A small group of us met as the Guatemala mission partnership task force Tuesday evening. Sunday a week and a half ago we asked people (after worship) to write greetings and messages to folks in Guatemala on a big sheet of paper in the Narthex. About a dozen did so. Tuesday we talked about asking additional people in worship this Sunday (May 24) to add their two cents. Lowell will make an announcement asking people to write greetings on the back of Friendship Register pages and we’ll receive them with the offering. We will ask Ellen or others to translate these messages into Spanish and e-mail them to folks in the presbytery via Rene.
We’ve been praying each week in church and during the week for one Estoreño congregation and its pastors and members. Some weeks Perry has brought a couple of laminated 8 ½ x 11 pictures of the pastor and congregation and occasionally put them up front near the Communion Table (as well as in front of the bulletin board). Other times we have asked Pastor Jane or other prayer leaders to mention the congregation during the public prayers. (It doesn’t sound like posting pictures on Facebook during the week or having posts on the blog about the congregation has caught very mny people’s attention.)
Those at Tuesday’s meeting suggested we continue with one congregation a month, starting over again in mid-June when we have run through all nine congregations. They suggested we check with Ada about other ways to dress up having pictures up front and also have perhaps a thick posterboard – preferably on the wall on the right with the materials for newcomers or on an easel – not back with the bulletin board which people other than visitors are not likely to see – labeled something like – “Praying this week with and for the Estoreño Presbytery’s ___ congregation” (so two sets of pictures would be needed). Folks were less enthusiastic about keeping the bulletin board up in general – although some of what folks suggested essentially involved shifting some of the bulletin board into that front room/hallway.
Perry mentioned requests the group has received in three areas. The group half a dozen of us met with in Nashville the past summer - Amigos de Ke’kchi (friends of the Q’eqchi’) - sponsored a trip through northern Guatemala last month and then, at the end of the month, met in Spokane, Washington. There was some back and forth about the orientation of the group (more for partnership or aid?) and possible resource trade-offs between deepening our Estoreño ties and deepening ties to this group. Roger Marriott had asked that one of us join the Amigos steering committee and be available once every month or so for conference call meetings, perhaps on Skype. Folks generally wanted us to wait and see what others in the group thought and also to see if someone is interested in committing the time to serving on the Steering Committee.
Pastor Jane, Perry, and others have been talking about the possibility of building on our history of Wednesday suppertime Children’s Choir and Fellowship and once-a-month meals before Council meetings to embark on some version of this: once a week, twice a month, or monthly simultaneous youth and adult English as a new language classes, youth and adult Spanish as a new languages classes, and (bilingual?) Children’s Choir and Fellowship, followed by dinner. The possibility of alternating classes with some form of conversation partnering was also discussed. Some people opined that the best way to learn Spanish was intensively (like in Guatemala for six months?) and that we ought to put signs up on Crescent Avenue, Frankfort Avenue, and Brownsboro Road and connect with folks who might know Spanish-speaking families in the neighborhood (like Stephen). The discussion was inconclusive.
Chris and Carlos have been talking about our synod’s Living Waters for the World campaign and concerns expressed about it. One of the concerns expressed was that in Guatemala a beverage company has a monopoly on selling water and, as a result, community and congregational clean water projects are not allowed to sell water, making the projects less economically feasible. Chris had proposed that we might look into how to help get Guatemala’s laws changed so that community groups and church groups could sell water. The group talked about how water in general and clean water in particular seemed like a dire need in El Estor, but this was not something that came up in conversations with the pastors there. The discussion was inconclusive.
The group talked briefly about the Saturday morning, September 18 fast and vigil that we are slated to lead in connection with the start of the Estoreño presbytery’s annual meeting that weekend. Lowell suggested we just have the church open from 9 a.m. to 12 noon – or even starting earlier – and then we sign people up so at least one person is in there praying the whole three hours. With the idea that folks participating (including some folks praying and/or fasting at home or elsewhere) then get together after breaking the fast for lunch. Folks thought we were definitely doing it and that it need not take lots of organizing.
