Guatemala Short-term Missions trip

Travel, Day 1

Our team of fifteen short-term missionaries met at the Eastern Iowa Airport at 5:15 am to check in for our 6:50 am flight. And it’s a good thing we were early. The airport was busy, and our thirteen checked bags took quite a while to process. 

We checked some bags for our own clothes and personal items. But six suitcases were completely filled with donated items for the people we are going to work with and serve: sheets, shoes, kitchen utensils, toys, blankets, and more. Pray those gifts are a blessing to those that receive them. 

The first and second flights were on time and uneventful. We flew to Charlotte, and then Miami without a hitch. We arrived in Miami around 1:30 (12:30 central), with a planned layover of four hours. Then we hit our first hitch. 

A delay rescheduled our flight from Miami to Guatemala, new departure time: 7:15. That doesn’t sound too bad. But then the crew had to unload a third of the luggage to find one misplaced piece, reload all the luggage, and so it was almost another hour before we left Miami. We weren’t the only ones. We sped past 14 jets in line to take off when our plane finally left the runway. 

These are truly light and momentary afflictions, though. We traveled fifteen hours with fifteen people, stayed safe, and all of our luggage was waiting for us at the end. Praise the Lord! We were all too tired to do anything but go to bed when we arrived. But we met our missionary partners, and they had everything ready for us. God is good. 

Tomorrow we travel again, and then start working!