So far 20 folks have agreed to form prayer partnerships with folks going on the Guatemala trip! Thanks so much for this involvement. These folks will be praying for those on the trip every day during that week and writing a note or two of inspiration or encouragement for trip folks. We're still also looking to brainstorm with folks about what kinds of gifts to bring host families in the El Estor area (families that host the Crescent Hill folks). And now - especially with this outpouring of prayer partnership involvement - I expect we can count on lots of energy and engagement at the Saturday, March 7 Leslie McClure concert and at the Wednesday, March 18 Guatemala mission supper conversations. What do we/you have to offer a possible Guatemala mission partnership? What do we want out of partnership? Post your thoughts, tell us your thoughts, and bring your thoughts March 18. Thank the 20 prayer partners and - if you're not already one - think about joining them.
-- Perry
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Bulletin board
Our Guatemalan mission bulletin board is up. Special thanks to Ana (pictured above), who spearheaded this. Thanks also to Pastor Jane, who suggested this, and to Ellen, Nora, and Soni, who aided Ana with materials and suggestions. Great job! Everyone: Check it out in the Gathering Room!
-- Perry Happy new year!
Ellen alerted us in the bilingual Sunday school class Sunday that – according to the Mayan solar calendar - today is New Year’s Day. It is a time of reflection about the year ending and looking ahead to the year beginning. According to the calendar, today marks the beginning of Year 5125 and is a year of the Iq, or wind. The Web site of the Guatemala newspaper, Prensa Libre, which had apparently reminded Ellen of the day, included the picture of a Mayan archeological site with a blurb about the holiday.
-- Perry
More invitations
We received invitations this past week from our friends with Amigos de Kek’chi and our friends in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) World Mission. (You might recall that Amigos de Kek’chi is a coalition of North American Presbyterian congregations and Presbyterians partnering with Guatemalan Presbyterian congregations and presbyteries where the Guateamalan Mayan people the Kek’chi predominate sponsored the meeting in Nashville this summer that half a dozen of us attended.) Amigos de Kek’chi – before the late April Spokane gathering – are taking a group of Amigos de Kek’chi folks to Peten (mapped above) (April 17-24) – where many of them have partnerships (ultimately to Sayaxche) – to plan ahead several water projects and facilitate meetings between North American and Guatemalan partnership reps. Some of the folks on this trip will head directly to Spokane from Guatemala (see the January post “You’re invited!”). This one is awkward in that we’ll have just sent a mission team to Guatemala to explore a partnership with a Kek’chi group in a different part of the country. We don’t yet have people going to Spokane.
We also received an invitation this week from PC(USA) World Mission (partly from the small office where our two Ellens work). A year and a half ago the PC(USA) put together two mission-related events: the Mission Challenge, which sent long-term PC(USA) international mission workers across the United States to do mission education during the month of October, and – immediately before that – gather those mission workers, mission pastors, mission network activists, and other Presbyterian involved in mission to a Mission Celebration conference in Louisville. This year both will take place again – but the conference will take place October 21-24 in the Duke Energy convention center (pictured below) up in Cincinnati. Perhaps – on top of whoever will be working up there from our congregation – we’ll send some other folks as regular participants also.
-- Perry
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Drug war
Recent reports suggest that the Mexican government's campaign against violent Mexican drug lords has driven some of them across the border to Guatemala, where a weak government and a violent legacy leave plenty of openings. Violent street gangs emerged soon after the end of the civil war in Guatemala. Now, some drug forces have moved in from Guatemala (though four above were apprehended in Guatemala City). They pay off judges, prosecutors, police chiefs, and military officers; fly in drugs from South America on their way through Mexico to North America; and engage in the kind of violent clashes that are all to familiar to a country that barely survived a 30-year civil war. Already, Guatemala has more guns today than at any time during the civil war. The power of the drug forces and the violence are big challenges for the government of President Colon, who promised social reform and security, only to find in 2008 one of the most violent years in Guatemalan history (including a shootout at a race track and an attack on a whole bus).
