Only the LSA reunion remains. This event is in University Commons 211 from 1:45-3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13, during 91短视频鈥檚聽. (LSA is also active throughout the year; stay tuned for their fourth annual popular Easter-time alfombra creation and worship service. Read more here and follow .)

On Friday evening, approximately 190 guests enjoyed savory food prepared by local restaurants Las Chamas, Pollo A La Brasa, El Milagro and El Charro.

LSA officers Ariel Barbosa and Fred Flores-Cano mc鈥檈d the event, which included speakers Keyri Lopez-Godoy 鈥�17 and Andrew Suderman, professor of theology, peace and mission who spent 10 years living in Costa Rica, Bolivia and Colombia, as well as reflections from students who had traveled on relevant cross-culturals.

The Jazz Combo and Jazz Ensemble, led by Kaleb Branner and Bob Curry respectively, provided musical interludes, and two dances were performed: a Bolivian folk dance called 鈥淭aquirari” by聽Maria Ren茅 Saucedo and Rachel Loyer聽and the merengue dominicano by nursing professor Laura Yoder and Otoniel Suero Escalante.

Fuller professor speaks

LSA also hosted Fuller Theological Seminary professor 闯耻补苍听惭补谤迟铆苍别锄 earlier this month for a series of talks, including a worship service at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, a convocation address in Lehman Auditorium, and an evening event, open to the public, with students in Professor Adriana Rojas鈥� 400-level Spanish course that engages with the theme of marginalized voices.

Mart铆nez shared a historical perspective that challenged the American narrative regarding the annexation of northern Mexico and then recounted his own experiences with discrimination in the education system and racial profiling, Rojas said in an email. He went on to discuss immigration and deportation, specifically addressing 鈥渨ays to advocate for immigrants and continue conversations with people that support border walls and deportation.鈥�

鈥淒r. Martinez stressed that, instead of debating values and morals or resorting to tribalism, our narratives have the power to shift dominant narratives to create more inclusive nation,鈥� Rojas said. 鈥淗e also expressed the need for humanizing language to talk about migrants. In conclusion, he argued that the deportation of Latinos, who whether protestant or Catholic tend to profess and practice their faith, is in fact making the U.S. less Christian.鈥�

Student Elizabeth Nisly said she appreciated hearing from Martinez that arguments themselves don鈥檛 work to change minds, and 鈥渢hat first we have to change our own narrative 鈥� to to build common bridges between people, by talking about work that immigrant people do that is a blessing others or by joyfully talking about our own immigration narrative.鈥�

“I think the most important thing he said, for those of us who already consider ourselves ‘pro-immigration”‘ is to be in relationship with migrant people, not in a position of power, of ‘helping,'” Nisly reflected. “He challenged us to listen to stories and also be willing to share our own, to serve and to be served.”

Voices from the margins hold wisdom, vision

In his convocation address,聽Mart铆nez spoke on the challenge of finding a clear path in times of darkness and confusion.

The path is indeed not always clear for followers of Christ, Martinez said. Yet, in the Bible, 鈥渋n those moments when the people of God seem on edge and have lost their hope, when many just give up, some pray and seek out God, and in that process 鈥� out of those difficult times, those with eyes to see find that God has always been there creating new paths.鈥�

鈥淕od puts in our mix people that God wants to use to speak into our lives and in for our future,鈥� Martinez said. Many times these are the marginalized, the outsiders, the fresh converts who see with new eyes and bring a new perspective.

Consider the vibrancy of the churches and followers of the global south, he pointed out. 鈥淐hristians around the world are in places where they don’t have power or they can’t go to a Christian university. They live where they often have to hide the fact that they are followers of Jesus Christ or they suffer because they are followers of Jesus Christ. Many of these churches are poor and on the margins of society, yet they seem to be intuitively missional in their approach to be in church.鈥�

Mart铆nez has served in multiple roles at Fuller since 2001, including vice president for diversity and international ministries, vice provost, associate provost for diversity and international programs, and director of the Center for the Study of Hispanic Church and Community.

He joined Fuller from the Latin American Anabaptist Seminary in Guatemala City, Guatemala, where he served as rector for nine years. A Mennonite Brethren pastor,聽Mart铆nez聽also has experience in church planting and teaching in both religious and secular venues. He served as director of Hispanic Ministries for the Pacific District Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church and of Instituto B铆blico del Pac铆fico, a Mennonite Brethren Bible Institute.

Read more

Read more about Latino Student Alliance, which started on 91短视频’s campus in 1996, and is led during the 2018 by officers聽Ariel Barbosa, Anastasia Dronov, Kayley Scottlind, Fred Flores-Cano, Joshua Gomez and Donaldo Lleshi. Ana Cruz 补苍诲听Maria Esther Showalter are the advisors.

