Intermissions Conference 2023

The last weekend in February we attend the annual Intermissions Conference at beautiful Lake Atitlan in Panajachel.  The intermissions community is made up of all English speaking missionaries who serve in Guatemala.  This includes all denominations and sending organizations.  It is like a family and is a great avenue to learn about others serving here, where they serve, and what they are doing in ministry.

The conference begins on Friday afternoon and goes through lunch on Sunday.  It is held at the Hotel Porta del Lago.  It is a beautiful, relaxing setting for our conference.  

On the way to the conference I stated that I was going to do a better job taking pictures.  In spite of my best efforts just as in years past, I did not do a good job at that.  Here are a few that I did take.

 

The Friday afternoon view from our room.

 

Cruz with a few of his friends.  This was right after check-in.  We rarely saw much of him the whole weekend.  He was busy socializing and having himself a blast.  We are thankful for the friendships that both of our boys have here.

 

We had meals with several different people but the only meal photo I took was with the Wisemans. They became our friends when we moved to Coban and took Kekchi language classes with us.  We bonded over those classes and have remained great friends throughout the years.

 

Volcano view from the dining room.

 

 

Sunset view from our room.

 

Our first worship service was Friday evening.  This was our theme for the conference.  We also had services on Saturday morning, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning.

 

Saturday morning view

(can you tell I love the views)

 

 

A highlight of the weekend was getting to celebrate my birthday while at the conference.  My birthday often falls either right before, during, or right after the conference.  It has become a fun way to celebrate that I look forward to.  

 

On Saturday morning and afternoon there were break-out sessions for the adults.  This year's topics were:

-Finishing the Journey Here Well: Preparation for Retirement

-Controlling What You Can't Control

-Missionary Kids and Resilience

-Busted Expectations

-Facing Your Fear by Being Friendly

-What Do You Wish You Had Known? 

 

David and I were asked to sit on a panel for this session along with a few others with various years of service between us.  In addition to answering this question, we were also there to answer all random questions asked of the panel about our time of service here.  We were honored to be able to participate.

We especially enjoyed the coffee breaks and even had a surprise dessert social on Friday evening. During these times was when we did our best visiting and catching up.  I loved getting to see Ms. Barbara and spending a little time with her.  She still lives in Sayaxche where we lived during part of our second term back in 2010-2012.  She is truly an inspiration to all who know her.

 

We took a group photo on Saturday night of our IMB mission family who were at the conference. We love these people!

At the beginning of the Sunday morning service, the elementary kids performed a song that they had learned.

 

 

In all there were 132 adults, 68 MK's, and 46 volunteers at the conference.  The guest speakers and a counseling team came from Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas.  The worship team and the children's team came from West University Baptist in Houston, Texas. The preschool team came from Scottsdale Bible Church in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The youth team came from FBC, Atlanta, Georgia. We are thankful for all the volunteers who came and served us all so well during the conference!

The 2024 conference dates are February 23- 25.  If you serve in Guatemala and have not been attending, make plans now for next year.  We would love to see you there!!