Life Lately June 2025

We kicked off June sending the boys to Camp Guamiski.  This is a yearly summer camp for missionary kids whose parents serve in Guatemala.  They look forward to it all year long.  It is definitely one of their favorite annual events! While they are at camp every summer, we spend the week doing annual medical checkups.  

 

This year Ben was on the yellow team and Cruz was on the orange team. 

 

 

Cruz's team 

 

Ben's team 

 

 

2025 group photo 

 

 

having lunch with friends at Santo Gyro in Antigua

 

 

Enjoying my last walk with Betsy until next year. She and I started walking on weekdays back in January and rarely missed a day.  The exercise was great but the fellowship and accountability was my favorite part.

 

David and I on our last date night in Antigua for a while. 

 

 

We began packing for our furlough.  On this trip home we took all of our Legos to store in the States.  

 

A sweet friend saw this Coke with my name on it and brought it to me.  It made me smile! 

 

We had several meals with friends during those last days in Guatemala.  On this particular day we met the Jarvis family for a pizza lunch at our local mall.  We also got ice cream before we parted ways.

 

Ben and Josue at one of our last church services together. 

 

Ben playing video games at his friend Ethan's house the day before we left. 

 

 

Mid-month we flew to Panama for a work conference.  It was our last work commitment before we left for the States. 

 

walking through the Guatemala City airport

 

 

sunrise view from the airport 

 

 

While in Panama, we celebrated Father's Day. 

 

Ben at supper one night. 

 

 

On the closing session Cruz shared with the large group something that God had taught him over the week.  It was a proud moment to see him get up and share. 

 

 

We returned to Guatemala for about thirty hours.  It was enough time to unpack, wash clothes, and repack before heading back to the airport to fly overnight to the States to begin our Stateside Assignment (furlough).  I'll share about the rest of June in my next post.

 

Wrapping Up Our Time in Panama

We checked out of our hotel on a Saturday morning and headed towards the hotel that our conference was being hosted at.  To get there we had to cross the Bridge of the Americas.  That was fun!

Cruz and I in an Uber on our way to the conference hotel.

Our original purpose for our trip to Panama was a work training meeting.  We spent the next several days with other indigenous workers that serve in the Americas doing oral Bible story training. We would begin each day with worship and then Bible study led by Dr. Gordon Fort. The rest of the day would be in training sessions.  We received new story sets that were developed for evangelism, discipleship, healthy church formation, and leadership training.  It was a great time of learning from each other and sharing with each other.  The conference was based on John 14.6  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."   Pray for each of us as we look for opportunities to share these stories with the lost, new believers, and church leaders.

We had a session on the six components of the missionary task and I loved these props we had to go with it.

While we were in sessions each day our kids were being taken care of by a volunteer team from Immanuel Baptist Church in Shawnee, Oklahoma.  They had an amazing week of VBS learning even though life is wild, God is good.  My boys had a blast! 

At the end of the conference they did a short presentation for the parents. Here is Cruz doing the motions to one of the songs they learned.  It has been a month now and he is still singing those songs.  Just yesterday morning before breakfast I overheard him singing the hymn "Leaning On the Everlasting Arms."  When I asked him where he learned that song he replied "in Panama".  It blessed my heart!

some of the wonderful volunteers who worked with our kids

We enjoyed the fellowship times we had with the adults but it was an extra special time for the kids.  Many of them had spent time together at our homeschool conference back in May like Cruz and his friend Sawyer.  They were looking forward to seeing each other again in Panama.  They were almost inseparable all week long.  We are thankful for sweet friendships but just wish they did not have to wait so long before they get to see each other again.

a photo from our last night in Panama 

We had a great trip and sure hope we get an opportunity to return there one day.  It is a beautiful country and our family made memories there that will last a lifetime. 

Monkey Island Panama June 2019

Another fun adventure we enjoyed while in Panama was visiting Monkey Island. 

ready to board our boat

I got a little tickled when I realized the sign said "No parking beyond this point."

ready to go

We started out with a boat ride on Gatun Lake.

We made several stops at different places along the way.  We could see the monkeys in the trees.  We were able to see several different types of them on the tour.

Our guide took some bananas and mangoes to feed them so they would come closer to the boat.

Some of them even came into the boat.  That was a lot of fun!

While out on the lake we got to see a few ships pass by.

David was able to feed them from his hand.

more ships passing by

I liked seeing the monkeys but seeing the ships up close was just as fun.

We enjoyed seeing a few more ships pass by from our hotel later that afternoon.  It never got old.

That evening we returned to Albrook Mall for pizza at the food court and more walking around.  What a fun day we had!