-- Perry
Howard County covenant
Crescent Hill church folks - interested in a U.S. congregation-Guatemalan Mayan presbytery partnership - and Howard County (Maryland) First Presbyterian folks - already engaged in such a partnership - have run into each other occasionally. In November 2007 Soni and I talked with Howard County's Becky and their Pastor Sue. In spring 2008 Pastor Jane, Ben, and I talked about the partnership between the Howard County church and the Guatemalan Maya Quiche Boca Costa presbytery for an hour on the phone one Sunday after church. Then, this past November, Stephanie and Becky (a nurse pictured above during that week) were cottage-mates at the camp in Guatemala where the Guatemala mission network gathering took place. At that time the Howard County folks shared their partnership covenant (below) with us. Click on any page to see it magnified.
-- Perry
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Please save the date!
What: Leslie McClure Record Release Party
When: March 7, 2009 7 pm
Where: Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church - Sanctuary
502.893.5381
http://www.crescenthill.org/
Contact: Soni Castleberry 502.417.6481
Leslie McClure, a Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church youth group alumna, is coming home for a Release Party for her new CD entitled "Back Home to You." Leslie has graciously agreed to use the event and the proceeds from all CD sales to benefit the church’s Guatemala Partnership Fund which supports the mission trip to Guatemala to build relationships with a new presbytery in El Estor.
The concert will be held in the church’s sanctuary. The event is free but donations are requested. Coffee and a sampling of desserts from Guatemala and the Dominican Republic (DR) will be served after the concert. Leslie credits her 2002 youth group mission trip to the DR as playing a huge role in her interest in Spanish. As a result she majored in it, studied abroad and now speaks fluently in Spanish and Portuguese.
By age 12, Leslie and her father, John, began singing various cover songs in local bars in Louisville such as Jake and Elwood’s, Browning’s, Clifton Pizza, Cumberland Brewery, and Pat’s Steakhouse. Throughout her high school career her mother, Annie, acted as her booking agent. This family-band dynamic continued when John was offered a job teaching at Vanderbilt University and the whole family moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
Leslie recently spent a semester studying abroad in the Galician city of Santiago de Compestela, Spain. Accompanying herself on a Martin backpacker guitar, she began to write her own songs and play them in various bars. When she returned to Nashville, she and her father collaborated to produce a recording of the songs she wrote in Spain. The result, “The Santiago Set,” also involves top notch musicians. For more information: http://www.lesliemcclure.net/ .
Leslie finds herself hard-put to find a comfortable genre to describe her music, though in every case where a description has been necessary, she has called it “gypsy-folk” or “Galician bluegrass.” Four songs on her latest album incorporate Spanish or Portuguese lyrics. The album mostly demonstrates influences such as bluegrass, gypsy folk, and Americana.
When: March 7, 2009 7 pm
Where: Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church - Sanctuary
502.893.5381
http://www.crescenthill.org/
Contact: Soni Castleberry 502.417.6481
Leslie McClure, a Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church youth group alumna, is coming home for a Release Party for her new CD entitled "Back Home to You." Leslie has graciously agreed to use the event and the proceeds from all CD sales to benefit the church’s Guatemala Partnership Fund which supports the mission trip to Guatemala to build relationships with a new presbytery in El Estor.
The concert will be held in the church’s sanctuary. The event is free but donations are requested. Coffee and a sampling of desserts from Guatemala and the Dominican Republic (DR) will be served after the concert. Leslie credits her 2002 youth group mission trip to the DR as playing a huge role in her interest in Spanish. As a result she majored in it, studied abroad and now speaks fluently in Spanish and Portuguese.
By age 12, Leslie and her father, John, began singing various cover songs in local bars in Louisville such as Jake and Elwood’s, Browning’s, Clifton Pizza, Cumberland Brewery, and Pat’s Steakhouse. Throughout her high school career her mother, Annie, acted as her booking agent. This family-band dynamic continued when John was offered a job teaching at Vanderbilt University and the whole family moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
Leslie recently spent a semester studying abroad in the Galician city of Santiago de Compestela, Spain. Accompanying herself on a Martin backpacker guitar, she began to write her own songs and play them in various bars. When she returned to Nashville, she and her father collaborated to produce a recording of the songs she wrote in Spain. The result, “The Santiago Set,” also involves top notch musicians. For more information: http://www.lesliemcclure.net/ .
