Well, we have arrived in Palenque after a very long bus ride, and our first real travel experience. Fourty four hours of travel, with no showers, or changes of clothes. We departed Matamoros at noon on Thursday, got visas at the border and then all of Squad B was dropped off in Reynosa, Mexico, to find our way to Palenque. All 3 teams took the buses, though each team departed on different ones. The race had begun! We took off running to the ‘Autobus Estacion’ asking directions in VERY broken Spanish along the way.
We were finally able to purchase tickets for the first and second legs about 3pm, but didn’t depart unil about 8:45pm for our 17 hour leg. I hadn’t done the research, so I didnt realize how far away our destination was from our launch place! After our first leg, we had about a 4 hour layover in Vera Cruz, where we met up with some of the other teams. Then another 7 hour leg to Villa Hermosa in order to wait another 6 or 7 hours for our last bus, which turned out to be 2.5 hours late!!! We boarded our last bus at 5:15 this morning, and arrived safely in Palenque at 7:30am.
BUT…. that was not the end of the race. Leaping off the bus, along with all of our competition, we flagged a taxi, (muy rapido, mas rapido!!!) and raced to the The Mayan Ruins here. Once there, we again waited… in line for the park to open. Had to buy tickets and race to certain Ruins, then to the top of the highest point and take a time stamped photo of our team. We were first in line at the window, but were out strategized and came in 2nd to the top. Only 4 of our 6 teammates had to race and since Lynette and Sarah were not feeling well, it was left to James, Leah, Amy and myself. I am not a runner, but all of them are. I pretty much crawled up the palace stairs (there were a bazillion!!) But… I didnt die, though I did kind of collapse due to weak calves at the end of it. 🙂 Ha Ha!!
This is my first time at an internet cafe/store, and the first time I have used a Spanish keyboard, so if things come out funny, that is why! They have quite a few extra keys and buttons. Fun times.
We are staying in town here in Palenque until 2pm when we will head out to the Bible College we are staying out. Hopefully sometime in there, a shower will greet me, and some sleep! I slept some here and there, but not a whole lot. The buses were suprisingly comfortable, but regardless, sleep eluded me most of the time. We couldn’t sleep in the stations while we waited since we had to keep an eye out for our bags. A few of my teammates didn’t feel well at various times in the trip, so they always had the sleep priority. I can’t wait to lay horizontally and close my eyes!
Yes, it is only the beginning, but a dandy one! This was the first of many long bus rides and lots of waiting. However, we have a month before we travel again. Our first week here will be intensive training starting tomorrow, with ministry practice, and then the rest of the month, we will be doing ministry without all our trainers around.
I am SO excited about what God is doing through us, how is choosing to use us. All the teams spoke with numerous people along the way, praying with them, encouraging them, sharing the Gospel. He certainly is not waiting for us to ‘arrive’ anywhere before allowing us to touch peoples lives. That is what is so much fun. I can’t wait to get on the field, during and after training, and begin to interact more with the locals. It will be a huge challenge, but one I’m up to, especially alongside the team God has blessed me with.
Please pray for us as we take the next steps into practical ministry and are once again overloaded with training information. Also, please pray for our finances, as our team budgets are very tight, and like a married couple, finances seem to cause the most tension. (Try feeding a team for $2.75/person/day – in a hurry during travel!!)
My support is coming along, but please keep me in your prayers as I am still needing several thousand dollars over the year. I am trusting the God will provide and it will not be necessary for me to go home early, so please join me in prayer and consider taking part in this amazing chance to reach the world by supporting me on The World Race. (See Link on Left)
Many blessings!
