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As every parent of a child or teen in our congregation already knows, parenting in the 21st century is a tremendous challenge (as well as a joy) - one of our most life-impacting opportunities (responsibilities?) (relationships?). This Sunday we'll listen to an image about the parent-child relationship from the Old Testament book of Hosea, and reflect on how it might relate to parenting, or other mentoring relationships, today.

Last night, many of the delegates had a very meaningful conversation with Armando, who works as a security guard during the day and stays at the Sister Parish Center at night. He is originally from a small village in Quiché, one of the 22 departamentos (states) of Guatemala. Although many of the people in his village speak Spanish, they are of Mayan origin and speak the Ixil language.

Day 2 was another successful day full of laughs  and adventure!  The members of the delegation and the  UPAVIM women waited out the rain with a few icebreaker games inside. We sat in a big circle and went around saying a word to make a story. It was a little challenging with the different languages but by the end of the game everyone was laughing away the delicious Campechanas. (Campechanas are sweet bread that the women make.

We made it! PTL!

Yesterday we arrived at the Guatemala airport at 6:30pm. We were greeted by several UPAVIM women with posters reading "Bienvenidos!" and Dina waving a giant bouquet of balloons. Then we drove in a bus through Guatemala City to our home-away-from-home for the first half of our trip, being, the Sister Parish Center. Here we were greeted by more UPAVIM women and Sister Parish staff. After introducing ourselves we enjoyed our first Guatemalan meal that the women made for us "with lots of love." By way of broken Spanish/English and translations galore we have began connecting with these women.

Praise God for a safe arrival and the overwhelming welcome and community that the Holy Spirit is so obviously dwelling and working in here in the UPAVIM and Sister Parish family.

Hello! I hope everyone's summer is going well. This Sunday I will be talking about choosing our government and governing our choices.  Happiness and meaning are not things to pursue. If you have ever tried to be happy or have a meaningful conversation, you know that these twins are seldom available to command from ourselves or the situation.

Years and years ago, I happened to be in this church for a summer worship service, and heard, for the first time, a festive Avery and Marsh song, Every Morning is Easter Morning from Now On...  sung by a quartet. The enthusiasm of the singers made an impact on me, and every now and then I find myself going back to that moment, and appreciating the song's reminder to see each day through the light of the resurrection of Christ.

We are anticipating arrival tomorrow around 9:00 AM

We are anticipating arrival tomorrow around 9:00 AM

On the 5th day of tour we went to the beach and had a concert! In the morning we got to the church after a great first night with our host families. After our daily morning routine of the annocments and Howie's verse of the day we opened letters from our families. It was a very emotional time for us because we miss our families. Than we got on the bus and went to the beach and it was the perfect day for the beach. We laid our stuff down as soon as we could and got in the water. The water was cold when you first got in but after awhile it was nice.

Today our host families drove us back to their church at 7:30am in order for our group to gather up. After talking about the day's scripture and reading the day's letter from previous seniors on tour, we started the drive toward the zip lining course& conuing/kayaking place. A good portion of the group went zip lining, but also another went kayaking/conuing instead. The zip lining course reached over 60ft high at times, and the grand finale line was a good 900feet long. Everybody seemed to love the three hours of zipping over the beautiful woods, and a clear river at the end!