Last week Pope Leo XIV issued his first major writing to the global Catholic church, an Apostolic Exhortation – an urgent word of encouragement – on love for the poor, Dilexi Te. As a Mennonite, this theme caught my attention.
News
Environmental Action in Mindo
Jun 17 2025
This week was our first group excursion to Mindo, a town about 2 hours outside of Quito. The beauty of nature came alive in our visits to the Tarabita waterfalls and the Alambi hummingbird sanctuary. Klever Guevara, our Ecuador country coordinator, gave us a tour of his coffee fields and coffee production, which of course, included a taste test at the end!
For the past 6 years, Goshen College has partnered with the county council in Mindo, supporting reforestation and community environmental outreach. Part of our visit included cleaning up a public garden, planting trees, and then participating in the inauguration of the solar lights at a playground! These lights are part of an investment Goshen College made this year to help offset the climate impact of our air travel to Ecuador. The following days, we had guest speakers discuss the effects of climate change and the effects of tourism in Ecuador.
Before returning to our host families, we stopped at the Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world), learning about the history of the indigenous peoples who understood the Earth’s position, including the location of the Equator, based on the path of the stars.
An urgent word from the Pope
‘Even in darkness, ever-rising joy’
We have experienced another hard week of gun violence in America. For me, it has been a week of intense emotions – heavy emotions as well as joy and hope. How do we escape the doom loop? How do we stop partaking when it is dished up to us from all sides of the media and culture that we swim in?
Directors’ Corner
Goshen College’s “SST for all” makes global education more accessible with flexible study options at home and abroad.