First Full Day in Guate

 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. 
Colossians 3:23 ESV

We completed our first full day in Guatemala. It wasn't necessarily the day we planned, but the one God planned for us. 

A Quick Rundown of the Day:

After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, Samuel from Servants Hearts Ministries picked us up to take us to the mission house. The traffic coming out of Guatemala City was horrendous so it took a little longer than usual. But we made it and were able to drop off our carry-on bags and then head out to Antigua to explore. We had lunch at McDonald's in Antigua and then went to the Artisans Market where we met several of Brayan's family who work there. Our team did some shopping and explored the market area. After a few hours we headed back to the mission house where supper was ready for us. We got word that our luggage has still not arrived and so Lydia called the airlines to find out what was going on. She was told that the bags were still in Dallas. After a couple of conversations, she was told the bags would be on a plane tonight, and would arrive at the mission house tomorrow, hopefully before we have to leave for church. 

After the meal we gathered to decompress and share some of our thoughts of the first day.

Reflections of the Day

While there have been some challenges, such as late flights and delayed luggage, we have also seen some wonderful blessings. 

1. Our team is handling the challenges with amazing grace. There is an great unity among our team members and a spirit of peace throughout the group. 

2. Servants Hearts Ministries has been a blessing to work with. They have done their best to offset the challenges we have faced. Our bus driver Samuel and the other members of the team have been very friendly and helpful. They have another mission team here as well, and are accommodating both teams despite being short-handed.  

3. The mission house is wonderful. It is beautiful (see pics below). There is a wall around the property and a security guard on duty at all times. We are blessed with great facilities. 

4. We had a great time meeting Brayan's family and other people in the market. Some of our team members were able to have Gospel Conversations with the some of the vendors and we met brothers and sisters in Christ. 

5. Our team has a heart for service. While in Antigua, we walked to an area known as the Fruit Market; it is not in the usual tourist areas and Lydia said that many of the vendors in the fruit market were kind of looked down on. While we were buying some fruit, one of the vendors, a young lady, had a stack of crates full of Roma tomatoes fall over and spill in the street where people were walking, and traffic was coming through. About 6-7 of our team jumped in, got down on their knees in the street and picked up all of the tomatoes. The young lady really didn't know what to think when she saw all of the "gringos" picking up her tomatoes, but she was very appreciative. It was a great witness to the other vendors and shoppers in the area. 

6. We had a great time of sharing tonight and we read one of the notes that was sent by one of our members. In the envelope were cards for each family and individual member of our team, that had Colossians 3:23 on one side, and a daily Scripture reading list on the other. We are so grateful for the support and encouragement of our Grace Point family. 

Tomorrow is church in the morning and then lunch and a little more exploring in Antigua. Afterwards we will be back at the mission  house preparing for construction and VBS on Monday. Thank you for your prayers - please continue to pray that our luggage makes it tomorrow (Sunday) - VBS and some construction items are in those bags, lol!

Here are a couple of pics from our day:                         

Front entrance of mission house

Courtyard of the Mission House

Our transportation for the week

Mission House security!

We Made it to Guatemala

 

Family and Friends, 

We made it to Guatemala! We've had a little bit of an adventure, but all is well. 

We had a 45 minute delay in Knoxville that got us a little behind. They had a mechanical issue with the plane; they couldn't get the tow bar to release from the plane (the pilot actually said on the intercom, "I don't if it is a mechanical issue or the mechanic" lol.) The delay caused us to cut it close getting on our connecting flight in Dallas. We made it, but unfortunately our luggage didn't. All we had last night were our carry-ons. Our luggage is supposed to be delivered to the mission house this afternoon. 

The flights were smooth and our first time flyers did amazing. We arrived in Guatemala around 11:15pm Guatemala time, which was 2am our time. The mission house wasn't ready for us, so the ministry made arrangements to put us up in a very nice hotel in Guatemala City, the Barcelo Guatemala (check out the link). We finally made it to our rooms about 1am Guatemala time (3am our time). We were all pretty exhausted, but everyone seems to be doing well this morning. We've had breakfast at the dining hall, and it was a wonderful buffet of Guatemalan breakfast foods. 

Our original plan was to go to Antigua today for a little exploring. We aren't sure if that is going to happen, since we may need to be at the mission house to receive our luggage, but we will see. Our team has handled the challenges with incredible grace and flexibility. Lydia said last night that this is "calmest" mission team we've ever had, lol. 

Tomorrow we are scheduled to go to Antigua for church, and then a little shopping before we really begin work on Monday. 

Thank you again for your prayers and support. We are excited to see what great things the Lord does this week.