During the October 11 adult forum at Normandale Lutheran Church (NLC) in Edina, Minn., youth travelers shared slides, stories, and baked goods from the cloud forests of Guatemala.

These young people had received the special opportunity to visit LPGM partner Community Cloud Forest Conservation (CCFC) this past July as part of a multi-congregation youth trip, and they were ready to share their observations from the transformational experience.

Seven NLC youth traveled to Guatemala with LPGM, and five of them attended and hosted the October 11th presentation. The other congregational group lives across the country in Shelton, Wash., and wasn't able to join for the presentation. However, LPGM trip leader Laura Feile is planning a post-trip gathering in November, so that NLC youth can reunite with Faith Lutheran Church youth.

To prepare for the presentation, the young people had prepared 9 banana cream pies inspired by CCFC Chef Landy's recipe.

They started the presentation with a day-by-day rundown of their trip and then transitioned into a question-and-answer segment. The audience, comprised of about 25 NLC members, asked the young people to reflect on their experiences. 

At the end of the presentation, the group was met with a hearty round of applause and took a group photo.

 Q&A Highlights

What will stick with you?
The importance of education and the privilege of being able to freely and easily attend school [will stick with me]. [I will also remember] how I don't have to worry about meals and the food security I have.

What was the most surprising?
The bugs and the rat [were most surprising].

Why did you want to go?
It was a new experience and a whole different way of life. I enjoyed it and really would recommend it to anyone. I definitely want to go back.

I hear the trip started off without electricity. How did you adjust to life without WiFi and power? What was that like?
It was not that hard, because we had other things to do. We just adjusted and had some evenings where we just hung out by candlelight. I think we bonded and connected more, and it was good to bond without screens. We played a lot of cards together and also enjoyed playing a game that Sophie taught us called "Murder in the Cathedral," which we renamed "Murder in the Quetzal," because that was the name of the building.

What questions did the Guatemalans have for you?
They were curious about life back in America. They were interested to hear about snow, so we showed them photos. That was fun. We also told them about cheese curds. They didn't know about those. They were interested in language learning, so we taught them some English phrases.

How was the food?
We got to try new things! The food was good but different. For example, the tortillas were not like what we have at home. They were homemade tortillas, but they were good. They also made a lasagna with tortillas as noodles. It was good.

What were things about culture that you really liked?
At CCFC, they grow everything onsite. That was neat. Everything was fresh with no preservatives. Also, it was neat to learn how they use human waste as fertilizer. It's a whole process that we got to learn about, and it didn’t smell.

Learn more about CCFCLearn more about traveling to Guatemala