NOTE: Service times Sunday, August 6 only will be 8:00 a.m. & 10:30 a.m.

August 6th: Representatives from Porch de Salomon, Panajachel, Guatemala, will be joining us to talk about the work they are doing there. Details on the 2018 mission trip to Guatemala are still being finalized, so stay tuned!

The Sunday schedule on August 6th will be as follows:

   + 8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite I

         9:00 a.m. Coffee & Refreshments

   + 10:00 a.m. Dave Evans & others from St. Michael's:  Mission Presentation in the Nave

   +10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist Rite II

         11:45 a.m. Coffee & Refreshments with special guests: the Solomon's Porch Directors

History of Mission Trips

In the early morning hours of Saturday, March 25, 2017 Team Chicago departed again from O'Hare airport headed for Porch de Salomon in Panajachel, Guatemala. This was the team's second mission to serve "the least, the lost, and the last of these," in the words of Porch de Salomon's vision statement. Nineteen representatives (or family members) from St. Michael's and St. Mark's, Barrington Hills partnered with a team of Guatemalan workers to begin building a home for Rudy and Josefina Najera and their three children.

Since June 2014, St. Michael's has generously supported Porch de Salomon's work since 2014 - 300+ lbs. of supplies, vitamins, over-the-counter medicines, and clothing, as well as over $5000 in Outreach funds for food have been donated. I'm extremely grateful for the long-term prayers, support, and gifts of St. Michael’s and on behalf of our team want to say "¡Muchas Gracias, Mi Amigos!"

Team Chicago developed after three Barrington-area parishioners joined trips led by Ted Grueser from Trinity United Methodist Church in Florida (Ted, our former youth ministry leader from St. Michael's, is now leading mission trip efforts worldwide).

In 2016, parishioners from St. Michael's, St. Mark's, and several other churches came together as Team Chicago, the first group from Illinois to serve at the mission. Our hope is to continue to support and work with this progressive and hands-on mission to help advance peace, justice, and love into some very desperate places. 

It is often supposed that the poorest and neediest countries are in Asia, but some of these places are actually only a few hundred miles from US soil. Guatemala is a resource-rich country, but has the 4th worst child malnutrition rate in the world. It is also the 5th worst place in the world to be a female. The reasons for these problems are many and complex, and Porch de Salomon is working to help reverse some of the conditions which keep poor Guatemalans (especially women and children) in despair.

This mission seeks to address the great needs of our neighbors there, and furthering the causes of peace and justice by providing for education and meeting people's basic needs.