So I haven’t blogged in a while. I feel like I’m processing something new every minute so by the time a blog forms in my head something new is happening. For now I’d like to catch you up on the basics of what has happened in the last month.
We ministered in Bratislava for five weeks in all. Until June, we had not lived in any one place for more than three weeks. Those five weeks started to feel a little long, but our month in Slovakia ended well. The last week we were there we were able to babysit for a mom who was finished her doctoral dissertation. She has two boys in elementary school and one that is 17 months-old. His name is Filip and we spent five days out of our last seven with him. He was a joy until maybe the last day or so when he had no seen nearly as much of his mother as he was used to and he finally realized she was only in the next room. We would try to keep him away so as to allow her to work. Our efforts were met with screams. We would take shifts with Filip sometimes in pairs, but often one of us was there alone. Spending time with Filip let me think a little bit what it would be like to spend time with my own nephews at home.
When we had concluded our time in Bratislava Team FUSE spent a day in Vienna, Austria and two days in Budapest, Hungary (with teams Crux and Lunchbox) before flying out of Europe. Most of our squad flew together out of Budapest to Frankfurt, Germany, where we changed planes and flew to Boston. We then had a 13-hour layover in Boston. My former teammate Christi Johnson and I made our way about forty minutes out of town on the public transit to eat at one of our favorite American restaurants, Chili’s. Very late that evening the last two teams of the G-squad came into the airport in Boston where we all flew out together at 5:30 AM. Most of us flew a route that touched down in Myrtle Beach (we did not get off the plane), then Ft. Lauderdale (where our connecting flight was delayed almost three hours — if I had known I could’ve called my sister) before flying on to Guatemala City.
Once in Guatemala the fifty of us loaded up three vans and traveled to Antigua (rough life, right?). We spent five days together and just happened to be able to link up with the World Race I-squad, who are entering just their second month on the Race. We worshiped together and spoke life into the experience of one another. It was a great time to relax and spend more than I wanted to on some great margaritas and tacos.
Now teams FUSE and Holy Banditz are together in Puerto Barrios living and ministering alongside one another. We are working with a local radio station that has just increased their broadcast area to cover all over northern Guatemala. We are coming on the heels of a pair of I-squad teams that spent their first month here last month.
I am praying for all of you back home as I prepare for reentry in under two months. Please be praying for me to hear clearly from the Lord for his direction as I listen for my next step.
