Thoughts from a dual citizen

I recently read on Jonathan Huegel's Facebook:

The Ryan Lockte incident just highlights a sense of American entitlement felt by many in the world. It isn't everyone but unfortunately this has been the case too often. And, also unfortunately, this attitude started with the US government. Here is just a quick summary of the US involvement in Latin America: Mexico (1845 Mexican American war, 1911 coup plotted in the American Embassy, 1914 marines invade Veracruz), Nicaragua (1980s supporting the contra rebels), Guatemala (1954 coup d'état), Chile (1973 coup to overthrow the rightfully elected government), Brazil (1964 coup), Panama (1901 Panama rebellion against Colombia and the canal), Haiti, Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic, Honduras, Columbia (1898-1934 the Banana Wars), El Salvador (1979 supporting the rebels through Argentina), Argentina (1976 coup), Paraguay (1954 coup and support of the dictatorship), Uruguay, (1971 coup), and Cuba (1898-present) have all had the US involved heavily in their countries. As Porfirio Díaz aptly put it when talking about his country: "Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States." I'm thankful for the US but I'm also realistic that we have not always acted well towards other countries and people. ‪#‎monroedoctrine‬‪#‎musingsofadualcitizen‬

Edith Nesbit

“From Lazarus to Dives” 

(“Dives” is the name traditionally given to the rich man in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in the Gospel of Luke)

We do not clamour for vengeance,
We do not whine for fear;
We have cried in the outer darkness
Where was no man to hear.
We cried to man and he heard not;
Yet we thought God heard us pray;
But our God, who loved and was sorry -
Our God is taken away.

Ours were the stream and the pasture,
Forest and fen were ours;
Ours were the wild wood-creatures,
The wild sweet berries and flowers.
You have taken our heirlooms from us,
And hardly you let us save
Enough of our woods for a cradle,
Enough of our earth for a grave.

You took the wood and the cornland,
Where still we tilled and felled;
You took the mine and quarry,
And all you took you held.
The limbs of our weanling children
You crushed in your mills of power;
And you made our bearing women toil
To the very bearing hour.

You have taken our clean quick longings,
Our joy in lover and wife,
Our hope of the sunset quiet
At the evening end of life;
You have taken the land that bore us,
Its soil and stone and sod;
You have taken our faith in each other -
And now you have taken our God.

When our God came down from Heaven
He came among men, a Man,
Eating and drinking and working
As common people can;
And the common people received Him
While the rich men turned away.
But what have we to do with a God
To whom the rich men pray?

He hangs, a dead God, on your altars,
Who lived a Man among men,
You have taken away our Lord
And we cannot find Him again.
You have not left us a handful
Of even the earth He trod . . .
You have made Him a rich man's idol
Who came as a poor man's God.

He promised the poor His heaven,
He loved and lived with the poor;
He said that the rich man's shadow
Should never darken His door:
But bishops and priests lie softly,
Drink full and are fully fed
In the Name of the Lord, who had not
Where to lay His head.

This is the God you have stolen,
As you steal all else--in His name.
You have taken the ease and the honour,
Left us the toil and the shame.
You have chosen the seat of Dives,
We lie where Lazarus lay;
But, by God, we will not yield you our God,
You shall not take Him away.

All else we had you have taken;
All else, but not this, not this.
The God of Heaven is ours, is ours,
And the poor are His, are His.
Is He ours? Is He yours? Give answer!
For both He cannot be.
And if He is ours--O you rich men,
Then whose, in God's name, are ye? 

Edith Nesbit

Trip to Alaska

I finally finished putting together a video of the trip my Dad and I took to Alaska.  There are some glitches in the video because the program didn´t want to do the transitions for some reason, and I ran out of time to work them out.  But I hope you enjoy the beautiful vistas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKJjUMgSPF0&feature=youtu.be

For war, nothing

Please enjoy this music video created by the Colegio Internacional, a Christian Church, Disciples of Christ school in Asunción, Paraguay.

It talk about all the gifts a peace but a choice to give nothing to war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5y6zMd92h8

Shalom Center, 2016

I hope you all enjoy this new video by Francisca Avendaño, a motivador at the Shalom Center in Chile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk4GDegf8R8&feature=youtu.be

My vision

I wrote this in my diary in 1994 in Paraguay

My vision is to be an instrument of God in the healing of relationships.  I am called to listen to individuals in their confusion and anger, to mediate and counsel gruops towards growth and maturity, to bring people towards that holy relationship with God´s creation, and present to all the loving companionship of Christ.  This vision motivates my calling.

Telling the story

"I have been in nearly all the women´s jails  in the northern part of Chile," she told me when she caught my arm after the Roots in the Ruins: Hope in Trauma workshop.  A team of trauma healing and resilience development facilitators from the Shalom Center had come to Antofagasta on the coast of northern Chile to accompany the members of the Pentecostal Church of Chile.

"I was a drug dealer," she added. "Today you taught us that in order to be a place of healing, the church needs to be a safe space to share each other's stories.   I know this is true.

For over 20 years I was in and out of jail.  Then one day, my neighbor invited me to this church.  I came, and I discovered God's presence in a way that I had never known before.  Weeping and trembling, I told God my whole story and felt like I did not have to hide anything for the first time in my life.  When God listened to my story, my life began to change.  I no longer dealt in drugs,  I went back to my family and home, and I kept coming to church.

I thought that everything would be alright, but it wasn´t.  I realized that I needed to do something about my behavior in my family.  My children and I fought constantly.  I decided one day to tell them my story.  I shared with them how my childhood had been and confessed that I knew that theirs had been similar.  I told them stories, good and bad, that I had never revealed before.  They listened.  Together we decided to start working on creating happy experiences, a little at a time each day, for all of us to remember.

And I thought that now everything would be alright, but it wasn´t.  I began to notice the violence, not just the shootings and the shouting, but the way of thinking and of being in my "población," my neighborhood.  I could see that I had grown up and that now my children were enveloped by the ramifications of all the lacks that come with poverty.   As a member of the church, I now had a point of comparison.  I told my community story to my pastors and they encouraged me to get involved in healing my neighborhood.  I did.  I visit my  neighbors to listen to their stories and encourage them. 

God listened to me and my spirit was healed.   My children listened to me and our family was healed.  My pastors and church listened to me, I and I am helping to heal my community.

I have discovered that daring to tell and listen to our stories sets us on the path of healing."

Anonymous as told to Elena Huegel

Antofagasta, Chile

October, 2015