Wow. My first mission trip has finally begun! It is January 14, 2012, and I am in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala at Ministerios Casa Verde (online radio ministry: Paul Tonetti's Radio FeLove). Check out the radio station online! My team of seven ladies (Kate’s team) and another team of four ladies and two guys (Mark’s team) arrived late last night after a 7+ hour combined van and city bus ride from Guatemala City (my first time in Guatemala). I didn’t realize how long it takes to transport our World Race teams to our contact destinations! I feel like so much has happened in such a short time.
On January 10 – 13, Squads C, D, and E (about 150 people) met at Bethel Romanian Baptist Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL to begin preparation for launching to our contact destinations on Jan. 13.
A Few Details:
slept in the church pews
$5 per day/per person for meals
1 hotel room a couple blocks down the street from the church for showering only
walked 25 minutes down the street to use the McDonald’s WiFi internet
walked 30 minutes down the street to the Ramada for a team debrief with WR leadership
So how does an entire squad get from the Romanian Church all the way to our Guatemalan contacts? It’s a process. On January 12th (around 7:30 pm), my squad, D Squad, walked about a half mile down the street from the church to the bus stop (our first bus ride – see video 1 Vimeo link below). We then arrived at the train station and rode the double-decker (our first train ride – see video 2) to the MIA shuttle bus (our first shuttle bus ride – see video 3).
We then slept overnight in front of the American Airlines’ check-in desks with all of our bags and packs (our first sleepover in an airport – see below photo). We then woke up at 4 am to begin the lovely process of packing up and checking our packs (our first check-in – see video 4). We finally flew out of MIA on Jan. 13 at 9:50 am to land in Guatemala City.
Sleeping overnight in MIA before launching to Guatemala
Our squad’s 6 teams then split up to begin our World Race journeys. The 13 of us took a small van (see video 5) about 30 minutes to a city bus station to then take a long ride to our final destination, Puerto Barrios! Guess what we had for dinner last night and breakfast this morning? Spaghetti with meat sauce and corn flakes and coffee, respectively. Not exactly what we were expecting when in Central America! But no complaining here!
P.S. Traditional Latin American food will soon commence (corn and flour tortillas, beans, refried beans, scrambled eggs, cheese, rice milk, pancakes, etc.)
