Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Training in Guatemala

I just got back to Quito after a week in Guatemala where I was able to scout out a training possibility for May 2011, follow-up on training we did in May 2008 and do training for a small group of very talented young people from an indigenous community in the province of Totonicapán. We held the radio workshop in the facilities of the Guatemalan Bible Seminary in Chimaltenango.

One of the goals for our radio training ministry in Latin America is to develop a network of Christian communicators throughout the region. For the workshop in Chimaltenango, I had the very special opportunity of teaching with one of my former students from the Christian Center of Communications (CCC), an university level institute on HCJB’s Quito compound which is a joint education program with Northwestern College of St. Paul, Minnesota. Kristy (Calvache) Liles is a gifted Christian broadcaster with Almavision Radio in Miami, Florida, USA. She was in the second group of students I had the privilege of teaching in the CCC. That was in 1995. What a blessing to be able to teach with her in 2010!

The night after we finished, Kristy wrote me the following note:
I want to tell you how happy I feel for having been able to be a part of this training. I’m sure that I learned more than I taught! I want you to know that I admire a lot the work that God has called you to do. I admire more the passion you have for it and want to encourage you to keep on going because you will see the fruit of your efforts in us, your students. Many thanks for this opportunity. May God continue to use you and I’m here to serve when I can. Blessings, Kristy.
Thanks for the encouragement, Kristy. And thanks to each of you who have faithfully prayed for and supported my ministry with HCJB Global Voice year after year. You were there when Kristy studied in the CCC in 1995 and you’re here now as we taught together 15 years later. You made it possible! I hope that you can share in Kristy’s gratitude and joy in having been a part of this workshop. This was her first time to share her experiences and knowledge, and let me tell you that she did a fantastic job. Kristy is good at what she does and is also passionate about being able to help others use this great tool of Christian radio to reach people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. To God be all the glory and praise! Thanks again for making it possible, generation after generation.