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Representatives from Tierra Nueva I show their support for communities affected by mining.

Representatives from Sister Parish communities across Guatemala gathered on September 20 and 21 for our bi-annual meeting.  We filled the two days with community sharing, a prayer service and a workshop on self-esteem.

Representatives also participated in elections for the Guatemalan advisory board of Sister Parish.  We thank the former board members for their years of service and welcome the new members’ energy and ideas for the next two years.

We had a beautiful morning for the Guatemala Solidarity Walk this year.  We had the opportunity to share powerful reflections on solidarity and love, including a reading from 1 John 3:18 – “Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.”

Guatemala Solidarity Walk 2014

Sister Parish members from the US and El Salvador were all present with us as we talked about our hopes for our sistering relationships and communities.  People spoke of their dreams for communities free from violence and environmental damage, where people share the love of God with one another.  As one participant stated:

“The readings were nice because they talked about the love we need to have.  Love needs to be lived – the readings sound nice, but the beautiful thing is when one knows how to live by them, thinks about what steps to take. This is important brothers and sisters. If our time and the world are the way they are, it is because people have lost love for each other.  So we have to practice the love we talked about this morning. “

Incoming and outgoing members of the Guatemalan advisory board of Sister Parish.

Another participant reflected, “We have to be ever more united, not just for one year… I would like to see all of us from Sister Parish holding hands together – not letting go of anyone.”

We hope you will enjoy the pictures from the event and a brief video of the song ‘Juntos como hermanos‘ sung by the representatives from Tierra Nueva II, Guatemala.