Alcohol

Last Thursday I met with one of our Individual Volunteers that lives in Guatemala. I asked her what problems she was seeing with teams coming in and their training. She said she was having problems with alcohol. This is a pattern I keep running into over and over.

She asked me how to get the teams to honor their pledge not to drink. She was surprised to learn that the Covenant form that we have in the VIM Team Leader Handbook was not something they were required to submit to the conference office before leaving on a trip. I recommended that she make it a requirement for all teams that they submit it to her in advance. That way it will be absolutely clear to all team leaders what the expectations are.

In Guatemala it is not acceptable for Christians to drink alcohol. She usually does not have a problem until they get to a restaurant and then the team members order it. They also think the pledge means only while they are working and then when they get to the R&R portion of the trip they think suddenly it's okay. They don't realize that it impacts the IVOL's position in the community to even be seen with them and it also ruins their own Christian witness.

I guess now my question is do I email the churches that I know went to Guatemala over the summer?