Present: Perry, Ramiro, Janine, Shannon, Megan, Stephanie,
Mary, Soni, Ben, Elizabeth, Jane, Doug, Carrie
Perry opened our meeting with prayer.
Ramiro shared with us (Doug, Ben, Elisabeth, Perry, Jane,
Carrie translating): he sees us as friends, not strangers – his business in El
Estor has not been good – the new president has brought hard economic times –
they have food but not much of anything else – his friend in Fort Worth invited
him to come up because he had work – he’s used to being the boss at home, so he
wasn’t sure he’d like working for someone else – his friend was putting
pressure on him in TX on the job, so he was getting ready to come home when
Perry called – so he came to see that God was not calling him to work so hard
but instead to work with God – his friend told him if he came to KY he wouldn’t
have a job when he came back – his work visa (180 days each time he comes) is
good until the end of June, but he may go home before then – he was hassled by
Customs/ICE when he came into the country – they asked a lot of questions about
the Presbyterian Church in Guatemala – he’s feeling better than when he was
here in 2014 – he’s gotten some vitamins and medicine for his diabetes – his
family is doing well – his daughter is part of the women’s group – his daughter
is 3½ months pregnant – the first grandchild! – his wife still has a job – she
has a side business helping people w/their medicines – (health care is better
here – he may need for the doctor to send the prescription to a pharmacy here
in the states so that he can get it before he goes back)
The presbytery meeting was March ??(I accidentally deleted
the date) – Pastor Fidel is standing in for him as treasurer of the presbytery
while he’s in the US – (We asked about the money we sent for seminary
scholarships) nobody else wanted to go to the seminary in Coban – there are a
lot of bandits on the road to Coban, so other than the four who have already
gone/are already going (Pastors Santos, Fidel, Jose Sub and Jorge Ortiz), there
are no new ones going to the seminary – they’ve been looking to get the
seminary extension service to come to El Estor, but the leadership of the seminary
has changed so that’s on hold for the time being
The new synod is in the process of being formed – a
committee is studying this – the Assembly for the Synod is in May, and that’s
when the decision will be made – the proposal is for a GA with four synods –the
Synod will be Emmanuel (in Q’eqchi?) with 4 presbyteries – each presbytery will
have two pastors and two leaders as reps to the synod – he is finishing his
term w/the national church executive committee – the president and secretary of
each presbytery will be reps to the synod and the GA meeting
He is considering becoming a pastor – he was almost ordained
to the ministry last September, but he wasn’t sure – he wasn’t thinking of it
so they surprised him with the offer – he has to have a call before he can be
ordained – after he has a call, the presbytery will examine his life, his
family life, his friends, etc. and then if they approve they’ll ordain him –
they have lay pastors who preach, but they cannot do weddings or officiate for
the sacraments – Ramiro preaches when he has the opportunity – he will be able
to help serve communion tomorrow at CHPC – at El Estor they have communion
every month
His truck is still not working – it has no motor! – he’s
jobbing the work of his business out to others who have trucks – does he have
any questions for us? – he had hoped to have an activity planned so that we
could see more of what they are doing – he thanks us for our prayers and
financial support – he didn’t come with anything in writing as a report on how
the money has been spent – (note: I’m not at all sure I’ve gotten these numbers
right) 1,800 quetzales to the women, 1,800 quetzales to the churches for the
trips to the cities – 300 quetzales for each church’s round trip to the city –
the presbytery has also been supporting those trips – with the leftover money
from us and some the presbytery had, they gave 2,000 quetzales for construction
projects at all the churches – all the others got ?? for construction projects –
the church CHPC folks went to had a dirt floor, so the presbytery gave the cement,
the church gave the sand and the labor – because of the unsafe conditions on
the road to Coban no new folks wanted to go for training – the road is bad and
the banditry is bad – day and night the roads are unsafe
Our visit to the woman’s meeting: it’s a presbiterial
meeting – the executive committee members of each church will be there – total
of 30 to 40 women there – the meeting will be in the Galilee church – (if Soni
and Megan don’t want to stay until late at night through the entire worship
service, they can say they’re tired and can leave!) – the meeting is at Puerta
del Cielo Iglesia – west of town – Enrique will be the chauffer for Megan and Soni
– he’ll meet them at the airport -- as soon as the interpreters have been
finalized, Ben will let them know – Ben will let them know about the final
arrangements: where they will stay, how they will travel in Guatemala, etc. –
the national women’s synod folks will be attending as well – Megan and Soni
will have 2-3 minutes to speak to the gathering – the meeting will be in
Q’eqchi’ and Spanish – the presbytery executive committee (men) will be there
as well to observe – each women’s group is contributing 150 quetzales towards
the expenses for the meeting – Soni asked if their presbytery has had the “Men
in the Mirror” training offered to them – they had a preview at the presbytery
meeting, but they haven’t started it yet – Ramiro thinks it would be a good
idea – Rosa Marina’s church got the largest share of the 19,000 quetzales we
sent [2,500 quetzales to her church [[Monte Sinai]], Ramiro said later] – the
presbytery surprised the church with the money, and it went a long way towards
healing the bad feelings there – they asked why we didn’t visit them when we
were there – the presbytery folks explained that it was because the roads were
so bad that even the presbytery folks were scared when they went there – Rosa
Marina will probably be at the presbiterial meeting next month – She has formed
a small women’s group in her church that is more Pentecostal than they’re used
to – Macaria has gone blind, so she has moved in with her daughter – she can
only come to church when her daughter can bring her – Ben will call and arrange
for Soni to see her.
Ramiro has been staying with Perry and Stephanie but will
stay with Carrie and James this afternoon through tomorrow morning. Carrie,
James, and Ramiro will join Mary, Stephanie, and Perry at the Roderick’s
tonight for that group’s Cottage Supper.
The meeting was adjourned with prayer.
-Mary
