Benediciton

"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice,

freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their suffering into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice and kindness

to all our children and the poor."

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AMEN!

Thank you! ¡Gracias! Tantiox

To everyone who supported us, prayed for us, encouraged us and loved us this year THANK YOU! We could not have done it without you. Your support means more to us than we can fully express in words.

Shortly we will be returning to the United States and we look forward to being with you again. We would love to share stories and pictures about our experiences and time in Guatemala. We also bring some beautiful stories of the Ixil people. We hope to see you soon!

Tikal

We were told by many that we could not leave Guatemala without seeing Tikal, one of the largest known Mayan ruin sites in the world. So on Wednesday we hopped on a bus and traveled 10 hours north to Petén. The bus was hot, and Brian’s wallet was stolen, but in the end it was worth the journey. Tikal is home to six beautiful Mayan temples and many other interesting ruins. Despite the size and splendor of Tikal, the city lay forgotten in the tropical jungle of Petén for nearly a thousand years. It was discovered in 1847 and it was largely restored beginning in the 1950’s. Today some of the ruins still remain hidden under the jungle trees and grass. It was amazing to see how nature has taken over and hidden these massive human structures from view. We also got to see jungle wildlife: howler monkey, tarantulas, bats, toucans, parrots, coatis and more.

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Even if you have never heard of Tikal, chances are you have seen several of the temple tops. Part of “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” was filmed at Tikal. It was used as the home of the ewoks.