We are all together now!

Today was the day everyone was to arrive-all 22 from Kingsburg First Baptist and the other 4 from my team. They arrived on time, we had a traffic delay on the way to the airport. My daughter Caitlin left from Guatemala  City to return to LAX today. We all stopped for breakfast on the way back to Magdalena. When we arrived, the rest of my team had lef for Chimaltenango to transport young Avocado trees to Magdalena-all 3,000 of them!! They had left at 6:00 am and returned late afternoon, eating in Antigua for lunch, the Kingsburg team and my 4 plus myself transported the trees to pickups so they could make it up the hill to be planted near the church. Mind you, these kids and leaders had not slept all night! We had lunch delivered to us so we could keep working onjour assembly line-it really was truly amazing to see everyone working together to get this done and in the pouring rain!

By far our first day has never been so strenuous. Typically we go to our rooms and have a rest day. When everyone returned from their work I saw a lot of cold, tired faces. But I also heard laughter, saw smiles, and joy at doing this together. Maybe the weather wasn't ideal, nor the labor the way we wanted it, but to work together in service was amazing!!

Tomorrow we have orientation and anticipate a. Jay day once again, but we all look forward to meeting each other-both of the teams! Please be in prayer that we can have a positive beginning, pray for our 5 host families that are hosting us and the student groups in them. Steve Gann is with Brandon Walker, Brian Fabrie, and Canon Hansen are with Doña Iris near the church where we meet each day before our worksites. Courtney, myself, and Coby are a block away with Doña Invrid and Pastir Mario. Ruby, Shelby, and Savanah are on the next block over with Doña Blanca. Skyler, Mrs. Thomas, Kaitlyn Erickson and Taylor Vos are with Doña Piedad near the meeting place at the cross. Taryn Neese, Kaitlin Boone, and Erica Vander Wall are with Doña Lorena at the bottom of the hill. I think that is all of them. Thank you for keeping them close in your heart and in prayer. We plan to all walk together tomorrow to each members hous and pray over the group there as well as the hosts as they serve them meals and show themove. We are so grateful to them!! Alexa Blundell has been reunited with the team as she is here serving on summer staff. So grateful to see her here!

I will update more tomorrow when the outreach actually formally begins. Hope to send pics soon on the Guatemala Facebook page! ❤️❤️❤️