Experiences
June 16-23, 2007. Mission trip to Guatemala
A group of 10 people from 4 churches in the presbytery travelled to Guatemala to visit Elim Presbyterian Church once again. This time, the project was to start construction of a new Youth Bible Study Hall. The trip was led by Ed Esparza and Bob Yarborough. Bob reports on the trip and answers the question, "Why Guatemala?" here.
Hurricane Stan, October 2005
Marcia Towers shares news from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Guatemala (IENPG). Marcia is based in Quetzaltenango (Xela). The IEPNG is made up of all the Presbyterian churches and presbyteries in Guatemala, including CESSMAQ. More...
October 12, 2005. "Details are coming in slowly"
Scott Dannemiller shares news from CESSMAQ: I got a brief opportunity to speak with Yoli today (CESSMAQ's do-everything office assistant). She relayed some information about several communities that CESSMAQ serves. Details are coming in slowly regarding the flood/hurricane damage. Noe [Sam, CESSMAQ's Director] is visiting as many communities as he can reach at the moment, but right now, numerous bridges are out. Phone service was restored in Xela a couple of days ago, but service is still quite spotty. Yoli had heard from folks in all of the communities they serve in the coastal areas. From what she gathers, everyone is still alive. More...
October 11, 2005. "We request your prayers"
Noe Sam, Director of CESSMAQ, writes: Greetings from all of us at CESSMAQ, we appreciate you very much. Because of Hurricane Stan during the week of October 3 to 10, we have not been able to get in touch with you; the storm caused death, devastation, missing people and breakdown of communications due to the destruction of bridges and the landslides. Yesterday they started restoration of communications, such as telephone lines and other media. I am taking this opportunity to thank you for the donation that you sent by the end of August, God bless you.
We'll keep in touch with you, we still do not have information about the situation of most communities and churches in the Maya-Quiche Presbytery. So far we know that in the community of Palá there are 23 families left homeless and that the church has been partially destroyed. We request your prayers for all of our country Guatemala, there are 14 areas with great devastation, among them Quetzaltenango and Sololá, our area of work. We believe that our God will give us strength and the necessary resources to assist our brothers who survived this catastrophe; we do not know of everything that happened, there are communities that completely disappeared. We will inform you as soon as we find out what happened to our communities. God bless you.
June 18-25, 2005. Mission trip to Guatemala.
CESSMAQ suggested the presbytery partnership team assist in achieving two of the principle goals of their ministry - strengthening of community and reinforcing of Christian values - through projects in the Quetzaltenango area. The trip was led by Scott and Gabby Dannemiller, who recently spent a year (August 2003 - August 2004) in Guatemala as volunteers, living with a low-income indigenous family in Maya Quiche Presbytery.
Scott describes the mission team's first meeting, at the San Antonio (Texas) airport: "There was no spare room in our overstuffed bags, so we had to carry our hopes, excitement, and anxious feelings in our shirt pockets, close to our hearts. Jesus traveled with us while God went ahead to prepare a place for us in Guatemala."
Reflections - Scott Dannemiller
Slideshow of the mission portion of the trip - Dave Wilson (To view this slideshow, you need to download a small player from Photodex. It may not be compatible with all browsers.)
A letter from the mission field - Ramsay Mudgett (PDF format)
A medical team that included four physicians, a registered nurse, two translators and three administrative staff treated 725 Mayan patients over seven clinic days. Team leader Bill Harrison summarizes, "We had no idea what we were getting into when we planned the trip, but as you can see, God knew what he wanted us to do, and where he wanted us to do it, so we did!!!"
Number of patients by illness/disease and by village
Number of patients seen by village and by age and gender
Noe Sam, executive director of CESSMAQ, writes, "I want to share with you all an event of much happiness and many blessings for the Eben-Ezer Presbyterian Church of Canton Los Angeles and CESSMAQ. This event was a worship service of Thanksgiving to God, and closing ceremonies for the twelve young people of this church and community who have finished the first typing course."
Summer, 2004. Youth Conference in Guatemala.
What a team God assembled on this occasion! Ten Mission Presbytery members from San Antonio and Weslaco, ranging in age from 20 to over 60, travelled by bus "3300 beautiful miles" through Mexico for the meeting in Quetzaltenango.
Organizer Rob Mueller describes the rest of the group: "In Guatemala we were joined by an ecumenical group of youth conference leaders. Two of them, Bernabe Garcia and Alejandra Azurdia, had been at Divine Redeemer [Presbyterian Church, in San Antonio, Texas] with the Reconciliation and Mission Program. The others are part of a ministry team that staffs youth events primarily in the urban Ladino portion of the Guatemalan Protestant church. Most were in their late teens and 20’s with two married couples part of the group."
"Eighty youth arrived from various small Mayan villages and congregations that work with CESSMAQ. Some had to travel to the site first by bus, then by boat and finally by small pickup truck. They were both excited and unsure." Read the rest of Rev. Mueller's trip report...
Sunday, March 7, was a banner day for the residents of the Mayan village of Chajabal in the western highlands of Guatemala. That was the day the water purification unit was dedicated, bringing clean water for drinking and cooking to this village for the very first time! The system was developed by Presbyterian engineers from the Synod Of Living Waters, and installed by a mission team which included Presbyterians from California, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi, in addition to Mission Presbytery.
"I hope I get to go back" - Ben Reeves
The dominant, recurring theme of the trip: That CESSMAQ and all the communities are extremely concerned that as the price of coffee is so low, parents and older brothers and sisters are having to go to the fincas to work, leaving small children back in the villages, unattended and unfed.
