This Pilgrim's Journeys

There it was, that day again. Waking up to an almost-packed room and finishing it up and hauling the suitcases down the stairs to the front hallway. Sigh. The cooks had made breakfast for us that morning - it was similar to last year's, with eggs, beans, bread, watermelon, and sweetbread. Afterwards we finally got a group photo - the rest of the week, since there were so many of us, it was hard to get us all together at once! And finally, on to the airport. Thankfully, all four vehicles (we were all following the luggage truck, since he knew how to get there) stayed together and none of us got lost along the way. All of that "fun" airport stuff came next, and then we were on the plane. I had a fun seat again - sitting with Miranda and Kyle. When we landed in Houston, it began a very long and at times interesting adventure: 1) Almost first thing, while going through customs, we had to deal with a super-rude and incompetent lady. That was a mess. 2) As we were w

Church day!! Because there were so many of us, we didn't all fit in the normal section of chairs that we occupy. So a few of us sat in a nearby section. Worship was of course wonderful, and things started happening about 40 or so minutes in. Then we saw some people praying for Karen, so Miranda and I went to pray for her, and then Katy was also crying, so we prayed for her as well. Then back to a little bit more worship. Before the sermon, one of the pastors-in-training spoke on something that God was telling him, and then Julio started his sermon. To try and keep a broad explanation of the topic (his sermons are long and split into many different points), it was on the importance of reading the Bible. After church I found Madelin (I had seen her earlier but then she left for kid's church). She gave me a smile and a hug and and I handed her the bracelet and the look on her face was worth it as she asked, "for me?" (in English!) and I responded, "Sí!" The

Wow. The night before I got a lovely 8 hours of sleep since Saturday was Antigua tourist day. It was a nice, relaxed morning. On to Antigua! Hugo came with us (to keep Grandpa company when he went to visit someone), which was awesome because he got permission for us to park in the parking lot of his friend's hotel! So then we led the group to the park to get their bearings and split into groups. I ended up traveling mainly with Miranda, Kristen, and Ryan, although we frequently met up with other groups along the way. I got about half of what was on my list that morning (which was what I needed for other people, such as coworkers, my niece, my mom, a bracelet for Madelin, etc.) as well as a few things I found interesting for myself. Grandpa and Hugo were with us for part of it, especially when we were searching for the jade jewelry store that we had gone in last year but couldn't find anywhere this year. So frustrating! At 1:45 we all met in the park and led the group to our

First of all, may I note that when Friday arrived I literally could not believe it was Friday already, and had no idea where the time went? I don't think I've ever had a week in Guatemala go so fast! For part of the morning we split up again, with Kristen, the men, and a few adult ladies going back to San Bartolomé to do some more work and give out blankets and stuff while the rest of us went to a new school for ministry. And since all of the guys were at the work site (minus Ryan, obviously), Miranda had to drive the other van! It's ok, all went well. ;) (Well, all except for that rude little Guatemalan cut off...gotta love those Guatemala drivers.) At this school the youth did the Superhero skit first, and I think it was their best performance yet. Then Carly gave her testimony - which she had already written in Spanish - and then they did the signs skit, which also went fabulously. Then Nic gave his testimony as Katy translated. Ryan then did a little talk on the meani

Breakfast was yummy this morning - sweet bread that we had bought the night before. Seriously, that stuff is so good! Then we packed lunches and headed out, this time with Hugo and his younger sister Katy, as well as Marvin (Jr.), who goes to Luz y Vida (Julio and Jodi's church) who is a professional painter (he also plays drums really  well; he played at church on Sunday). Because yes, we painted. We went to the public school in Yalú (had a good time traveling over those rutted dirt roads through town) and while most of the guys and Kristen worked on a chicken house for a man, the rest of us painted walls at the school. The top of the wall we painted light blue, and the bottom dark blue. The light blue paint was no problem, because it was water-based. But the dark blue...ughh, yeah that was oil-based. So that made things interesting for some people who even got it on their legs. (Thankfully I managed to be careful enough to not get too much of that paint on me, just the water-

I think this might've been my favorite day - it's hard to choose that, I guess, but this day was amazing on many levels. We went to my favorite work site - Backyard School in San Bartolomé Milpas Altas, where we've been working at for the past (now) three years, where we helped to lay a foundation. I couldn't believe my eyes - every time I go back they've done more work, and it was so beautiful I couldn't help but just look at it for a while - Juan finished the designs on the ceilings, the inside was painted white, they had bronze chandeliers and electricity, and a couple of the windows had beautifully designed bronze metalwork. This year, we were working on the second floor. It is going to be a three-story building - Juan showed us the plans! It's so exciting and incredible what is happening there for that community. Besides Juan being there (wearing Kyle's hat that Kyle had given to Kenanin the first year!), so was his son-in-law and brother-in-law.

As usual, Miranda and I set up breakfast and started making toast for those who wanted it - the only problem is, the grocery crew forgot to get butter, so for a few days we only had jelly or peanut butter toast. That didn't seem to bother anyone, though. Our first thing was going to Getsemani, where we split up into small groups to go to different classrooms to do activities with the kids. We were moved around a lot - I was in middle school and high school grades with different youth members. We helped them with their English by asking them questions, having them ask us questions, and doing some songs or activities. After the kids had their recess, we all headed upstairs to the large open area where we presented for five different groups of kids that rotated through - the younger ones. Each time Jodi would open for us, the youth would do the sings skit, then the angels and demons skit, Kyle would do the story of the candy cane (with Jodi translating), Jodi would lead them in a pr

Well, around 12:30 am we all left for BWI, with Kyle's mom and dad taking turns driving us all in the church bus. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad getting our papers and our bags checked there, once the counters opened. When flight #1 landed in Houston, we had even longer than planned because our flight was delayed twice, but then all of a sudden they upped it again so we had to collect everyone that was out and about. Pierce and Kyle chillin' in the airport (courtesy of Kristen) When we arrived in Guatemala City, the pilot did the smoothest landing I have ever felt there (what with the shorter runway in a city surrounded by mountains)! Getting out went fine, but then the 26 of us left had to wait forever  until the three guys came back with our three vans. Finally they arrived, and we made a lunch stop at Burger King as usual. Traffic heading to San Lucas was pretty bad, but finally....we were back!! As usual, for those of us who had been there before, it felt like w