Guatemala Day Three – We Did What?

We will get to the “what” in just a few minutes… But first we want to share with you our wonderful morning in Embaulada. It started off with a lack of power. The storms last night took a tree down so we awoke with no lights and no hot water. Some heard the tree fall and the transformer “pop”. We were not too concerned about the lack of power because we were heading to church anyway.
One of the difficulties of staying in the mission house with 32 missionaries is getting everyone from place to place. Most of the transportation was to get the church goers to the church on time. So most of us were taken to the church to the church by pickup truck driven by the very talented Mike Morton. A few others decided to hike in to Embaulada for the service.
It was wonderful to see the church sanctuary complete, and to have our second service there. The boys (Alex, Asa, Bubba, and Joe) helped lead a few praise songs and Dale got the rest of us up there to introduce ourselves. Dale also introduced the new cub scout packs and shared with the congregation the importance of the Scouts and how it can help develop strong leadership in the church and the community.
The students led by Janet took the kids out for children’s church time. They shared with the kids the story of the Prodigal Son. They had a wonderful skit and really got the kids involved in the story. They also had a wonderful craft prepared by Kyle back home. We finished the craft time just as the church service was finishing up. We closed our time in Embaulada handing out food supplies of rice, cornmeal and beans. We also gave out beanie babies to the kids.
And now for the “We Did What?” moment… we were finally given the go ahead to make the trip to Lake Atitlan in Panajachel. For some of us this has been a six year wait. The trip was a “3 hour tour” on a chicken bus. It rained on us for a majority of the trip and some of the windows did not close all the way so a few got a little wet. The trip was worth it though. We will post a few pictures but I am sure they will not do it justice. The sight was really breathtaking as we came down the mountain toward the lake. With three volcanoes in the backdrop of a beautiful lake the mission team was taking pictures every moment they had to capture the sights they were seeing.
As we made our way through the town we found a wonderful little hotel called “Rancho Grande”. Nice little villas with a nice bed and showers. We took a few minutes to settle in our rooms before we took in the sights of the town. All wanted their first stop to be down by the lake so that we could get our team photo. After that it was time to shop and eat. Some of us are serious shoppers and event the serious downpour wouldn’t stop us.
Tomorrow we are staying in Panajachel until 2pm shopping, taking boat rides and even zip lining! We will head back to the mission house with a possible stop at the Mayan ruins.
Keep the prayers coming!
The Guatemala Mission Team