E-mail to Rene (English translation)

September 14, 2010

Greetings to our brothers and sisters in Izabal. The teachers and students in our church returned to their schools during the past month. This month Christian education classes start at our church. Two weeks ago we celebrate the 10 years of service of our pastor, Jane, at our church. Thanks to God, three people from our church for whom we prayed in Coban are well. Doug found work, Martha went to Tennessee to be with her mother, and a new person and now part of the staff of the church, Jennifer, began her work with us. Thanks to you all for praying for these folks, and thanks to God. For a month or so, Roger and Gloria were in Tennessee also for the wedding of their daughter. They returned to Coban this week.

Also this week people from our church and two other churches are going to offer again English classes for people who cannot speak English, including to some Guatemalans.

During the past two weeks we have been reading about the rain, the storm, and the landslides in Guatemala. Ellen and Rene exchanged e-mails, and, Rene, you wrote that the rain is heavy in Izabal, but the storm and landslides are worse in other parts of Izabal, for example, in Morales.

I am going to include three other elements in this e-mail: (1) the words that I wrote when I read the commitment that Pastor Fidel Juc and Pastor Gerardo Pop Ich wrote before our final worship service on Wednesday, July 14, in Coban. After this, Pastor Fidel combined the two documents into one document. It is also possible that the executive committee of the presbytery changed the document. I would like to receive by e-mail the final text. (2) In Spanish, the commitment of Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church; and (3) a survey of your presbytery about the partnership with us and about a meeting of groups which met in November 2008 (including Pastor Pablo Sacul, Pastor Gerardo, Ellen, and Stephanie). The groups plan a meeting in the first week of February 2011. Is possible that two people from your presbytery and two people from our church are going to be able to go to the meeting? The PC(USA) would like you all to respond to the survey and send the survey to Tracey King by e-mail at traceysking@gmail.com.

Also, we read your commitment and our comments twice to other people. We read the commitments to the elders of our church, and the elders approved. We read the commitments also in a worship service about the trip and our discussions in Coban in July. Four people (Jane, Andrea, Claudia, and Perry) also talked in the service about their experiences in Coban during the trip. We are planning to talk with our people from the Mid-Kentucky presbytery at a meeting in one week. We are also talking about a Spanish class at our church for the fall. And we are planning to write about our church in Spanish in an information sheet for you all.

1.
Commitment

From Pastor Gerardo Pop Ich

The Presbytery of Estoreño and Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church

How can we come to know one another in partnership? Through communication by telephone, through writing emails, and prayers each Sunday. We have dreams to make personal visits but we do not know when; we can only plan and put dates on the calendar.

How can we know one another? Though written information about our churches and their ministries, and when we are together, when brothers and sisters from Crescent Hill come to visit members of the Presbytery of Estoreño.

How can we encourage one another? As we share experiences as we understand God commands us to do.

We continue praying asking that God would reveal his understanding to both groups.

From Pastor Fidel Juc:

Our commitment

To arrive. To arrive is a goal of a dream for the future together. To practice is partnership.

To know. To encourage one another: To encourage the American brothers and sisters through prayer, so that we are in communication with God and sharing the Word of God between the American brothers and the Presbytery of Q’eqchi’ Estrogeno.


Note: This commitment - and Crescent Hill church's commitment - is based on the verses in Romans 1 and the three words that Pastor Fidel saw in those verses – to arrive, to know, to encourage

2.
Crescent Hill church's commitments
With God’s help, we, Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church, enter into partnership with Estoreño Presbytery of Guatemala, with the common goal of learning what it means to be in partnership.
We will:

Visit, by
-being in regular communication by e-mail and phone
-visiting in person when possible

Learning/get to know one another, by:
-sharing news and information and prayer concerns
-doing Bible study together even when in different places
-learning Spanish and about the Guatemalan and Q’eqchi’ cultures and the IENPG

Encourage our sisters and brothers, by:
-praying every Sunday for a particular church and its pastor (or a particular group)
-holding prayer vigils
-providing teachers for workshops
-telling others in our presbytery about our partnership and possibilities for their involvement

We also discussed reviewing the partnership after three years (in 2012).

3.
SURVEY
to guide in the planning of the next
Guatemala Partnership Network Meeting

To be held in Guatemala the 1st week of Feb. 2011; exact dates to be decided.
Please be as specific as possible in your answers; thank you!
Please return completed survey by August 27th to: Marisa Bustamante, administrative assistant for the Latin America Area Office of the PCUSA, marisa.bustamante@pcusa.org

Your group name:

Contact person for your group & how to contact:

Your partner’s name:

1. How would you characterize your partnership?

2. Does your partnership have a formal written agreement?

3. When was your partnership established?

4. What has been the greatest benefit of your partnership to date for you?

5. What do you think has been the greatest benefit for your partner?

6. What has been the greatest challenge of the partnership?

7. How has your partnership grown?

8. What is the greatest need of your partnership?

9. How and how often are you able to communicate with your partner?

10. Do you share news of your partnership with either the IENPG or the PC(USA) leadership? If so, how?

11. When partners visit Guatemala, are there logistical services that would be helpful to have provided via the IENPG (eg, the type of services that PRESGOV had been providing)? Are there other organizations that you work with to provide services?

12. Do you collaborate with any other Guatemala partnership(s)? If so, how?

13. Is there an area (or areas) in which collaboration with other Guatemala partnerships would be helpful?

14. What attitudes, cultural aspects, or beliefs of the people in the United States do you not understand or question?

15. What specific issues would you like to see addressed during the meeting?

16. Do you recommend any particular people or resources to help address those issues?

17. Would you like time during the meeting dates to meet with your partner representatives, or will you plan to visit with them before or after the network meeting?

18. When is the best time of the week for the network meeting, from your perspective? more than one may be marked)

___ Mon-Tu-Wed, ___ Tu-Wed-Th, ___ Wed-Th-Fri, ___ Thurs-Fri-Sat, ___ Fri-Sat-Sun


19. Other comments or suggestions:


Blessings of God for you all and your churches and all of the Guatemalan people, with the rain, the poverty, and the violence. This week we are praying for the Family of Noah Presbyterian Church, for Pastor Benjamin and his spouse Carlotta, and for the members, elders, and deacons of the church.