Hello all! We arrived safely in Guatemala at about 5 o'clock this evening after a full day of travel. We started out this morning at 6:15 and headed for O'Hare. Our first flight of the day was to Panama City. It was my first flight ever! Flying was such a neat experience, and it was really cool that my first flight and first time out of the country occurred together. Double excitement! We flew over the gulf, and when we came down out of the clouds, we saw the city. There were a lot of big skyscrapers, and it looked a lot like any metropolis in America from the sky (aside from the very different landscape, of course). We got to see the Panama canal, too. My seatmates and I were talking about how awesome it was to see this waterway we had learned about back in elementary school in real life. We had a short layover in Panama before getting on another plane to take us to Guatemala. The flight to Guatemala was much shorter. When we landed in Guatemala City, it was quite different from landing in Panama. This city looked much less like an American metropolis. We were met at the airport by Ginny, Kevin, and Manuel, who helped us load our bags and ourselves into a truck and a van to drive to the house.
The drive to the Groundwork Guatemala house was quite an experience. I just kept thinking, "It's like being in another country." It hadn't yet sunk in that I was actually not in America. My brain is still trying to process everything I saw, and I'm rather tired, so it's hard to explain just how different and new everything was. There were brightly colored buses and billboards, and huge amounts of cars and people. One thing that's sticking out in my mind right now from the drive is seeing the stop signs. I didn't know that other nations used the red octagon like we do in America. Kind of silly to notice, but I thought it was neat.
Once we got to the house, we got a tour of the house (which is really neato--we can see volcanoes from the roof!), ate some taco soup and nachos, and sat around the dining room table talking. We did a short devotion and played a game, and now we're all getting ready for bed--something I'm extremely excited for!
I'm so thankful that God has given me the opportunity to go on this trip. It's great to be here with my brothers and sisters, serving God and serving our neighbors. I feel truly blessed that God is working through us to provide for his people in Guatemala, and that he's working through his people here in Guatemala to provide for us, too. I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the week. But it's been a busy day; and a tiring day, at that! Travel sure does take a lot out of you. And I'm still recovering from the excitement of my first plane rides and the first stamp in my passport. I think if I don't go to bed right away, I will simply fall asleep right here at the computer! So blessings on the rest of this week, and thanks for the support!
God's peace,
Karen
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