Intermissions Conference 2020

This past weekend we attended the yearly Intermissions Conference in Panajachel, Guatemala.  Intermissions is a community group for all English speaking evangelical missionaries serving in Guatemala.  The last weekend in February they have a retreat for everyone.  It is a time to come together for worship, fellowship, networking, and rest.  We love attending and look forward to it each year.  The boys especially love it because they get to spend the weekend with other English speaking missionary kids. They always have a blast!

Church groups come down from the States to lead the conference.  This year our guest speaker was Stan Key from Kentucky.  He did a wonderful job of teaching and challenging us.  We enjoyed a worship team from Avenue Church in Waxahachie, Texas.  The children and youth programs were led by Clayton King Ministries in Anderson, South Carolina.  The preschoolers were led by Scottsdale Bible Church in Scottsdale, Arizona.  A counseling team and a singles ministry team come each year from Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas.  We are always blessed by the free services offered by Christian Fellowship Church in New Holland, PA.  They have been coming for 20 years.  This year their group offered manicures, haircuts, foot reflexology, and back massages.  We each get to sign up for one service.  This year I chose a manicure.

In addition to all of that we also have workshops offered.  This year the sessions were on: Contextualizing Ministry for Mayans, What Now? An Overview of Guatemala's Immigration Law, Managing Anxiety and Depression in a Stressful and Confusing World, The Top Ten Things Your Children Will Tell Me In Counseling,  The Joy of Ministering in Guatemala, and Easy Things You Can Do Today To Raise More Support.

It was a great conference.  We loved the English worship times and Bible study.  We enjoyed getting to see some familiar faces (many we only see once a year at the conference).  This year was special because we got to enjoy fellowship with several of our homeschool co-op families.   We did not even know most of them before joining the co-op even though we had all been attending the conference together for years.  It was especially good for the boys who felt like they had friends there that they already knew.  It was sweet to watch them all hang out together.  God has blessed them with some great friendships this past year.

I did not take many photos over the weekend.  I wish I had done better.  Here are a few I did take.

On the drive there we always stop at the lookout for a bathroom break and family photo.  You can see Lake Atitlan and one of the volcanoes in the background.

another view from the lookout

A view from our balcony.  All rooms at the conference hotel have balcony views.  It is so beautiful to look out and see the lake and volcanoes. 

a sunset view on Friday night

Saturday morning.  I have taken this same photo of them every year they have attended the conference. 

breakfast is our favorite meal there

I had the first appointment on Saturday morning for a manicure.  What a fun way to start the day.

Another thing we love about the conference is the book exchange.  Everyone takes books they no longer want or need and we swap them with each other.  We all make several stops by the book tables during the weekend. 

another beautiful sunset view on Saturday night

If you serve in Guatemala and have not been attending the conference I encourage you to go.  You will be blessed.  Next year's conference dates are February 26-28.  We are already looking forward to it.

Team Meeting 2020

Earlier this month we attended a team meeting in Orlando, FL with our Connections Cluster.  First Baptist, Orlando hosted us and we are thankful to them for opening their facilities to us.  We enjoyed getting to attend a Sunday morning worship service there and our boys especially enjoyed getting to attend their kid's classes.  Worship in English is always a treat!

We had full days of meetings and discussions.  For us, personally, it was a great time to learn more about Americas Connect and how to better walk alongside our US Baptist churches as they go through the program.  One of the key elements of Americas Connect is the pre-trip and on the ground training that we will do with the teams.  This really helps prepare the teams for not only their week in Guatemala but also prepare them for healthy missions involvement in the future.  We left with a much better understanding of what that looks like and how we can facilitate it.

We are excited about all the opportunities we will have this year to partner with US churches through Americas Connect and help them take their first steps in missions involvement.  If your church is wanting to get involved in international missions, Americas Connect is an entry level trip that will help get you on the right track.  If you have any questions or would just like more information, send us an email (yourmovingwhere@yahoo.com).  Whether you serve in Guatemala with us or not, we can help connect you to a place of service in the Americas with the IMB. Let's talk!

