This past July, after all or our camp programs were finished, we embarked on a clean up and organizing effort in our classrooms. Tucked away in a book case in the back classroom (the Meeting Room) we found several classroom sets of an old Sunday School curriculum we used some 10+ years ago. We had several sets of books ranging from preschool age through middle school plus teacher guides, all hard bound and in beautiful condition.
Knowing we could not possibly throw these out, we emailed the Southwestern Texas Synod to ask them if they knew of any churches or communities who could use them. Shortly after we received a response from Pastor Natanael Lizarazo:
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Greetings to you. I am Pastor Natanael Lizarazo from New Braunfels. I am retired and involved in the Eagle Pass Frontera Ministries. I am the Founder of the Emmaus Road Foundation, a nonprofit ministry organization in Colombia. I have seen in our Synod Newsletter that you are offering important Curriculum books for children. This is precisely what four K-12 Lutheran Schools in Colombia are looking for in order to build a bilingual library and to teach the gospel using English. Would you be interested in donating these materials to Colombia? If so we can talk and make plans on how I can pick them up. Matter of fact I am headed to Colombia on July 31st and could take them with me.
With joy and thanksgiving, Natanael
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After some emailing back and forth and a couple phone calls we arranged to have the books shipped to Pr. Natanael in New Braunfels, TX. and he would then take them to Colombia on his trip in July. It was nearly 100lbs of books so we weren’t sure how he was going to get them to Colombia, but he assured us he’d figure it out! The only thing we asked was that he please send us some pictures or video of the books when they arrived in Colombia so we could share the experience with them.
So we packed up the books and shipped them to New Braunfels, TX.
A few days later we got word that Pr. Natanael had received the books and he was preparing for his trip to Columbia. He told us he was going to pack one suitcase up to 50lbs of books and take it with him on the plane! The rest of the books would have to come on his next trip he was planning in October.
Some time passed…then we received this email from Pr. Natanael:
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Dear People of God at Triumphant Love Lutheran Church:
Joyful and thankful greetings to you siblings in Christ. This email and the brief accompanying video expresses the profound gratitude for the books you have donated to the Lutheran Schools of Colombia. I was able to take half of the books in August and the other half will be brought with me now in October. As our Lutheran schools continue to uplift English as a second language, these books are precious gifts for the libraries of the schools. We thank you in the name of Christ.
With joy and thanksgiving, Pr. Natanael Lizarazo
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Watch the video
We plan to stay in contact with Pr. Natanael through this journey of the books and continue in relationship with them in sending other resources such as videos of children’s songs with lyrics and hand motions and other English language materials.
Fundación Camino de Emaús is a foundation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia, empowering individuals, families and communities as responsible citizens and agents of social change. If you are interested in learning more about Fundación Camino de Emaús, click the link below.