July gathering

Find out what ails Pastor Gerardo and how badly the earthquake hit Guatemala this week and help decide how Crescent Hill and Guatemala folks will spend time together in Kentuckiana this fall.  Gather from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. this Saturday, July 12, at the Yeager family’s place at 206 Cornell Place in St. Matthews.  Everyone is welcome.  A Skype conversation with Guatemalan friends is expected.

June conversation

Soni and I and then also Richard Welch talked Wednesday.  It turns out Richard has talked with Raul Contreras and Rosa Marina.  The presbytery Executive Committee will meet Thursday (June 26) and then they hope to get passports for everyone without the Welchs’ help.  All apparently have national ID cards already.  Then Raul and Marina will be in Coban, where the Welches now live, for theological education in a couple of weeks, and then the Welches will help them fill out the English-language U.S. visa application/visa application appointment request form online.  Then the Welches may have to go to El Estor to help Ramiro and Byron. 

The Welches will leave for two months on July 24 – about the same time Amanda, Omar, and their family will move to El Paso – and so they’re on an accelerated time table.  If that doesn’t all work out we may have to ask for help from Sandy and Brian and/or possibly bump back the dates.  Pray for , our partners as they seek passports and our mission co-worker friends as they get used to new homes.

I suggested that we needed to call Raul Contreras soon, if only to soothe any ruffled feathers because I called Marina, instead of him or Ramiro, when I needed info on her that I thought they wouldn’t know.

Soni also proposed we develop a kind of puzzle – to fill in all the pieces – to ask people to get on board with tasks that need done.  Among the tasks are hosting (although both we and Soni and Brad and Hilda are interested), welcoming at the airport, driving and going on excursions, cooking and setting up and cleaning up from any congregation-wide, etc. activities with our partners, helping out with St. Joe’s parking, etc., possibly any other fund-raising (the group that met a couple of months ago wasn’t sure an event would be needed – and it would have to done carefully to avoid stealing from Peter to pay Paul with people fulfilling their pledges – but it may still be necessary – Perry will check in with Jack Leake Sunday).

Doug, Vincent, and perhaps Perry will be gone for St. Joe’s, and we need to be sure we have enough people.  Perry will again help coordinate, at least in advance.  We talked about going 1:00-7:00 p.m.  The proceeds will help pay for the security guard this time.  Soni will check on that.  Soni and Perry talked about the possibility of an ongoing thrift store or silent auction.  Soni had hoped we could build something out of a screening of Undocumented, but there was no surge of interest.

Soni and I also talked about having folks meet several times before the scheduled visit, as well as clearing some space so that folks might be able to participate in part or all of the Guatemala Mission Network gathering out at Cedar Ridge the three days after Labor Day, September 2-5.

Here’s the proposed schedule Soni and I discussed:

Saturday, July 19, at 11:00 a.m.:  Guatemala gathering – place TBA

Sunday, August 2, at 11:00 a.m.:  Guatemalan visit task “puzzle” deployed/unveiled - CHPC

Saturday, August 8, 1:00-7:00 p.m.:  St. Joe’s parking – CHPC

Saturday, August 16, at 11:00 a.m.:  Guatemala gathering – place TBA

Tuesday, September 2-Friday, September 5:  Guatemala Mission Network gathering – Cedar Ridge Camp

Thursday, September 11, at 6:00 p.m.:  Guatemala gathering – CHPC

Saturday, September 27, at 11:00 a.m.:  Guatemala gathering – place TBA

Saturday, October 4-Monday, October 13:  Guatemalan partner visit – Kentuckiana, etc.

We talked about having a tentative visit schedule in place (as well as an article by Soni or Perry in the August “Westminster Ways” CHPC newsletter) before August 3, so the task puzzle would include specific activities/events (ELL?  Mammoth?).  We also talked about who else we might invite to be involved.

-Perry

July prayers

This week Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church will pray for and with our Guatemala partners:

On Sunday, July 6, 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, July 13, and during 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, July 20, and during the week thereafter:  Puerto del Cielo church in the El Estor suburb of La Union.

