Spring 2016 prayers

This spring Crescent Hill church will pray with and for:

-On Sunday, March 27, 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 3, 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 10, and the week thereafter:  Puerto del Cielo congregation in the El Estor suburb of La Union of El Estor, Pastor Leonel Cacao, and all worshipers

-On Sunday, April 17, and the week thereafter: Arca de Noe church in El Estor, Pastor Santos Teyul Mucu and family, and members, deacons, and elders.

-On Sunday, April 24, and the week thereafter:  Altar de Noe church in El Estor’s Los Cerritos neighborhood, Pastor Raul Contreras Tut and family, and elders, deacons, and members.

-On Sunday, May 1, and the week thereafter:  Espiritu Santo church in El Estor’s San Marcos neighborhood, Pastor José Domingo Xo Ical and family, and elders, deacons, and members

-On Sunday, May 8, and the week thereafter:  Monte Sinai church in the village of San Carlos El Pouvenir outside of Puerto Barrios, Pastor Santos Teyul Mucu and family, and elders, deacons, and members

-On Sunday, May 15, and the week thereafter:  Hijo del Dios Viviente church in the village of La Guitarra, Pastor Fidel Juc and family, and members, deacons, and elders

March gathering

All ten Guatemala 2016 visit team members plus Carrie Bridgman gathered Saturday afternoon, March 6, for team-building activities, reflection, and planning.  Pastor Jane, Benji, and Perry all asked the team members to participate in some reflection and team-building activities.  The group decided to sponsor three vintage family movie nights in the CHPC back building at 7:00 p.m. on three Fridays in April:  April 1, April 15, and April 29, with film suggestions such as Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang,The Love Bug, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  Elisabeth, Ben Bridgman, and Cara agreed to spearhead picking and supplying the movies and acquiring popcorn to sell.  The group talked about charging $5 a person to watch and $5 for a bag of popcorn.  Also to be arranged are publicity, set-up and clean-up, and the technology of exactly where we will show the films and how we will get the equipment/etc. to work.  It was suggested that team members be there between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. to set up and clean up.  The group of three may meet later. 

The group also agreed to sponsor a Sunday, April 24 after-worship “Food for Thought” with Brian and Sandi Thomson-Royer, PC(USA) mission co-workers in Guatemala who work with Presbyterian Women there and whose ministry CHPC financially supports.  After lunch and talk by the couple, the team et al. would meet more privately with the Thomson-Royers to hear an update/their perspectives on living and working in Guatemala.  Yet to be arranged as to who might cook a soup and bread meal, set-up and clean-up, publicity, and microphones.

Perry also passed out contact information for the University of Louisville International Travel Clinic, which he had visited recently and which he strongly encouraged all team members to make an appointment with and visit, including for information on how to avoid contracting the Zika virus.  Team leaders also talked up one-piece bathing suits and long skirts.

The group talked about gathering a third time, at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 15, at church, possibly chipping in to pay for pizza.

So: 

7:00 p.m. Friday, April 1:  1^st vintage family film night

7:00 p.m., Friday, April 15:  2^nd vintage family film night

After worship, Sunday, April 24:  Thomson-Royer “Food for Thought” and then 2^nd orientation activity with visit team members et al.

7:00 p.m., Friday, April 29:  3^rd vintage family film night

6:00 p.m., Sunday, May 15:  3^rd orientation activity for visit team members et al.

-Perry

Mid-February gathering

Seven CHPC members met on Sat., Feb. 13 to evaluate January’s fund-raiser, plan future efforts to raise money and discuss plans for this summer’s visit to Guatemala with each other and by phone with a couple of our partners.

Together we celebrated the results of the Jan. 29 Central American-style dinner event featuring live music by Mundo Brew and a silent auction. We especially expressed gratitude for the wonderful support that was received from members of the congregation and their friends. We cleared a total of $2,750, after food expenses, from the tickets, silent auction and donations. We counted 81 adults and nine children there to enjoy the great food, amazing music and generosity of our silent auction donors and buyers. Thank you so much for helping to make CHPC’s visit to our partners a lot easier.

Airfare to Guatemala is running high this year so members of the Guatemalan Connection and expected travelers this summer are planning to have an additional fund-raiser to help with expenses. Details are still being decided but it is expected to include another silent auction coupled with an evening of food and family fun. Keep your eyes and ears open for more information.

The final highlight of the meeting was a call to Guatemala. We were able to talk with Pastor Raul Contreras, from the Altar de Noe Church, who many of you met in October 2012 when he was one of three partners who visited CHPC. We also were introduced to a woman named Erma, who is the new presbytery fraternal/sororital worker with the churches’ women's groups. Our partners asked for prayers for their presbytery’s full assembly Mar. 11 and a gathering of the Presbyterian Women Apr. 21-22. We also shared mutual prayers for the planning of our summer visit, and members of our congregations needing special uplifting.

