Outreach Council blessing and feedback

Outreach Council Wednesday blessed the idea of a Kentuckiana visit by representatives of the Estoreño Presbytery and suggested to the session that they make the invitation. I explained that we have begun receiving sample invitation letters that are slightly different from what I wrote, and so I will adapt what I wrote as an information sheet for session, which will likely take this up later this month, along with adapting the sample letters. What Amanda initially called an invitation letter, it turns out, actually goes to the U.S. consulate in Guatemala City.

Outreach had several suggestions. First, they suggested we let session know about the cost implications, and be explicit about fund-raising objectives. I'm thinking the amounts we were talking about needing were without the additional $1,000 line item in the 2011 church budget. I'll check with Jack Leake, but, with that, we may have $4,500. Of course, we need not wipe out our entire account for the "reverse" mission trip. We need to give session an idea about how much money we are going to try to raise, especially since will come partly from the congregation.

Based on his experience, Bob Abrams was skeptical we could get everything set, including the visas, even by this fall. Especially in the current anti-immigration climate, others said. I said that Amanda was pretty optimistic about this, but he suggested it might take up to a year to get everything set. We'll have to keep this warning in mind.

Outreach folks were very excited about opportunities this visit would open up for broadening CHPC involvement in the partnership. They suggested that our Estoreño friends - perhaps sometimes as individuals - go out and have dinner with individual CHPC families - a different family every night? - and perhaps even stay with different families different nights. I have mixed feelings about this, taken to the extreme, but in general they presented this as a way to involve many more people in helping host the visitors. Certainly, asking different people - many more than those who have been involved in Guatemala trips/our gatherings - to take maybe just one day off of work during the week of the visit to accompany our visitors for a day - a possibility we discussed at our gathering earlier in the month also - seems like a good idea. Outreach folks also had some ideas of other places we could go, like the Kentucky Horse Park. All of that depends a little on what time of year it was.

Finally, Outreach also suggested we spell out explicitly the objectives of the trip, which we might want to reflect on. It is after this came up that we started talking about broadening congregational involvement in the partnership.

Outreach folks did not voice an opinion - other than Bob's warning - about when the visit should take place.

-- Perry