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Note #6663 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Thuma Mina weaves Matthew 14 
with mission trip fears and foibles
13-June-2001
GA01104

Thuma Mina weaves Matthew 14 
with mission trip fears and foibles

by Midge Mack

LOUISVILLE, June 13 - How can it be five years already since Thuma Mina
began performing for us?  Thuma Mina?  Thuma Mina means "Send Me, Lord," in
Zulu, and the Thuma Mina Mission Theatre Company is a group of young adult
volunteers who go for a year to do the Lord's work in a "mission field,"
anywhere in the world, a different group each year.
When they return, they get together in Atlanta with Paul Osborne, Christian
Educator and musical producer on the staff of Central Presbyterian Church.
They tell him their stories from which he creates a musical drama
incorporating a Biblical theme. Behind the scenes, Thuma Mina is a joint
"production" of the Congregational, National and Worldwide Ministries
Divisions of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.).
The group first performed at the 209th General Assembly in Syracuse in 1997.
The following year, after the Charlotte Assembly, they toured the
southeastern states, performing for congregations, presbyteries, and mission
conferences. Now in their 5th season, they will bring their dramatized
stories to the 213th General Assembly at the Saturday, June 16 worship
service. Here at the Assembly they've already performed at the Galt House
Tuesday evening and in the Exhibit Hall Wednesday.
All six players take all the parts in this year's presentation "Walk With
Me" or "Camina Conmigo."  The stage setting moves back and forth, set by the
words and actions of the cast, from the day Jesus walked on water when his
disciples were out in the boat and frightened of the storm, to the various
mission sites visited by the volunteers. "Come" says Jesus and a player in
the scene acts out his or her plans and expectations in the new place.
All are disbelieving of what happens to them there just as the disciples are
disbelieving that Jesus walks on water.  They ask for help, and Jesus gives
them a hand in a variety of ways. They are afraid of what they must do, as
the disciples feared the wind. Jesus is there, encouraging them. The
audience is involved in the music throughout the presentation.
This year's company includes Jamie Harris, First Presbyterian Church,
Albuquerque, N.M., who served in England; Matt Lang, First Presbyterian
Church, Olean, N.Y., who was with a family living on a dump in a Filipino
city; Shari Samlaska, Resurrection Lutheran Church, Tucson, Ariz., now a
student at Pacific Lutheran Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.; Jose Torres, a
member of a congregation in San Antonio, Puerto Rico who led a team to do
hurricane relief work in Homestead, Fla.; Tatiana Valdez, of Managua,
Nicaragua who served in the Reconciliation and Mission program, Miami, Fla.;
and Dianne Wright, New Harvest Presbyterian Church, Florence, S.C. who led a
presbytery-wide mission trip to Trinidad and now is director of Christian
Education for the presbytery.
Harris, Torres and Valdez are currently McCormick Theological Seminary
students. Thuma Mina producer/manager Corey Nelson has now graduated from
that institution and is a staff associate of Worldwide Ministries. He was a
first year student at McCormick when he began directing Thuma Mina
productions.
Following the Assembly, Thuma Mina will perform in Nashville, Tenn.;
Montreat, N.C.; Thompson Ridge and Stony Point, N.Y.; Indianapolis and
Lafayette, Ind. (including Youth Triennium); Santa Fe, Ghost Ranch, Menual
School and Albuquerque, N.M.; Cherry Hill, N.J., and Anaheim, Calif.

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