Seeds in the hands of the farmers!

This past Thursday and Friday, July 24th and 25th, 2008, I was in Aristobolo del Valle, Misiones, Argentina with 600 farmers from all over the province of Misiones, and some from other provinces and other countries for the Seed Fair. The Seed Fair and the Seed Movement celebrated its tenth anniversary of seed exchange in Misiones. This exchange is extremely important for the entire province and country. Here’s some background….

Under the motto “seeds in the hands of the farmers”, the Seed Fair, as part of the Seed Movement, started to take form in the year 1997, in the city San Vincente, of the province Misiones. The objective of the fair, since it’s beginning, has been the exchange of genuine seeds of Misiones, without the exchange of money. Around this time, the pharmaceutical companies began the sale of transgenetic seeds, turning themselves into seed companies. These companies who create genetically modified seeds, have manipulated organisms in a laboratory in order to modify some characteristics, for example, creating resistance in their seeds to their own herbicides. These transgenetic seeds only grow with the use of the herbicides and the entire technological package that is created by the company. The companies sell their seeds at a higher price, and also require the purchase of the entire technological package. Also, when the farmers buy the seeds from these companies, they sign a contract, which prohibits the farmer to replant the seed year after year, requiring the farmer to buy new seeds year after year.

Many farmers in Misiones still purchase these seeds when they can cultivate, save, plant and exchange their own, genuine seeds for free year after year, and decide their own destiny. These transgenetic crops create political, economic, social and cultural dependency. They also create dependency on agro-chemicals, promoting monocultures in agriculture, which threatens the environment and puts food security at danger. Agricultural biodiversity is necessary for security and knowledge of food and the independence of the people!

Oración Interreligiosa Por la Nación Argentina

On June 18th, 2008, I had the opportunity, with my peers in the ELCA YAGM program, to join others in an inter-religious vigilance, in Resistencia, Argentina, in response to the current state of Argentina. Please join us in prayer….

Oración Interreligiosa Por la Nación Argentina
18 de Junio, 2008

*Padre Bueno y Misericordioso, da a nuestra pobre y limitada naturaleza tu Espíritu de Sabiduría y Amor para que sepamos construir una Nación de hermanos.

*Danos Señor, conciencia, de la responsabilidad que tenemos ante los excluidos, los marginados, los necesitados de ayuda, en el alma y en el cuerpo, las familias, los ancianos, los jóvenes, los niños y los enfermos.

*Ayúdanos Señor, para que todos los hombres y mujeres de buena voluntad nos unamos en un trabajo constante para liberar a los que viven esclavizados por la ignorancia, la justicia y la miseria.

*Ilumina Dios Todopoderosos, a todos los dirigentes, a los medios de comunicación social, a los gremios, y a todas las entidades intermedias para que trabajen con un corazón limpio y libre de otros intereses que no sean los de promover el bien común.

*Bendice Altísimo Dios, nuestro campo, las industrias, el comercio, y todas las actividades productivas y sociales, has que no falte trabajo y pan en cada hogar y los jóvenes tengan futuro en nuestra tierra Argentina.

*Concédenos conocer los caminos más propicios para lograr el crecimiento y el progreso, que todo tu pueblo necesita en esta bendita tierra crisol de razas.

*Danos Señor, un corazón agradecido y humilde para que te alabamos y te rindamos culto permanente, con Fe y Esperanza en tu Divina Providencia que todo lo puede.

*Líbranos Dios omnipotente de todo mal, bendice nuestra Nación, conviértelo en un lugar lleno de vida y progreso, para que todas las generaciones te alaben y agradezcan por tu infinita misericordia.



Inter-religious Prayer for the Country of Argentina
June 18, 2008

*Good and Merciful Father, give our poor and limited nature your Spirit of Knowledge and Love so that we may know how to build a Nation of brothers.

* Give us, Lord, conscience, of the responsibility that we have before the excluded, the marginalized, those that need help in body and soul, families, the elderly, youth, children and the sick.

* Help us, Lord, so that we, all men and women of good will, can unite ourselves in the constant work to free those who live enslaved by ignorance, injustice and misery.

*Illumine, Omnipotent God, all of the leaders, the means of social communication, the unions, and all of the intermediary entities so that they work with a heart that is clean and free of other interests, that they not be those that promote the common good.

*Bless, Most High God, our countryside, the industries, the businesses, and all of the productive and social activities that you make so that every home is not without work or bread and that that youth have a future on our Argentine land.

*Grant us to know the more suitable ways to achieve the growth and progress, that all of the village needs, in this blessed land of the melting pot of races.

