Fresh AIR - Young Methodists in Guatemala

Today we went to a school over an hour away up in the mountains. To welcome us they had a program prepared for us that consisted of original dances and poems. One dance that stuck out the most was the very first dance. It began with some fire and ended with the burning of candles. However, the interesting part in the middle was these 11 year old school kids sacrificing a roster over the fire. It was shocking to say the least. Then we began to realize this is was just another side of their traditional Mayan culture. After their program our group shared two songs with them and then we gave the program’s winners soccer balls. After lunch five of us played soccer with the children in the courtyard. The rest of the group went to go see a tree nursery that the school has helped make as part of their agroforestry program. The soccer game was fun, competitive, and full of laughs. The sound system that was set up for the program was play music for the game. One song I remember playing

Acatenango is a town about an hour away from where we are staying as well as the volcano on which the town sits. Although Acatenango is dormant it is a rare site because it is one of the few volcanoes to have a double cone. Our task while in the town was to finish the stoves we had started the day before. While in the house where the stove was being built you could see no more than a few hundred feet away, if that. At first it seemed as if there might be a fire nearby but come to find out the vapor was actually a cloud. The entire day we were so high up on the volcano that we were actually trapped in the clouds hugging its side. At times, while working the wind would pick up and small wisps of the cloud would gently tornado into the window making it hard to focus on the task at hand. To finish the stove off we had to make mortar to paste the bricks together. When I say we I mostly mean the young fifteen-year-old boy who seemed to be one of the oldest children of

“Por sus fruitos los conoceréis”- Mateo 7:20 This is what the back of the AIR (Alliance for International Reforestation) t-shirt says. “By your fruits you will be known.” And it’s true. People will know that we are Christians by our love, by our actions, by our service.   People will know who and what AIR is by its fruits – both the literal fruit from the trees they plant as well as the lives and communities that are affected by the work that AIR does in reforestation and agroforestry. By your fruits you will be known. And without knowing that this scripture was central to the work of AIR, our focus this week, as we are going through our daily devotions, has been on fruit – the fruits of the spirit. “God’s Spirit makes us loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. God’s Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23, 25).” Today we fo

About an hour away from our hotel in Chimaltenango, across the rolling beautiful fields of cantaloupes and carnations meant for the US, is the mountain aldea of Chipata. It’s a wonderful ride: thick green foliage, hundreds of people and animals looking at us with amiable curiosity, and vistas from the tops of mountains to the mountains beyond and valleys below that makes you feel like the king or queen of the world. We stop about a mile away from our worksite at a nursery run by six women who have been working with AIR for six years. Throughout their partnership, these women have raised and planted more than a half a million trees, many of which were visible on our ride in. Doctora tells us to listen carefully, as these women are Kakchiquel Maya, and speak only a few words of Spanish. As Luis, our técnico, translates their story, the throat clicks and glottal stops of that ancient language is like nothing we’ve ever heard. Our worksite, we’re told, is much more suave than yest

After our travel day, we arose in our splendid hotel to greet the morning sunshine and with joy and anticipation. After a lovely (3 course!) breakfast, we met the technicos in the parking lot of the hotel. It was at this point that Dr. Hallum brought to our attention that some of us would have to ride in the truck beds as there were not enough seats for all of us. Well, still bright eyed, we had trouble fitting all of the people who wanted to ride in the truck beds. And let me tell you, you have not “done” Guatemala until you have ridden in a truck bed up and down the side of a mountain. It was so overwhelming I had to take a nap on the way there.             Our first stop was the AIR office where we got a tour and got to meet the staff. Dr. Hallum, who is our guide and has mentored many students over the years is the founder of AIR, but the real head honcho is the director, Ceci. She coordinates sites for the technicos from the office as well as keeps an eye on all of the various

Alright, first blog post of the trip! I have to say, waking up super early to make sure we made it to the airport by 4AM had me a bit concerned at first. Nobody truly wants to get up that early, and it can turn even the most chipper person a bit sour. But everyone rallied behind each other and we all had a very pleasant morning! We made jokes that were hardly funny, but due to the exhaustion we all felt had some of us laughing until we cried. We weren’t going to let the early morning get the best of us! Both the flight to Atlanta, and the subsequent flight to Guatemala City passed without incident, a relief to all after the long day. After getting through customs we made our way outside where our technicians José and Pedro-Miguel helped pack all our stuff and whisked us away to Finca La Loma, the hotel we’d spend a majority of our week in. Upon arrival we were stunned to see the sprawling complex of interconnected hotel rooms scattered about a large beautiful estate filled with bloomi