May prayers

This month Crescent Hill church will pray with and for our Guatemalan partners:

- On Sunday, April 29, and the week thereafter: Jesus Es la Puerta church in the El Estor suburb of El Chupon, and worshipers.

- On Sunday, May 6, and the week thereafter: Arca de Noe church in El Estor, Pastor Gerardo Pop Ich and family, elders, deacons, and members.

- On Sunday, May 13, and the week thereafter: Altar de Noe church in El Estor’s Los Cerritos neighborhood, Pastor Raul Contreras Tut and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

- On Sunday, May 20, and the week thereafter: Espiritu Santo church in El Estor’s San Marcos neighborhood, Pastor José Domingo Xo Ical and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

- On Sunday, May 27, and the week thereafter: Monte Sinai church in the village of San Carlos El Pouvenir outside of Puerto Barrios, Pastor José Sub and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

- On Sunday, June 3, and the week thereafter: Hijo del Dios Viviente church in the village of La Guitarra outside of Livingston, Pastor Fidel Juc and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

April gathering

Half a dozen Crescent Hill folks interested in Guatemala mission gathered Thunder Saturday morning to check in with the church’s Estoreño Presbytery partners and look ahead to the next few months. Carlos called Pastor Gerardo and learned that the presbytery had recently sent Crescent Hill an e-mail. Collectively, the e-mail (posted in another blog entry) and Gerardo on the phone reported that the presbytery had received Crescent Hill’s $300 six-month installment payment for communications. The presbytery had some ideas on how to spend this on wages and also asked about funding for office space and use of a car. The presbytery was open to a July 2012 Crescent Hill summertime mission visit, and interpreted Perry’s March e-mail as essentially agreeing to send funds for Bibles for the women (the presbytery PW organization is to meet on April 27). Gerardo said that there would be enough families to host all the Crescent Hill mission team members (as many as 12, Crescent Hill had intimated), and that Crescent Hill folks spending only one night with families (and the rest of the time in a hotel) was OK. Presbytery folks also interpreted the e-mail as saying the team would try to visit the outlying La Guitarra and Monte Sinai churches, although Gerardo suggested to Carlos that getting to and from La Guitarra, and spending a few hours there, would take all day (more than originally budgeted, time-wise). The biggest news, which could conceivably add to Crescent Hill’s Bible fund-raising task and elongate time visiting outlying churches, was that the presbytery has incorporated a new church - in Panzos, a village about 25 miles away - that already has 17 families and nearly 100 worshipers.

The Crescent Hill group spent some time discussing the trip and a key issue: maintain the Tikal visit and likely ditch the effort to visit the Monte Sinai, La Guitarra, and/or Panzos churches, or ditch Tikal and try to visit two or three of these churches? At least for the first two churches, Rio Dulce could be a base of operations, since these are both closer to Rio Dulce than they are to El Estor (which would cut travel time).

Fund-raising was also a major topic. The group stuck with the plan to have an internal church fund-raiser, connecting people with the opportunity to buy Bibles and, possibly, cement blocks (instead of bricks or boards), for two mission projects during the trip. The group talked about making “From . . . “ name tags for the books or giving people souvenir blocks. The group also stuck with the yard sale plan, but moved it up to Saturday, June 2, to avoid a scheduling conflict with Garden Camp. The group talked about what items to solicit (maybe everything?) and other strategies for yard sale promotion and item collection.

The group made some other changes to the orientation schedule, moving up the first mission team gathering by a week (and the second $300 installment payment deadline) (to Derby Sunday, May 6) and the others all to June (Sunday morning, June 10; Saturday morning, June 16; and Sunday afternoon, June 22).

Carlos was to call Carlos back, and Perry was asking Ben Langley and Jennifer Thalman Kepler about their availability to help with mission team orientation.

Also, in general, there was some discussion about other follow-up, including Soni saying she’d take some steps towards publicizing the yard sale and soliciting items from the congregation, Doug saying he’d make some promotional items for the block and Bible fund-raiser, and Perry saying he’d recalculate the budget as soon as we have even more solid mission team numbers and begin to make reservations, etc., as the numbers and exact itinerary start solidifying.

The next Guatemala task force gathering is slated for before the last Monday class of the English language learners teaching ministry (at 5:30 p.m., on Monday, May 21) )(later re-scheduled to Monday, May 14).

- Perry

Thunder week message

April gathering

Crescent Hill folks interested in Guatemala mission will gather at 9:30 a.m. this Saturday (April 21) at Perry, Stephanie, and Vincent’s home in St. Matthews to talk about benevolence and the summer 2012 mission trip with Pastor Gerardo and talk about the fund-raising, planning, and orientation for the trip. 3928 Kennison Avenue (between Massie Avenue and Westport Road) is essentially behind Heine Brothers on Chenoweth Lane.

Trip update

As of Sunday, it appears between eight and twelve Crescent Hill folks plan to participate in the summer 2012 Guatemala mission trip. A majority of these folks have turned in their $300 installment payments and/or their completed participant forms. Paperwork and money from a couple of more people is expected shortly. A couple of people are still hedging a little. The plan is to talk about the trip and set up a schedule for additional planning, deadlines, and fund-raising, as well as orientation at the 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 21, at Perry, Stephanie, and Vincent's St. Matthews home.

- Perry

Thought-provoking

At the end of the month at 1741 Frankfort Avenue, Crescent Hill's Stephen Bartlett, friend of Crescent Hill Elmer Zavala, and other local activists reported on a trip to a country that neighbors on Guatemala, Honduras, where they visited communities that have resisted pressure from the coup-installed, U.S.-supported Honduran government and business and security interests with which the government is allied. Another speaker talked about a similar fact-finding visit to Colombia, where U.S. involvement and violence is even more heavy. Closer to home, Crescent Hill's main adult Sunday school class has been spending April talking about immigration issues. During the first class Crescent Hill's Hannington spoke about his struggles with the U.S. immigration system, and on Easter Sunday a small group watched part of a presentation on immigration at a recent Kentucky Council of Churches gathering. Between two ongoing discussions, lots to think about.

- Perry

April prayers

This month Crescent Hill church will pray with and for our Guatemalan partners:

-On Sunday, April 1, and during the week thereafter: Peniel church in Boqueron, Pastor Pablo Sacul, and members, deacons, and elders.

-On Sunday, April 8, and during the week thereafter: Familia de Noe church in El Estor’s Sinai neighborhood, Pastor Benjamin Sacul and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

- On Sunday, April 15, and the week thereafter: Lirio de los Valles church in El Estor’s San Jorge neighborhood, Pastor Mario Xo Ical and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

- On Sunday, April 22, and the week thereafter: Puerto del Cielo church in the El Estor suburb of La Union.

- On Sunday, April 29, and the week thereafter: Jesus Es la Puerta church in the El Estor suburb of El Chupon.

- On Sunday, May 6, and the week thereafter: Jesus Es la Puerta church in the El Estor suburb of El Chupon. and worshipers.