Portraits of interesting people

Interesting people

The mission team met many interesting people on the trip. Among the most interesting were:

-Alfredo, a 38-year-old Presbyterian and father of three who was the team’s driver, security guard, companion, and guide and who also got along well with both the team’s adults and young people. Alfredo works for PRESGOV, the joint Guatemalan church-PC(USA) partnership-promoting vehicle (pardon the pun). Alfredo drove aggressively, but team members always trusted him.

-Marisabela, the owner-operator of the El Estor hotel where the team stayed two nights. A former Chicago resident who speaks English, Marisabela is trying to sell the hotel for close to $1 million. She and her son worked with the team when an accident damaged a window air-conditioning unit that had been in one of the rooms.

-Heidi, the manager of Bruno’s in Rio Dulce, who connected mission team members with their hotel rooms for Saturday night and then Friday night and then served as bartender and waitress for most of meals at Bruno’s.

-Frederico played a similar role (without the food and drink service) at Hotel Casa Amelia in Flores. Frederico was the only person on this list (other than Marisabela) who speaks English.

-Jesus, the Tikal guide who proved to be very patient and knowledgeable. Both Jesus and – before him – his father had worked with the archeologists uncovering Tikal. Although Jesus spoke in Spanish, which Peter translated, his first tongue was apparently Q’eqchi’. Only a conflict with a lunch place he referred the team to after the tour dimmed Jesus a little in team members’ eyes.

-Brian was a visitor from Germany with whom some of the young people played with in Flores. Brian and his family had flown into Flores about the same time the mission team drove in.

-Don Miguel was the 87-year-old evangelical pastor and boatman who took most team members out on the lake around Flores with his son Victor. The boat ride was pleasant and Don Miguel, who had started out as a gatherer of gum from Chicklet trees, told interesting stories about the area, interspersed with scripture, preaching, and hymn singing, which tested some team members’ patience.

-Jorge, the professor from the Guatemalan Presbyterian seminary who was the instructor for the Estoreño Presbytery theological education institute. Jorge has a bachelor’s degree and helped out at the church history workshop, clarifying some dates.

-Gregorio, an elder from the Espiritu Santo church who turned up with an automatic weapon at Bruno’s in Rio Dulce Friday night, when a got a view of our swimming and refreshments pool side. This man, who works for the national tourism agency apparently improving security at tourist hotspots, chatted with Peter.

-Perry

Jane's sermons

Pastor Jane preached twice Sunday, Sunday morning at Arca de Noe church and Sunday evening at Altar de Noe church.  Both times she preached about the passage from Mark when Jesus pushed the disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee by boat.  Jane used crossing the lake to see unfamiliar people on the other side as a metaphor for Estoreño and Crescent Hill folks visiting each other, getting to know each other, and learning from each other.  In both cases, Peter translated into Spanish.  At Arca de Noe, Gerardo also summarized in Q’eqhchi’.

- Perry

Overnight

For the second time, Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church mission team members stayed with families in El Estor – this time, for one night only with six different families, three each near the Arca de Noe and Altar de Noe churches.  One family had an air-conditioned room, and another family stayed in a home with a shower.  On the whole, accommodations were relatively primitive by U.S. standards.  Each team members had supper and breakfast with their hose families (for which the team tried to reimburse them via the presbytery), and attended Sunday evening worship with the families.  Among the hosts were Gerardo, Ramiro, Altar de Noe’s Pastor Raul Contreras, Marta from the 2010 Coban visit, and Rene, the presbytery’s information technology specialist.  Mission team members and hosts exchanged some gifts and got to know each other a little better, as team members learned a little more about life in Guatemalan homes.

-Perry

Panzos visit

During the church leadership workshop, about half a dozen mission team members rode in the van past the nickel mine some 45 minutes to a townships on the northwest corner of Lake Izabal called Panzos (pronounced pahn ZOSE). There the group visited the Hurricane Mitch community, which was made up of a collection of families living on a hillside, off the road on the edge of Panzos. Pastor Gerardo translated, mission team members sat in a side porch where the community now worships, and Hurricane Mitch folks stood in the nearby sun and shade. Community leaders described how Hurricane Mitch had devastated the community, how they had moved to a plantation, and funds from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Guatemalan national church had bought some land for them to move back to Panzos, forming a new community that they dubbed Hurricane Mitch. The leaders said they had moved back three years ago partly so their kids could go to school, something some older elementary school-aged children accomplished by walking one and a half miles to school each way. The families were waiting there to receive title to the land, which leaders said they would then divided by lottery.

Hurricane Mitch folks sang for the mission team members, and team members – and then Luiz – sang for them. Many then hiked up the hill for some interaction with turkeys and a beautiful vista of Panzos. Up there Gerardo explained the partnership to the Hurricane Mitch folks there. After the Crescent Hill young people climbed back down the hill and demonstrated how to use a Frisbee to the kids and women, they left a Frisbee, and Gerardo left Q’eqchi’ Bibles for the four women who could read. One woman there who feared the Bibles were Catholic Bibles raised some tough questions, to which Gerardo responded.

