Christmas Greetings from LATTE

¡Feliz Navidad!  Feliz Natal! Merry Christmas!

Christmas greetings from our hearts to yours as we celebrate our Savior's birth!

Noche de paz, noche de amor,

Todo duerme en derredor.

Entre sus astros que esparcen su luz

Bella anunciando al niñito Jesús

Brilla la estrella de paz

Brilla la estrella de paz.

Noite de paz! Noite de amor!

Dormem todos em redor.

Em Belém Jesus nasceu,

Rei de paz, da terra e céu.

Nosso Salvador é Jesus, Senhor.

Silent night, holy night,

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin mother and child.

Holy infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Arroz con Coco - Coconut Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice (Arroz Sella Jojo-PR)
• 5 1/2 cups water
• 8 oz coconut milk (Coco Lopez-PR)
• 6 sticks cinnamon
• 1 small piece crushed ginger
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 small snack size boxes raisins
• Ground cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Soak rice for one hour
2. Boil water mixed with coconut milk, cinnamon, & ginger for 30 min
3. Remove cinnamon & ginger
4. Add rice & cook on low for 40 min
5. Add sugar & raisins & cook on low
6. Turn rice occasionally & scape bottom
7. Spoon rice onto serving platter
8. Sprinkle with cinnamon
9. Allow to cool at room temperature

Makes 12 servings.

This recipe is from Puerto Rico (PR).

Bible Passages & Hymns - Portuguese

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Portanto, vão e façam discípulos de todas as nações, batizando-os em nome do Pai e do Filho e do Espírito Santo. 

- Mateus 28:19 (Matthew 28:19)


Porque Deus tanto amou o mundo que deu o seu Filho Unigênito, para que todo o que nele crer não pereça, mas tenha a vida eterna. 

- João 3:16 (John 3:16)


Jesus Me Ama 

(Jesus Loves Me)



Cristo me ama, eu sei bem.


A Palavra assim mantém


Que as crianças são daquele


Que é nosso amigo fiel.
    

Sim, Cristo me ama.
    

Sim, Cristo me ama.
    

Sim, Cristo me ama.
    

A Bíblia assim o diz.


Cristo me ama, me salvou


Meu pecado perdoou.


Sobre a cruz por mim morreu.


Vida eterna ganho eu.
    

Sim, Cristo me ama.
    

Sim, Cristo me ama.
    

Sim, Cristo me ama.

A Bíblia assim o diz.

Classroom Activities

Activities to help understand the work of LATTE professors

LATTE Professors must be flexible as they exchange places and homes.

• Have each student exchange desks for (can be an hour, or a morning or for a day) and the student must use what is in each other's desks.  They may not go to their own desk to take anything out.  May change classrooms, also.

LATTE members exchange houses with other LATTE members.

• What did you observe when you changed desks with your friends? Problems? Advantages?  Care of one another's property. 

• Did you know where everything was in the desk?  Did you miss some of your own things? 

LATTE members exchange countries.  Each country may do things quite differently than the next country.  One example is when they eat.  Lunch(dinner) is served at 2pm and dinner (supper) is served at 8pm or later.  When you get a parking ticket, the police takes your license plate and you don't get it back until you pay your ticket.

• What would happen if you went to stay at someone's (not your best friend's house) house?  What if you didn't like the food?  Would you know where things were in the house - towels, etc?  What if you didn't like their schedule - the time you had to get up in the morning and the times that they ate their meals?  Can you think of other things that might be hard or might be good?

The LATTE members are introduced to a lot of different foods.  When they are guests at other homes it would be offensive not to eat the food put in front of you.

• Have everyone bring a lunch in a brown bag.  Do not put any names on them.  At lunch each one chooses a bag.  Do you think everyone will get what they like to eat?  How should we respond to the food in the bag- should we eat it gladly or should we complain and make someone feel bad?

The LATTE members travel around to the different schools to teach the students so that the students do not have the same teacher for all the subjects. 

• How would you like to have the same teacher for every subject plus all your sports?   What problems do you see with that?  Are there advantages?

Arroz Amarillo

Arroz Amarillo (Yellow Rice) in the Dominican Republic

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil - 2 Tbsp
• Rice - 1 cup
• Water - 3 cups 
• Yellow onion, finely chopped - 1/2
• Green pepper, finely chopped - 1/4 
• Tomatoes, finely chopped - 1 1/2
• Chicken Bouillon Cubes - 1 packet or more (as you like)
• Parsley - Optional

Directions:

1. Bring 3 cups water to a boil 
2. Turn off heat and let stand
3. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat
4. Add onions and peppers
5. Cook 5 to 8 minutes or until soft and translucent 
6. Mix tomatoes, chicken broth, and seasoning and cook until hot
7. Pour the rice into the pot and stir
8. Cook the rice for 1 minute
9. Pour hot water and stir
10. Bring rice mixture to a boil. 
11. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes or until rice is tender an water is completely absorbed
12. Fluff rice with a fork
13. Cover, let stand for 5 minutes before serving
14. Top with parsley if desired

Questions & Answers

What is LATTE? 
 


