Emma's Birthday

Emma came to visit and to do a bit of travelling around Mexico. This was her birthday - at Panajachel on Lake Atitlan, with me and Naomi.

Mystical / Poetic

I´m on holiday and reading 'A generous orthodoxy' by Brian Mclaren, and really enjoying it. Lots of it I think that I´ve thought before but maybe never articulated. But one bit that I really like is the chapter on 'Why I am mystical /poetic'. He quotes C K Chesterton

'Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion... The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits......'

I think I want to be more poetic .......

Goodbyes

Yesterday Catherine, who has been a Strider working at one of the El Castillo homes, went back to N. Ireland. She's been living and working with the girls for the last 3 months. The girls were all very sad to say goodbye to her - and had prepared a few dances to say farwell.

It's been really great to see Catherine getting to know and making friends with the girls, and listening to them say their goodbyes and the girls praying for her, it was really clear how they had made really strong relationships and had learnt so much from each other. That's so much of what Stride is about - making relationships across cultures, and learning from each other. And it's great to be involved in that.

Naomi's birthday

Yesterday I was in Patzun for Naomi's birthday party. So this is how they do birthdays here.
Pinata

It's then traditional for the birthday girl to take a bite out of the cake - and somebody pushes her face in it. (there is a video of it but for some reason it doesn't want to upload!)

I've joined a gym!

-Not to actually use the gym obviously!!!! - but to use their swimming pool. It's a bit of a trek to get there but worth it - to swim in a proper size pool and for the view.

This is the view I get every time I breath....

Volcan Aqua.

And then atfer a few lengths this is the view from the end of the pool - it was cloudy today, but behind the cloud is two more Volcanoes - Fuego and Acatenango

Another weekend at the lake

I've just been to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan for the weekend with Catherine. She's only got a couple of weeks left in Guatemala so wants to make the most of it. We went across the lake to San Pedro and then went horse riding to Playa Dorada (golden beach).

As the path got narrower and narrower, I imagined that the beach would be wonderfully deserted - actually lots of people get there by boat - and we heard it before we saw it. As it was a Sunday - there was a whole crowd of Chapines (Guatemalans) - with the obligatory sound system and very large speakers! But the water was beautifully clear so we had a good swim anyway!

Supernatural - Sobrenatural

I've just spent the weekend at the International Youth Leadership Convention - well the Central America version anyway which was held here in Guatemala - it's going to Mendoza, Argentina and then Dallas, USA. And it was Brilliant! It's organised by Especialidades Juveniles (the Latin American version of the North American Youth Specialties.) The speakers included youth ministers and workers from across Latin America -with a huge wealth and breadth of knowledge and experience - as well as several Christian bands and artists. No wonder that about 8,000 people attended! Tony Campolo was also amongst the speakers - it made me laugh when he was introduced as 'a great preacher - even though he's not famous in the church!' (well maybe not here......)
Anyway the theme was 'sobrenatural' (supernatural) and based on Acts 2 -talking about how the Holy Spirit can invade our lives and turn us into people and leaders who can be agents of change in our world - bringing God's kingdom on earth in transforming action and love.
Very inspiring.