Pic and Roll

This is Panajachel, Guatemala, and I am not lying when I say this picture does not nearly do this town justice. Pana borders Lake Atitlan, the largest lake in the country, and is surrounded by towering volcanos. (Note: I cannot figure out how to type an apostrophy on this keyboard, so apologies to all abreviations).

My team of 16 arrived in Panajachel last week, and it is already starting to feel like home. We have been working with Ben Meijer and Mi-Reto ministries, serving the community through manual labor and outreach, but the coming weeks will bring new opportunities.

Here are some photos from our first week-and-a-half in Panajachel:

This is our "home away from home," our missionary house in Panajachel. I think it is safe to say we are all ecstatic about our living conditions, which are pretty phenomenal. No bucket showers = happy Don.

On Saturday, we visited a town of amazing people, who had been displaced ever since Hurricane Stan wrecked havoc on their community a few years ago. We set up camp early in the morning, played soccer, swung kids for hours, had a dance-off, sung songs, watched dramas, torched a bonfire, listened to Ben preach about Jesus Christ and salvation, then camped out beneath the stars. Awesome day. Oh yeah, we also played volleyball. It was a fun, little, feel-good game … until the Americans got involved. And then we dominated. But the Guatemalans enjoyed our bravado and spirit.

Walt goes up for the kill. Volleyball is a little tricky without the net, but that is how we roll.

The man of the match, Tashem, playfully challenges the ruling of the official. He may have lost the battle, but his team eventually won the war … I think.

We gathered on the coast of the lake on Wednesday to support the baptism of the Global Challenge team, which unfortunately headed out today. The team was a huge inspiration to us during our first week and spoke a ton of life and experience into our group. Sad to see them go, but they are now southeast Asia bound.