Guatemala Trip - part 1

Since Erin's blog is about our family, she informed me that I would have to guest blog about my trip to Guatemala in October.  So here I go!

First off I have to say that going on this trip wasn't on my radar.  I held the fort down while Erin had been to Nicaragua a couple of times - including this summer. One Sunday morning our Associate pastor (Jeff) asked me if I would want to go on our initial partnership trip to Guatemala.  He said he was leading the trip and that he, his wife Amy and 6 others could go.  Of course Erin said "You should go" right there in the church foyer.  I agreed to pray about it and let him know.  It's funny how Erin knew exactly what God was telling me over and over from then until I committed to go.  

Our church at the beginning of this year committed to be an Acts 1:8 church and to send teams to reach people for Christ in Greenwood, Arkansas, the United States and to foreign countries.  We even brought on a part -time staff member to help secure partnerships for our church.  One of the partnerships began with IMB missionaries in Guatemala and an exploratory trip in the summer. During that trip our church committed to a partnership with Iglesia Bautista Betania in San Maricio to plant churches in the villages of Conrado de la Cruz and Bolivia.  Both villages are truly unreached people groups within Guatemala.

So with the partnership set, a trip was planned for October.  We had 7 people in our group and through some training and lots of prayer we were off to another country.

Here's a view from the jet bridge after landing in Guatemala City.  We had began our day by flying out of XNA to Atlanta @ 6 in the morning.  After a short flight to ATL and a short layover, we boarded for Guatemala City.  3.5 hours later we were there.

Here we are gathering all of our luggage before heading through immigration/customs.  David (IMB missionary) would pick us up at the airport and take us to the Arkansas House.  A number of years ago, Arkansas Baptists built/bought a house in Guatemala City.  This would be our starting and ending point for the week.

The traffic from the airport was a little crazy, armed guards at every bank, chicken buses,  and the smell of diesel all reminded me of the semester I spent in Mexico during college.

Here's a view of the Arkansas House from the balcony of the apartments behind the main house.
We settled in and texted, facetimed or called our families to let them all know we had made it to Guatemala.  The Arkansas House had wifi, so we were even able to keep up with the Bulldogs the following Friday when we returned.

Here's a pic of our room @ the Arkansas House.  Josh (our middle school minister) was my roommate for the week.

Guatemala City is in the mountains and is basically similar to Denver in elevation.  Thus we were spoiled by the weather considering we would spend the rest of our week a few miles from the coast in heat & humidity.

We would be providing lunch while we were in the villages, so we made a trip to the Guatemala Sam's for our first 2 days of lunch supplies.  Different name...but obviously owned by Wal-Mart/Sam's.  David maneuvered through Sam's like he had done this before.  I had mentioned the traffic...well we almost met a chicken bus - still wish I could've snapped a pic of Jeff's face when he was screaming in the back seat.

After our trip to Sam's, we made a trip to a bank to exchange money and then to lunch @ Taco Bell. Yes, Taco Bell - it's the same as in America except you get french fries with any combo meal.

We finished our first day off with dinner @ the mission house, repacking our clothes for the week in the villages and a presentation from David.

In the city, it's evidently customary to set off fireworks for a birthday.  They are loud, frequent and happen at all hours.  The first time we heard them, Jeff wanted to know if it was gunfire.

End of Day 1. 

The next morning (Sunday) we would have breakfast, pack the van and leave for a 3.5 hour drive southwest to San Bernadino.  San Bernadino is where we would be staying through Friday.  After the drive through the mountains - some volcanoes, we arrived and checked into our hotel.  Mazatenango was a larger city 10-15 minutes way.  We would shop there for more lunch supplies and eat there a few times during the week.

 Our transportation for the week.  Complete with a snorkel.

Our hotel in San Bernadino.  There was a restaurant with the hotel.  We would have breakfast there in the mornings and have dinner there a few times during the week.  More on the accommodations later.

This is Bethany Baptist (Iglesia Bautista Betania).  We worshiped with them on Sunday afternoon.  This definitely started the bond that would be so strong by the end of the week.  In this pic, Jeff (FBC Greenwood) and Elder (Iglesia Bautista Betania) are being presented certificates from David that commemorate our partnership.  

Just something to think about... We spoke English, they spoke Spanish - we didn't have translators this day.  We worshiped though...truly worshiped.  It was Awesome!

Just like a family reunion...hugs from everyone before and after the service.

We left and made it back to our hotel, had dinner, a short devotion time and a presentation from David.

End of Day 2.