As the trip progressed, this visit stayed with many of the team members who were there as one of the visit’s most memorable encounters.

 - Perry

Workshops

Different groups of Crescent Hill mission team members helped lead three different workshops in El Estor. Among those there were pastors and other church leaders participating in the first week of a theological training institute and elders and deacons from various churches. Two of the workshops team members had planned in advance; one was planned more or less on the spot.

On Sunday afternoon, the half a dozen women mission team members led workshop with a couple of dozen Guatemalan women. Operating primarily in Spanish and Q’eqchi’, they created silly-putty figures of how they God operating in their lives, and talked about these. Afterwards, some of the men joined in as women representing women at each of Estoreño Presbytery’s churches received a box of Q’eqchi’ Bibles that presbytery leaders had bought with money Crescent Hill had sent.

On Monday morning a group of mission team members led a church leadership led a church leadership workshop with pastors, elders, deacons, and some women from most of the presbytery’s churches. The leaders present split into groups (each with Crescent Hill and Estoreño folks) and acted out the stories of different leaders in the Bible (including, for example, Noah and the Good Samaritan), using Looking for Lilith/Faith Stories principles learned in part in the workshop Jennifer Thalman Kepler and Shannon Wooley had led with the team in June. A general church leadership discussion ensued.

On Tuesday morning, a small group of mission team members led a church history workshop. Peter led the way with a world map and long butcher-paper time line that started with the birth of the church at Pentecost , continued with the Reformation, described the rise of the Presbyterian church in the United States and Guatemala, and ended with the founding of the World Council of Reformed Churches. The seminary professor in town for the theological training institute, of which this workshop formed the second session, added important detail and questions and comments followed.

 - Perry

Trip schedule

Saturday morning:
Departed by car from Oldham County and Crescent Hill church
Breakfast in the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport
Departed by plane from the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport

Saturday afternoon:
Lunch in the Houston airport
Arrived in the Guatemala City airport
Departed by van from the Guatemala City airport
Subway lunch (en route)

Saturday evening:
Arrived in Rio Dulce
Dinner at Bruno’s

Sunday morning:
Breakfast at Bruno’s
Departed by van from Rio Dulce
Arrived in El Estor
Worship in Arca de Noe church with Jane preaching

Sunday afternoon:
Lunch at Arca de Noe church
Women´s workshop

Sunday evening:
Dinner with host families
Worship at Arca de Noe and Altar de Noe churches

Monday morning:
Breakfast with host families
Split: Workshop on church leadership, and visit to Panzos church

Monday afternoon:
Lunch at Arca de Noe church
Checked into Hotel Marisabela
Split: Visited Familia de Noe, Esfuerza, and Lirio de los Valles churches

Monday evening:
Dinner at Yuyo restaurant
Devotions at Hotel Marisabela

Tuesday morning:
Breakfast at Hotel Marisabela
Inauguration of the theological education institute
Split: church history workshop, and children´s activities

Tuesday afternoon:
Lunch at Arca de Noe church
Partnership discussion
Split: Visit to Espiritu Santu and Puerta del Ciela churches, and visit to a health center and high school

Tuesday evening:
Dinner at Yuyo restaurant
Devotions at Hotel Marisabela

Wednesday morning:
Breakfast at Hotel Marisabela
Send-off at Arca de Noe church and the theological education institute
Departed by van from El Estor

Wednesday afternoon:
Visited with representatives of the Hijo de Viviente Dios church in La Guitarra at Semox
Packed lunch at Poptun
Arrived in Flores
Free time in Flores

Wednesday evening:
Dinner at the Captain Tortuga restaurant
Devotions at Hotel Casa Amelia

Thursday morning:
Breakfast at Hotel Casa Amelia
Toured Tikal

Thursday afternoon:
Snack lunch en route back to Flores
Free time and small-group dinners in Flores

Thursday evening:
Devotions at Hotel Casa Amelia

Friday morning:
Breakfast at Hotel Casa Amelia
Boat trip on the lake surrounding Flores
Brunch at Café Arqueologica Yaxha
Free time in Flores

Friday afternoon:
Departed by van from Flores
Arrived in Rio Dulce
Free time at Bruno’s

Friday evening:
Dinner at Bruno’s
Devotions at Bruno’s

Saturday morning:
Breakfast at Bruno’s
Departed by van from Rio Dulce

Saturday afternoon:
Lunch at the bus terminal in Chalapa
Arrived in Guatemala City
Toured downtown Guatemala City cathedral, plaza, and market

Saturday evening:
Dinner at the Adobe restaurant in downtown Guatemala
Devotions at Hotel Spring

Sunday morning:
Departed by van from Hotel Spring
Arrived at Guatemala City airport
Breakfast at Guatemala City airport
Departed by plane from Guatemala City

Sunday afternoon:
Lunch in Houston
Arrived at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport
Departed by car from the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport

Sunday evening:
Arrived in Louisville and Oldham County