This March 9th, the first Sunday of Lent, First Presbyterian members Morrie Soderberg, Amanda Littell, Britton Zuccarelli, Avery Cooper and Chandra Cooper made the journey back to Antigua, Guatemala at the invitation of our longtime mission partner, Juntos Guatemala and dear friends, Walter and Mirna Hernández. The purpose of the invite was to convene partner representatives to discuss current realities, emerging opportunities, and considerations for future collaboration as Juntos GT continues to progress faithfully into the leadership of the next generation.

Towards the end of a 12-hour day of travel, as the FPC delegation’s flight was landing in Guatemala City, Volcano Fuego began glowing in the midnight sky over the Panchoy Valley where Antigua is enchantingly tucked away. The awe of that special welcoming moment seemed a lovely

prelude to the warm reception and hospitality that was to be received by Walter, Mirna, Rámon, and Nehemías of Juntos Guatemala.

Convening with the FPC group were representatives from SETECA (Central American Theological Seminary), Dean Nelson Morales and President Paul Branch; as well as familiar faces, DeVonna and Rodney Ishmael, representing their congregation in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. While living in Guatemala, Rod and De had joined Juntos in hosting several visiting teams. During our last three Ixcán service teams (2016, 2017, 2018), De worked alongside Jon Richards and Brigid Hall in hosted medical clinics, while Rod assisted with water filters and stoves when he wasn’t working

on physical expansion of the community center building in La Florida, Ixcán.

For the next few months in a multi-part series, we will be “Revisiting Our Partnership, Juntos Guatemala” in newsletter segments featuring our shared history, our relationships, the various projects and initiatives we have participated in, lessons learned along the way, operations and objectives for today, and goals and dreams for the future.

To be continued.

Next month: How it all started