So…I arrived on Saturday (10/2/01) with no help from the enemy, most things that could have gone wrong did such as forgetting my passport and ID at work and not realizing it until midnight, about 6 hours before I left for the airport, But God is good and as each problem arrived the solution was immediately given, everything worked out flawlessly!
Antigua is a city hidden behind once brightly colored walls. Entire blocks are connected by one wall with each store or residence divided by color. Doors open right onto the side walk but if you glimpse inside you will often see a small foyer leading to a beautiful court yard filled with lush green plants followed by the main building. The beauty of the city is truly locked behind medieval style doors. 
My squad of 63 and I spent a few days in Antigua Guatemala getting reacquainted with each other, our mission and all the do’s and don’ts for the next year. Because 2 people decided not to continue with the race one team was divided up and dispersed amongst the others. We now have a hilarious new teammate, Angie. On our last day together before all the teams split up and started our ministries AIM decided to give us a little adventure! Together we climbed Pacaya volcano and roasted marshmallows at the top! As you can imagine this was an incredible experience! I rode a horse up the mountain which was about 7kilometers, hoping it wouldn’t slip over the edge of the 2ft wide path. I had to remind myself that Champion, my horse has done this a thousand times before and God didn’t bring me here to die on a volcano. At the top of the mountain after roasting marshmallows for about 3 seconds in a hole in the ground, (that’s how hot it was!) and PB&J sandwiches we shouted our hearts out and proclaimed God word over Guatemala and the world. It was such a prophetic moment of the year to come; climbing to new heights, going places we couldn’t imagine ever visiting, eating PB&J which I’m sure will happen a lot on our budget, and seeing the world as God sees it: fearfully and wonderfully made. Yes!
I am now at my ministry site in Panajachel! Panajchel is a beautiful little town on a huge lake surrounded by volcanoes. The lake itself was once a volcano that erupted and completely imploded leaving a huge creator that filled with rain water. Because other volcanoes in the area like Pacaya are regularly active the ones surrounding Lake Atitlan are not…I think.
Our ministry contact is Pastor Benjamin. Picture Tiger woods (in appearance only not personality or promiscuity) if he were dressed like Crocodile Dundee and had tattoos, this is Pastor Ben. We were told we would be staying in a house with beds, 2 bathrooms and hot water! So when we reached our site and Pastor Ben pointed to a small corn field and empty dirt lot and said “There’s your bathroom, just make sure you burry your poop and uhh you can set up your tents in the lot over there.� We were surprised to say the least! He kept a straight face about it for a good 5 minutes before laughing and letting us in on the joke. He then led us to a beautiful but not yet complete hotel that we will be living in and working on finishing for future missionaries. Today has been our first full day of work on the Hotel, tonight we will be going to an all Spanish speaking church and in the future we will be visiting widows and orphans, teaching English, Bible study, completing construction on the home of a local Guatemalan woman, and possibly prison ministry. There is so much more to share so stay tuned! The next blog should be “Witch craft 101.�
