life.  As the craziness of summer camps, retreats and delegations threatens to absorb my energy, I need to stop, look and listen to God's signs along the highway of my life. 

Rhett Smith in the June 2013 edition of  Relevent magazine speaks of the need to develop "mindfulness."  This is some of what he says:

So when I talk about being mindful, I’m speaking of that self-awareness that allows someone to truly be present and engaged in the moment. It creates an environment that fosters wisdom and discernment. And ultimately it leads to healthy action, rather than just reacting to something.

So let’s look at some simple practices you can experiment with over the next month:

First, slow down and breathe. It’s interesting to note that the word anxiety has some of its roots in the Latin word angere, which conveys the meaning of “choking off” or “closing/shutting in.” And for the Greeks, the word for mind, phren, relates to the diaphragm, as they saw a connection of the mind and body as it relates to breathing.

So one of the first things that we need to remind ourselves when we are anxious in marriage—which is often—is to simply breathe.

Second, practice being present. You need to make a conscious effort each day to be present in your life and in the lives of others. That can sound very vague and complicated, but it actually just takes effort and practice. So let me start with two simple suggestions:

1.               Listen. Anytime someone is speaking, concentrate on just listening, rather than forming what you are going to say next.

2. Be patient. Anxiety often emerges when we aren’t patient and we are trying to live into the future.

Third, practice being curious. This also takes a conscious effort each day. We often assume a lot about what we think our spouse or someone else is saying or thinking. Over time, we lose curiosity for this person who at one time in our lives was a mystery we couldn’t get enough of. And when curiosity leaves our relationships, they often dry up and become stagnant. Here are two suggestions to get the ball rolling:

1.               Ask questions of curiosity. Questions like, “Tell me what you experienced this week at work that was life giving?” “Where did you feel most connected to God today? Where did you feel most distant from God today?” “What is something that you have been really passionate about this year, and how can I best support that passion?”

2. Make a rule that when you go on a date with your spouse (or in my case, out with a friend - EH)  that you will create space to get to know them—that you will be curious. Often we spend a lot of time gossiping about friends, neighbors, family or talking about work and the business of family life.

I promise that as you begin to practice being more mindful in your life, you will take notice of these things in your own life and marriage. And as you notice these things, you will be compelled to actions that lead to positive changes. So practice these things over the next month and I believe God will lead you ...  into a new stage of connection and growth. 

The challenge of facilitative leadership

The challenge of facilitative leadership is:
Be strong, but flexible;
Be just, but merciful;
Be kind, but not weak;
Be humble, but not timid;
Be proud, but not arrogant;
Be committed, but accessible;
Be fun, but not a tease;
Be true, but tempered by love.

Elena Huegel based on
"The Challenge of Leadership" by Jim Rohn

Thank you, Lord

Thank you, Lord.
   For your protection during the summer activities at the Shalom Center.
   For the committed staff  and Patricia Gómez the new director of the Shalom Center.
   For the beauty of the Andes Mountains and the privilege of nature's embrace.
   For safe travels to Texas.
   For the love of family.
   For the joy of goals achieved.
Amen

From Summer Camps at the Shalom Center

Sharon Kimball

MACUCC

Feb. 2015

Jeremiah 29:13  You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.

I believe that God is omnipresent.  He is present in my waking and in my sleeping.  He is at my left hand and my right.  He is my sun by day and my moon by night.  However, I do not take God's presence lightly.  I believe we must invest ourselves in our relationship with God.  We are the ones who must seek God.  We must listen for God's word and look for God´s guidance and be thankful for the gifts God gives us in and through others.

I cannot just assume God will knock on the door and say, "Sharon, I am here!" though I do believe that is exactly what happens sometimes.  As followers of Jesus Christ, as children of God, we must work to seek God every day.  We must open our ears to listen and to truly hear his word.  It may be the word a friend, a pastor, a child, a stranger.  How will we hear if we are not listening?  We may find it in the silence and meditation and I truly believe we hear it in prayer.  We may hear it as we struggle with our labors and personal challenges.  But first we must listen, we must be open to listening.  If we simply set our minds firmly on one path or one idea - we may not hear what God is saying.  This week we have heard God in so many ways.  In what ways have you heard the voice of God this week?

