Category Archives: North to South

Wallingford and Guarjila celebrate 20-year anniversary / Seattle y Guarjila celebran 20 años

(español abajo) In February, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the relationship between Wallingford United Methodist Church and the community of Guarjila. During our delegation, we joined in festivities for the community’s patron saint, we worshiped, we learned about the … Continue reading

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Video from our Open Delegation 2019

Thank you to Memo Lab Productions for this video about our delegation to El Salvador and Guatemala in 2019.  Our delegation focused on fellowship with Sister Parish communities in Central America and also learned about the push-pull factors of migration.

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Open Delegation Stories 7: Learning more about migration

by Cathy Burrell We began our day visiting Antigua, a beautiful colonial city. There we had free time to explore and walk along the cobblestone streets. Some of us explored museums or art galleries. Others looked at jade stores, walked … Continue reading

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Open Delegation Stories 6: Visiting the U.S. Embassy and Tierra Nueva 1,2

by Nancy Wiens This morning we met with Bryce Jordan from the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala. His portfolio includes many human rights issues, including migration. He provided an interesting perspective as we learn more about the realities of life here. … Continue reading

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Open Delegation Stories 5: Community development and U.S. foreign aid

by Maria Van Der Maaten On Wednesday morning we met with Nicole Kast (head of programming) and Paul Townsend (country director) of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the Guatemala office. Nicole shared about the structure of CRS and the work … Continue reading

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Open Delegation Stories 4: Visiting Guarjila and Los Ranchos, a day of resilience

by Nancy Wiens Today we toured both Guarjila and San Antonio Los Ranchos. We learned about the challenging history of these communities, which were completely destroyed in the 80’s during the armed conflict — and saw the results of their … Continue reading

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Open Delegation Stories 3: Visiting San Jose and Potrerillos, a day filled with God’s spirit

by Bob Burrell It was an early wake up for the Sister Parish delegates from the North and South. This morning we traveled through the valleys and hills of northern El Salvador in the Chalatenango region to San Jose la … Continue reading

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Open Delegation Stories 2: Connecting with Sister Parish family and honoring heroes and martyrs

The second day of our Open Delegation experience gave us the opportunity to connect with those arriving from Sister Parish communities in Guatemala and other areas of El Salvador. We gathered in the gorgeous Botanical Gardens for a walk, lunch … Continue reading

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Open Delegation Stories 1: Saint Oscar Romero and current realities in El Salvador

by Cathy Burrell Our group met together for the first time at breakfast. After introductions and a brief orientation, we set off for the day. Our first stop was to Divina Providencia in San Salvador. This is the site where … Continue reading

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A magnificent delegation trip to Guatemala….reflections after 21 years of relationship with people of faith in Central America

by Bill Williams A rocky road to start…. a delayed flight, a missed connection, a flight to Guatemala City that should have been a few hours morphed into 2 days and nights in airports. But after finally arriving, we were … Continue reading

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