Each day at camp brings new adventures and the ups and downs of learning in community, building our lives together while preparing to serve in Guatemala.  So far, we have studied a variety of topics, but our evening sessions have come from the book of Ephesians and focused on our identity as the Beloved of Christ.  Christ’s Beloved are chosen, broken, blessed and given.  Grasping these truths has changed our perspective and better prepared us for the trip ahead.  In addition to evening worship and teaching, we also train throughout the day.  We decided to...

Blessed are those whose strength is in You,In whose heart are the highways to Zion. They go from strength to strength;Each one appears before God in Zion. Psalm 84:5-7 The last twenty-four hours have passed like a whirlwind.  About this time yesterday, leaders began meeting students at the airport in Atlanta.  Since then, we’ve said farewell to our families, met our teammates, made the long journey back to camp on a colorful school bus, crammed our luggage into tents and been surprised by a sudden rainstorm.  We have also begun to worship the Lord and study His...

Part 4: The Power of ForgivenessBy: KristenPhotos: Connie Rock Dark clouds blanketed the sky, rolling past the “old man sleeping”, the iconic ridge overlooking Lake Atitlán, over the lake, and beyond the towering volcanoes. The air was damp with rain yet to fall, heavy with promise, and cool to touch. Our team stood upright in the back of two pickup trucks, holding onto railings and leaning with each curve. The wind whipped through our hair as we rounded each dramatic curve, with steep overlooks to our right and the mountainside to our left. Men, women, and children...

 Part 5: In the MarketplaceBy: Kristen Photos: Connie Rock One fun element of traveling overseas is being immersed in a new culture and discovering the unique world of your temporary home. AIM trips are really intentional about making sure that we follow the model God set forth at Creation: that we work hard during the week but take time to rest as well. Sundays are usually reserved for ministry and are often the busiest days of the week. Our “play” day on this trip fell on Friday, when our team took a boat to Panajachel, a local village with a big market. We spent the day...

Hey everyone! We are having a blast here. We just moved to Panajachel. Yesterday, Monday….was packed full! We got up at 6:00am and took a boat across the lake. Then we went zip lining. Zip lining was so much fun! There were 8 different courses of different speeds and lengths of zip lines. Kacie screamed her head off on everyone of them. Gary and Hannah L. failed the test to see if you could stop in time. But they finally got it and were able to go. Heather had a hard time crossing the rope swings at the end. Then we had to walk up the biggest hill of our life to the...

Part 1: Beauty in the Shadow of a VolcanoBy: Kristen Photos: Connie Rock   Deep in the heart of Central America, hidden in the beautiful green mountains of Guatemala, is a lake so large that it seems to touch the ocean and so beautiful that it reflects heaven itself. Lake Atitlán lies in a volcanic crater, a place of life borne out of a place of fire. Numerous villages cluster nearby, for this lake is a source of many things for the people who live on its shore-food, transportation, livelihood, to name a few. There is no place on earth untouched by the hand of God, but this...