The returning Spring 2009 Guatemala Cross-cultural group shared reflections and adventures from their experiences in Central America in chapel on April 20.  Listen to it on the EMU Podcast.

The coffee industry has had a major impact on the lives of most of Central America´s rural communities. In many cases, it has further impoverished families, creating land tenure problems and trapping small growers in a cycle of low selling prices and high production costs. However, some small coffee growers have found that by forming....

Group: Peyton Erb, Cassie Leatherman, Rebecca Copeland, Yvonne Stauffer I think we are all equally exhausted tonight. We went on a white water rafting trip today in the Pico Bonito forest just outside of La Ceiba, Honduras. First our guide had all of us stand together and say a prayer before our trip. Then they....

Our visit to ASONOG in Santa Rosa de Copan was very fascinating.  I thought that it was very cool that we could make that connection from our speaker in the first week of orientation, Francisco Machado, to the organization that he worked with in Honduras and actually see the work they’re doing that is so....

Friday, Feb. 27 was the end of language school.  That day we had a Clausura in which each Spanish class did a presentation highlighting their progress from the past 8 weeks. There were a variety of presentations, all showing tremendous improvement in the students’ capabilities.  That same afternoon we boarded a small plane for Flores,....

A normal field trip brought out strong reactions from our group in our visit to CAM, Centro Atención al Migrante. Our host, Carlos gave us information about their immigrant halfway house and why it is needed. Then this led him to directly state how the U.S. has played a role in causing migration. I have....

So I’ve been thinking about the whole idea of Syncretism, Catholic vs. Evangelical, and the ongoing process of change within the Church here, as Rafael was talking to us about yesterday. I’m kind of struggling with it all. Is all syncretism bad? Is my belief a result of syncretism? It doesn’t seem like it, because....

Rolling through Antigua this weekend was quite amazing. Even though the country of Guatemala is roughly the size of Ohio, it contains over 30 volcanoes, which are enormous. When I actually (more or less) reached the top of Fuego, I realized how drastic the country really is, in terms of geography. You drive from the....

I think you can learn a lot about a group of people by the way they dress and by what food they eat. This occurred to me as I read about the Mayan people. It was very interesting to read about their farming and cornfields. “If there are no tortillas served, you have not eaten....

There is so much suffering all around me here. Actually, today was the first time I thought maybe Guatemala is not as ‘broken’ as I thought, but rather I am looking through a magnifying glass at how broken humanity is in general. I remember the night our Guatemalan group visited Guana Chapi. I’ll never forget....