4 August 2003
Dear friends in Christ,
We pray that all is going well with you this summer. Here in Mexico things are well in general last Saturday Alicia and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary. Our younger daughter Julie and I got back last Monday (July 28) from a two-week stay in Dallas with my sister Ellen and her husband. Our older daughter Elizabeth had a summer job in Dallas during June and July, but is now here with us in Mexico City for a few weeks before returning to Valparaiso, Indiana for her sophomore year. In Dallas we got to have a little family reunion with my parents, brother and two sisters, so it's been nice to have a lot of family time recently.
Unfortunately, Alicia wasn't able to go with us to Dallas since her mother (age 88) was hospitalized with bleeding ulcers at the beginning of June. She is now at home, but Alicia and her brothers and sisters have had to spend quite a bit of time taking care of her, which has been kind of hard on everyone. For my part, I had a minor operation (varicocele) at the end of June, but am doing well and everything is pretty much back to normal.
We haven't had too much going on at the Theological Community this summer, but are getting ready to begin the next semester in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll have a number of new students. Things have been kind of difficult financially over the past year; as I have visited with people from seminaries and schools in the U.S. and in other parts of Latin America, I have heard that they are having similar difficulties. The same is true with regard to entities like the ELCA Division for Global Mission, which has had to make some cuts, though fortunately these have not had to be major so far. So we are facing the same general trend at the Theological Community, and trying our best to cope with it. However, we have always been used to making do with very limited resources, and there is a strong commitment to what we are doing among all who are involved, so we carry on, fully confident that God will continue to bless our work of service.
We have also been working hard at the church where I am helping out, the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. In particular I have spent a lot of time working with the musical and liturgical aspects, but we are also developing a clearer mission vision and reaching out to others. We have had a number of visitors lately and have expanded some of our activities.
One difficult note is that Rev. Jaziel López, the pastor at San Pablo Lutheran Church here in Mexico City for some 15 years, has recently been diagnosed with cancer (a tumor in the lung), and apparently is in the terminal phase, since the doctors said they can no longer operate, and that chemotherapy would not be effective. Pastor Jaziel has been a faithful servant and is loved by all, and although he continues to work and remain active, since he has had few symptoms, it is nevertheless a very difficult time for him, his wife Lilia, and his daughter Liliana, as well as for the rest of his extended family and the congregation. We would ask that you keep him in your prayers.
We have enjoyed hearing from some of you and are glad to hear that a group from one of our sponsoring churches, Christ the King in Houston, is coming to visit in October. The ELCA has an excellent program here for letting people get to know the realities of Mexican life and how ministry is and can be done in the context of those realities. You can also get to know the ministries we are involved in personally, including the Theological Community. So if any more of you would like to plan a trip, let us know and we'll help you set something up!
May God continue to bless you all in the coming months!
Yours in Christ,
David Brondos