Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Or bust?


At the December gathering Crescent Hill folks interested in Guatemala mission opted to pursue a travel plan that Ellen first proposed: connecting with some of our partners for fellowship, Bible study, and cultural tourism in Coban, metropolitan center of Q’eqchi’ Guatemala – hopefully to coincide with other Presbyterian groups working with Q’eqchi’ folks gathering with some of their partners also.

Since December the possible time for that gathering of others (gathering as the Amigos de K’ekchi’) shifted from July to some time in April and telescoped to a gathering primarily of 2nd Presbyterian Church and other Middle Tennessee Presbytery folks with a few of their Q’eqchi’-speaking partners from the Peten area of northern Guatemala gathering to talk about starting up a theological training ministry – probably for Q’eqchi’-speaking church leaders and probably based in Coban – and about a presbytery center that the TN folks and their partners may work together to build in the Peten.

With Tennessee-based folks pushing Crescent Hill to join that effort (along with maybe one person from eastern Washington) and others saying at this point those are other folks projects, that this is not what’s currently on the agenda with Crescent Hill and our partners, it seems that Crescent Hill faces several options:

- Embrace the theological training ministry (which will need support in the form of planning, prayer, and money) and gather with some of our partners, other North Americans, and other Q’eqchi’ Presbyterians in late April (at a date yet to be decided) to plan that. (Pictured above is the facility that some folks have in mind as a site for the theological training ministry.)

- Plan a separate trip, simultaneous with the TN-Peten trip; do the fellowship, Bible study, and cultural tourism originally planned; and yet also tack on a couple of meals with the TN-Peten folks and perhaps join them for a gathering late in their schedule to hear about theological training ministry plans. I am awaiting word from TN and Guatemala folks as to whether this is even logistically possible (for PRESGOV, the Marriotts, Coban facilities, etc.) and whether the TN-Peten folks would be OK with us joining them for a couple of meals.

- Plan a separate trip – still with Coban, still with fellowship, Bible study, and cultural tourism – at a different time. Crescent Hill folks had originally talked about July, although, I’m told that March through August is the rainy season in Coban (some others try to go during the winter months).

- Do something completely different (back to bringing Estoreño folks to Louisville? Another small trip to El Estor as we await a larger, intergenerational trip in summer 2011?).

We might pray about this this week. I'll publicize any new information as it becomes available.

-- Perry

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