Our Americas Connect team representing the countries of Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Brazil, and Ecuador.  We are your IMB representatives ready to serve alongside you.

Our meetings were not 100% business.  We enjoyed some great times of singing, prayer, and devotion.  We were blessed by having Dr. Ronny Raines and his wife Angie drive down from Tallahassee to lead us in two sessions on our spiritual growth.  He is the Senior Pastor at Bradfordville First Baptist Church in Tallahassee. They are a sweet couple and we are thankful that they took time to invest in all of us.

Our kids enjoyed fellowship as well while we were in meetings.  A retired missionary couple living in Orlando came and led them for us.  Our boys had a great time and enjoyed their days greatly. 

The kids one night after supper getting treated to Krispy Kreme donuts.  

It was a great meeting.  We are thankful for the time to get to know our teammates better and encourage each other in ministry. 

Valentine's Day 2020

This year for Valentine's Day the boys got to participate in a card swap at our homeschool co-op.  I think this was their first time to swap Valentine's cards in Guatemala.  They were excited.  We attend co-op on Thursdays so it fell the day before the actual holiday. 

Here they are filling out cards for their co-op friends.

They made boxes for collecting their cards.  Cruz made a robot monster and Ben made Luigi.

ready to celebrate Valentine's Day at co-op

That evening when they went to bed I set out some decorations for the next morning.

I had picked them up a few treats while in the States.  

For breakfast I made pink heart shaped pancakes.

Cruz at breakfast on Valentine's morning

Ben's Valentine breakfast

We had been hosting two of our IMB leaders all week and needed to get one of them to the airport mid-day to fly back home.  After doing a little school work that morning we all drove into Guatemala City together.  We made a stop by our mission house there.  We then dropped one off at the airport and took the other out to lunch with us.

You could probably guess where I wanted to go eat for Valentine's Day lunch.  TGI Friday's!!!

Later that afternoon we visited a local mall and got the boys a haircut.  They do not get soda often so you can imagine Ben's joy when the barber gave him a Pepsi and two suckers to enjoy.

We picked up a few supplies, ate supper at the food court, and then drove back home to Antigua.

a family photo to end the day

It was a simple day but a lot of fun.  I sure do love my little family.

Legoland Florida

Our boys have wanted to visit Legoland for several years now.  Cruz started asking when he was around 5 and got his first Lego set for Christmas. He has been obsessed with Legos ever since.  On every trip we have made back to the States he has asked to go to the park.  We have just not been able to make that happen.

When I found out that our whole family would be attending a recent work trip in Orlando I knew we could not pass up the chance to take them.  I am so glad it worked out for us to go.  We had an amazing time!!!

As I started to plan, I was thrilled to find out that Legoland offers homeschool discounts.  Several times throughout the year they offer deeply discounted tickets to homeschool families.  We went on one of those days.  The crowds were low and the park never felt crowded.  We walked on to just about every ride and several rides we rode back to back without even getting off.

I mentioned in my last post that we stayed at the Legoland Hotel.  It is just steps from the park entrance.  After breakfast we walked right over and began our fun day.

Welcome to Legoland Florida!!!

Can you spot David in the background?

It was a little drizzly when the park opened but it soon cleared up and turned into a beautiful day.

Land of Adventure

Coastersaurus is a wooden roller coaster and probably my favorite ride of all.

The boys loved this ride.  It is a virtual reality coaster. It made me a little dizzy to ride it with the mask on so the next few times I rode it was without the VR mask.

new swords

We all loved Pirates' Cove Live Water Ski Show.  They warn you that the first five rows get wet so David and I sat up top while the boys sat on the front row.

The girl here that was leading the show was the same girl that led the kid's activities the night before at the hotel.  The boys felt like they knew her.

This was the boys favorite ride.  They got soaked and loved it!

We took these pictures next and you can still see how wet they were.

We walked through Miniland USA to see all of the amazing Lego creations.  I think I read that there are over 32 million Lego bricks in that area alone.

We made a few stops at the gift shops before the park closed.

I made a lot of steps that day but each one was worth it.

I am so thankful that I got to experience this day with my boys.  It is a day I am certain they will always remember.