*Give us, Lord, a grateful and humble heart so that we praise you and we permanently worship you, with Faith and Hope in your Divine Providence that all is possible.

*Free us, Omnipotent God, of all bad. Bless our nation. Convert it into a place full of life and progress, so that all generations praise you and thank you for your infinite compassion.

Profetas...

“Profetas de un Futuro que No es Nuestro”

De vez en cuando, nos ayuda dar un paso atrás y contemplar el vasto panorama.
El Reino no solamente está más allá de nuestros esfuerzos, sino que trasciende nuestra visión.
Cumplimos en nuestra vida solamente una ínfima fracción
de la magnífica empresa que es la obra de Dios.
Nada de lo que hacemos es completo, lo cual es otra forma de decir
que el Reino siempre nos trasciende.
Ninguna declaración expresa todo lo que puede ser dicho.
Ninguna oración expresa totalmente nuestra Fe.
Ninguna confesión deviene en perfección.
Ningún programa lleva a cabo la misión de Cristo.
Ninguna meta o serie de objetivos incluye la totalidad.
Eso es lo que proponemos.
Plantamos las semillas que algún día brotarán.
Regamos las semillas que ya han sido plantadas,
sabiendo que contienen una promesa futura.
Echamos los cimientos que necesitarán posterior desarrollo.
Proveemos la levadura que produce efectos más allá de nuestras aptitudes.
No podemos hacer todo,
y al darnos cuenta de ello nos sentimos liberados.
Eso nos permite hacer algo y hacerlo muy bien.
Será incompleto pero es un comienzo,
un paso a lo largo del camino,
y una oportunidad para que la gracia del Señor aparezca y haga el resto.
Quizá nunca veremos los resultados finales.
Pero ahí está la diferencia entre el maestro de obras y el albañil.
Somos albañiles, no maestros de obra, ministros, pero no Mesías.
Somos los profetas de un futuro que no es el nuestro.

Por Oscar Romero


“Prophets of a Future Not Our Own”

It helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.


We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are the workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

By Oscar Romero

My birthday in Misiones

On Tuesday, June 24th, I celebrated my 27th birthday with the community “Dios Es Amor” (“God is Love”) in San Martin. Now I truly feel like my year working with the community of San Martin is complete because I was able to celebrate my birthday with the church. The women made hot chocolate and cake, both from scratch! It was delicious. Many of you are probably reading this, thinking, isn’t it too hot for hot chocolate. Well, we are actually in the winter season here. It is my first time celebrating my birthday in the winter. We had a beautiful, sunny day though. And about 20 children came for the celebration! I am so thankful for all of the women that took the time to make the cake and hot chocolate. I often say now that I have 20 mothers in San Martin. Unfortunately, the pastor, Mariela Pereyra, was not able to make it to the party on time because her car broke down, But, don’t worry we saved some cake for her and her daughter, Ingrid. One women, who has been a good friend and works as a teacher for the bible school, Viviana, was not able to make it. After waiting for two months, Viviana was finally able to go in for heart surgery to have two major valves removed, and have two new valves put in. I was able to visit her this past Friday, and she is doing great. She can now walk by herself. Please keep her and her family in your prayers as she continues to recover. I guess I had many birthday blessings!

May in Misiones

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit the secadero cooperative in Guarani, where my friend, Luis, stands as president. This visit was a distinct, Argentine experience because the secadero is the machinery involved in the first step of the processing of the yerba mate. In this step, the yerba goes through various rounds of heat, where the yerba is dried out. At the end of the drying process, three kilos of yerba will yield one kilo.
Not only does yesterday stand out in the yerba mate history books for me, but for all of Misiones. Yesterday was the first day of striking on Route 14. The yerba mate producers on Route 14 are getting paid less than the producers on Route 12. Not only are the producers asking for equal wages to the producers on Route 12, but they are asking that all producers be paid for half of the real price that is paid by the consumer. But, I did not see many farmers in Route 14 when I passed by with Luis, because apparently, there is division among the producers as to how to get the increase in wage. Here’s some background as to why….
In 2001, when Argentina had its major economic crisis, the Instituto Nacional Yerba Mate (National Institute of Yerba Mate), or INYM, was created. The purpose of INYM was to create a table for dialogue and agreements between the different stages of production of yerba mate. The tareferos (day laborers), producers, secadores, molinos (the grinding and packaging of the yerba), the state government, and the national government are all included with various representatives of each group at the table. INYM created a national law that attempted to control and regulate the price and quality of the yerba mate. However, the table is not sitting level on four legs. Some of the legs are larger than some of the others. Even though INYM claims to have a table for dialogue, it seems that some of the voices are not being heard, or that some of the groups are not well represented at this table. On Saturday, May 24th, the producers had a meeting in the secadero and decided to begin a strike and stop all production at the secadero level until they are heard from the molinos and the government. So when I visited the secadero, I was not able to see the yerba mate in production.
Please pray for all of the producers and consumers in Argentina, that the country can see some justice in all produce prices.

