New faces, new places.

Well, we finally arrived to the orphanage Casa Bernabe in Frijanes, Guatemala and we are all elated to be here! As we got on the road this morning we encountered ice, car accidents, and scary driving situations. We arrived at the church at 3:00am and we loaded up a trailer full of 28 suitcases and we all boarded the church bus ready to face this journey that God called us on!

All went very well with our flights, there were no issues with customs or security and we were ready to board our plane to Miami at about 5:15am! Both of the flights went well accept for some turbulance and most of our group was able to get some extra shut-eye before these days of exhaustion.

Flying over Guatemala was such a magnificent experience and it allows us to admire God's beautiful creation even more than at home. We were able to snap pictures of cloud-covered mountains and even some of the volcano. We are surely able to see God's creative mind when we encounter these beautiful landscapes.
We landed in Guatemala City at 2:45pm local time and it was so fun to see all the natives up against the fences watching the planes land. As we finally collected all our luggage and crammed into the small vans from the orphanage, we were on the road with all the CRAZY Guatemalan drivers. Let me be the one to testify to you all...it was a scary ride up the mountain to the orphanage, cars whizzing by and people sitting in the back end of pick-up trucks going nearly 70 miles per hour! (This is quite typical of Hispanic culture).

As we arrived at the orphanage, we were met with many smiling faces of young children who were excited to see those of our group whom they already knew and right away the children were giving the new members of our group hugs and inviting us to play. It is such a sad and hard concept to grasp how starved for attention these children are. Yes, the house-parents here at the orphanage are here to love these children and to show them Christ...but it is just not the same as having a real family. The kids will do whatever it takes to get your attention.

For the first couple hours we were here, we were able to spend time with the kids; meeting them and learning what they were all about. We also got to meet those adults who work here at the orphanage and how they have been called to serve in the name of Jesus Christ. As we heard the dinner bell ring we were excited to see what was in store for dinner...we were all so hungry! Dinner consisted of: scrambled eggs, fried plantains (similar to a banana) with a cream sauce and sugar, and a very liquidy form of black beans. There was also peanut butter and jelly sandwiches available :)

We were then given orientation by Tony who is a missionary here and is originally from Wisconsin...he's a cool guy! Throughout the rest of the evening we were able to explore and simply spend more time with the kids and loving on them!

God has brought us here for a reason...we know our purpose is to serve him in whatever way possible. We are so excited for this experience and this journey and we hope that you will be blessed by hearing about our experiences.

Please continue to pray for us...a girl that is also dorming with us here has been ill and has a fever so PLEASE pray for good health!

We love you all and thank you for supporting us through this wonderful opporutnity...stay tuned :)