St. Joe's parking

Thanks to all who helped with St. Joe's parking,  We had an eventful St. Joe's weekend, with only one car parked and no open gate Friday, no barricade and maybe a dozen cars parked for free before we started up - "early" at 1 p.m., and a customer who fell and got hurt and a non-customer who relieved himself Saturday night.  All in all we cleared about $1,000, which is similar to last year (not counting the $100 donation from a neighbor), although this year we will be donating a couple of hundred dollars to help cover the cost of Officer Horlander, who was there Friday and Saturday PM.  I think we'll need to think about skipping Friday PM and starting at 11:30 a.m. or 12 noon Saturday next year.  Thanks to Peter, Ruth, Soni, Stephen, and Janine - who helped organize things - and to Dave, Polly, Ben, Teri, Ada, Barbara, and Stephanie - and to Mike who brought us the barricade Saturday - and also to our couple of our "regulars" who parked for free at 12 noon but gave us $10 each as they left.

Jomaris (thanks, Jomaris!) and I talked with Rosa Marina - who had called me Friday night - She reported that she and about half a dozen other Estoreno folks - have been continuing their theological education at Coban.  She said the training is in Spanish, with translation into Q'eqchi' and some other Mayan languages represented.  For the first time, Rosa Marina - according to Jomaris - indicated that her intention partly with the training is to become a pastor.  She seemed to e interested in being part of the rotation of people we call (including Raul Contreras and Ramiro).  She still didn't seem to get that the money we sent her was for ALL of the cortes.

Ramiro and I exchanged Facebook messages Saturday.  He said a couple of his relatives have died - plus there has been some very bad flooding in Izabal - with several outlying communities washed out and I think he said more than dozen people dead.  

As we continue to pray this week for Ramiro's church (Arca de Noe), Pastor Santos (another of the Coban theological education students), and all who worship there, we might also pray for Ramiro and his grieving family, and for the families and communities coping with flooding in Izabal (including those who have lost friends and family members).  (I may mention this to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance also.)

With both Rosa Marina and Ramiro, I mentioned that we have some more money to send the presbytery and that we hope to visit again in June-July 2016..  Rosa Marina mentioned that her visiting of women's groups around the presbytery has continued, but they don't always have enough money for her to visit everyone.  She also said it's about a two-hour drive between Puerto Barrios and her community (San Carlos El Porvenir) and to get to Livingston by boat from that area we'd have to go back to Puerto Barrios.

Let's meet next at church 1:00 p.m. Saturday, August 29, among other things to talk about our (hopefully) participation in the CHPC Generosity team-sponsored mission and ministry event after worship Sundays, October 18 and October 25.

 

-Perry