-Soni Castleberry

2016 visit team: Applications due Monday!

You are invited to participate in Crescent Hill church's Saturday, June 25-Sunday, July 3 visit to the church's partner presbytery in eastern Guatemala. Information on the visit, including some eligibility information, along with an application for participation, can be found on a table in the Narthex. Applications are due in the church office by Monday, February 1. (There’s a folder in the ELL mailbox.)  Please prayerfully consider applying to be part of the Guatemala visit team. 

Friday visit fund-raiser: Tickets still available!

Tickets are still on sale for the Friday, January 29, 6:00-10:00 PM, fund raising event to support CHPC’s trip to visit our partners in Guatemala this summer. The event will include a Central American-style meal, catered by local ethnic cooks, a silent auction with creative, fun-filled items, plus a lively night of music by the band “Mundo Brew.” This group, made up of CHPCers Doug Yeager and Brad Wigger, and other local musicians will entertain you with a wonderful night of music including new works and classics in English and Spanish. Tickets are $25.00 per person; children can attend free.

Early 2016 Guatemala prayers

Early this year Crescent Hill church will pray with and for:

                    

-On Sunday, January 24, and the week thereafter:  Huracan Mich congregation in Panzos, Pastor Oscar Tzul Coc, and all worshipers

-On Sunday, January 31, and the week thereafter:  Marc’am congregation, Pastor Gonzalo Tiul Choc, and all worshipers

On Sunday, February 7, and during the week thereafter: Makajam congregation, its leaders, and all worshipers.  

-On Sunday, February 14, and during the week thereafter: Nueva Alfa y Omega congregation, its leaders, and all worshipers

-On Sunday, February 21, and during the week thereafter: Estoreño Presbytery Executive Committee, President Gerardo Pop Ich, and other officers.

 -On Sunday, February 28, and during the week thereafter:  Estoreño Presbytery Presbyterian Women organization, President Carmen Quib Caal, and other officers.

-On Sunday, March 6, and during the week thereafter:  Estoreño Presbytery youth and young adult organization, President Byron Ottoniel Pop Paau, and other officers.

-On Sunday, March 13, and during the week thereafter:  Peniel church in Boqueron, Pastor Fidel Juc, and members, deacons, and elders.

2015 Guatemalan Connection annual report

2015 was another transitional year for Crescent Hill church and its seven-year-old partnership with eastern Guatemala’s Q’eqchi’ Estoreño Izabal Presbytery.  Opting not to try to arrange a 2015 Crescent Hill visit to Guatemala, the evolving group of CHPC folks helping focus on the partnership got a new name – the Guatemalan Connection - and planned a summertime 2016 visit.  This will hopefully be the church’s fifth large-group visit, the fourth involving some youth and young adults, and the first to Izabal in four years.  The visit may include first-ever visits to Puerto Barrios, Livingston, and the Gulf of Honduras coast and more time in Izabal with more visits to out-of-the-way churches.

Building on the success of the second Kentuckiana visit by three presbytery leaders – in this case, by Ramiro Quib, Raul Contreras, and Rosa Marina, in October 2014 – the Connection stayed in touch with these and other presbytery leaders via phone call, e-mail, Facebook message, and text message during the year. 

The Guatemalan Connection worked with the CHPC session, Outreach Council, Stewardship Council, and Presbyterian Women to send the presbytery $1,250 in 2015.  The bulk of this money went to aid the participation of eight presbytery leaders in a theological training program for Presbyterians from Guatemala’s Mayan cultures run by the national Guatemalan Presbyterian church and Guatemala’s Presbyterian seminary.  Two leaders who have visited us – Ramiro and – from an earlier visit – Pastor Gerardo Pop – completed the training program and graduated in 2015.

Other highs and lows of the year included:  (1) a spring event after worship in the Choir Room – during a time when the back building was closed for renovation – with refreshments from our friends at La Casita, information and conversation about the partnership and the upcoming 2016 visit, and a silent auction with Guatemalan items; (2) the addition of several new people into the life and work of the Guatemalan Connection; and (3) the loss of longtime Connection activist Lowell Linder (known in Spanish-speaking circles as “Raul”), who had twice visited Guatemala, who went to be with the Lord mid-year.  Joining Lowell later in the year was Frisco, a kind of Connection mascot who had attended almost all of the partnership planning meetings held during the Guatemalans’ two visits.  Lowell’s departure was followed by a tremendous service celebrating his life and ministry, that brought together many folks who had been interested and involved in the partnership, as well as one of its spin-off ministries, the joint English language learners education ministry.

During the summer, Connection folks also participated in a pre-Big Tent Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Guatemala mission network gathering (probably our fifth) in Knoxville and jump-started fund-raising for the 2016 visit by parking cars for the neighboring annual St. Joseph’s Orphans’ Picnic.