July 14, 2013 Planning Meeting

Hello again! We had our first meeting on Sunday July 14 & it was such a blessing. I personally had some of my fears put at ease. Carol & Diane talked about their planning trip in June, which I will be posting pictures of that trip as well as the Mission Trip last January 2013 within the next day or 2. We discussed our travel arrangements, what immunizations we need to get and the funds we need to raise. We are all called by God to go on this trip, we may know why or He may not tell us until we are there, either way, we are all very excited & feel Blessed.

We have 2 very important ladies who are not going on the trip but are helping organize and are doing a lot of the behind the scenes work. Tina Weege & Myra Swiston, both have gone on past Mission trips to San Pablo are such a huge help in the organizing and planning of this trip. Please also keep them in your prayers.

Those that have committed to going on this trip for January 4-11, 2014 are:

Angelica Rangel, Carol Rave, Todd Rave, Diane Reetz, Richard S Reetz, Ann Reetz , Tabitha Reetz, Christina Montgomery, Lisa Bourget, Ann Jensen, Judy Mauritz, Melanie Leopold, John Grohs, Daryl Fahrner, Paula Grohs, Jack West, Katherine West, & Christopher Russell.

Here is some basic information on where we are going for our ministry. San Pablo is a small town 40 minutes (17 km) drive up the mountain from Zacapa.  San Pablo has approximately 800 people.  70 % of the households have someone working in agriculture.  There are some buses that come from Zacapa.  There are two rivers close to San Pablo Riachuelo which is low flow and Montaquas which is faster flowing and can be crossed by launches since the bridge washed out. San Pablo was more thriving with brick factories when the railroad came through but then there was an earthquake which took out large parts of the town and destroyed the railroad.  The government never rebuilt. 

Zacapa is a city in eastern Guatemala, along the Río Grande de Zacapa. It is renowned locally for its manual crafting of cigars, hard dry cheese and a flavored cake made with said cheese (Quesadilla). It was once was a bustling railroad stop and attracted a fair amount of non-Guatemalan immigrants, it is not unusual to find people whose surnames were originally from England, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Zacapa is mainly a rural area that contains a large amount of flat land used mostly to grow cantaloupe, tobacco and roma tomatoes. Bordering the Zacapa valley is the Sierra de las Minas, which harbors forests, and contains marble mines and coffee plantations. Some of the world's finest jade is also found in this area. As with most of Guatemala, Zacapa suffers terrible poverty and pollution problems. There is a pronounced dry season, often marked by more than two months without rain, which worsens the air quality of the region tremendously. The region's flat areas are known for their loud insects, called chicharras, which chirp in the fields and along the roads during the dry season.

Please continue to pray for us as we plan this Mission for God. Please pray for the people of San Pablo & Zacapa. If you want to donate financially, please make your check out to St Paul Lutheran Church & put in the memo Guatemala 2014 and give to the office or mail it in. Thank you.

Welcome to the St Paul Immanuel Lutheran Mission Blog

Hello and thank you for checking out our blog. We leave for our mission trip to Guatemala on Saturday January 4th, 2014. It is hard to believe that it is only 6 months away but it is! At least once a month I will be posting information for our trip. It may be who is coming, what we have planned, or what we may need. One thing we always need is yours prayers. Please pray for us as we plan this trip as well as while we are on it.

We have our first planning meeting on Sunday July 14th @ 7pm so be sure to come back after then to see what is new!  God's Blessings, Christina