Santa Maria

Today we traveled up the side of the volcano to a neat city called Santa Maria. Judy a missionary there for at least ten years started a new school and needed it to be painted, so our group of ten was thrown into the mix immediately. We painted the kindergarten classroom. The work was finished quickly with a big group. We were given a tour of the place and then went for a walk. We went through the squishy, tightly packed streets of the town. There were kids riding on horses and women with baskets on their head. It was another interesting town. We walked down a back alley, came up to someone's house and went inside for a visit. It was a girl's house whose mother's died. The eleven year old, her older brother and father lived in the house. The father and son work in the fields while the daughter stays at home doing what her mother did. She would clean the house, make every meal and do everything else. She is eleven and should be in school and having fun with her friends, instead of slaving around the house. When we arrived, we received such a blessing with the girl displaying extreme joy towards us. The father and son dusted off and let us sit on 12 chairs; I didn't know that they could store so many chairs in their house. It was unbelievable how much compassion and trust they showed to us strangers. After that we left and went downhill back home.

Antigua

Today is the day we got to visit the tourist town of Antigua. We live in San Pedro a las Huertes, a few minutes outside of Antigua. We traveled over the speed bumps, on the cobblestone, through tightly packed streets to reach Antigua. It was a nice afternoon trip. We got to see all the colonial buildings, the famous arch, the cobblestone streets, and just the history of the place. There was one store that Bob had to pray over because of its idols and masks that the Mayans worship. It was kind of depressing. The whole town of Antigua was such a beautiful place. After seeing the main square, we went through the famous arch, past a cool looking church and through a crazy Guatemalan market, where one could easily get lost. Groups of two had to go looking for a piece of fruit for the dessert's fruit salad. I had no problem finding the cantaloupe. It was such a neat atmosphere and I can't wait for my next visit there.

Arrival

We have just arrived here in Guatemala and I am so excited. The airport is like any third world country airport. It has small hallways and not much to see; it is incomparable with Vancouver's airport and Atlanta's airport. There were a lot of people, all talking in their foreign language. We exit the airport doors to find Bob and Juan Carlos (Elizabeth's husband) waiting outside and ready to go. Juan Carlos starts driving the many passenger van towards the supermarket weaving through three lanes of thick, congested traffic. They are not as crazy as Mexico, but still a bit scary. We arrive at the super market to pick up some goods on the way home. It was quite similar to the well Canadian known Walmart. Once shopping was completed we made way to our new home in Antigua. It was supposed to be a forty-five minute drive from the airport, but we got stuck in a forty-five minute long traffic jam. It was not fun as Michelle, Shawn, Ruth, John, and I had been up for pretty much 36 hours straight, making it not the greatest ride home. We soon enough made it to our new home, and I spent a good two hours unpacking. We had our first Guatemalan supper that night; it was some delicious chicken chow mien. It felt good to arrive at our new home. It is awesome to get away from my parents (hahaha) and go live with my two best friends. It is like I'm living with my two best friends, living in paradise, doing what I love to do.

Food So Far

I suppose you all want to know our healthy airport diet so far, so when you travel you will know where to eat. For breakfast on the way to Seattle we ate at Cranberry Restaurant and I had pancakes. For lunch I had amazing airport Chinese food. For dinner at about 9:00pm we had cinnamon buns and drinks. This morning we stopped at The Great American Bagel and had bagels and drinks. You wouldn't realize how hard it is to stick to a budget when you travel.

Charlotte, North Carolina

We have now got a bit of sleep, a few hours, had a bit of breakfast, and are almost ready to board for our flight to Guatemala. The sleep was in the middle of the airport in North Carolina and all of a sudden there were people surrounding us, and there was a annoying, beeping truck, and there was some annoying announcement on the PA telling us to keep close watch on our bags. It was not that great of a sleep, but it was something to get me through the day. We also met up with Michelle here in Charlotte. She is one of our team members, a great person, and she will be flying with us to Guatemala. We also met some missionaries, who have a couple kids, who are going back to serve in Guatemala for their third year. The four of us are taking in some of their amazing stories before we leave to the beautiful country, where we will serve for our first time.

The Airplane Ride from Hell

If there was ever some advice I were to give it would be to avoid the overnight flights. Our flight, Las Vegas to Charlotte was a four hour flight starting at midnight, and it is hard to sleep on the plane. It has been a long day starting to head to Seattle the morning before at 8:00am and now still sleepless on the flight to Charlotte and probably won't get a descent amount of sleep till we get to Guatemala. Things are getting emotional for me as I'm tired and the turbulence is keeping me awake right now.

Las Vegas

We are nearing the end of an exciting 4 hour layover in Sin City. It seemed like a long first airplane ride and we are hoping the second one goes quicker. Once we arrived in Las Vegas we wanted to head for the Strip right away, well after we played some of the slot machines. We didn't quite make it there. We didn't know how to get there so we walked up a hill because we saw some cactus that we thought would be a cool picture. Once there we take our pictures and then John decides we should leave before the cops come. What do you know, the cops come. They grill us with a bunch of questions and then try to help us get a cab so we aren't on the side of the freeway. We decided to just walk in the general direction of the Strip. We started the filming of the Dave, Shawn, and John show, which is coming along quite well. We are now back in the Las Vegas airport ready to go to Charlotte.

Sea-Tac Airport

Our plane leaves in less than in an hour. Friends and family just left the airport after saying their goodbyes. We got through security safely and are about to embark on a long next 24 hours.

Countdown Continued

24 hours, 31 minutes, 32 seconds to go

Countdown Continued

48 hours, 31 minutes, 12 seconds to go

Happy New Year

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Year. It is now 2007 and only God knows what it holds for all of us. This new year holds plenty of excitement, adventures, joy, pain, and fear. I wish everybody a Happy New Year and good luck on your resolutions.

Countdown Continued

72 hours, 31 minutes, 54 seconds to go