El Primero de Mayo

I am dedicating this month’s entry to my friend Alberto in Caa-Yari, Misiones, Argentina. He, unlike others in Argentina, will not be taking today, May Day, off because he will be working his soil, yerba, tobacco, pigs, and garden. I have spent the last eight months getting to know producers in the southern-central region of the province of Misiones, Argentina. I have heard the stories of tobacco growers, yerba and tea producers, and of those trying alternative methods in order to survive on their land. I have heard too many stories about the system of slavery and indentured servitude in the region, in which large companies from the U.S. and Europe offer oppressive deals with producers to sell products from mandarins to tobacco and they are keeping the producers of Misiones in poverty.
In early April, I spent the morning with Alberto and his wife on their farm. They took me on a tour of their pig farm, and showed me where they were drying the tobacco to be sold in Alem later in the month. He explained to me the oppressive system of tobacco producing, in which he is involved. In order to grow the tobacco, the company requires that he buy the tobacco seeds, the fertilizer, the chemicals, even the compost and soil, from the company. The money spent in buying the products will be taken off the final cost of the final product of tobacco at a high rate. The company explains to Alberto exactly how to grow the tobacco, and hires workers to come to his farm to make sure that he is following all of the procedures explained to him. If he has not followed correctly, money will be taken off his final product as well. The actually growing process involves the application of dangerous chemicals, ones that inhibit the growth of the tobacco flower, to continue the growth of the leaves. This chemical is not permitted usage in the United States of America because of its toxicity level! The most frustrating aspect is the soil that the producer is required to buy. Why on earth would a producer need to buy soil that has been shipped from New York when the red soil of Misiones is known to be extremely fertile? The collection, drying, and sorting process is a while other story. After Alberto has sorted and bunched his tobacco together, he will bring it to a collective in Alem that will evaluate his crop and give him a final value. After he is given his final value, the debt that is owed will be taken off. This last year, Alberto earned about $7,000 pesos, which is equivalent to less than $2,500 U.S.D. And that is Alberto’s annual income.
How is it possible that people are spending the amount of money on cigarettes, and the tobacco companies are making billions of dollars a year, and yet Alberto comes out with $2,500 a year? It is hard for me to take in the lack of equality in this system. This year, I am working with producers to search for other methods to bring in an annual income, other than a work that not only generates very little income, but also puts its producers at risk daily. Producers suffer for not only the chemicals that they are exposed to in the producing, but also a high daily dose of second hand smoke, just from working with the crop. Producers suffer from high risks of emphysema and cancer due to the working of this crop.
Right now I am reading “Open Veins of Latin America”, by Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer. The book gives the history of the conquest of the Americas, and the economic, political and social analysis of the results of the conquest of Latin America. It is an appalling account of the oppression that has taken place in this continent of the world. In his introduction, Galeano states:
“Latin America is the region of open veins. Everything from the discovery until our times, has always been transmuted into European – or later United States – capital, as such has accumulated into distant centers of power. Everything- the soil, its fruits and its mineral-rich depths, the people and their capacity to work and to consume, natural resources and human resources. Production methods and class structure have been successfully determined from outside for each area by meshing it into the universal gearbox of capitalism. To each area has been assigned a function, always for the benefit of the foreign metropolis of the moment, and the endless chain of dependency has been endlessly extended. The chain has more than two links. In Latin America it also includes the oppression of small countries by their larger neighbors and, within each country’s frontiers, the exploitation by big cities and ports of their internal sourced of food and labor. (Four centuries ago sixteen of twenty biggest Latin American cities already existed.)”
“For those who see history as a competition, Latin America’s backwardness and poverty are merely the result of its failure. We lost; others won. But the winners happen to have won thanks to our losing; the history of Latin America’s underdevelopment is, as someone has said, an integral part of the history of world capitalism’s development. Our defeat was always implicit in the victory of others; our wealth has always generated our poverty by nourishing the prosperity of others – the empires and their native overseers. In the colonial and neocolonial alchemy, gold changes into scrap metal and food into poison.” (Galeano, Eduardo, Open Veins of Latin America, 2)
This year, I have been working with the Project on Sustainable Development and Human Promotion, through the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina and Uruguay (IELU) to work with producers in the province of Misiones, to search for alternative methods of subsistence and ways to live that are more sustainable for the producers, consumers, and the earth. However, working with producers, searching for methods to get out of the dependency system of the big international businesses is not easy. For many of the producers, growing tobacco is all that they know. Their great-grandfathers emigrated from Europe to Argentine in search for a better life, and began to grow tobacco. Also, the producers, through the dependency system of the tobacco companies and the local government, have become accustomed to someone coming in and telling them how to grow the tobacco. The producers are not actors of their own destiny. Instead, they wait for outsiders to come in and save them by telling them what to do. In this project, we are not telling the producers what to do, so the process is a slow one. We have discussions on new dreams and visions, and my prayer is that slowly the farmers will have the courage to drop what they know and go for their dreams, knowing that God is walking with them at all times in the struggle. Please keep the producers and the project in your prayers.

