Guatemala Gala Revisited

The Guatemala Gala always reminds me just how much love we have for the work of the Iglesia Luterana Agustina de Guatemala. At this year's fundraiser on May 5th, it was clear that people in the room have chosen to walk right alongside the ILAG. Over $70,000 was raised for education, most of which will be used to relocate the elementary school.

It was a wonderful night, with fun games, a marketplace of colorful textiles, a giving tree, a raffle, lively marimba music, truly authentic foods, some wildly active bidding at the auctions and fund-a-need, and even a basketball game between Bishop Lull and Pastor Janet Karvonen-Montgomery. It was a fabulous way to demonstrate our love.

One question I am pondering now, however, is if everyone present fully understood the urgency to move the ILAG elementary school to safer ground. I know that we have shared here in this blog the dangers being faced by those residing in the marginalized neighborhood of El Mirador, how the school is 20 yards away from a crumbling ravine, how the monsoon rains will continue to tear at the rock and soil until it will give way.

But if you have not seen that ravine, you might not feel the fear that the ILAG feels. And I am not sure that you heard that at the gala. Neither one of our ILAG speakers, neither Beatriz Castillo nor Pastor Esther Echeverría, screamed or shouted or cried that night. Neither one pounded the podium or shook a fist in the air.

The truth is they were both trying to "keep it all together" in front of 200 supportive people on this lovely night. The fact that their knees held them up was faith in action.

So, I ask you to imagine a fist being shaken in the air, along with a scream and some tears. The ILAG needs to move the school...now. Join us in this effort to finish the funding. Send your gifts to:

Saint Paul Area Synod
attn: Greg Triplett
105 University Ave. W.
St. Paul, MN 55103

Thank you, all of you, who love the work of the Iglesia Luterana Agustina de Guatemala. Thank you for walking with the ILAG...not in front, not in back...but alongside.

Janet Metcalfe
Guatemala Companion Synod Committee