Leslie finds herself hard-put to find a comfortable genre to describe her music, though in every case where a description has been necessary, she has called it “gypsy-folk” or “Galician bluegrass.” Four songs on her latest album incorporate Spanish or Portuguese lyrics. The album mostly demonstrates influences such as bluegrass, gypsy folk, and Americana.
-- Janine
February 15 meeting
At our Sunday morning discussion before Sunday school we talked about two schedules. The preparation for the trip schedule includes:
- 11 a.m., Sunday, February 15: Ben announces the prayer partnership possibility (pictured above)
- 8:30 a.m., Sunday, March 1; follow-up meeting of March mission trip participants and others interested in Guatemala mission
- 11 a.m. worship, Sunday, March 1: Minute for Mission about the mission trip (by Ben?)
- 7 p.m., Saturday, March 7: Leslie McClure “Back Home to You” concert – in the sanctuary - with donations accepted for the concert and dessert and coffee afterwards in the Fellowship Hall – invitation to Spanish-surname neighbors?
- At 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 18: (small group?) Fellowship Hall conversations with the whole congregation about: (1) what do you/we have to offer the possible Guatemala mission partnership? and (2) what would you like to get out of a possible partnership? with a light Guatemalan supper provided (donations accepted)
Sunday, March 22 worship service: commissioning mission trip participants and their prayer partners
The schedule for the trip includes:
11 a.m., Friday, March 27: leave for Cincinnati
2 p.m., Friday: flight leaves
9 p.m. Friday: arrive in Guatemala City – stay at the Mennonite seminary with Soila
Saturday AM: leave by bus for Rio Dulce
Saturday afternoon: meet up with Estoreño folks
Saturday PM: meet host families
Sunday AM: worship with Estoreño congregation(s)
Sunday afternoon: talk with presbytery leaders re: partnership and covenant
Sunday PM: additional worship or visit with host families
Monday AM: additional partnership and covenant discussions
Monday afternoon: Estoreño folks drive CHPC folks to Rio Dulce
Monday PM: stay at Bruno’s in Rio Dulce
Tuesday AM: take the bus back to Guatemala City
Tuesday PM-Thursday AM: visit cultural sites in Guatemala City, visit with Soila and Amanda, and debrief
7 a.m., Thursday, April 2: depart Guatemala City by air
2 p.m., Thursday: fly into Cincinnati
4-5 p.m., Thursday: return to Louisville
Several other issues came up during our discussion:
- Ellen suggested Romans 1: 11-12 as a basis for possible partnership covenant discussions: “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” And: “Tengo muchos deseos de verlos para impartiles algun don espiritual que los fortalezca; major dicho, para que unos a otros nos animemos con la fe que compartimos.”
- Ellen reminded us that some folks have adverse reactions to the antimalaria medication (chloroquine) (which the University of Louisville International Travel Clinic recommends for travel to El Estor). The travel clinic also gave me a prescription for Cipro (an antibiotic against stomach problems).
- Soni will help coordinate the concert. Janine is working on promotion and has drafted a press release. Marian has helped communicate with Leslie McClure. Laura, Eva, Doug, Ken, Amy, Nora, Ben and I have also volunteered to help. We may also ask Ada and Sandra if they’d be willing to help.
- Pastor Jane mentioned Amy as a possible person to spearhead helping create items to give host families (embroidering dish towels?).
- Perry said he would e-mail attach the key forms – ones that are still appropriate – that we asked the 2007 mission trip participants to complete and return to the march trip participants.
-- Perry
Friday, February 13, 2009
En route
I ran into Amanda - the Guatemala Young Adult Volunteer turned Lousiville Presbyterian Peacemaking staffer turned Guatemala mission co-worker-to-be who led a Guatemala mission orientation activity for the 2007 Crescen Hill Guatemala mission team - at the Presbyterian Center Thursday. She said she is indeed leaving for Guatemala - this weekend. She said she hopes and expects to be able to visit with the spring mission team after we return to the Guatemala City area from El Estor. She confirmed that she is essentially taking Ellen's old position. Safe travels!
