Busy Day on Saturday

Saturday morning Daniella and I were up early to drive to the airport.  Our good friends, Don Laity and Kent Brewer, had a nine-hour layover in Guatemala on their way to Bogota, Colombia for the Good News in Action mission trip.  We picked them up at 8:30 a.m. and returned to Nelson and Rosemarie's home so they could relax a bit.  (No one enjoys a red-eye flight.)  

We were able to go to breakfast with them at our favorite restaurant, Capistrano.  All of the tables at Capistrano have white paper on them and there are always crayons which bring out the creativity in all of their patrons.  While the majority of us just doodled, our artist friend, Kent, drew a masterpiece which I saved.

After breakfast we returned home so that Daniella, Stephen and I could finish packing our suitcases.  Next was a return trip to the airport to drop off Daniella for her flight back to John Brown University and Don and Kent for their late afternoon flight to Bogota.

Stephen and I drove our truck to the Biltmore Hotel and checked in for the week-long campaign.  Shortly after we arrived, we were able to welcome the team from Faith Baptist in Youngsville, North Carolina, as well as the bus load of Salvadorans.

By 3:30 p.m. everyone was ready to go out for the first family festival of the week.  We had 12 team members (7 more arrived later that night.)  Sharing door-to-door went well and the neighborhood really enjoyed the inflatable, games, dancing, drama and preaching.  There were 30+ professions of faith.  A great end to a busy Saturday and even better start to the Guatemala campaign.

Long Weekend in Guatemala

We started our drive to Guatemala just after 1:00 p.m. and it took a little less than two hours to reach the border.  That would have normally been a good thing, but . . . . . you might remember that last October the bridge between El Salvador and Guatemala was badly damaged when a 2000 pound over-the-limit semi tried to cross.  The bridge is now being repaired and is only open from 11:00 to 1:00 and 3:30 to 5:30.  So we had a 30+ minute wait for the bridge to open.  Once it's open, it's still only one-way traffic.  Five to ten cars from El Salvador and then five to ten from Guatemala.  We finally crossed at 4:00 p.m.  The repair work has made the bridge very uneven and scary to cross in spite of the 10 mph speed limit.  

Our view as we crossed

View looking out my window--surface is a combination of concrete slabs
 separated by sandbags.

The trip on the Guatemala side was uneventful (thankfully) because once we cross over the border my El Salvador phone has no service and, unfortunately, my Guatemala phone did not have any minutes.  

We made it across Guatemala City and to Nelson and Rosemarie's house about 6:30.  She was just starting on the pupusas!  

Worshiping at Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, Guatemala City, is just like being in our home church . . . . lot's of friends, great music and excellent preaching.  After church we had a quick lunch at Wendy's and then, along with another 3-4 couples, went to a park to hang out.  The guys played basketball (about 4 hours.)  By the time we left, they were exhausted!

Monday morning after a great breakfast at Capistrano, one of our favorite restaurants, we drove to Antigua to visit our Spanish teachers.

   Stephen's breakfast!

It's getting late, so the rest of the story will have to wait until tomorrow!