It's Finally Here!

Today's the big day. I finished most of my packing last night, so today is filled with different odds and ends. My flight is at 6pm this evening. I'm flying to Chicago where I will meet up with a family for a few hours until my flight leaves for Guatemala. It's a red eye, so I'm leaving at 3:05 am and will get into Guatemala at about 6:30 am Guatemala Time. Guatemala is 2 hours behind east coast time, so not a huge difference, which is nice. The group that I am involved with at Penn State, DiscipleMakers, has different members on staff. At church, I was talking about my trip to Guatemala and some of my concerns for the long flight, and wait time in both Chicago and Guatemala before my program actually starts. A couple on staff mentioned that they had supporters in the Chicago area and that they would get in contact with some of them to see if anyone would want to come and get me from the airport for a couple of hours. The Freeman family volunteered to get my from the airport and bring me back in time for my flight! I'm so grateful for their generosity and hospitality in coming to get a stranger passing through!

I'm getting that excited/nervous feeling, but I'm ready to go. I'm so excited to see how I will be used in Guatemala, and I look forward to sharing stories of lives I have touched, and lives that have touched me. You can be praying for safe travels, my transition into my placement, and strength and patience for each day in a new country with a language that is mostly unfamiliar to me.

I found out that there is wireless at the home base where I am styaing, so I am actually going to bring my computer and be able to use it there. I was debating whether I wanted to bring my computer, but I thought that it would be helpful in order to plan activities and keep in touch and record happenings. In the conference call I had yesterday, the 4 individuals doing a month long internship with the program I'm going with are required to bring theres, and so I thought it would be a helpful addition to my trip...so I should be able to put up pictures and keep my blog pretty updated! :)