To our supporting congregations 

Dear friends: 
    Although you haven't heard much from us lately, we're alive and well. We appreciate the 
email and letters and Christmas cards that we've received from many of you, and regret not 
answering most of them. Since Hurricane Mitch, our lives have been incredibly busy and 
complicated, and many important things have been left undone. 
    After working seven weeks without a day off, right before Christmas we escaped with our 
children for five days to Nicaragua. It was the only way to get a vacation. We went overland, 
even though the terrible condition of post-Mitch highways made the trip much longer than 
normal. We lost count of all the bridges and stretches of roadway that had washed away. 
    We spent three days visiting friends in Managua and two days at the beach. One 
motivation for the trip was to visit the family of Lucas' best friend Rafael, who was killed in a car 
accident in August. It was an emotional visit, and we also visited Rafael's grave in San Marcos. 
While in San Marcos we also stopped by the orphanage where Lucas lived for a while before 
we adopted him. We returned home to Honduras on Christmas Eve. 
    After Christmas we plunged back into work. Our kids have continued to complain that 
they are also victims of the hurricane; they've seen much less of their parents than normal in the 
last two months. But we're slowing establishing a rhythm of work that allows more time for our 
family. 
    One piece of good news: Paul's blood counts continue to improve. Since October the 
numbers have climbed slowly but steadily upward. They remain well below normal, but are 
moving in the right direction. We all appreciate your prayers and support for Paul during the last 
year as we've wrestled with his illness. Keep praying for him, it's obviously working. 
    During the first several weeks after Mitch, Lyda's main responsibility was providing 
training for church workers in caring for people suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. 
She conducted workshops in several areas of the country. Although she continues doing that, 
and will spend all of next week in the northwestern department of Santa Barbara doing workshops, CCD is shifting her back to doing mostly gender work. That decision grows out of an analysis that the particular needs of women are getting lost in much of the disaster response, and 
it becomes more important than ever to raise questions--including theological questions--about 
how gender affects decision-making and power relationships in local communities. 
    Shifting Lyda from CCD's pastoral ministries back to the gender department will also 
allow Lyda to resume work on her doctoral project, something that was suspended in the 
immediate wake of Hurricane Mitch. CCD has also reduced her responsibilities at the Honduran 
campus of the Latin American Biblical University, where she'll only teach one course per 
semester for the immediate future. Lyda is thrilled by all these changes. 
    As we told you before, Mitch also changed Paul's work. He has been working directly 
with CCD since Mitch arrived, coordinating much of its communication work with partner 
agencies and the media. Paul wrote regular bulletins describing CCD's work and analyzing the 
larger response to the crisis, set up a website about CCD's response to Mitch, provided digital 
images of relief work and radio interviews to media from Iceland to South Carolina, and 
facilitated the work of dozens of journalists from around the world, including media ranging 
from USA Today to the BBC to the Discovery Channel. 
    As the weeks have gone by, he's tried to wean himself a bit from CCD and write some 
articles about the storm, looking particularly at its political and economic implications. He's 
written about topics ranging from its effect on health care to the situation along the Nicaraguan- 
Honduran border, where thousands of landmines were washed loose by the flood waters. A few 
of those pieces are on our website. To help Paul break the Mitch addiction, he's escaping to 
Guatemala for a few days at the end of January to work on stories about the postwar situation 
there. 
    Both of us have also helped CCD set up a program to host work teams soon to begin 
arriving en masse from the United States. Paul wrote the grant proposal to fund the program and 
Lyda participated in planning meetings in Managua and Houston. A toll-free telephone number 
will be in place by the end of the month for prospective volunteer work teams in the U.S. to get 
on the calendar to come to Nicaragua or Honduras to help rebuild. The program is coordinated 
in the U.S. by Church World Service. 
    In the case of Honduras, in addition to sending work teams to several of the rural villages 
where CCD works, we're also developing a joint project with several groups in the capital to 
rebuild the homes of single mothers whose houses were destroyed by the storm. 
    We heard from many of you about how your congregation raised funds for the victims of 
Mitch. We appreciate the generosity that you and sisters and brothers around the world have 
displayed. During the coming months, we encourage you to continue giving to help rebuild 
villages and lives damaged by the storm. We suggest future contributions be channeled to the 
United Methodist Advance Special that supports CCD's ministries with women. These funds will 
be used for special programs to ensure that women's needs get attention in the process of 
reconstruction. That Advance Special is number 012213-0RA “Christian Commission for 
Development Women's Program.” You can pass the contributions through your congregation's 
treasurer or your annual conference, or send them directly to the General Board 
of Global Ministries. 
    These past ten weeks have been a physically and emotionally trying time for us. Yet 
Advent and Christmas helped us reflect on how hope keeps springing up in the middle of the 
mud and ruins. We thank you for your prayers and support for us and for the people of 
Honduras and Nicaragua. Your critical solidarity in these difficult times is one more sign of the power of the incarnation. 

 Shalom, 

 Lyda & Paul