Guatemala Day 1: Sunday March 13th

Hola!

    Our journey began with the van ride to Chicago on Saturday evening. We arrived in Chicago a little after midnight on Saturday. After checking in, and surviving security, we had some downtime before boarding the plane. If you can't already tell from the above photo, Pastor Jimmy was realllyyy reallyyy tired,and could care less about who he snuggled up against. His wife was assured he'd be taken care of...so I guess this means he's in good hands?

Anyway, we landed in Guatemala City at 6:25am, right on time! After going through customs and recieving our luggage, we headed outside to meet our host, Randy & Brenda. We loaded the luggage into the back of a truck, then headed to a van to travel to the mission house. After getting settled in, the teenagers&Pastor Jimmy decided it would be fun to play a game of basketball. Pastor Jimmy tends to get  very competitive while playing basketball with teenagers.But it was a fun time :)

Around 4, we headed to a church service at the house of a local pastor named Yovany. It was a very small congregation,our team outnumbered their congregation. It was an incredible service, he talked about being the light of Christ. After the service, we all hung out and drank coffee. We had a chance to talk with some of the congregation.Surprisingly, alot of them could communicate with us in English. It was very interesting getting to talk with them.

After an incredible dinner back at the mission house, and preparing for tomorrows VBS lesson, we all gathered together for our evening devotion. We did two worship songs: How Great Is Our God, and The Happy Song. It was incredible getting to gather,worship,and talk about the days events,and what is to come.
Now, we are all super tired, because alot of us have not slept more than a few hours since we got up Saturday morning.

The entire mission team sends their love back to the States,as we are all now heading to bed.

But before I go..heres some facts I learned today about Guatemala:
-It is illegal for 2 people to ride on a motorcycle together.
-There are 4 active volcanoes in the country, the other 30ish are dormant.
-Gas is a little over $4 a gallon, and it has been that way for a while.
-Pastor Jimmy can be a very competitive person

"Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you,and quickly respond to it.Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you" Romans 12:2