CPTnet
December 22, 2004

COLOMBIA LETTER: Swords and spades

by Matthew Wiens

[NOTE: The following is a letter sent out to friends and family by CPTer
Matthew Wiens on November 23, 2004. CPTers working in the Opón have had
several more encounters with paramilitaries since then.]

Dear Friends,

I saw swords and ploughshares yesterday. Actually, I saw machine guns and
spades. I wish I could say the machine guns were being turned into spades,
but that is not what I saw. I saw guns being cleaned and
oiled by men wearing camouflage sitting in the shade. A little while later,
a quarter mile up river, I saw new spades being handed out to farmers
sitting in the shade of trees of another yard.

I thank God that the men wearing camouflage were calm. I thank God that the
farmers who were meeting to discuss agricultural projects have decided to
work together constructively. I thank God that the only shots that were
fired by the men wearing camouflage went into the river. I thank God that
he hears prayers.

I have some questions. What would you say to a group of armed men who show
up at your house and want to use your kitchen to cook their breakfast? Or,
what would you do if you were working with Christian Peacemaker Teams,
wearing a Christian Peacemaker Teams hat and t-shirt and you and a team-mate
arrived at a farmyard and saw a group of armed men inside the house, the
owners obviously afraid?

Maybe you would pray. My team-mate and I sure did. We were each praying
silently as we walked up to speak with the gun-toting men. We prayed with
the owners of the farmyard after the men, with their guns, walked away. We
prayed for wisdom. We prayed for courage. We prayed for the men who
carried the guns. Later we prayed with two of the men who had the guns.
They were silent, but afterward one of them said thank-you.

Today I am reflecting on what happened yesterday. I am back in the city
feeling secure, but tired. I wonder if we should have done anything
differently. Our other CPT team members listened to our stories and told us
we handled the situation well. I expect similar encounters in the future,
and so I ask you to pray that all the guns in Colombia somehow get turned
into spades!