Fresh AIR - Young Methodists in Guatemala

Today we wrapped up our trip by visiting the city of Antigua, one of the oldest cities and the capital of Latin America. We hiked up to a cross that overlooks the city, visited the ruins of a convent, then had lunch at the Rainbow Room, a restaurant where AIR was born and then went to the market where items made in cities all over Guatemala are sold. We had a wonderful week working together with the AIR staff and interns, laughing together and experiencing new things. It was great to end the trip in such a beautiful city. I hope that the work that we did and relationships we formed, last well past our time here and that we continue to do God’s work. -Angelle Menier

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