-- Perry
-- Perry
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Help wanted
Leslie McClure, a Crescent Hill church youth group alumna, is planning to come home to our church for a Release Party for her new CD entitled "Back Home to You." She has graciously agreed for us to use the event and the proceeds from all CD sales to benefit the Guatemala Partnership Fund. Leslie's previous benefit concert for us back in 2007 was a major success and we believe this will be too.The concert will be held Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m. in our sanctuary. We would like to have either a Guatemalan meal before the concert - say about 5:30 p.m. -- and/or Guatemalan desserts and coffee afterwards. Since the time is coming up quickly, we really need helpers now!!!!
If you would be willing to help me plan the event or help in any other way (posting flyers, cooking, serving, set up/clean up, selling CDs, etc), please post a comment here or contact me directly. The Guatemala Task Force and I would greatly appreciate any support you can give.
-- Soni
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday AM meeting
We thought this Sunday (February 15) at 9:oo a.m. would be a great time to meet in Pastor Jane's office to begin preparing for our Guatemala Mission. I believe all are able to meet except Lowell (Lowell, we'll get with you when you get back in town per our conversation this past Sunday... have a safe trip!). Be thinking about asking someone you can ask to be your prayer partner while on the mission. God's Peace! -- Ben
Another model covenant
This is a now dated convenant between the (U.S.) Inland Northwest presbytery and a federation fo five Kek'chi presbyteries (including - at the time - Izabal) in Guatemala:
Presbytery of the Inland Northwest and the Association of K’ekchi Maya Presbyteries
Guatemala Partnership Covenant
July 24, 1999
The Presbytery of the Inland Northwest and the Association of K’ekchi Maya Presbyteries, representing the K’ekchi Presbyteries of Izabal, Ixcan-Quiche, Sayaxche, Polochic and Playa Grande, agree to develop and maintain a partnership through which the members of the respective churches will expand their faith and their horizons through relationship, worship, spiritual nurture and the sharing of resources.
Purpose
The purpose of this partnership, this joining together in community and solidarity, is to know and share our faith, and to develop mutual ministry as part of the universal church of Jesus Christ. We together seek to create ties of love, peace and faith, sharing expressions of our understanding of God's grace and compassion as revealed to us through the Scriptures.
"Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:15-16)
In this, we understand the church to be the earthly expression of the One Body of Jesus Christ, and that we and our partners are called as equal instruments of God's love and reconciliation.
INLAND NORTHWEST
Needs of the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest
1. To learn what it means to be a Christian in Guatemala, specifically among the K’ekchi, and to share the joys, sorrows, dreams and concerns of our partners in order to serve and pray for each other with true understanding.
2. To affirm our oneness in Christ with Christians everywhere, brothers and sisters, regardless of country, language, color or economic status. To understand biblical, theological and cultural perspectives that differ from our own, in order to break down stereotypes and prejudices as a means of seeking a more complete life with God and with our fellow humans.
3. To discover how our lives and the actions in the USA impact other people throughout the world and in turn how those of other people impact us. To learn how Jesus would have us respond to a world of economic and social inequality, and to act on that knowledge.
4. To build mutual understanding and support for the K’ekchi churches, presbyteries, and Association among the diverse churches of our Presbytery, and to be accountable to each other before God as Christian partners while we grow in faith and service which comes from our mutual spiritual nurture.
5. To learn from and be challenged by the K’ekchi model of evangelism and church development among those who do not know Christ or who do not worship in community with others.
Gifts and Resources the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest has to offer our K’ekchi Partners
1. Prayer, compassion and loving concern for the K’ekchi people. A strong interest and capacity to learn about the body of Christ in other contexts and circumstances.
2. Energy and time to invest in building relationships with other believers in Christ and to be of support and encouragement to others.
3. Financial and human resources to contribute to mutual mission projects which meet the larger needs of the Church.
4. Resources of hospitality to host and enable exchange visits.
5. Professional and technical skills and institutions of higher learning which may benefit our partner, in communication and secular and theological education.
6. Representing an area with a large indigenous population, we bring opportunities for connection among Native American churches.
7. As God leads, advocate for the K’ekchi Maya by telling their story in the broader context of the USA and the world.
K’ekchi ASSOCIATION
Needs of the Association of K’ekchi Maya Presbyteries
1. Spiritual and moral support by our fellow believers in Christ who are willing to stand in solidarity with us, motivating us in a holistic way in the work and program of God.