-On Sunday, July 27, and the week thereafter: Arca de Noe church in El Estor, Pastor Santos Teyul Mucu and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

Sunday call

Let’s talk!  Listen and participate in a conversation by speaker phone with leaders of Estoreño Presbytery, the eastern Guatemala indigenous presbytery with which Crescent Hill church is partnered, at 9:45 a.m. this Sunday, March 3, in the “library” in the back of the the Education Building.  No doubt the heat in Izabal and the snow in Kentuckiana, the upcoming Estoreño Presbytery semiannual meeting, and a possible Kentuckiana visit by Estoreño Presbytery representatives – along with issues you raise - will be discussed. Spanish-to-English and English-to-Spanish translations will be provided.  

February 15 gathering notes

The longest telephone call with Guatemala partners in months and a serious discussion about some next steps were highlights of the Presidents’ Day/Valentine’s Day weekend gathering about Crescent Hill’s Guatemala mission gathering.

The group of nine there at Brad, Soni, and Hilda’s considered trying to send a mission team to Izabal this summer or trying to host an Estoreño Presbytery mission team – with fewer activities on the agenda than last time – this September.  The group leaned towards hosting – with a discussion about possible future fund-raising and the number of Estoreño folks who could be invited – but decided to call back at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, March 2 – during a presbytery Executive Committee meeting – to float the visiting Kentuckiana idea more aggressively.  A small group will meet at 9:45 a.m. (in the “Upper Room”?) to talk about this – with Hilda or perhaps Peter as a Spanish speaker.

The call with Pastor Raul Conteras (or Contreras?) went OK, with discussion about the upcoming March 22-23 presbytery meeting and a new congregation initiative – spearheaded by Pastor Benjamin – in an outlying community.  Doug and Raul also discussed Douglas and Stephanie’s upcoming engagement party/wedding reception and Raul’s daughter’s recent 15^th birthday celebration.  Apparently it is almost 110 degrees or so in Izabal right now.

The group sifted through some financial news that Perry reported and discussed the final page of a report to the national Guatemala Presbyterian church that the presbytery had carbon-copied to CHPC, which included an apparent response to a national church’s inquiry about the disputed Hurricane Mitch property in Panzos.

The group chose to recommend to Outreach Council – and, de facto, the session – that in 2014 CHPC continue to support the work of mission co-worker Amanda Craft (now regional liaison for Guatemala, Mexico, and borderlands ministries), along with the work of her husband, Omar Chan (both of whom met with the Guatemala group last fall) and incoming mission co-workers Sandi and Brian, who lunched with the group earlier this month and  - among other things – will continue Amanda and Ellen Dozier’s work in women’s ministries.

Soni also talked about continuing to pursue efforts to better educate each other and others at Crescent Hill about some of the individuals and individual experiences, partly through developing some photo albums/scrapbooks – as well as web pages - about individuals and individual congregations and past partnership activities.

The group slated 11:00 a.m., Saturday, March 29, at Brad, Soni, and Hilda’s, for the next gathering.

-Perry

Early spring prayers

Early this spring Crescent Hill church will pray with and for our Guatemala partners:

 

-On Sunday, February 23, 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, March 2, and during 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, March 9, and during the week thereafter:  Puerto del Cielo church in the El Estor suburb of La Union.

-On Sunday, March 16, and the week thereafter: Arca de Noe church in El Estor, Pastor Santos Teyul Mucu and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

- On Sunday, March 23, 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, March 30, 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.

Valentine's Day weekend gathering

Interested in helping develop Crescent Hill church’s partnership with Estoreño Presbytery in Guatemala?  Join other CHPC folks for planning, discussion, and – hopefully – conversation with Guatemalans, at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, February 15, at the Castleberry/Zuniga home at 209 Fairfax Avenue, Apt. 1, in St. Matthews.  Contact Soni (at 896-8561) for more information.