Mission Trip to Guatemala
Oregon City United Methodist Church

March 23 - April 5, 2009

(The 2009 Spring Break Mission Trip is being planned.  If you would like to contribute to this mission trip, please write your checks to our church (OCUMC) and mark them “Guatemala Mission Trip.”  
Thank you for your help.      
 

During Spring Break of 2008, Pastor Gary and 10 other members of the Oregon City United Methodist Church went on a Mission Trip to Guatemala on behalf of the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church.  The group was very busy on this stunningly memorable ten-day trip to the most scenic areas of Guatemala.  They visited many different locations, some remote.

They worked for three days building a house in the community of Chontola', near Chichicastenango.  The new owner is the widow of a farmer killed in the 1982 massacre by the Guatemalan military. 

They visited the 16-member Ruth & Naomi cooperative of widows from the violence of the 1980's, who now support their families by weaving traditional fabrics at their homes in Chontola.  They also have a tailoring shop in where these fabrics are sewn into garments, apprentice tailors trained, and garment sold all over the world.

They went to the Children's Home at San Sebastian de Lemoa, which cares for children whose parents are either dead or unable to care for them.  They visited Los Romeritos – a day care center in Guatemala City for children most at risk for becoming homeless.  They also visited several Methodist medical clinics.

They also had some time for sightseeing!  They shopped in the colorful markets in Guatemala City, Chichicastenango, Panajachel, and Santiago Atitlan.  They attended a Thursday evening worship with the Methodist congregation in Chichicastenango.  They took a boat trip across the spectacular Lake Atitlan, in a 158,000-year-old volcanic explosion caldera similar to Crater Lake.  They visited Peace Park in Santiago Atitlan, commemorating the massacre of 13 citizens by the army on December 2, 1990.  They had time to marvel over the historically important Mayan ruins of Iximche, the capital of the Cachiguel Mayan empire and the world-famous Mayan ruins of Tikal