Saturday trip to the airport

We left for the airport at 11:30 Saturday morning, earlier than usual because we were not able to check-in on line.  We were so glad we did!  About 25 minutes in to the 50 minute drive we came to a complete stop.  After about ten minutes, we called William Flores to see if he could find out what was going on.  He called back and said that there was a tractor trailer blocking the road, but that it wasn't an accident so it should be cleared fairly soon.  About 15 minutes later the cars in the left lane started moving very slowly.  Our lane (we were behind a big truck) wasn't moving at all.  

There was a slight break in the traffic so Stephen changed lanes and it was a great decision.  As we approached the truck we could see that it during a maneuver to make a very sharp right turn (almost in a jack-knife position) it was hit by an SUV.  The cars in the left lane were moving because the police began allowing cars to wind around in front of ithe truck.  Each vehicle had to start their turn and then back up to complete it.  Obviously, the space was much too small to allow anything larger than a pickup to pass, so all of the big trucks were stuck, as were any cars that were behind them.  

We finally "wormed" our way around it as they were dislodging the SUV from under the carriage of the trailer.  We lost more than 30 minutes of time, but managed to arrive at the Avianca counter just after the suggested two-hour check-time.  At the gate, we saw two people from IBVN San Salvador who were also on our flight.  Vilma Camino and her granddaughter (relatives of Pastor Alex and his wife, Norma,) were flying down to help translate.

Although our flight was delayed by 30 minutes, for some reason unknown to us, we were upgraded to first class, a very rare occurrence indeed.  We enjoyed a nice lunch on the 2.5 hour flight to Bogota!  We landed, walked down the steps to the tarmac and then boarded a bus for a 20 minute drive to the international terminal.  The immigration lines were substantial, but that was to be expected because the airport is enormous.  The greater Bogota area has more than ten million people!

We waited a very long time on our luggage as, once unloaded, it had to make the 20 minute drive to the international terminal, as well.  Norma and her daughter, Paola, were there to meet us and show us to the Holiday Inn shuttle, and pick up her mother and niece.

The Holiday Inn Airport was a ten minute drive and the check-in procedure was easy.  We were in our room by 9:00 p.m.  We met a couple in the lobby who were looking for a place to eat so we joined them on a walk the McDonalds, which was a block or two away.

We've been really busy this week, with not too much free time in the room, so I'm really behind in posting what's been going on.  Much more later about how God is really working here in Bogota and how exciting it is to be part of His work!

Happy 3rd Anniversary

We drove to Nueva Concepcion yesterday afternoon because Pastor Manuel asked Stephen to sing a couple of songs for the anniversary service.  The service started at 4:00 p.m., but since there is road construction in Apopa, we left at 2:00 so we wouldn't be late.  

The service was well attended by members of all three of the Vida Nueva churches up north, IBVN Aguilares, IBVN Coyolito and IBVN Nueva Concepcion.  It was good to see old friends and meet several new families that are fruit from the October campaign.  

Stephen sang two songs, "Poderoso" and "Tu Gracia Abunda en Mi."  The songs are quite different from the typical congregational singing, but I think that's the reason the congregation enjoys them.

I'm not singing, just holding the microphone.

After the service, there was "dinner on the grounds."  

Us with Pastor Manuel and Pastor Joel.

We didn't stay because we knew our trip home would be long.  Unfortunately, we spent about an hour trying to get through a 2-mile stretch of Apopa and then when we finally made it to the other side of town, we realized that our exit was completely closed and we were forced to continue toward San Salvador a different way than normal.  It took quite a long time and a couple of "lucky" turns to reach a place we recognized.  All in all, it was a 2+ hour trip.  

This is exactly what it looked like as we drove through Apopa.

Nevertheless, God was glorified in the service and two people prayed to receive Christ--our inconvenience is nothing compared to their new lives!

Catch-up Post (3)

I blogged a little on Monday when we were in the bus on the way home and in the morning before we left about the landslides just outside of Guatemala City.  Here are the "up-close and personal" photos we took while sitting beside the area.  The two lanes out of the city are completely covered with the mud/debris from the landslide.  They are not trying to remove the dirt at this time because they believe it will cause the area above to slide again.  They are working hard to construct two new temporary lanes around the immediate area of the problem to avoid the long delays they have been having.  We sat at the same spot for about 20 minutes waiting our turn to move up the hill past the landslide area.  We took all of the pictures from the bus--you can see how close we were . . . I was definitely praying that the mud and the broken walls didn't start moving again.  

 Mud and debris covering the south bound lanes includes parts of cement retaining walls.

 Constructing two temporary lanes to relieve the traffic backup.  

Great idea, but they are right on the side of the mountain!  

A view of one of the houses at risk of collapsing.  

It rained more yesterday as we left the city . . . . the landslide could get worse before it gets better.

Bus with Wifi

Well, you know you are going to be late getting back when both of the movies are over and the bus is still at the border.  We left Guatemala  City a little late and then the traffic at the landslide area took another half hour or so.  Not too bad, we thought.  Then we got to the border and the line of trucks was incredibly long. 

We did not have to get off the bus to wait in the immigration line,but it really doesn't make any difference if the traffic line is this long.  We were there for at least an hour, but have finally started  moving.  All this time (and on the trip over) I had my Internet turned off because the bus info said that free wifi was only for the first class passengers.  While sitting at the border I accidentally turned it on  and saw that the wifi was free and open. Silly me!  Nevermind that typing on these rough roads is quite difficult, at least I can check Facebook, and everyone knows how important that is.

How did it get to be the end of July?

Where is this year going?  It's unbelievable that it's been 7 months since we rang in the new year!  I guess the old saying that "time flies when you're having fun" is true.

Yesterday was a long day with quite a bit of time spent in the horrible traffic we have here in San Salvador.  I made my way to Denny's yesterday morning to celebrate Kathia's birthday with several other women from our IDEM (small group.)  If not for the accident that snarled traffic, I would have been early.

Just after noon we ventured out to pick up our truck at the dealership after it's 24,000 kilometer checkup.  Jeff and Paula let us use their truck while ours was in the shop which makes it easy to pick ours up after they finish the work.  The traffic is always crazy at noon, but at least my stop at the bank to pay rent (early because of the Costa Rica trip next week) didn't take as long as normal.

Tuesday is our regular small group night and our leaders, missionaries Ryan and Keeley Blackstock, were back from their summer furlough to share their ministry and update their supporting churches.  Although we left a few minutes later than normal (due to the fact that we couldn't find Stephen's reading glasses,) it really didn't matter because it was one of "those" traffic nights.  You know it's going to be bad when the cars on the ramp you need to use are sitting at a dead stop and are backed up to the highway you are on..  Even though we've lived here three years now, we still haven't mastered this crazy city, so we have limited options for avoiding bad traffic.  We managed to bail out and go another way, but that route was crazy, too. We finally arrived at 7:45 after being on the "way" for over an hour. By the way, it's about 5 miles and without traffic takes less than 10-12 minutes.

Like I said, it was a long day with more traffic time than we like.