BEFORE WE LEAVE
This mission's purposes...
Twenty members and friends of CCUMC will depart in the (very) early hours of January 17th, bound
for Guatemala. Upon arrival we will board our team bus for Chichicastenango, a 4 hour drive which
will provide an interesting view of many aspects of this beautiful country. We will stay at the Hotel
Santo Tomas where previous CCUMC teams have stayed. Nine members of this team have traveled
on previous CCUMC Guatemala mission trips to Camanchaj and are eager to return! Our Team
Leader is Aubrey Lunsford. Pam Rance is Co-Lead. Both were members of the Guatemala
November 2007 team.
This mission has several important goals:
1. We are traveling with a large donation of medications - enough to open a medical clinic in
Cunen. This is a wonderful new initiative of Salud y Paz in the highlands area. The building is
ready. A donation has been made to provide a doctor's salary for two days a week. They are
waiting for this shipment of medications to get up and running. We are glad we can help with this
important step!
2. Two Guatemalan teachers have been hired for the opening of the Susanna Wesley Preschool in
Camanchaj. Our Traveling Missions Endowment has provided a scholarship to send Tara Peterson
with this team to provide instruction in the curriculum material which has been developed by Joan
Harvey. Much hard work has gone into the preparation of this curriculum and we look forward to the
miracles that a quality preschool education will provide in the lives of these children and their
families. We are carrying a lot of preschool material, books, hoodie sweatshirts, bears. The
preschool has received some wonderful donations from our congregation! Also, please note that all
donations we received from the brunch are applied to building materials and other preschool needs.
3. The list of chores to prepare the preschool for opening is long: install chalkboards and bulletin
boards, shelves, install a new washer / dryer, refrigerator and gas stove. Phil promises there will be
a few "surprises" for the team....we love surprises! Of course there is still cement to be mixed and
cement block to be stacked up on the 2nd floor. There is always more than any one team can
accomplish and we will need to prioritize.
4. Lastly, we will be celebrating the opening of the preschool and the first classroom of children.
The party will take place on Saturday, January 24th so we will have that to look forward to as we
work very hard all week.
Watch this site for our daily updates - and a few photos.
We thank the congregation for their encouragement and prayers.