Guatemala Road Trip

Last weekend, our little team of youth group leaders (minus Jeremias) loaded up and headed off to Guatemala City for a youth workers conference.

Some ministers from Miami/Central America started holding this conference last year to help educate those of us that are working with youth groups. Seemed like a great chance to get some new ideas and learn how be better at what we do.

From Friday night until Saturday night we bounced back and forth between big sessions and smaller classes. We heard a little about how to be an efficient youth leader, how to involve parents and teens, etc. (Also included some interesting classes for the women about being extraordinary butterflies or fighting wolves, but thankfully there were just a couple of those..) Overall it was a decent conference. Mostly, I love our team and really enjoyed spending the weekend with all of them! We laughed a lot, and they really made it a great trip.

A few side notes about the trip, just for fun:

• The air conditioning in my car was (is) out, so the 96 degrees in and around Guatemala City made for a long 7 hours in the car.
• We had lunch at the mall on Friday, and I have never in my life been so excited to see a Taco Bell. (Insert your own quip along the lines of "how far I have fallen".. but it is what it is). It was the first time everyone in the group (non-gringo) tried Taco Bell and they LOVED it. Said it was expensive but worth it.. so that's how desperate we are for food.
• Saturday night there was to be a "comedian" which really turned out to be a raving clown.. Complete with light up juggling balls and glow sticks. I'm pretty afraid of clowns.
• Discovered that many things are "prohibited" in the malls in Guatemala City.. Including but not limited to taking photos or sitting in the floor.

<<Just watching Angel squeeze my car into "the church parking lot" 

Yulema's ready for bed..^^

Spring Break

Last week we had 3 different groups here on spring break trips.

First, there was the Pine Tree youth group (Texas), and I love them because they painted my house! I've been begging to have the inside of that house painted for quite a while now, and we love the new colors. Really though, absolutely anything would have been better than the orange that coated our walls before.. But the new blue and beige are great. They even painted some bible verses. Maybe between the better colors and the verses, everyone will be in happy moods all the time! **Wishful thinking**

Then, there was the group from the Auburn Christian Student Center that came to do construction on a church building in Contamal. I was especially excited to have a group from the ACSC because I went to Auburn, and was involved in the Honduras mission trip when I was there. They were a great group! Phil and Jon talked about how hard they worked, and I was proud that they were the group that the other MUR-ers associated with me. 

Finally, there was Southside (Texas), here for a medical brigade. This is obviously the group that I was with all week. Everybody had to work extra hard since they did medical, dental and vision with only 18 people (plus a few that we provided as helpers). They all worked in the rain and heat, and the week was a success. We saw 887 patients in 3 days, pulled a monton of teeth, and gave away tons of glasses and sunglasses. There's really never been a group that I just didn't like, and this group was no exception. I really enjoyed working with them! Although somehow I ended up spending a lot of time chasing around children, either while their moms were getting teeth pulled or having breathing treatments.. Otherwise, though, it was a great week as usual!