Open My Eyes - Scott Dannemiller
Pedro Carrillo, Chuisajcab testified, "We thank CESSMAQ for the training, in the courses that have opened our eyes. Before, I was blind and not thinking about my children. But after receiving the courses, I saw and dreamed that my children could be professionals, and we began to think about the necessities of our community. Many people have changed, and are no longer blind."
Professor Juan Lopez Perechu, Chilopisap, shared that CESSMAQ hadn’t worked in their community for five years, but the people still remember the work of CESSMAQ and want them to return. "The first organization they had ever had in Chilopisap is still functioning and several men who were trained by CESSMAQ are working as members of other committees. The seed planted by CESSMAQ continues to produce development. CESSMAQ taught us to think."
2004 Operating plan, including Program of Complete Attention to Children
February 13-24, 2003. Mission work trip to Guatemala.
Katy BeDunnah says, "The project for the trip was distribution of 1200 pairs of reading glasses throughout the villages where CESSMAQ has programs underway. Seventeen people signed up for the trip - two more than the max we have ever taken before. The plan was to divide the group into three teams, each one going to a different village each day and returning to the Hotel Alba in Matzetenango each evening for dinner and reflection. The same company which donated the glasses last year (Capo) provided 1000 pairs of glasses this year and Grace Presbyterian Church in Corpus Christi raised enough money to buy 200 additional pairs of glasses for distribution."
June 18-July 1, 2002. Noe Sam and Rev. Samuel Sohom visit Mission Presbytery
Sam, the director of CESSMAQ, and Sohom visited Presbyterian churches and projects in Austin, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and the Valley. They also attended a Presbytery meeting in Kingsville. Highlights included presentation of over $17,000 collected by several groups through "Pennies for Piggies" and finalization of planning for a water purification project.
February 18-28, 2002, trip to Guatemala.
Testimony of Isabel Gomez Lopez
"Bienvenidos a Guatemala" poem by Jeff Woodruff
Tzampoj (sam-poc): Inspect coffee project, dinner fellowship, distribute 60 pairs of glasses
Chuicumatza (chu ee cu matza): hike through forest to visit widows
Pasis (pie cees): widows compound, inspect vegetable garden plot, pigs
Chuigirondina (chu ee gear on deena): Dinner fellowship, inspect pigs, chickens, 60 pairs of glasses
La Ceiba: 3-hour worship, 4 computers installed, 60 pairs of reading glasses
Sohomnip (psalm neep): Inspect school, pigs, gardens, share meal, 50 pairs of glasses
Chacabal: Distribute 50 pairs of glasses, inspect pigs, gardens
Tzucubal (chu ca bal): inspect location of summer work project, 50 pairs of glasses
La Cumbre: inspect pigs, gardens, distributed 37 pairs of glasses, fellowship
September 11, 2001. Condolences from CESSMAQ.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage, be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
On behalf of the employees, Executive Board and communities that support CESSMAQ and the Maya Quiche Presbytery, I extend our solidarity, our grief, our sadness and our indignation in regard to the cruel and inhuman terrorist act that has stricken the people and government of the United States of America.
We are joined in the brotherhood of Christ and we pray that the God of Life in his Sovereignty, love and power, give you strength and fill the void left by thousands of lives that have been lost, and that the people and its government, with God's love and power, regain strength and march victorious over evil, hate and death.
More thoughts September 11 from Presbyterians in Guatemala
July 19-29, 2001. Silbia and Edward Esparza lead a work trip to Guatemala.
The group goes to Tzampoj and works in the coffee fields, plus they have the opportunity to visit another couple of CESSMAQ sites: Sohomnip, where a new school is under construction, and Chuisajcava, where they participate in a memorial service for Carl Siegenthaler.
June 14-July 2, 2001. Noe Sam and Rev. Samuel Sohom visit Mission Presbytery
Sam, the director of CESSMAQ, and Sohom visited Presbyterian churches and projects in Austin, Georgetown, San Antonio, and the Valley (McAllen, Hidalgo, Harlingen and Pharr). They also attended a Presbytery meeting in Kerrville. Highlights included 17 children from Lockhart presenting CESSMAQ with money they raised through "Pennies for Piggies", and a grant to CESSMAQ for the purchase of two pulpera machines for coffee harvesting.
February 19-27, 2001. Consciousness-raising trip to Guatemala escorted by PC(USA) mission workers.
Charlotte Hains
Pascuala Chang Masariego
Manuel Cax Tambriz
Roman Lopez
Women's education
Ana Chang
Borrow a professionally produced 20-minute video of the July 2000 mission work trip from your Mission Presbytery Resource Center.
June 28-July 10, 2000. CESSMAQ visit to Mission PresbyteryThe trip was originally planned for March 3-13, but the CESSMAQ representatives were not able to obtain non-immigrant visas from the US Embassy in Guatemala, so the trip was rescheduled for June-July. Noe Sam and Rev. Samuel Sohom visited Presbyterian churches and projects in San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi and the Valley. They also attended a Presbytery meeting in Kerrville.
The Guatemala partnership team solicits your prayerful support and encouragement of the partnership, its projects, and the Mayan people of Guatemala. If your congregation or group is interested in a "Minute for Mission" or a 20-minute video presentation, contact the partnership team.
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to support and advance the Mission-Maya Quiche partnership.