This week has been full of lots of different activities as well as end of year wrap-up activities. Each of us has been working very hard on writing a paper on a cultural theme about Mexico. Although the paper is not a huge stretch many of us have been nervous about the presentation over our....
Mexico City
It is hard to describe in full what we did on our weekend in the Federal District, which is more commonly known as Mexico City, but I will try briefly to describe to you some of the places we visited. For many of us, who are not city people by any means, the idea of....
Free time reports from the Middle East
For the week of free travel, four of us (Drew, Nathan, Lucas, and I) chose a low-cost, high-endurance option: borrowing a tent and sleeping bags from JUC, writing down the names and numbers of “trail angels,” buying some dried fruit, peanut butter, and cereal in Jerusalem’s Old City, and hiking a roughly 120 km portion....
Free Time Reports from Guatemala
Las Gringas Perdidas We went to Antigua, where we spent loads of money on gifts (feel loved). We dined on cheesecake and cappuccino slushies. A random shoeshine boy offered Sara some weed. (Don鈥檛 worry. She declined.) We raced around in tuk-tuks, and Amy lap-hopped around a chicken bus. When we left, we hopped the wrong....
“Been there, done that”
Before I left on the trip I decided to make a map on Google to show where all we are going.聽 I’ve gradually updated bits and pieces while here, but as of the last two weeks, it will take me many hours to make any progress. We’ve been studying at Jerusalem University College.聽 We’re told....
Scripture comes alive in Israel
We are at the end of our time here at JUC (Jerusalem University College). Over the past two weeks we have found ourselves in a different sort of adventure each day, whether looking out at the battlefield of David and Goliath, sitting on the side of Mount Carmel, or floating in the Dead Sea. Scripture....
Exploration in Guatemala
We left for Tikal, Peten, at five in the morning. Most of us were dead on our feet until we received our brown bag breakfasts consisting of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and yogurt. As of lately, peanut butter has become a hot commodity in our group. You could bribe someone with just a jar....
Bringing peace, burying bones
One of our sessions included a field-trip to the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG).聽 Our entire time here everything we learn seems to connect in some way to the years of violence Guatemala has experienced.聽 Over 200,000 people have died or disappeared in the conflict and despite the signing of the peace accords in 1996,....
Discovering Beauty in Simplicity
This weekend鈥檚 trip to the Cob谩n area was, for me, a chance to discover beauty in simplicity.聽 On Friday night we ate supper with missionaries Galen and Phyllis Groff.聽 They had simply ordered pizza, but it was delicious and we had a wonderful time learning from them about the culture of the indigenous Kekchi people.聽....
Life in Guatemala – bridal shower and bartering
My time so far in Guatemala has been enjoyable and I am experiencing a lot. My host family is really wonderful! My host brother is actually getting married next weekend and I was invited to his fiancee’s bridal shower. This was a new experience for me because I have never been to a bridal shower....