Where do I begin?!

This is my first mission trip. When I was getting set up to go, I had no idea what I was in for. I can still say that, actually, because it's only day one. If the rest of the trip is anything like today has been, I don't know if I'll be coming home!

To begin our journey we met some of our team in Tulsa, flew to Houston and then flew out to Guatemala City. When we got there we met the onsite missionary we will be working with this week, Nathan Hardeman, and after a brief lunch took off from Guatemala City to Antigua. I was blown away from the beginning. The way that traffic works here is completely different than back in the states, but as crazy as it feels, we only saw one wreck in the hour or so it took to get to Antigua. The traffic can be very intense to and I found it quite funny to see the vendors standing in the medians trying to sell flowers and other items to cars caught in a jam.

We continued driving out to Antigua and, after seeing some of the beautiful architechure of Guatemala City, we came across some more run-down places. Even though 80% or more of the buildings seemed dilapidated and better off left alone, they were, as far as I could see, all occupied for one thing or another. When we arrived in Antigua I was told that Guatemala City is about the size of Tulsa and has a population of around 7 million people. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't saw some of the other housing structures in the area. See, this part of Guatemala is very mountainous and hilly with quite a few valleys. At first I was awestruck at the beauty of the land in the area (and the creative use of billboards on cliffsides), but then the site of houses stacked on top of each other along the cliff-faces left me sort of confused. It tugs at my heart a bit to see so many less-than-habitable buildings put so close together and thinking about the people who live in those areas (if the poorer residents of the relatively nice Guatemala City are any indication). It also gave me hope in a way that maybe I'll come in contact with some of these poorer folks when we go out on site and begin working later this week. I'm really looking forward to playing soccer with the kids and showing the love of Christ through my actions in any way possible.

Right now I'm sitting at a desk at the guest house in constant marvel of the area around us. The compound we're at is walled in and protected quite well. At the same time it's an open facility: aside from the rooms and bathrooms, the building is not enclosed. It's been between the mid-60's and mid-70's all day with some rain on and off. It's so cool that I need a jacket (take that Oklahoma weather!) While I'm typing this I'm listening to the sound of fireworks in the background, which is apparently a favorite past-time for Guatemalans and is a way of celebrating just about anything, including birthdays.

Other than marveling at God's artistry in Guatemala and taking in the environment I have the blessing of staying in this week, I am taking an opportunity to meet some new people and make some new friends. Steve, Jessica, Greg and I have tagged along with a group from Liberty Church in Broken Arrow for the week. There are 19 of us in all, mostly guys, about half sponsors, and from what I can gather not even everybody that came with Liberty knows one another very well. Thankfully we have been put in positions to meet other brothers- and sisters-in-Christ and to work alongside them in our coming projects this week. I've already met and talked to a few of the others here and they are all great, fun, funny people. I'm definitely looking forward to what God has in store for all of us this week and I'm eternally greatful that all of the right doors opened for me to be able to attend this trip.

Thank you all for your prayers; please keep them coming! Keep looking for blogs throughout the week!