Some but not all of those present thought they’d be able to gather again at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, June 6, and Nancy’s Bagel Grounds at 2101 Frankfort Avenue.
We’ve been praying each week in church and during the week for one Estoreño congregation and its pastors and members. Some weeks Perry has brought a couple of laminated 8 ½ x 11 pictures of the pastor and congregation and occasionally put them up front near the Communion Table (as well as in front of the bulletin board). Other times we have asked Pastor Jane or other prayer leaders to mention the congregation during the public prayers. (It doesn’t sound like posting pictures on Facebook during the week or having posts on the blog about the congregation has caught very mny people’s attention.)
Those at Tuesday’s meeting suggested we continue with one congregation a month, starting over again in mid-June when we have run through all nine congregations. They suggested we check with Ada about other ways to dress up having pictures up front and also have perhaps a thick posterboard – preferably on the wall on the right with the materials for newcomers or on an easel – not back with the bulletin board which people other than visitors are not likely to see – labeled something like – “Praying this week with and for the Estoreño Presbytery’s ___ congregation” (so two sets of pictures would be needed). Folks were less enthusiastic about keeping the bulletin board up in general – although some of what folks suggested essentially involved shifting some of the bulletin board into that front room/hallway.
Perry mentioned requests the group has received in three areas. The group half a dozen of us met with in Nashville the past summer - Amigos de Ke’kchi (friends of the Q’eqchi’) - sponsored a trip through northern Guatemala last month and then, at the end of the month, met in Spokane, Washington. There was some back and forth about the orientation of the group (more for partnership or aid?) and possible resource trade-offs between deepening our Estoreño ties and deepening ties to this group. Roger Marriott had asked that one of us join the Amigos steering committee and be available once every month or so for conference call meetings, perhaps on Skype. Folks generally wanted us to wait and see what others in the group thought and also to see if someone is interested in committing the time to serving on the Steering Committee.
Pastor Jane, Perry, and others have been talking about the possibility of building on our history of Wednesday suppertime Children’s Choir and Fellowship and once-a-month meals before Council meetings to embark on some version of this: once a week, twice a month, or monthly simultaneous youth and adult English as a new language classes, youth and adult Spanish as a new languages classes, and (bilingual?) Children’s Choir and Fellowship, followed by dinner. The possibility of alternating classes with some form of conversation partnering was also discussed. Some people opined that the best way to learn Spanish was intensively (like in Guatemala for six months?) and that we ought to put signs up on Crescent Avenue, Frankfort Avenue, and Brownsboro Road and connect with folks who might know Spanish-speaking families in the neighborhood (like Stephen). The discussion was inconclusive.
Chris and Carlos have been talking about our synod’s Living Waters for the World campaign and concerns expressed about it. One of the concerns expressed was that in Guatemala a beverage company has a monopoly on selling water and, as a result, community and congregational clean water projects are not allowed to sell water, making the projects less economically feasible. Chris had proposed that we might look into how to help get Guatemala’s laws changed so that community groups and church groups could sell water. The group talked about how water in general and clean water in particular seemed like a dire need in El Estor, but this was not something that came up in conversations with the pastors there. The discussion was inconclusive.
The group talked briefly about the Saturday morning, September 18 fast and vigil that we are slated to lead in connection with the start of the Estoreño presbytery’s annual meeting that weekend. Lowell suggested we just have the church open from 9 a.m. to 12 noon – or even starting earlier – and then we sign people up so at least one person is in there praying the whole three hours. With the idea that folks participating (including some folks praying and/or fasting at home or elsewhere) then get together after breaking the fast for lunch. Folks thought we were definitely doing it and that it need not take lots of organizing.
Some but not all of those present thought they’d be able to gather again at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, June 6, and Nancy’s Bagel Grounds at 2101 Frankfort Avenue.
-- Perry
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