The final Mission Dispatch

This is the last entry into my journal from my Guatemala Mission and it is appropriate as planning is now well underway for the next mission team to go to VHII.  I won't be able to make this trip but I am hoping that at some point I can once again return to Guatemala or maybe another location for a mission.  I was thinking a great deal about my Mission trip here a couple of weeks ago as we were experiencing more than normal rainfall for this time of year and we had a great deal of flooding (http://whalenswanderings.blogspot.com/2010/11/high-water-high.html) and I was able to simply absorb it as it was really nothing compared to what I saw in Guatemala.  That being said a number of my neighbors had their houses severely flooded.  Now I have turned to thoughts of Christmas, and I was wondering how my friends in Guatemala celebrate. 

But I am rambling, this entry was written at LaGuardia airport and then at the hotel in Bangor. It was a long day of travel and I was truly glad to lay my head down, but really wished it was in my own bed.

June 4, 2010
Right now I'm sitting at gate C5 in LaGuardia airport in New York, New York.  Our flight has been postponed an hour so now we have a six hour wait here before flying to Bangor.

The rest of our flights today have been very smooth.  We had to rush to catch our connector to New York after landing in Houston.  I was rushing with Denise and Sarah T as we happen to get through immigration and baggage claims together.  We were rushing so much that both girls ran out of their flip flops which I found incredibly funny.  Sarah was continually saying "this is so intense" and I have to admit it truly felt a bit "Amazing Race"ish.

When we lifted off in Guatemala I felt a huge sigh of relief.  I was sure things would go smoothly, so at present I'm a bit frustrated that once again, we are being delayed.  I have faith though that God has a plan and that there is a reason and purpose for our delay, even if I never know what it is.

I will wait and finish this entry at Bangor, as we have decided to spend the night there and head back to Sussex in the morning.

It is after midnight as I try to sit quietly and finish this entry.  I am tired and I don't have a great deal to express.  I simply wanted to say that I am truly thankful that I made all my flights safely and thank God for that.  I can't wait to get home tomorrow and hug my wife and kids.

It is terrible but I don't make another journal entry after this one.  I have learned a great deal more about myself since returning and re-reading my journal but I have not put any more into it.  This will not be my last mission though and I will fill my book with lots more great stories of how God is working in my life.  I was super excited to see my kids and my wife looked so beautiful when we finally pulled into the ACC parking lot.  It was a happy reunion and everyone had lots of emotion to share.  God can use us all to do great things if we simply give ourselves to him and I am blessed to have been one of his tools.

Love you Mission team, you guys are awesome.

Rainy Days and Memories

I am reposting this picture to illustrate to those living in
Canada's Atlantic provinces that what we are going through
could be worse.  My prayers are with you in your struggle.

Over the past week it has been raining incredibly hard and consistent.  In some areas here they recieved over 300mm of rain.  That could likely be considered close to the yearly average for some places not too far from my part of the world.  Instead of letting the rain get me down I simply remembered what we went through in Guatemala.  There we survived a volcanoe and a tropical storm in much more rugged terrain, so this week here has been a breeze.  That being said I know there are people here in my town who were flooded out of their homes and will have to likely endure the pain of remodeling their basements and such and my prayers are with them.

Since I was thinking about Guatemala I figured it would be a good time to write another one of my entries from my journal.  It is great to see that the experience that I shared there was not lost and that it has allowed me to cope with some of life's challenges here more effectively.  My journal entries are shorter as we are preparing to leave Guatemala after a long, stressful wait for the airport to re-open and book our flights.  The weather has eased and became very warm in Antigua as I start to go into the familiar shell I retreat to when any of my adventures start to come to an end.



The streets all possessed stunning scenery and were very
walkable.  Everywhere God's creation was inspiring.



June 3, 2010

I took it easy today so I would be rested for our long travel day tomorrow.  We went to breakfast at Don Luisa again and once again I was enthralled with the atmosphere of this old restaurant.  Photos and pictures on the wall and the many small rooms filled to capacity, with people carrying on lively conversation (You wouldn't have know that the region was in complete chaos.)  The plants and the openess of the place really appealed to me.



We returned to the hotel afterwards and spent most of our time playing some cards.  It was hot, muggy day and a good day to do little.  Eventually I took some clothes to the laundry mat a block down the street before joining some others for a walk to the grocery store (should not be confused with the market, as they are nothing alike) even though I didn't really need anything.  It was a great day and I didn't want to waste it in the hotel.  We grabbed an icecream cone, two scoops for 10Q ($1.10) and sauntered along the very walkable streets watching the various people walk past or sitting in the shade.

Once again we went to Los Palmas for supper since they had treated us so well the night before.  Again tonight they provided incredible service and great food.  The mood was a bit more sombre tonight as we hoped yet were saddened to think that it was our last night in Guatemala.

After supper we returned to the hotel and packed our bags in preparation for our 3am departure time.  I had a hard time sleeping as I was worried about our flights being delayed.  I was also troubled by the fact that I didn't feel like I had helped the people in Guatemala enough.  I had hoped that earlier that day we could help out again at "Common Hope" or elsewhere but that opportunity never materialized.  I feel that we could have looked into that a bit harder, and worked harder to make it happen.  I was a bit disappointed in myself here, not anyone else.  I should have made my feelings known more emphatically, but I sat quietly and followed everyone else.  When I had the chance to lift my voice...when it could have counted for something...I didn't.  God please help me learn when to lift my voice to serve you.