wfn.org | Mission worker teaches youth

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1998-08-26 15:02
Priority: 3
Message ID: BFB4541AE23CD211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: Mission worker teaches youth 

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August 26, 1998
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
219-294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

Mission worker teaches youth to put faith into practice

Santa Cruz, BOLIVIA. (MBM/COM) - Against a backdrop of near-universal
poverty and deprivation, the bedspread knitted and stitched together by
some two dozen pairs of young hands in Margrit Kipfer's youth group may   
not
seem like much.

As a matter of fact, it didn't bring in much money from a Western point   
of
view:  about $50.

But in a country where the average per-capita income is only $300 a year,   
it was
enough to buy Christmas presents for 35 children living and working on   
the
slum streets of Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  And the lesson it taught Kipfer's   
young
charges that year, about putting their faith into practice, was vast and   
far-
reaching - particularly since they themselves are products of the hard-
scrabble existence that characterizes so much of life in Bolivia.

It's a lesson she believes to be central to her mission.

"For me, the point where I'm struggling is this:  How can we put into   
practice
what we say?" Kipfer said. "How can we live out what we believe in every   
aspect
of our lives?"

Kipfer, who was sent to Bolivia by the mission committee of the Swiss   
Mennonite
Church, receives support from MBM and the General Conference Mennonite
Church's Commission on Overseas Mission, which also help fund the   
national
Bolivian church.

One key emphasis of the youth group is to provide young people with an
alternative to the country's annual Carnival celebration, a festival that   

immediately precedes Ash Wednesday and resembles New Orleans' Mardi Gras
celebration in its decadence.  In anticipation of the coming self-denials   
of Lent,
festivalgoers let down their usual inhibitions, drinking heavily and   
comporting
themselves in ways that would ordinarily be taboo.

"It's not a very good testimony for youth,"  said Kipfer, a former   
teacher of
missionary children, who came to Santa Cruz from Switzerland's Swiss
Mennonite Church in1993 so that she could do mission work firsthand.

If their friends are involved in the Carnival festivities, Kipfer said,   
it's
hard for young people not to be tempted to participate. Therefore, she
offers an annual retreat that is timed to coincide with Carnival.   
 "Instead
of [our] saying, 'Well, it's forbidden for you to go drinking, to go   
dancing,
to go to this and that,' it's better to give them an alternative where   
they can
go and have fun and also learn about the Bible, about their life as a   
Christian.
They are in contact with other Christians instead of with [festival
participants]."

Her plan is working:  More than 100 young people attended the 1998   
retreat.

Indeed, the retreat has outgrown the Mennonite Central Committee retreat
center it had been using, which houses 40 people.  Using donations from   
the
Swiss Mennonite church and funds raised within the local congregations,   
her
own church in Bolivia, Iglesia Sinai, already has begun construction of   
its
own retreat center in the small town of Don Lorenzo, about three hours   
from
Santa Cruz.  With a simple, practical floor plan, the total cost of the   
new
retreat center is an estimated $80,000 (U.S.).  Construction already is   
under
 way on the dormitories with support from MBM and other North American
Mennonites.  While Bolivian Mennonites are collecting bricks, plates and
silverware for contributions, more funding still is needed to complete   
the
rest of the center and buy furniture.

The youth group, which meets every Saturday evening throughout the year,   
is
only a part of  Kipfer's work in Santa Cruz. Her other involvement's   
include:

* A library learning center and a group for neighborhood children.  The   
center
 offers a place for children do their homework assignments and get help   
with
 their studies.  About 40 students come each weekday.
* A children's club.  Anywhere from five to 25 children show up each week   
for
singing, Bible story reading, games and snacks.

"What I hope for a lot of [these children] is that they can reform their
families," said Kipfer, adding that the marriages and families they will
create in the future can have a lasting impact.  "If they are faithful in   
the
church, they are also faithful in their lives.  So I hope they can grow   
in
both areas."

     * * *
MBM staff