If I Knew…

Elena Huegel – Chile

I have been back in Chile a little over a month, and I haven’t had the chance to write to you all and let you know how things are going.

As you can imagine, with a six month absence, there is work piled up all around me.  We have a full spring with eight camps and retreats during November and December and then the summer season starts the first week in January.  Please pray that many people might be blessed during these activities at the Shalom Center and that we might have a save, enriching, and fun camp season.

Elena Huegel – Chile

I have been back in Chile a little over a month, and I haven’t had the chance to write to you all and let you know how things are going.

As you can imagine, with a six month absence, there is work piled up all around me.  We have a full spring with eight camps and retreats during November and December and then the summer season starts the first week in January.  Please pray that many people might be blessed during these activities at the Shalom Center and that we might have a save, enriching, and fun camp season.

I want to tell you about one little experience since I have been back in Chile.  As many of you know, we spent nearly three years fighting red tape and knocking on office doors to finally get our environmental impact statement approved.  Many times during those three years, I found myself waiting in the lobby of the CONAMA (Chile’s equivalent of the regional EPA) for some government official to receive or sign yet another document.  Yesterday, I went to the CONAMA office with one of the facilitators of the Shalom Center who is handing in a project proposal for the Catholic University.  The new regional director of CONAMA passed through the lobby and immediately invited me into her office for a chat.  She is a friend of mine from another church and a chemistry engineer who helped us with parts of the environmental impact statement.  Mónica was selected for this prestigious and difficult job while I was gone.  We talked about her hopes in this new position God has given her, her battles with a powerful conglomerate which owns a paper mill that has nearly killed the river downstream from Curicó, and her frustration at not being able to get more of the protestant or “evangélicos” involved in working towards a cleaner environment.  She asked if I would be willing to help her write press releases and radio blurbs on the care of the environment from a protestant or “evangélico” point of view.  I readily agreed to do what I can.  So, one of the great changes since returning to Chile has been my transformed relationship with the regional office of CONAMA!

Please pray for Mónica as she holds fast to her Christian principles in a government office riddled with mismanagement and pressures from special interest groups.

I decided that some of you might want to read English translations of these releases, so I will send them as I am able.

Shalom,
Elena

If I knew that the end of the world
was to come tomorrow,
I would still plant a tree
the night before.
Martin Luther

Martin Luther, the father of the protestant reformation, brings us words of hope and faith firmly rooted in daily reality.  With news of global warming, the growing deserts, indiscriminate deforestation, the hole in the ozone, natural disasters, and the flood o toxic substances and garbage, we could throw up our hands in despair at the magnitude of the environmental problems.  But hope is a seed we nourish with drops of water, rays of sunshine, delicate kisses of clean air, and spoonfuls of compost.  It is the simple, day to day acts that fill us with hope for tomorrow.  Every day we chose: will we let the earth, our home, die or will we begin today to produce life – giving changes?

From these small changes we will see grow a strong and mature tree, a healthy environment through which we will enjoy the fruits of our efforts.

If I knew that tomorrow there would be more trash thrown on the street, I would still pick up the littler I find on my way home the night before.

If I knew that the air was to dawn polluted tomorrow, I would still walk the night before to avoid driving my car.

If I knew that the wasting of water was to lead us into a drought tomorrow, I would still turn off the tape and fix any leaks the night before.

If I knew that tomorrow the majestic and unique forests of Chile were to be cut down, I would still be sure to buy certified lumber and firewood that is not from native forests.

If I knew that tomorrow the best soils were going to erode and wash down to the ocean, I would still care for the plants that protect the hillsides and the banks of the streams.

If I knew that tomorrow there was to be an energy crisis, Tonight I would still turn out the lights and the TV. And would check the energy conservation of refrigerators and other domestic appliances.

If I know that tomorrow global warming would modify our climate, Today I would still protest ageist the factories and transportation that alters our atmosphere.

If I know that tomorrow a company would produce air, water or soil pollution I would still not buy or consume its products the night before.

What will you do today to make tomorrow’s hope a reality?  Because to act today is a step of faith, and “Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives of proof of what we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1 Holy Bible)

Elena Huegel
Elena Huegel is a missionary with the Pentecostal Church of Chile (IPC).  She serves as an environmental and Christian education specialist.