We have arrived! The flight in was easy and smooth. The bus ride (4 hours) not so much. It was smooth the first hour or so and then a bit like driving on a river bed full of uneven rocks. The landscape is beautiful and we passed by fields of sugar cane, met a few cows in the roadway and got a glimpse of the volcano that erupted last year. It poured rain on our bus ride to Mazatenango. I loved it because of experiencing the rainy season in Nicaragua. But…it’s not the rainy season in Guatemala now so it was a nice surprise!
We were delighted to arrive at Hotel Bambu. It is very pleasant and will make for a good “home away from home”. All of the team is here now, 16 of us I think. The two (Robin and Woody) that have been here a couple of days had supper ready when we arrived.
Calvin (from 61st Ave United Methodist) did fantastic on the first flight of his life. It was very nice to see Pastor Paul, Annette (Calvin’s wife) and Calvin at the airport this morning. I hope this is one of many experiences where the two congregations are in service together in new lands. It seems a good and timely growth of our covenant. Sarah McGinley’s brother, Howard, and his wife Sally joined us here. They are from a United Methodist Church in Ohio, both long veterans of this Guatemala mission team.
It has been a long day of travel. We can already feel the slowing of pace – the protection of a Sabbath day tomorrow and the settling in of new and familiar friends. All is well.
Life in the Deep End 
It’s good to see pics of folks we’ve been praying for the past days.
Thinking of everyone there and how God will be working in each person’s life and in the ‘congregation’ as well. How exciting! Blessings to all.
Vona – The kids and I are going to follow along. They love getting to talk to Tom on the phone but it is for a short time. The pictures make them feel so connected to you all. And it was so good for them to see Tom’s face this morning 🙂 Thank you so much for blogging nad putting on pictures. Love you Sister so much and praying for Holy Spirit to fill you all today for your work there. Enjoy your Sabbath! Love – Angela
Angela, tell the kids that Tom and many have gone to the Guatemalan version of Wal-Mart for supplies, groceries, etc. I opted to stay behind for a morning run. Church is this afternoon…and the timing welcome after a long day of travel yesterday! Praying for all of you…in worship right now. Love to all.
Im just imagining the worship service there today will be wonderfully blessed. Ours certainly was this morning. How awesome that we have freedom to worship so freely. Im glad to hear you are in a safe enough environment to be able to go for a run to relax and release. May each moment there be blessed to be a blessing.
Before the sun comes up, Sister, there is a beautiful breeze, a quiet place to be and something wonderful about experiecing God in a new land. I missed all of you on Sunday and can’t wait to hear the stories of the morning and night. Thank you for sharing Chef Tom with us for a few days….we need him! Love to all.
I will be praying for u all. Isabel is excited about her prayer cards. Thanks for the updates with your blog!
Hi Joey,
Thank you for your prayers. If you and Elaine have time to show the children the pictures on facebook I would love for them to see all the “sheep”. It is a good connection for them to see God’s Latin American sheep! Many thanks for your prayers.