Submitted by Mason Norris, Youth Intern: Wednesday and Thursday, June 15 & 16 A group from the other church at Pura Vida (First United Methodist of Lakeland) has been working on a construction project building a new home for a local family. Their team leader has kept us updated by telling their stories (quite animatedly, […]
Editor’s Note: We warned that shaky internet might hamper our efforts… and sure enough, Day 4 received AFTER Day 5. Enjoy! Submitted by Carla Cottrell: Day 4 in Panajachel got off to a shaky start…literally! While having our morning coffee,we noticed the chandeliers in the dining room beginning to swing. Peter jumped up when others […]
Submitted by Carla Cottrell: This morning we were treated to breakfast outside under a wedding tent…truly a lovely spot. We then drove to the Aqua Escondido school where AIR has sponsored curriculum, students and a plant nursery. I should mention it was market day in the town we traveled to, and our minibus was guilty […]
Submitted by Kim Lawler, chaperone: Tonight is our emotional night (not that the whole week isn’t emotional). This is the night where we gather as a group to share how our experience has been and how God has been working through us. As usual, lots of tears were shed, and there were amazing stories of […]
Recently, Jack and Barb Travis were in church and a hymn spoke to them. They realized they needed to return to Salud Y Paz in Guatemala – and they recently did just that, staying at the former director and founder’s home in Panjachel. They were kind enough to send us some photos of their own “mission team of […]
Submitted by Mason Norris, Youth Intern: Apologies are in order that this blog comes in late today, as I am writing it Wednesday morning rather than Tuesday night. Last night was the group outing to the soccer fields, a fun journey for 5/6 of the mission and just more of the same for our group. […]
Submitted by Carla Cottrell: Day 3 of our trip began with another delicious breakfast buffet followed by the 45 minute drive up the mountain to the village Juan Lejas, the newest technico, had prepared for us to work in building stoves. Because Luis needed to be with his son, Don Miguel came with us. Anne […]
Monday, June 13 Submitted by Mason Norris, Youth Intern In describing the location of the sites we will be visiting, it is hard to decipher precisely the distances and relative locations. The categorized geography we are accustomed to fails me in a country where “up the hill past the abandoned factory” could very well be […]
Submitted by Carla Cottrell: Today we woke to a spectacular view of the lake, celebratory firecrackers going off (we do not know why), birds that could double for emergency vehicle sounds in Europe, and dogs barking that made us, for just one minute, think we were still at home. We walked down to the beautiful lakeside […]
June 12, 2016 I considered writing a full itinerary of our morning, but I scrapped that idea after how much of the agenda was collecting and distributing the team’s passports, moving luggage, and filling out forms. Needless to say the process of flying in large groups is not for the bureaucratically challenged. After being stuffed into […]