Day 1 - The Journey Begins

July 1st, 2012

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full"  John10:10

Our day started around 5:30 AM with OCM Team 2 trekking to Newark airport to make our 8:45 flight to Houston, Texas. I was the last team member to make it there (as I had a ride from my folks) and had to endure a dose of embarrassment courtesy of my dad. Long story short, he introduced himself to our team and proceeded to ask for pictures of all of my girlfriends at church. Gotta love my parents!

Having an unexpected layover at an airport sucks. Knowing in advance that you will be stuck at an airport for 8 hours is a different story. That was our situation when we arrived in Houston and killing 8 hours is no easy task but we managed by spending 3 hours watching the Spain vs Italy soccer final, playing Phase 10 and having devotion time. Kenneth lead our first days devotion by talking about John 10:10 and how we not only have to live our lives to the fullest for God, but how we also have to be different from the world and be proper stewards of God's blessings. It was a great message to take in prior to inserting ourselves into the Guatemalan culture and lifestyle and not long afterwards we boarded the plane to Guatemala City.

Here is where God gave us a preview of what we could expect during our missions trip: Things will not always go as planned. Upon arriving at the airport and heading to the passenger pick-up area, we were to glad to find no one waiting for us haha! We figured our ride to the hotel was probably running a little late so we patiently stood around. 15 mins. 30 mins. 45 mins. It was around the one hour mark that we grew concerned and Kevin attempted an international call to Richard (trip organizer) back in NY. He put our concerns to rest and said "Don't worry they are on their way. They will be there in a few minutes. Hang tight!" 

The next half hour was filled with us celebrating every time we saw a pair of car headlights appear in the distance and then hanging our heads in dismay when we saw it wasn't our car. After some time, our ride arrived with the Eri, the driver, expressing his sincere apologies which where not needed because we had been enjoying and having a fun time being the only people at the terminal. We had expected a mini van to come pick us up but God provided something better and bouncier: a bright yellow school bus! We arrived at our lodgings, had a quick dinner and slept. A memorable Day 1 was complete.

Around the one hour mark

Huggin the bus