2. Help of our companions in Christ in the areas of theological and secular education.
3. Improvement for our people in the areas of agricultural and animal production.
4. Understand about the agencies and systems which may help the K’ekchi to acquire quality land for cultivation.
5. Others to work with us towards more just and equitable conditions of life for all men, women and children through the Service, Evangelization, and Christian Education Committees, and through women's, youth and other agencies of the church.
6. Learn and work more in the areas of preventive and holistic health.
7. Help with communication: e-mail, telephone, fax and others so that the communication will be more constant among the K’ekchi presbyteries and with the national and international church.
8. Exchanges of theological understandings through workshops and times of mutual theological reflection.
9. The presence for longer periods of time of volunteers and workers from Inland Northwest to accompany (us) and help with the communication and education.
10. Spiritual and material support for the theological centers in the K’ekchi presbyteries and in the Association Center in Coban.
Gifts Offered by the Association of K’ekchi Maya Presbyteries
1. Our prayers for the churches, pastors, presbyteries and communities. We ask for an ongoing, updated list of petitions in order to pray with understanding.
2. Our understanding of, and strategies for, evangelization and church growth.
3. Our sharing of the experiences we have in individual and community pastoral care.
4. Our sharing of our culture, customs, spirituality, music and art.
5. Our resources and hospitality: churches, pastors' homes, homes of church families, theological centers (although they are simple). We share these with all our hearts.
6. Our talents, and our corn, beans, tortillas, and chilies.
7. Our confidence in God, our hope, our smiles, and spontaneous hospitality.
JOINT ACTIVITIES
Activities Which We Hope Will Develop as We Partner
1. Exchange of visits to become acquainted with the people, churches, culture, and the special gifts and needs of the partner presbytery. Education of our congregations about the work, the hopes, the dreams and the faith of the partner congregation(s) and presbytery(ies).
2. Exchange of pastors, teachers, youth and lay leaders to share differing cultural perspectives and approaches to ministry, worship, music and life as they do the work of accompaniment.
3. Sharing fiestas and liturgical celebrations.
4. Interchange of histories, stories and songs.
5. Activities in memory of the dead.
6. Activities of spiritual nurture, liturgy, evangelization and service.
7. Sharing plenary sessions of the Presbytery(ies) and of the Association.
8. Work together with our partner(s) on mutually agreed-upon mission projects that promote local self-sufficiency. Sharing grass-roots community development models, structures and technologies.
9. Sharing rest/recreation: soccer, fishing, walking and riding horses.
10. Joint visits to the ancient centers of our Mayan ancestors (Tikal, for example)
11. Sharing theological understandings based on the differing realities.
12. Monthly sharing a summary of the activities of the presbytery(ies) and Association.
13. Struggle/work together for human rights in Guatemala and in the United States.
Future Changes in the Partnership Structure
All parties covered by this covenant understand that when appropriate, at some future date when the five K’ekchi Presbyteries have had sufficient experience being in partnership, some further division of the K’ekchi Presbyteries in pairs or as single presbyteries (Playa Grande/Ixcan; or Polochic/Izabal; or Sayaxche/Peten) may be undertaken for the purpose of forming additional partnerships. Or, if appropriate and feasible, other PCUSA presbyteries might chose to join with Inland Northwest as a second partner with the Association. None of these possibilities will be considered without inclusion of all parties covered herein in discussion and planning.
-- Perry
Presbytery of the Inland Northwest and the Association of K’ekchi Maya Presbyteries
Guatemala Partnership Covenant
July 24, 1999
The Presbytery of the Inland Northwest and the Association of K’ekchi Maya Presbyteries, representing the K’ekchi Presbyteries of Izabal, Ixcan-Quiche, Sayaxche, Polochic and Playa Grande, agree to develop and maintain a partnership through which the members of the respective churches will expand their faith and their horizons through relationship, worship, spiritual nurture and the sharing of resources.
Purpose
The purpose of this partnership, this joining together in community and solidarity, is to know and share our faith, and to develop mutual ministry as part of the universal church of Jesus Christ. We together seek to create ties of love, peace and faith, sharing expressions of our understanding of God's grace and compassion as revealed to us through the Scriptures.
"Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:15-16)
In this, we understand the church to be the earthly expression of the One Body of Jesus Christ, and that we and our partners are called as equal instruments of God's love and reconciliation.
INLAND NORTHWEST
Needs of the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest
1. To learn what it means to be a Christian in Guatemala, specifically among the K’ekchi, and to share the joys, sorrows, dreams and concerns of our partners in order to serve and pray for each other with true understanding.
2. To affirm our oneness in Christ with Christians everywhere, brothers and sisters, regardless of country, language, color or economic status. To understand biblical, theological and cultural perspectives that differ from our own, in order to break down stereotypes and prejudices as a means of seeking a more complete life with God and with our fellow humans.
3. To discover how our lives and the actions in the USA impact other people throughout the world and in turn how those of other people impact us. To learn how Jesus would have us respond to a world of economic and social inequality, and to act on that knowledge.
4. To build mutual understanding and support for the K’ekchi churches, presbyteries, and Association among the diverse churches of our Presbytery, and to be accountable to each other before God as Christian partners while we grow in faith and service which comes from our mutual spiritual nurture.
5. To learn from and be challenged by the K’ekchi model of evangelism and church development among those who do not know Christ or who do not worship in community with others.
Gifts and Resources the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest has to offer our K’ekchi Partners
1. Prayer, compassion and loving concern for the K’ekchi people. A strong interest and capacity to learn about the body of Christ in other contexts and circumstances.
2. Energy and time to invest in building relationships with other believers in Christ and to be of support and encouragement to others.
3. Financial and human resources to contribute to mutual mission projects which meet the larger needs of the Church.
4. Resources of hospitality to host and enable exchange visits.
5. Professional and technical skills and institutions of higher learning which may benefit our partner, in communication and secular and theological education.
6. Representing an area with a large indigenous population, we bring opportunities for connection among Native American churches.
7. As God leads, advocate for the K’ekchi Maya by telling their story in the broader context of the USA and the world.
K’ekchi ASSOCIATION
Needs of the Association of K’ekchi Maya Presbyteries
1. Spiritual and moral support by our fellow believers in Christ who are willing to stand in solidarity with us, motivating us in a holistic way in the work and program of God.
2. Help of our companions in Christ in the areas of theological and secular education.
3. Improvement for our people in the areas of agricultural and animal production.
4. Understand about the agencies and systems which may help the K’ekchi to acquire quality land for cultivation.
5. Others to work with us towards more just and equitable conditions of life for all men, women and children through the Service, Evangelization, and Christian Education Committees, and through women's, youth and other agencies of the church.
6. Learn and work more in the areas of preventive and holistic health.
7. Help with communication: e-mail, telephone, fax and others so that the communication will be more constant among the K’ekchi presbyteries and with the national and international church.
8. Exchanges of theological understandings through workshops and times of mutual theological reflection.
9. The presence for longer periods of time of volunteers and workers from Inland Northwest to accompany (us) and help with the communication and education.
10. Spiritual and material support for the theological centers in the K’ekchi presbyteries and in the Association Center in Coban.
Gifts Offered by the Association of K’ekchi Maya Presbyteries
1. Our prayers for the churches, pastors, presbyteries and communities. We ask for an ongoing, updated list of petitions in order to pray with understanding.
2. Our understanding of, and strategies for, evangelization and church growth.
3. Our sharing of the experiences we have in individual and community pastoral care.
4. Our sharing of our culture, customs, spirituality, music and art.
5. Our resources and hospitality: churches, pastors' homes, homes of church families, theological centers (although they are simple). We share these with all our hearts.
6. Our talents, and our corn, beans, tortillas, and chilies.
7. Our confidence in God, our hope, our smiles, and spontaneous hospitality.
JOINT ACTIVITIES
Activities Which We Hope Will Develop as We Partner
1. Exchange of visits to become acquainted with the people, churches, culture, and the special gifts and needs of the partner presbytery. Education of our congregations about the work, the hopes, the dreams and the faith of the partner congregation(s) and presbytery(ies).
