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Welcome to the first edition of our monthly newsletter, dedicated to keeping the families of our "little Latino community" in Fullerton informed.
March 8th, in the midst of Christian joy and brotherhood, the second annual Fiesta Latina took place. The people called United Methodist and Latino of the California-Pacific Annual Conference came together at 10:00 a.m. at Huntington Park Church.
The enthusiasm and spirit of brotherhood could be felt among people representing several different congregations. Our own community was represented by a beautiful group of 32 people. The prsence of little girls and boys with their brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents, was something very typical of us as a Latino community.
At 11:00 a.m. the worship service began in the sanctuary. Our boys and girls led the parade with colored balloons, maracas, streamers and some photos of the faces of Latina women which were placed on a cross. The adults followed the children into the service.
The theme of the worship service was "Latina Woman: Wellspring of Life". Bishop Mary Ann Swenson was our guest of honor and preached a sermon full of faith and hope about the Samaritan woman and her conversation with Jesus.
Holy Communion was served and songs and hymns were sung to Latin American rhythms.
At 2:00 p.m. the artistic show began, out in the fresh air. Several musical groups from different churches took part. We also watched folk dances from Guatemala, México and Perú.
It was a beautiful day and I know that we all had fun and enjoyed the life which God gives us. Thank you, everybody, for your enthusiasm in representing our Orangethorpe Church in the city of Fullerton.
Pastora Teresa
This is the first edition of La Red, dedicated to keeping members of our congregations up-to-date on our growing Latino Ministry. Its title, La Red, means The Net in Spanish and reminds us of Jesus' appeal to his first disciples to become "fishers of men". We encourage you to improve your Spanish by reading each issue of La Red. In case you have access to the World Wide Web, you may read an English translation along with each month's web edition of Orangethorpe United Methodist Church's newsletter, The Net.