Mexico Musings, Spring 2010 by Luke

Easter Greetings from Mexico! I hope this finds each of you well during this season of new beginnings. Spring in the Midwest is my favorite time of year: the snow melts and the ground and trees turn green, the short cold days give way to warmer and longer days, and new life appears every single day until the corn is ready for harvest in late July.

Here in Mexico, we too are in the midst of the country’s most celebrated season of Lent and Easter. Schools are on break for two weeks, the pace of Mexico City slows as people migrate to families and vacation spots anywhere outside of the metropolis, and Cuernavaca’s population increases during this time.

The weather here makes me long for the spring season in the North. Cuernavaca at the beginning of the hot and dry season, where the land goes from a lush green to a crusty brown, and people head for the relief of the shade.

Life in Mexico for Andrea and me continues to fly by. 2010 has been quite busy thus far. In January, the Immersion Program hosted two groups from the U.S., which pretty much took care of the month for me. In February, we took the Young Adults in Global Mission volunteers to the U.S.-Mexico border for an immersion experience. It was an opportunity for the volunteers to make some connections between the reality in which they have lived for six months and the realities on the border. It was a full five days that left everyone exhausted and full, both mentally and emotionally.

After the border trip ended with the volunteers, Andrea and I had the great opportunity to visit several sponsoring congregations in Tucson and Phoenix. During our Lenten visits, we met people with a variety of backgrounds. Our conversations took place over what amounted to buckets of soup, mounds of salad, and jugs of lemonade during the two weeks. We were welcomed into worship, and shared snippets of our ministry and experiences in Mexico. For me, the experience of visiting so many congregations was life-giving, in that we were able to finally put the faces to the names of those communities of faith who have committed to supporting our ministry in Mexico.


Of the many questions we heard over the course of our visits, one of the most popular was, “When are you due, Andrea!?” To say the least, Andrea’s pregnancy has gone well. We’ve recently begun attending weekly birthing classes with our midwife, which, if there was any lingering denial of parenthood on my part, has truly been eye opening, informative, and a settling dose of reality. Besides all that we’ve learned thus far, I’ve really appreciated the opportunity to hear other soon-to-be parents ask questions and express the same concerns that Andrea and I share. So, June 17 – the due date – will come soon, and we continue to prepare in blessed anticipation.


There is also big news for me personally in my mission service. I’ve decided to leave the ELCA Immersion Program in Mexico City to serve as Associate Pastor at La Iglesia Luterana del Buen Pastor – The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church – in Mexico City. This move comes at a time when the Immersion Program has seen a decline in delegations coming to Mexico, and El Buen Pastor has expressed the desire to have an English-speaking pastor serve their community of faith.


While I will miss working with visiting delegations, I’m enthusiastic about this opportunity to serve as this congregation’s pastor. This transition only affects my day-to-day ministry, and does not affect how long we plan on staying in Mexico. We plan on staying at least through 2012, if not longer. So, this is a big transition for me, through which I continue to work. Your prayers and thoughts for me, the Immersion Program, and El Buen Pastor are greatly appreciated, particularly during the next several months.


As my ministry with the congregation becomes more defined, I will surely let you know more details. At this point I know that it will include preaching, teaching, and other responsibilities typical to congregational ministry. I also know that one of my main foci will be to reach out to and to serve the ex-pat population of the community. The congregation is small, and has historically been bi-lingual and multi-cultural, serving not only the Lutheran population of Mexico City, but also the general protestant population. To get a better idea of the community in which I will be serving, please visit their website at iglesialuterana.org.mx. I look forward to sharing with you more about El Buen Pastor and their ministry to the city of Mexico as I settle into my place there.


In the mean time, the calendar is quite full! Andrea and I will be traveling to the Midwest (just in time for some spring!) for a few weeks in April. Andrea and I will visit Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church in Indiana and Augustana Lutheran Church in Minnesota, where Andrea plans to preach and we will share about our ministries in Mexico. If you’re in the area, we’d love to see you there! We will also be at the annual Discernment-Interview-Placement event for 2010-2011 Young Adults in Global Mission candidates during the second full week of April. Please keep these young people, the country coordinators, and the ELCA Global Mission staff members in your prayers during this week!


We will also be in Eau Claire, WI, April 23-24, presenting at an ELCA Glocal Mission Event designed to bring people together from global and local contexts in order to teach and learn from one another about how we can better serve God’s people around the world – including in our own neighborhoods. So yes, the first few months of 2010 have been full indeed! I have a feeling that come mid-June, life will take on yet another level of full-ness, and I look forward to sharing this with you. As always, thank you for all of your support for Andrea and myself.



In God’s Peace,

Luke