 Jeremiah reminds us to open our eyes to see, and open our hearts.  It has warmed my heart to experience to kinds of open hearts this week.  One heart is open to give love - to share a hug, to share a home, to share a meal, to share a faith, to share a concern, to share a worry, to share a hidden prayer o secret. The other open heart receives this concern, this generosity with love, with care, with an open mind and willingness to share the other's burden and a commitment to pray for the other's need.  These two hearts exist within one body, within our own bodies and within the church body of Christ.  And individual needs as much to love as to receive love.  The Psalmist  writes: ”I lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” 

We in the MACUCC delegation are so blessed to have been able to lift our eyes unto the hills this week.  We with your youth were surrounded by the beauty of the Shalom Center of the Pentecostal Church of Chile.  There it may be easier to realize how very close to us God really is.  There, working, singing, sleeping, eating, laughing, praying, paying and worshipping side by side, it is easy to feel the presence of God.  But none of us need leave our homes and travel thousands of miles to know that we may seek God wherever we are.   We must only open our hearts. We must look into the eyes of another and follow the commandments of Jesus:  Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and all of your mind and all of your soul and love your neighbor as yourself.

How is it that we can come from the North and South and East and West and find community and peace?  We can seek Good with all our hearts.  May God´s blessing be with all of you as you seek God every day with an open heart.

The Shalom Center celebrates 15 years!

Enjoy this photographic walk through the years of the Shalom Center!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb5quYMdj2g&list=UU2A1Nzq95qV64byZCm5GyVw

Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman

Don't ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

High rise

July 11, 2011

Elena Huegel

High rise above the city

                pumped like breath and blood

                awakening iron rod and glass

                giant feeding off the earth

                full of two legged fleas

                crawling up flights of stairs

                or waiting impatiently outside

                the elevator doors. Striving to

Rise high above the city.

Hammock of hands

Jan. 16, 2015

We weave a net with all our hands

To catch hope and let fear escape.

A handy net

                To cradle the world.

Bring your hands:

                Your working hands

                With cracked nails.

                Your folded hands

                Praying at the rail.

                Your grubby hands,

                With sand, shovel and pail.

                Your manicured hands

                With sculpted nails.

Together we weave a hammock of hands

To gently rock the world.

Laughter and babbling brook…

Gather in the net!

Hunger, hate and horror…

Shake, shake, shake them out!

Humming birds and wild flowers…

Gather in the net!

Word-blows and worries…

Shake, shake, shake them out!

Childplay and simple joy…

Gather in the net!

Snake fang and heart pain…

Shake, shake, shake them out!

Bear hugs and skipping rope…

Gather in the net!

Gloating, gossip and ignorance…

Shake, shake, shake them out!

Cradle the world in a

Hammock of interwoven hands.

Cloud veil by Elena Huegel

A cloud is the thin veil which hides God so we are not terrified by the vastness of the sky.  A starry night is a window into eternity and a reflection of our insignificance.  Look through the window long enough and get pulled through. Lose yourself.  God hides behind the thin veil on the mountain where we are transfigured with Christ, terrified with the disciples, and lost to ourselves.

Hide in the veil, o God, and hold me tight when you terrify me.  Jan 2, 2015. 

The Wall by Nicolás Guillén

For us to build this wall,
bring me all the hands:
the black their hands black,
the white their hands white.
Aye,
A wall that stretches
from the beach to the mountain,
from the mountain to the beach,
there over the horizon.
- Knock, knock!
- Who’s there?
- A rose and a carnation
- Open the wall!
- Knock, knock!
- Who’s there?
- The colonel’s saber
- Close the wall!
- Knock, knock!
- Who’s there?
- The pigeon and the laurel
- Open the wall!
- Knock, knock!
- Who’s there?
- The scorpion and the centipede
- Close the wall!
To the heart of a friend,
open the wall;
To the poison and the dagger,
close the wall;
To the myrtle and mint,
open the wall;
To the snake’s teeth,
close the wall;
to the nightingale in the flower,
open the wall.
Let us raise a wall
putting together all the hands
the black, their hands black,
the white, their white hands.
A wall that stretches
from the beach to the mountain,
from the mountain to the beach,
there over the horizon.