Day 4 - Eagles' Nest - Lake Atitlan

Today, we left Telma's and Guatemala City to make our way up to Lake Atitlan and the Eagles' Nest facility in Solola.  This morning at breakfast we were introduced to Jaime's nephew, Carlos, our new driver for the remainder of the trip. Carlos went to college in North Carolina and his parents live in Kentucky so he speaks very good English and understands many of cultural norms that we are accustomed to in the South. For example, he is a big fan of Waffle House and loves college basketball.  He is in the process of learning from Jaime and creating his own team sports ministry to bring groups to Guatemala. Carlos hit it off with the group from the start and has been a good addition to the trip. 

Our drive from Guatemala City to the lake went very smoothly. It is about a 2+ hour drive filled with amazing landscapes of huge tracts of farmland tucked into massive rolling hills and mountains. The guys toggled between napping and frantically taking pictures of the scenery. But none of the sites can prepare you for what awaits as your turn into Eagles' Nest. The size alone of what you see is overwhelming but then you see the colors of the water, the number of volcanic mountains and the amount of villages that surround the lake. The most common expression upon taking in all of the natural sites is "Wow!" and then you get to tour the facilities and hear about all that goes on here and you are truly speechless. Pedro and Felis operate an elementary school (pre-K thru 6), a children's home for orphans, and a fully staffed facility to accommodate teams like ours and several others, at once. We also got to see the work that Tolar and his team began and the projects that his new ministry is trying to fund.

Once we got settled in, we went straight to work. With a place this busy, Pedro has several construction and maintenance projects going on everyday. Our guys were put in charge of several projects including: organizing a large storage shed, clearing debris and trash, moving rocks and sand closer to an apartment so it can be floored with concrete tomorrow and cleaning out excess sand from an existing room. They worked tirelessly as a group and exemplified the spirit of service that we discussed earlier in the week. I am proud of our guys today. 

Tonight, we have had time to relax and enjoy a great dinner of Guatemalan tacos. After dinner, we met for a time of study of scripture and we focused on Galatians 5:16-24. Our studies so far have seemed to follow a progression and tonight was all about knowing that when you walk by the Spirit there is evidence in your life that is tangible (fruit). But also when you walk by the flesh, your life still yields fruit. We war with the flesh because we are sealed with the Spirit and are trying to walk by the Spirit. Sin loses it's appeal in many ways because our spiritual body is desiring to produce the fruit of the Spirit. It was a valuable time spent together studying the word and I am excited about how those times in particular have gone for the group and hope we continue to have this valuable time studying together. 

Tomorrow, we will continue some of the construction projects, get to play with some of the kids at the orphanage and perhaps play some basketball in the afternoon with some people in the nearby town. Pedro and Felis are always very welcoming and are excited about the ways our guys can help them but they are also excited to see them grow together as a team and grow individually in their spiritual lives.