Day One

      Our adventure began yesterday morning at the excruciatingly early hour of 2:30am in the church parking lot. We packed the trailer and had a time of prayer before we departed with our team and a few others who came to see us off. It was an exciting journey from the start because we almost missed our connecting flight. We were headed to the terminal in Detroit and happened to look up at the board and noticed our flight to Houston was delayed. This caused a bit of a problem because we only had a 45 minute layover once we got there. Fortunately, we were able to get the airline to hold the flight for us. There is strength in numbers! 

       The entire team was exhausted when we finally arrived in Guatemala at around 2:30. The early morning combined with the rather uncomfortable airplane seats didn't lead to very much sleep. We were met at the airport by a few people from the orphanage and then proceeded to experience an exciting bus ride up the mountain. The driving in Guatemala is something else! The use of blinkers is non-existant, stop signs are optional, and motorcycles have free reign of the road (with no helmets, of course). After surviving the ride we finally arrived at Casa Bernabé.

       The first thing we did was take a tour of the orphanage. We visited a few of the houses and were introduced to the house parents. After a quick orientation there was a bit of free time, which many of us utilized for taking a nap. We then threw a birthday party for a few of the boys in Casa Esperanza (ages 9-12). There is apparently a Guatemalan tradition of smashing the birthday boy/girl's face into the cake. After we finished consuming all the cake, we hung out and played with the boys. The language barrier was a bit difficult, however it soon became evident that the kids didn't seem to mind. Smiles and hugs were all that were needed.

       After the party we had a quick dinner, even though none of us had an appetite after all the cake. We had a short debriefing session where we shared first impressions and prayer requests with each other. Then it was time to go to bed and rest up for our first full day.

       To be continued...

-written by Josh, Amy, Kristen, Stacey and Lindsey

The team:

Mike Rumbarger

Jill Rumbarger

Josh Rumbarger

Stacey Stark

Lindsey Stark

Kristen Forster

Amy Spykerman

George Van Hecke

Judy Van Hecke

Peter Crossman

Susan Stelzer

Tom McCarthy

Alyssa Strandbergh