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At 3:30 am on Thursday, January 24, a van, driven by Jim Fraser, will leave the LUMC parking lot and head for Logan airport. On board will be Janet Melcher, Bob Miner, and Don Walker carrying backpacks for our personal clothing and needs while in Nicaragua plus 6 LOADED suitcases filled with much of the material aid you donated. The plane is scheduled to leave Logan at 6:08 am and, with a stop in Miami, arrive in Managua at 1:00 pm (their time). Last year we were met by 42 people at the airport and our first act was to take everyone to lunch. (On you, thank you very much) I won’t tell you how many pizzas and pitchers of soda 42 hungry people can eat but let you know it cost us $80.00. Now, to feed people for less than $2.00 is not bad but I have asked if we could avoid that this year. Everything we do is fraught with possible misinterpretation and we need to avoid them thinking we're just dripping with money. (Even though I'd still like to take them out.) We plan to have a session with all secondary scholarship recipients, all post secondary scholarship recipients, the teachers, the leadership team (Junta) of La Borgoña, and of course, sessions with Pastor Absalon. Cheryl Avery will be our transporter, interpreter, and whatever else we need and she will pick us up at the airport. We have much to discuss, programs to review, accountability to examine, and plans for the coming fiscal year plus their visit here in May. There are ALWAYS problems that need to be addressed and we will have no shortage of those I am sure. We expect to worship with our congregation, have at least one general meeting for whatever questions they have and whatever we can share with the whole church community, and also visit two other churches, Sabana Grande and Maranatha with whom we've had ongoing contact in the past. People will show up unexpectedly and need to be listened to and responded to so, in general, we will be in “working sessions” from about 8:30 am (they are late risers) until about 10:00 pm. These are always exciting, difficult, and enriching times for those who make the trip. We will report to the Nicaragua committee upon our return and then to the congrega-tion. We “should” arrive back at midnight on January 28, again to be greeted by Jim Fraser (we hope). Venceremos, Bob Miner
THE LEXINGTON PANTRY NEEDS YOU! MARTIN LUTHER KING “Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood.”I found the full text of these prophetic words on the Internet in Paul's Letter to American Christians, which he delivered long ago, on November 4, 1956. It was “imaginary letter from the pen of the Apostle Paul” to American Christians of 1956, written in Greek and postmarked in Ephesus by Timothy! (Talk about slow delivery!!) While I enjoyed King’s clever use of time travel, I was chilled by the realization that his words from 46 years ago have gone largely unheeded. Consider, for instance: In 1980, the average U.S. CEO was paid as much as 42 factory workers. In 1999 the average CEO was paid as much as 475 workers. (Business Week) |