Since 1996, Latino Student Alliance celebrates cultural pride and offers a welcoming space to all

Every year on Palm Sunday, communities in Central America recreate the Biblical passage in which Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion, with his followers laying down palm leaves in front of him as he rode in on a donkey.

Except instead of palm leaves, they make a colorful聽alfombra, the Spanish word for carpet, or聽alfombra聽de Aserr铆n (“sawdust carpet”), during Holy Week.

See the 2016 and alfombras.

“Before Easter Sunday, people go out into the streets and make these carpets made out of sawdust and other materials, and they lay them out on the street. They’re not fastened or glued down; they’re just kind of laid on top to make whatever design they want on them,” said Mario Hernandez, 21, a junior and member of 91短视频’s Latino Student Alliance. “It’s usually just nature scenes, or like the crucifixion or the resurrection. Other times, it’s just designs with geometric shapes.”

A procession then makes its way through the town to the church, Hernandez explained, with the crowds walking over the carpet.

“In my opinion, it serves two purposes,” he said. “One is: It makes it nicer for the people in the procession; it makes an ambiance. There’s also the idea of taking on some of the burden on the way to the cross.”

91短视频’s LSA has created their own聽alfombra聽“rug” made primarily out of rice, along with flour, coffee grounds and sawdust, depicting Biblical symbols like a large white dove, a cross, a lamb, a waterfall, a heart and hands and a green vine that weaves throughout the length of the聽alfombra.

LSA members have been working on the聽alfombra聽all semester. “When we started, we had a conversation the second week when we started class 鈥� about our faith journey, and then we had to visualize what Jesus means to me during Holy Week,” said Maria Esther Showalter, LSA’s faculty advisor.

Each student made a drawing, and Joshua Curtis, 21, a junior art major, combined all the drawings together to make one big聽alfombra. They then decided on what themes they wanted to convey.

“A lot of people in the club wanted the natural theme,” he said.

The students color-coded the drawings and then started the dyeing process of the rice using food coloring. They dyed 180 pounds of rice for the聽alfombra. Coffee grounds and sawdust were donated to the project.

This is the third year LSA has made an聽alfombra聽for Easter. Senior Anna Messer learned about the聽alfombra聽tradition when she did a cross-cultural trip in Guatemala and Cuba. The 22-year-old said the聽alfombra聽has served as a tool to educate the 91短视频 community on Latino traditions while celebrating faith.

“What I really appreciate is how we have organized this, that it’s a collective. It’s inspiring all of us to tap into our artistic imaginations and how we see Easter and how we reflect in it,” Messer said. “Each part of the聽alfombra聽is very important because it represents each one of us and our understandings of Easter, so there’s very symbolic meaning behind every piece, from the white dove to the waterfall and the lamb, the cross, all of these things.”

[Editor’s note: The聽alfombra was the centerpiece of a March 28 chapel service.] Speakers will present the聽alfombra聽during the service and discuss the different aspects of the piece and reflect on its meaning. Unlike the usual tradition, the carpet will not be walked on. The students have identified four main themes in the piece that represent Easter: a season of abiding, a season of renewal, a season of hospitality and a season of redemption.

The green vine that courses through the聽alfombra聽is meant to symbolize that, if one abides in Jesus, “he’s going to bear much fruit to us,” Messer said. The heart represents “a season of renewal” and “how our hearts are breaking just as Christ’s heart had broke for us and the sin of the world and how he continues to restore and renew in us,” she said.

The clasped hands depict “a season of hospitality,” according to sophomore Anastasia Dronov, 20, who drew the piece. “I thought about how in the family of Christ, everybody is co-suffering through life, but also it’s so hopeful and joyful because you don’t have to do it alone,” Dronov said. “Bad times come, good times come, but no matter what, everybody’s helping each other out. Just how Christ was hospitable to us, he laid down his life for us. In the same way, we reach out to others and help pull them up and they’ll help pull us up.”

The lamb and cross represent “a season of redemption,” in Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, as does Zury Lemus’ drawing.”There are two hands with the heart inside and the hands with different colors of brown and white, representing the ethnicity of all of us and the heart 鈥� the love we have for each other 鈥� and the love of God also. And the drops of blood represents the crucifixion of Christ, that he gave his blood for us,” said Lemus, an exchange student.

The rice will be donated to a local day care center once the聽alfombra聽is taken down after the chapel service on March 28.

This article was published in the March 24, 2018, Daily News-Record.