2. Exchange of pastors, teachers, youth and lay leaders to share differing cultural perspectives and approaches to ministry, worship, music and life as they do the work of accompaniment.
3. Sharing fiestas and liturgical celebrations.
4. Interchange of histories, stories and songs.
5. Activities in memory of the dead.
6. Activities of spiritual nurture, liturgy, evangelization and service.
7. Sharing plenary sessions of the Presbytery(ies) and of the Association.
8. Work together with our partner(s) on mutually agreed-upon mission projects that promote local self-sufficiency. Sharing grass-roots community development models, structures and technologies.
9. Sharing rest/recreation: soccer, fishing, walking and riding horses.
10. Joint visits to the ancient centers of our Mayan ancestors (Tikal, for example)
11. Sharing theological understandings based on the differing realities.
12. Monthly sharing a summary of the activities of the presbytery(ies) and Association.
13. Struggle/work together for human rights in Guatemala and in the United States.
Future Changes in the Partnership Structure
All parties covered by this covenant understand that when appropriate, at some future date when the five K’ekchi Presbyteries have had sufficient experience being in partnership, some further division of the K’ekchi Presbyteries in pairs or as single presbyteries (Playa Grande/Ixcan; or Polochic/Izabal; or Sayaxche/Peten) may be undertaken for the purpose of forming additional partnerships. Or, if appropriate and feasible, other PCUSA presbyteries might chose to join with Inland Northwest as a second partner with the Association. None of these possibilities will be considered without inclusion of all parties covered herein in discussion and planning.
-- Perry
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Model covenants
Sunday morning in the bilingual Sunday school class we shared some covenants between North American congregations and presbyteries and Guatemalan evangelical Presbyterian groups. The covenant above is the one-page, English-language version of the covenant between Middle Tennessee Presbytery and the Kek'chi-predominant Guatemalan Presbytery of Peten. We're looking for the Spanish version and a covenant between two congregations within those two presbyteries. Below is the four-page, English-language version of a covenant between Pines Presbyterian Church in Houston and a consortium of Kek'chi groups.
Those are both sample covenants that participants in the summer 2008 Amigos de Kek'chi gathering in Nashville had submitted before the gathering, to share among participants. Below are the English- and Spanish-language versions of a one-page covenant between Western North Carolina Presbytery and Guatemalan congregations. Ellen, formerly a pastor in the North Carolina presbytery, brought this in to class. She noted that this covenant was unusually concise in part because it was developed within the context of a presbytery-to-presbytery partnership, with its own apparently longer and more detailed covenant. Readers might note that the Pines Presbyterian covenant implicitly imagines resources transfers from Pines to the Guatemalan congregations (built into the "constitution," so to speak). Might the expectations for Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church and the Estoreno Izabal Presbytery be similar? Ellen and I also talked about how any draft covenant would need to be translated into Kek'chi and English (before any parent groups considered it). But its basic building blocks would probably start out in Spanish (a language that some of us North Americans and Guatemalans in El Estor next month will not understand well). Click on each page of the covenants to magnify the text so you can read it. Hopefully: more covenants later.
-- Perry
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Travel advice
The University of Louisville International Travel Clinic recommends even the Crescent Hill folks who have visited Guatemala before to take eight doses - one per week starting two weeks before departure - of the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, because El Estor is in the malaria risk zone. (The travel clinic simply called me in a prescription to my local CVS pharmacy.) Stephanie did not need to take this in November, because the church camp she visited, and Guatemala City, were not in this zone. Folks who stay in Guatemala for a long time - like former mission co-worker Ellen, now part of our congregation - do not take chloroquine because the side effects/risks mount with prolonged usage. Taking chloroquine can prevent malaria for people who malaria-carrying mosquitoes have bitten. Malaria prevention strategies include applying permetrin to your clothes and bags before leaving, applying DEET bug spray to all your exposed skin several times a day, and wearing long pants, long shirts, and light-colored clothing. We'll have to talk about whether bringing mosquito nets to our host family houses makes sense. Folks who did not go to Guatemala in 2007 or did not load up on medication at the time the clinic will advice to be sure to be up-to-date on hepatitis and tetanus vaccinations - especially in case of the off-chance that one of us would need to get a dangerous blood transfusion in Guatemala. The travel clinic also recommends that folks take some prescription antibiotics such as Cipro (and they'll write the prescriptions) for the inevitable stomach problems that most on the trip will face for a few hours at one point or another. More on all of this later.
