UCC service trip returns to Guatemala

“The focus was on building, but it didn’t stop us all from building these relationships that were just so powerful”

By Katherine Nettles

Members and friends of Crested Butte’s Union Congregational Church (UCC) went on a mission trip this fall, returning to the town of Panajachel in Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan Basin where they have partnered with the organization Porch de Salomon for many years. It was the UCC’s eighth trip there.

This time, however, the travelers were all men, which UCC senior pastor Tim Clark says was a first in UCC’s history of mission trips.

“This particular trip came together out of our men’s group associated with our church,” he explains. “We’ve been meeting for about 30 years. It’s not a study group; it’s a support group and a fellowship. We get together as often as twice a month, and it’s a mash-up of guys who are members of the church and some who are not. We vary on topics, reflections, sharing personal matters or discussing global affairs.” While the group often does campout retreats and a summer cornhole tournament, they had never traveled internationally together.

“Our group likes to do something of service as part of their mission, and it builds and deepens your relationships with each other as much as to the service,” says Clark.

  The team of 13 was in Guatemala for eight days in late October, staying with the organization Porch de Salomon. Their focus was to help finish a small, concrete block home for a mother, her six children and her own mother. Porch de Salomon specializes in providing homes to impoverished indigenous families and at times hosting medical and dental clinics as well.

“We established a relationship with Salomon’s Porch 13 years ago,” says Clark. But since his first trip there with his wife and children, Tim’s wife, UCC associate minister Kelly Jo, has been the trip leader and Tim has stayed behind to keep the church going. “This was my first time going back,” he says. “It’s such a powerful, moving experience.”

Set along Lake Atitlan, high in mountain terrain surrounded by volcanoes, the men were better suited to the 7,000-foot base elevation than many groups are who come from lower elevations. And they were motivated to work hard on the construction, with several members of the group having a background in building.

“Salomon’s Porch is emphatic about keeping the homes they build in women’s names,” explains Clark. “Women have basically no rights in Guatemala, and keeping the homes in the women or children’s names helps stem the tide of patriarchal abuse in their culture.”

The guys got to work at completing the building, and they also set up a tortilla stand and purchased the equipment for it for the mother Petrona, so she could provide for her family into the future. “She made blue corn tortillas every day for the workers, and I got to sample one, right off the gridle. It was like a heavenly experience,” says Clark.

The group also visited a women’s weaving cooperative that teaches traditional Mayan weaving techniques, from growing cotton to harvesting plants and flowers for their dyes to spinning the yarn to weave. “We also went to a Mayan chocolate cooperative,” says Clark. A special moment was being there for the Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, as well.

He says Halloween has also gained a major foothold there and the blend of Mayan underworld mythology and Christian stories and traditions is uniquely theirs. 

“Their native beliefs are still active and very much still alive, particularly in the rural areas. You don’t see that in many other Latin American countries,” says Clark. He says they do not proselytize Christianity or American ideals among the people they meet or help. “We go there to serve, not to convert. That’s not what our church is about anyway.”

Not everyone was able to fully participate, however. Tom Stumpf, a long-time member of the men’s group was returning for his eighth trip to Salomon’s Porch and brought his two adult sons as well. But unfortunately, he came down with a respiratory infection early on and missed most of the action. Stumpf handled many of the trip logistics, schedule and meetings prior to the trip itself so while he was disappointed, he was at least familiar with his accommodations as he was forced to hunker down. “They took great care of me and I’ve gotten to know [the staff] over the years,” says Stumpf. He adds it won’t stop him from returning at the next opportunity.

“What keeps me going back is the fact that the funding we provide to the mission—you pay your own room and board, and it’s all indigenous staff and guides—and purchasing all the building materials, we can see our money going to very worthy causes. They are modest homes but they are well built, solid, concrete houses with indoor plumbing and real floors as opposed to dirt. And seeing the joy on the faces of the people we are working for and how life-changing this is for them, you can absolutely see what your money and labor are doing for them. Some of them have never even slept in a bed before. And they are all there working hard right alongside you or quite frankly, harder,” says Stumpf.

Stumpf explains that they also develop relationships with the families and often sponsor the children to attend school, which is otherwise impossible for them. “That has long-term effects because getting an education is also life-changing for them,” he says. “They are lovely, smiling, hardworking, indigenous folks who have been discriminated against for centuries. We try to raise them up.”

One of Stumpf’s sons is also a videographer and is now making a short film for Salomon’s Porch that documents their work and how they bring people together. This will be used for their own outreach as well.

Another attendee was Mike Paulaitis, who like Stumpf is on the UCC church council, and had been on a few previous trips as well.

“I got involved through Tom. We had done some other work like this before around the church, so he talked me into it. And it was quite an experience. The first time I went I was wrapped up in the awe of my own personal feelings toward these people. The next two times I was more prepared for that,” reflects Paulaitis.

He says despite the men’s central focus on working, “We were building relationships in different ways. The grandma was in there moving cinderblocks like everybody else. The youngest was one year old,” he says.

“This time I think the most poignant thing that happened is that when we were saying goodbye to the family, there were two young boys—Carlos is 10 and Oscar is 7, I believe. And one of our group members told them, ‘We are proud of what you’re doing with your family. As men we want you to stay part of your family and support them.’”

Paulaitis says those words felt important as these boys have very little interaction with potential male mentors. “We were moved by getting to know these people. It was just the nature of the people, I think. The focus was on building, but it didn’t stop us all from building these relationships that were just so powerful.”

Paulaitis and his wife spend about half the year in Crested Butte and the rest of their time back in Maryland where he is a biophysicist at John Hopkins University research center.

Paulaitis shares one last story about the ripple effect of this mission work. The UCC always collects essential items people in Guatemala need prior to the trip, he explains, like toothpaste, aspirin, sunscreen and children’s clothing. This time he decided to share the list at his research center, “and my duffel bag filled up so quickly that I had to get another one.”

After he returned, he shared a slideshow with his colleagues. “It’s a very international research center. And one colleague has had a very successful career at Hopkins and is originally from another country. And when he saw my photos he said, ‘that reminds me of my childhood.’ That was so moving to me, given his position in life now. I told him he has obviously come a long way. I think this work resonated with my colleagues, like it does so many people.”

Clark says the work certainly resonates.

“For the most part, everyone who goes on these service trips grows emotionally, spiritually and philosophically. I can’t wait to go back. And people not affiliated with our church at all like to join too, because they see the effect of it. That’s why it’s always been a good group. I think it says something about the power of working with these wonderful people. Not all the world is as privileged as we are, and it changes your perspective about what’s important in life.”

More information about Porch de Salomon can be found at https://porchdesalomon.org.