Estamos aquí! We are here!

2:00 a.m. - most of the students were arriving and getting ready to load up the trailer. A couple of students had straggled in, but thankfully we were all ready to go by2:30 a.m. We were grateful for Jon Huisman and Mike Kalma who drove the bus and a trailer with all of our stuff. We arrived atMidway Airport, got our luggage checked in and our boarding passes printed out. PLENTY OF TIME before our 6:00 a.m. departure. However, due to weather, wind, heavy rain, shorter runways at Midway, and an over-sold airplane, we sat in the jet for 90 minutes, waiting for enough people to be willing to take a different flight. The $400....then $500 flight vouchers were VERY tempting...but we couldn't separate the group. Finally, at 7:30, the jet took off, and we actually stayed in the air, so it would seem that their attempt to get rid of enough people was successful! But with only an hour layover in Atlanta, and being 90 minutes late...well, doing the math, we were going to miss our connection. We were told the plane would not wait for us, and that we would have to go to Guatemala on Sunday instead, and be put up at a hotel and be given food vouchers, etc. When we arrived in Atlanta, we were resigned to the chronologically obvious, when we glanced at the departure screen, only to shockingly discover: the flight had not yet departed! One counter lady told us: they're waiting for you! But when we got to the gate, we discovered the answer was much less flattering - they hadn't left NOT because theywerewaiting for us. They hadn't left because the first pilot hadn't shown up and the the substitutehad not yet arrived. So, less flattering, yet no less amazing, because it was definitely a God-thing, using a messed up piloting schedule to make it possible for us to make our flight! God is Good!

We had an awesome bus ride from the airport to Casa Bernabe, driven much more aggressively than Jon Huisman did when we were brought to the airport. It didn't take long for the luggage to be unloaded, and our students to start playing soccer and other games with the children here. Some even caught a well-deserved nap.

We're tired, but grateful to be here, safe and sound, and ready to SERVE. But first: a good nights sleep, a good Sunday spent worshipping the Lord and then there will be more to share to be sure! Stay tuned for more!!