-- Perry
It's a date!
Crescent Hill folks helping organize a CD release concert for former Crescent Hill-er Leslie McClure (pictured with her band above), now a Nashville-based singer and songwriter, have helped pick 7:00 p.m., on Saturday, March 7, as the time and date for the event. The event will likely take place in the sanctuary, with an offering and possibly food sold (afterwards?) with proceeds going to the Guatemala mission effort (including to next month's trip). Stay tuned for more information later.
-- Perry
Bon voyage!
Amanda Craft was a Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer in Guatemala several years ago who told the Crescent Hill group going to Guatemala in summer 2007 about her life and work there and about the experiences of other U.S. misison groups visting there. She shared pictures with us during one of our early monthly orientations. A key staff person for the Presbyterian Peacemaking program for several years, Amanda (pictured above) is returning this month to Guatemala, where she will continue the work that Ellen Dozier began as a liaison with Guatemala's Presbyterian Women. We hope to connect with Amanda again as she and her family begin their exciting new ministry. Happy transitions!
-- Perry
Monday, February 2, 2009
Roger and me
Stephanie and I had dinner at Saffron’s with Gloria and Roger Marriott, PC(USA) mission co-workers in Guatemala who work especially with the Kek’chi. Roger said U.S. folks must resist the dual temptations of: (1) trying to fix things for the Kek’chi or giving the Kek’chi lots of stuff; and (2) considering the Kek’chi as Christians with superior faith and spirituality, only to discover eventually that the Kek’chi are as human – and flawed – as we are. Roger said North Americans have been trying to fix Latin America – that the Spanish and Portuguese screwed up 500 years ago – and we’re not going to be able to do it. Asking open-ended questions and trying to get know Kek’chi individuals as a way to learn about other ways to think about faith and other ways to see ourselves as Christians is what is needed, he said.
In the short run, Roger praised us in our relationship with the Kek’chi folks near El Estor for not starting with money (though I confessed about cementing the floors) and taking our time to draft a partnership agreement that we and others would consider over time. He also thought a mission group of six was the perfect size. And he thought Carlos was a great person to work with on this.
Gloria did pipe in with an easy suggestion for a gift to take the women of the houses/homes that the March group will be staying with. Since these women will be doing the cooking for an extra person and their families she suggested a small gift such as a new dishtowel (like we saw the women waving in the churches to keep cool) and soup dipper. Even a potholder with a soup dipper would be appreciated.
Gloria also talked about a project in which she is doing essentially math and business education, trying to train Kek’chi church leaders basic accounting fundamentals, so that they can develop simple financial reports, so that funds donated for education among the Kek’chi by the late Helen Walton, a Wal-Mart widow and Presbyterian, can be released. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has cut off these funds unless Guatemalans can account more for their use and the Kek’chi won’t be able to do that unless they can keep records and file reports. This basic training could help Kek’chi individuals in their home business and personal finances and promote transparency and trust within the Guatemalan church. Kek’chi are lucky if they have a very rudimentary elementary-school education. Even Kek’chi folks who have attended elementary school may not be able to add and subtract with decimals and may not have learned critical thinking skills. Guatemalan schools don’t teach critical thinking skills because Guatemalan authorities don’t want people to be able to think, opined Gloria.
Both Gloria and Roger were involved in the business world before they embarked in mission service. And Gloria is getting a chance to put those business skills to work in this Walton-financed training. Some of us met Gloria and Roger at the Amigos de Kek’chi gathering in Nashville in August, and Ellen and Stephanie also talked with Gloria at the mission network gathering in Guatemala in November. Roger pitched for at least one of us to go to the Amigos de Kek’chi gathering in Spokane in April (see ). Roger also pitched for he and Gloria to help arrange and lead a bigger mission trip (like in summer 2010?). Roger and Gloria are based in Nashville, but will be traveling around the country speaking with church groups through this spring (though Roger also hopes to travel around Latin America).
-- Perry
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