Luke 19: 29-48

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,
‘Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!’
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’
As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’
Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be a house of prayer”;
but you have made it a den of robbers.’
Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.
Luke 19:29-48



Out of all of the activities that I had over Holy Week here in Misiones, Argentina, what stands out most to me is the Bible Study I was a part of in Olas Petri, the Lutheran church in Oberá (where I worship when I don’t have activities in San Martin or Caa-Yari) the Tuesday before Palm Sunday. We read the text of Luke 19:29-48, the text always read during Palm Sunday. Except we read further than I have ever heard the text read in the Presbyterian churches in the U.S.A.
Why did I not remember that after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Jesus cleanses the temple? All of the people were in the streets, shouting Hosanna, asking Jesus to save them. Yet, where were they just a while later when Jesus cleansed the temple? Were the people really ready to do what needed to be done to be saved and to save others? We, the people of God, look to our Messiah to save us, but are we ready to do the actions needed in order for us to have world peace and God’s kingdom on earth? Are we ready to make the necessary changes? Or, would we prefer to point the finger at the one who tells us what actions need to be changed and say, “Crucify him!”? Are we ready to make personal choices that can create peace and justice?
As world citizens and Christians, with all kinds of power, including consumer power, are we ready to make choices that affect the world? Are we ready to make choices and actions that create the world we want to live in?

MST

On February 20th, 2008, I had the opportunity to visit a community of the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra), or the Rural Landless Workers Movement, in Brazil. For me, this was an opportunity of a lifetime. When I was in my senior year at Bates College, I wrote my senior religion thesis on the MST, the role of the church in the movement, and how the MST gives Christians a new model how to live out their faith in community today. In the conclusion of my thesis I wrote, “The community is united in its poverty, living a life of liberation theology’s praxis, and working towards their own liberation. The MST is working for God’s kingdom – the brotherhood of all humanity.” The moment that I started to learn about the MST, I had the desire to experience an MST community, to more fully understand what it means to be in community working for the kingdom of God. And on February 20th, 2008 my dream came true!
I visited a community of 106 families, with 2,011 acres of land in the Paranã province of Brazil, outside of Santa Helena. The trip to the community was an experience of its own. I was driving with several agricultural technicians from an NGO based in Marechal C Rondon, Brazil, Centro de Apoio ao Pequeno Agricultor (CAPA), or Support Center for the Small Farmer, that works with small farmers on sustainable, organic farming, who work with some MST communities in the province. As we drove from Marechal C Rondon to the community, we passed by soy field after soy field, cornfield after cornfield. My eyes were opened to the reality of how large agro-business of the U.S. and other countries is ruining the entire ecosystem of Brazil and the world. Currently, less than 3 percent of the Brazilian population owns two-thirds of Brazil’s arable land! The MST is a movement that was created by the rural poor, with the support of the Catholic Church, to change the land ownership and inequality issue in Brazil. This grassroots movement has proved to be a living model of liberation theology’s idea of a grounded, healthy, successful, and liberated community. Due to the work of the people of the MST community, by 2002 more than 350,000 families in three thousand settlements have won land titles to over 20 million acres – results that far surpass the Brazilian government’s actions for land redistribution.
When we approached the MST community, the agricultural climate around us changed from mono-crop fields to lush bio-diverse land. A sign marked the change, stating that it was an MST farming community and now part of what is the Brazilian agricultural reform. First, the technicians took me to the center of the community, where there is a space for the community to have monthly community meetings and a center for the farmers to homogenize the milk that their cows produce. From the center, I looked out and saw rolling hills filled with all shades of green and brown. I felt as though I had entered into an oasis. Before even having the chance to speak with any families of farmers, I felt a sense of God’s kingdom come in that moment.
For the rest of the morning, I spent time with a family of four, father, mother, son, and daughter, who told me stories about the community’s 10-year history and its struggle for land with the Brazilian government. As they told me their story, they offered me the organic peanuts from their farm and chimarrão, their traditional tea that is served in a large gourd with a metal straw, and passed in a circle. Then they took me on a tour of their farm, which had rice, beans, peanuts, squash, corn, bananas, grapefruit, green beans, sunflowers, peppers, grass for the cows, cows and chickens.
In the afternoon, I visited with another family, a mother and her children. What stands out to me from this visit with the mother is that at one point in her conversation I asked her if her life is better now that she is on the cooperative. She looked me right in the eyes and said, “100%.” She said that not only are her living conditions better, but that now she lives with dignity.
My experience with this community has confirmed that the MST is a community that can give hope to the landless, the poor. The MST stands up to the oppressive forces in today’s world and looks to a new way of being community, a new way of living out God’s promise of new life.