What do you think of when you hear the word "latte"?  In this case it is not a special coffee.  It is short for the Latin American Traveling Theological Educators.  It is a team of missionaries (professors) who travel to the WELS missions in South America, the Caribbean and Mexico to teach and prepare men to be pastors.  Instead of everyone coming to a school in one place like is done in the US to prepare our pastors, the professors go to the students.

Where do the professors travel and teach? 

León, Puebla, and Torreón, Mexico; Bogota and Medellín, Colombia; Santiago, Dominican Republic; Humacao, Puerto Rico; Dourados, Gravatai, and Presidente Prudente, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia;  and online courses in Temuco, Chile; Quibdó and Santa Marta, Colombia, and Guatemala.

Who are the missionary professors?



Lorenzo, Larry, Phil, and Natán.

Do the professors teach in English? 

No, all their work is in Spanish, but Professor Natán also teaches in Portuguese when he works in Brazil.

Do the missionaries who travel take their families with them?

On short trips (2 or 3 weeks) they travel alone.  However on longer trips they bring along their wives.  All the children of LATTE professors are away at school or grown and no longer live at home.

Where do members of the LATTE team live?   

One lives in US, two in Mexico and one in Bolivia.

How many seminary students study with the LATTE professors?

Currently there are 22 seminary students and 35 Bible institute students.

What are some of the blessings and challenges of serving as a LATTE professor?

Blessings:

Getting to serve God in many different places, seeing God work in different cultures with different peoples, making friends in different countries.

Challenges:

Remembering differences in Spanish dialects in the different countries, finding good medical care outside of the United States, being far away from parents, children and grandchildren due to living in a foreign country, coordinating the work of four seminary professors who live in three different countries.

What are some of the blessings and challenges for being a student in the program? 



Blessings: 

Preparing for serving the Lord and his church.  Friendships with various traveling professors as well as the opportunity to have courses with missionaries with different talents and expertise. 



Challenges: 

Studying while handling their many other responsibilities such as working to support their families (often children, wives and even the single students have special responsibility for their parents and siblings in Latin America).  There are tremendous financial pressures on most of the families studying in the LATTE program.

¡Muchas Gracias!

For the past four years, LATTE member Lorenzo has been making regular trips to La Paz, Bolivia.  He has been teaching doctrine courses to people who are interested in learning about Confessional Lutheranism.

Recently, LATTE member Philip was asked to move to La Paz, to live there and thus be able to work full time at the continued teaching of these leaders with the desire that they will soon be in full fellowship with the WELS.

The students who had attended Lorenzo’s classes for the past four years, gave him a warm farewell, thanking him for his dedication in the preparation and presentation of these classes and his patience in working them as they struggled between what they had learned in the past and the presentation of these truths as they are found in the Bible.

¡Muchas gracias professor!

Many thanks to Lorenzo for all his hard work here in La Paz.

To God be all the glory who gives His gifts and prepares servants to work in His kingdom.

Decision Made to Move LATTE Professor to Bolivia

As many of the readers of this blog know, trips to Bolivia have been made twice a year by LATTE Professor Lorenzo since November of 2007.  These trips began because a group of Lutherans in Bolivia has expressed its desire to become confessional Lutherans in fellowship with the WELS. 

Significant progress has been made as a result of the trips made by Lorenzo.  However, the desire was expressed to be able to advance more rapidly in conservative theological studies.  For this reason, in a meeting of LATTE professors and the Administrative Committee for Latin American Missions in November of 2010, Professor Philip was asked to move with his wife Kathryn from the Dominican Republic to Bolivia early in 2011 in order to continue these studies with the Lutheran leaders in Bolivia full time.  

Prayer for LATTE and long distance education

Lord of the living harvest, bless the labors of the LATTE team, a team of missionaries aiding in the seminary training and continuing theological education of national pastors throughout Latin America.  

Bless especially their efforts to use modern technology and the internet to offer their classes in various countries at once in the near future, even as rising travel costs make it difficult to be present personally and teach their students face to face.  Thank you for giving us modern technology to be used as a tool in the spread of your saving gospel. Amen.