The gravel road is mostly abandoned now. With only small spots of fallen snow and flurries along the way, one would not believe this was the same road that led masses of people to the world’s highest lift-served ski area at 17,785 feet. After navigating hairpin turns and watching the houses and farmland of the Bolivian altiplano (high plateau) become smaller and smaller (if one dared look over the narrow road’s edge), the Chacaltaya glacier, in all of its nakedness, soon would be revealed. Today’s view of the glacier, however, is much different from that of years past. Now only a few small remnants of ice and snow persist. Read more »
September 30, 2016
Seeds of hope must be watered in Bolivia
The gravel road is mostly abandoned now. With only small spots of fallen snow and flurries along the way, one would not believe this was the same road that led masses of people to the world’s highest lift-served ski area at 17,785 feet. After navigating hairpin turns and watching the houses and farmland of the Bolivian altiplano (high plateau) become smaller and smaller (if one dared look over the narrow road’s edge), the Chacaltaya glacier, in all of its nakedness, soon would be revealed. Today’s view of the glacier, however, is much different from that of years past. Now only a few small remnants of ice and snow persist. Read more »
The Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has endorsed the platform of the Movement for Black Lives (MBL) saying the group is “in full solidarity with the MBL struggle.” 
For more than a century, the manse next to First Presbyterian Church in tiny Baird, Texas (population 1,600), served many functions: as the church’s first sanctuary, as a home for a string of pastors, and as space for vacation Bible School and adult Sunday school classes. In recent years, however, it had become an albatross, a dilapidated structure that was too expensive to repair and too expensive to demolish. 
Members of Third Presbyterian Church of Rochester, New York believe more needs to be done to improve education in their city and they’ve launched an initiative to do just that. According to a report by the Rochester Area Community Foundation, Rochester is the fifth poorest city in the country with the highest concentration of extremely poor neighborhoods. 
If this summer’s Presbyterian Youth Triennium is any indication, more young people are showing an overwhelming interest in critical topics that intersect faith and social justice, such as environmental racism. 
Rwandan Bonita Murara is thrilled to be going to school at Menaul School, a Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.) related college preparatory and boarding school for students in grades 6-12. “The knowledge gained here is good,” she says. “One day we can return home to teach other people how to improve their lives.” 
The Rev. Donald J. Dawson will retire October 31 as director of the World Mission Initiative (WMI) at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the New Wilmington Mission Conference (NWMC). Dawson has directed WMI and the conference since July 2000. 
The 216th General Assembly (2004) was over. The hall had emptied, and Andy Browne was heading for the door when he was pulled up short by an “environmental mess.” “There was just this mound of paper in the middle of the floor,” Browne said, remembering that day in the Greater Richmond Convention Center. It was all the business of the assembly—in hard copy. 
When you purchase that cup of coffee on the way to work each morning, have you ever thought about where it comes from or who grows and picks the coffee beans? Who benefits financially? The Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) is once again offering people an opportunity to get a firsthand look at the coffee farming business in Nicaragua. 
After four years of dialogue and negotiations, President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC guerrilla group agreed to end hostilities on June 23, 2016. The final peace accord, announced on August 24 and formally signed on September 26, will be placed before the Colombian people for a popular vote on October 2.