Last Days in Guatemala, and the Journey Home

Our last 36 hours in Guatemala were filled with card-playing, hiking (including a 5-hour mountain hike for about eight of the students and a shorter hike for another eight people), shopping at various women’s cooperatives in San Juan la Laguna, worship led by Ali, Dion, Isabel and Valeria, hearing from the Guatemalan anthropologist and author who owns the Uxlabil Eco-Hotel, another 35-minute boat ride across the water, an arduous bus ride back to Guatemala city in rain and traffic, final worship at CASAS, and packing up for the journey.

We’re in transit now – another kind of liminal space – on the way back to Goshen College, where we will arrive in the early morning Sunday and then be together until 1 p.m. Monday for reorientation and debriefing. Our departure from Guatemala, coupled with some turbulence and a delayed landing in Mexico City (we almost needed to land in an alternate location), made the trip a tad stressful for some of the students, but we’re all in good shape and set to make our final flight to Chicago.

It’s been a magnificent trip with a gifted and committed group of young people who give us much hope for the future of the church and world.

Thanks again for joining us on the journey.