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From the Parish Mailbox

Dear Family at the Chapel of the Cross,

Greetings from Costa Rica and language school! Two weeks after I was at the Chapel of the Cross this summer, I left for language school and have been here ever since, desperately trying to wrap my tongue around the Spanish language to prepare myself for my future ministry in Latin America.

I will study here for two quarters, through the end of February, and then will head down to Quito, Ecuador, to the youth ministry training and resource center. I do get a little break at Christmas time when I get to come home to meet my brand new nephew! Hopefully I will get a chance to see some of you as well.

I have been so encouraged by the number of people in Chapel Hill who have decided to join me in this ministry, both financially and through prayers. Both are felt down here! Muchas gracias!

Now, just a snippet of my life here. I live with a host family -- Paola and Alvaro. They are a young couple and right now I am their only "child." A bit strange in that I am three years my mother's elder, but we are having a great time. They help me with my Spanish daily and help connect me with the outside world.

Paola works for World Vision in Costa Rica. World Vision is an international aid organization, whose goal is to help initiate sustainable projects in poor communities. The second week in October, she invited me to join her on a trip to distribute supplies to World Vision sponsor children. During that four day trip to the northwest province of Costa Rica, also the poorest, Guanacaste, I was reminded of some of the things I take for granted and thus reminded to be thankful.

I am thankful for ovens. We visited a small shack that turned out to be a commercial kitchen where four women were making empenadas (pastry filled turnovers). The women were baking in a wood-burning, freestanding mud oven out back. They once had a commercial electric oven, but the circuit had blown because they did not have a circuit breaker. Without the two hundred dollars needed to fix it, they now stoke a wood fire daily and bake the old fashioned way.

I am thankful for glass. Almost all buildings here in the tropics are open air. There is nothing that is ever completely enclosed. Windows are generally decorative cement blocks (the holes allow for ventilation) or made of chain link fence.

I am thankful for paper, pens, and pencils. Paper is a precious commodity in the outlying areas, and is treated with respect. Papers are always carried in some sort of a plastic folder or bag. It is prized, dear, valued. Writing utensils, too, are scarce and carefully shared in a group.

I am thankful for seat belts. In the countryside, motorcycles can meet quite well the transportation needs of an entire family: father driving, holding a baby in his arms, his wife seated behind him and their 3 year old holding on to his mother from behind.

I am thankful for shoes. Here, shoes are expensive. Not everyone has them. Parents get upset when their children play soccer in them, because they won't last as long. So, the kids take their shoes off and play barefoot! Then again, others have cleats, and everyone plays together.

I look forward to continuing to share the ministry we have together in Latin America. I am humbled by the grace that God has shown me as I struggle to learn this language. Even in remote places God blesses me daily: shelter, food, family and friends, and Himself. That is all we really need.

I send out email updates regularly, and also a printed Cameron's Quito Quarterly was sent out in November. Let me know if you would like to be added to the mailing list.

You are all in my prayers and I thank you for joining in ministry with me, and this time with World Vision too.

Blessings,
Cameron Graham

Instituto de Lengua Espanola
Apartado 100-2350
San Jose, Costa Rica

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