We arrived in Antigua, Guatemala on Sunday evening as the first place Squad B team. Early the next morning the teams raced to the top of Cerra de la Cruz, which is a stone cross on a hill overlooking the city. We prayed over the city for an hour then raced back to the center of town. My team, ZEO, finished first for the second leg of our race around the world!
The ride from Palenque, Mexico to Antigua, Guatemala took 12 hours of riding in a small van, piled high with our team and a Squad A team’s gear. The country we drove through was beautiful! The scenery kept changing as we rose higher and higher in elevation. Pine trees dominated the vegetation and the air temperature dropped to a refreshing coolness. The roads were slightly curvy and our van driver seemed excited to be a part of our race as he sped around every curve. Some of us began feeling the effects and Amy lost it (literally) several hours into the ride.
Because of visa restrictions we had to leave Mexico a little earlier than our next contacts in Nicaragua were ready to receive us. So Antigua, Guatemala is our temporary home for this week. It has been a time of recuperating, team regrouping and processing, and preparing for the next month of ministry in Nicaragua. We are also working with the God’s Child program and the disabled children in the Catholic hospital.
Antigua is a beautiful little touristy town with cobblestone streets and old Spanish style buildings. There are volcanoes all around us, with one of the three active ones, Picaya, in Guatemala within an hours drive. The pictures can’t even do it justice. With a 2 hour hike we were able to walk within 20 feet of a moving lava flow. The last quarter mile to that point we were stepping around hot spots and glowing red crevices in the hardened lava field!
We leave Saturday morning for the several day trip down to our ministry in Nicaragua, close to Managua. Please pray for safe travels and open, broken hearts for the people we will meet. God is rocking our lives… and this is only the beginning!
To Him be all the glory!
