After riding a Greyhound bus for hours, finding ourselves unexpectedly in a crowded bus station at 1 am in the morning, and then later breaking down at a rest stop on the turnpike the next morning...15 hours later we made it to the Miami airport. There was not much complaining, after all this is a "mission trip" and we are suffering for Jesus! Then, there it was a sign from God that it was all worth it... a Starbucks right next the gate J7, our gate. Praise God in everything. This is going to be GREAT! By the time we gathered our luggage and made it through customs at the Guatemala City airport we had a bus, van, and truck pulling in to snatch us all up and head to Antigua about 45 minutes away. The ride was a story in itself! I sat in the very front of a snub nosed bus. Our driver Samuel flew up, down, and around the mountain with enormous confidence! I heard Harold Smith ask Samuel what the population of Guatemala City was, to which Samuel replied "I think 4 million"... "Oh my," came the reply from James Hughes "all 4 million of them are out on this street." Everywhere you looked there was people, buildings, cars, buggies, scooters, dogs, and wildly painted old school buses packed with people. I tried hard to help Samuel drive and it was so nerve racking in the front but he managed to bring us safely to our hotel. By time we all got some real food in our stomachs and found our precious beds the traveling was over- we are here and ready to serve. It took over 24 hours to get to this point!
As we all began to wake up to a beautiful Sunday morning in Central America our mission trip leaders Ron & Howie had our day planned. We all were ready to began holding, loving and sharing Jesus to malnourished babies and children or began our construction projects but God was not ready for us to start.... Today we became a team sealed together by God himself, we ate together in one room, then we worshiped together outside with no walls or instruments, then we rode in tall green, open trucks (you had to climb up a ladder to get in them) and headed to a coffee plantation. We divided into 2 groups: one group would zip line down a mountain (the youngest was 12 and the oldest was a grandfather) They worked to get her to help each other climb up to the high point and they encouraged the ones that were scared out of their minds. They other group was small as they walked together and learned the process of how the coffee beans grow from a tiny seed into a beautiful plant and then goes all over the world to Starbucks cafes. We spent the afternoon in an open air market where we meet friends of our own missionary friend Meagan Kent. We had lunch plans but there was a huge power outage that took out the electricity in the entire city....
By the time we meet together for orientation for the malnutrition center several conversations were rumbling among our group as this has been a wonderful day, but... I came here to serve not have fun! Then as we were being informed on what to expect and how to actually serve our hearts began to melt, in my country our children will get an education and they will receive milk and healthy food, and immunizations from illness. Unfortunately that is not the case here. We looked at pictures of the actual children we will be taking care of and we heard their names and learned their stories and we wondered how they will accepts "gringos" that can't even speak their language. We cried and we prayed and God has heard us. Send me Lord. I am ready. I will be a witness. I will testify of your love to a world that has been tricked by satan. I will boldly share your love with all my strength...
In just a few short hours we will take a one hour bus ride to answer Your call.
--
Sherry Davis
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