The Youth of Albany Presbytery have had two retreats with Mam youth. A group of women journeyed two years ago to retreat with a team of women from the Mam presbytery. It’s about time the men of this presbytery followed suit.
A men’s trip to the Mam presbytery will be from Wednesday, February 15 – Tuesday, February 21, with the retreat being the weekend of February 17-19. The cost of the 6-day trip will be about $2,100 depending on airfare.
We go with a mission. Mission co-worker, Brian Thompson-Royer, is asking us to study “The Man in the Mirror: Orienting Our Lives Toward a Christ-Centered Masculinity” with the Mam men. This curriculum is very much needed among the Mam, which as a culture is very male dominated and has resulted in many lopsided relationships with women as well as an unhealthy stoicism among the men.
We arrive at our hotel on Wednesday afternoon/early evening in Guatemala City. The orientation will begin at CEDEPCA, the ecumenical education ministry in Guatemala City on Thursday morning. Friday we travel to Xela (Quetzaltenango) where we will gather with the Mam that evening. After the retreat, we will visit the resort city of Antigua for shopping and a time to kick back.
Together we will explore the curriculum before our trip, so we are ready to advocate for its use among the Mam.
