Condolences

The Guatemala presbytery with which we have partnered, Q’eqchi’ Estoreño , Izabal Presbytery, was until recently part of a larger Q’eqchi’ Izabal presbytery. The other part of the old presbytery still bears that name and is based south of Lake Izabal (instead of north, where El Estor is) in a remote part of the country between the road from Guatemala City to Puerto Barrios and Rio Dulce and the shores of the lake. Two leaders (pictured above and below, with Pastor Gerardo, with the Estore o Presbytery) from this presbytery were among those at the Guatemala Mission Network gathering last November on the shores of Lake Amatitlan that Ellen and Stephanie attended. These two folks were interested in their presbytery forming partnerships with U.S. groups.

We learned Tuesday that the moderator of the Izabal presbytery, Pastor Santiago Ical (apparently not one of the men in the pictures), has died in a car accident. The Guatemalan national church asked us to pray for Pastor Santiago’s family and his colleagues in ministry in the Izabal presbytery. Since the veterans among our Estoreño presbytery were part of that presbytery for a long time, they will certainly have known Pastor Santiago, said Ellen, and so they too will need our prayers and perhaps a condolence note.

-- Perry