“The future of history belongs to the poor and exploited. True liberation will be the work of the oppressed themselves; in them, the Lord saves history.”
-Gustavo Gutierrez, liberation theologian



To learn more about the MST, visit: www.mstbrazil.org

My Three Weeks of Camping in Panambi

In the month of January, my responsibilities as the Young Adult Global Volunteer in Obera, Misiones, Argentina changed. I was a camp leader with the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina and Uruguay’s (IELU) Northern District camping trips in Panambi, Misiones with Reverend Clovis Kurtz and Josh Ebener, student pastor with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Panambi sits on the Parana River, which defines the border of Argentina and Brazil. In the three weeks that I spent camping, I was able to swim in the river and look over to my Brazilian neighbors. I could see a village with a beautiful center, with a grand church, surrounded by houses, on top of green rolling hills. I could see farms and cattle grazing on the grass. Panambi is an agricultural city, with yerba mate, tea, corn, tobacco, pine, corn, and cow farms. Olas Petri, the IELU church of Obera, has a plot of land that is owned for the purpose of church camping trips. There is land to set up tents and also a building with bathrooms and a large roof, or overhang, to provide some shelter for rain, as well as a space to eat, sing, and cook on the wood-burning stove.

The first week was a two-day, one-night camping trip with children from the ages of 6 to 11, from Obera and the surrounding villages. Youth from the church in Obera, Rodrigo, Silvia, and Marcos, were also part of the leadership team. I was blessed to have several children from San Martin, my site placement for the year, participate in these days. We spent our days swimming in the river, playing games, singing and fellowshipping together, praying together, cooking and eating together. The children seemed to have a wonderful time, and not a single one cried, which according to the pastor, is not the norm. What I especially appreciate from this week is that I now have a special bond with the girls from San Martin that attended the camp. I was blessed to have the time of fellowship with them.







The second week, was a five-day camping trip for youth from the ages 15 and up, from the entire Northern District of the IELU. The churches in Resistencia, Corrientes, Eldorado, Obera, and San Martin took part. I especially enjoyed getting to know the girls from Resistencia. Another treat for this week was that the YAGM in Resistencia, James Weber, also joined the leadership team, as well as Sergio, a seminary student from San Martin. During this week, the youth took more active roles in the daily chores required for the camp. The duties included cleaning the bathrooms, preparing and cooking the food, setting the table and cleaning the dishes. We also had a space for bible study, singing and fellowship. Perhaps my favorite part of the week was the scavenger hunt that Reverend Kurtz put together. Some of the activities during the hunt included bringing water from one container to the other, using only a cup and mouth, covering a male and female body with mud from the river, collecting snails from the river, filling balloons and plastic bags with the water from the river, collecting live ants, making a mud-man knee height, and making a skirt out of leaves from the trees. My group came in first place!







The third week was a five-day camping trip for youth from the ages of 11 to 14, from Obera and the surrounding villages. By this point, my energy was running a bit lower, and we had fewer leaders, but I made it through the week, again being blessed with the company of the youth and leaders. The youth in this age group also divided into groups and participated in the daily duties of the camp. Perhaps the moments that stick out as most memorable for this week are the walk that we took to get a beautiful view of the river, the water games, and the campfire that occurred on the last night of the trip. For the campfire, the youth came up with skits, jokes, and songs. They were so creative!







January was a distinct month for my time here in Misiones, Argentina. This is a month that will surely stay in my head and heart for the rest of the days of my life. Not only was it a time for intense fellowship with my Argentine brothers and sisters, but it was also an opportunity to commune with my God in the outdoors. I continually thank God for the daily blessings that I receive in this country.