GUATEMALA CITY Author’s note: I apologize for any repetition. I’m adding more details and pictures now and some notes on the museums and lectures. Schedule while in Guatemala City: Wednesday, July 5 ---Meet with Sister Alba in the Francisco Coll school. ---Attend special program at the school. ---Visit relief map of Guatemala. ---Meet at CEDEPCA with Hector Castaneda, professor with Biblical and Theological Formation Program. ---Dinner at Casa San Jose ---Group singing, reflection and devotions Thursday, July 6 ---Work at Francisco Coll school ---Lunch ---Visit Museum Ixchel with guide (textile museum) ---Visit National Place, central park, central market ---Dinner at Casa San Jose ---Group singing, reflection and devotions Friday, July 7 ---Work at Francisco Coll school (finish 67 chairs!!!) ---Lunch at CEDEPCA ---Intro. To Women’s Pastoral Program. M... read more

Hello everyone, we arrived safely back in Philadelphia. Now it's time for me to catch up this blog. Let's go back to Quiche in northern Guatemala. The bus trip from Guat. City was 3.5 hours through mountainous terrain. The roads were all paved--for now, but they had many hair pin turns. Several large propane tank trucks and other tractor trailers were stuck trying to go uphill and turn the curves. (Personally, I would worry about taking a heavy truck down those roads. Your brakes would burn out!) We stayed at a hotel in the capital city and took short trips to different schools. We did the puppet shows many times. The children loved it. We also passed out the health kits (washcloths, soap, shampoo, tooth brush and paste) and some candy.) Remember the candy necklaces from ... read more

We're here and we're blue from the paint. We've been painting 2 classrooms in the Utatlan school in Quiche, This school has many students, two classrooms for most grades, age 3.5 years to high school. Students come from all over Guatemala, and some even from near the Mexican border. There are dormitories for the older students. So, how did we get here? We flew to Guatemala City, ate lunch at McDonalds, and drove 3.5 hours to Quiche in west Guatemala in the mountains. (It was Jose's idea to go to McDonalds whenever he comes to G. City. The drive was wonderful--we saw city and countryside. We are now at about 6,000 feet above sealevel. The flora in the mountains is similar to the Appalachians or Ozarks, but different. Bushes that look sort of like rhodendron or ... read more

#6 - We are commissioned by the church for this mission trip. Sunday morning we sang two Spanish songs for the congregation and were commissioned as a mission trip. Whoever planned the church service did a great job. As a visitor to this congregation, I appreciated the hymns--all Spanish hymns--and the sermon. The minister has had personal experience in Guatemala and talked about the contrasts we will see. To be commissioned, we were asked to kneel in the front of the church and the entire congregation came forward and touched us, or one another while prayers of support were said for our Guatemalan friends and us. As Presbyterians, we do mission in partnership. Here are some excerpts from the statements adopted by the 212th General Assembly, June 2000. “The Presbyterian church (USA) seeks to engage the ... read more

Tonight was my last meeting of the session of my own church, Central Presbyterian in Atlanta, GA. My stint as an elder ended tonight. I will miss the meetings and the contact with the other elders and most of all, the deep spiritual satisfaction I felt when we worshiped together or when we struggled for consensus on difficult decisions. But, the relevant part about the meeting tonight was the reporting on the mission trip our representatives took to Merida, Mexico. Four people reported, and I was very moved by the depth of the experience they had working with the school for orphans. There were 41 people from all ages, middle school to adult, on the trip from our congregation. They were painting, building walls, cleaning up, etc. The most important aspect of the trip was to ... read more