Present and accounted for!

Well, I guess I made it down here. I was supposed to fly down Sunday. But after my plane had a problem in Atlanta, and I would not have made my connection, they rebooked me for Wednesday. I flew out of Atlanta yesterday morning at 7am, had a 3 hour layover in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and flew to Guatemala City arriving at 1pm local time (Rocky Mountain time). After a taxi to the bus and a 4 hour bus ride to Quetzaltenango, more commonly referred to as Xela (Shayla), and another taxi to the school, I arrived between 7:30 and 8:00. It was too late to be introduced to the Guatemalan family I will be staying with, so I stayed in the small motel across the street that is mostly taken up by students of the school I am attending. It reminded me very much of the hostels in Europe that Leanne and I stayed in. It was plenty comfortable and the other people there (all students at the school and all either U.S. or European) were all very friendly. I went to bed pretty quickly though.

I can already feel a sense of wanting to tighten up in my spirit, an instinctual move to self-protect and close off. It is not overwhelming or anything; I am just distinctly aware of it. I will be meeting the family I will stay with today around noon, and then I will have afternoon class from 2-7. Hopefully that will not remain the case; I would prefer to have class in the morning. There are still so many basics about being here I don´t know and that probably doesn´t help me to relax. I´m sure I will be able to relax more once I get the basics down and I understand my schedule. One thing is true for sure. Being on my own and away from most everything I understand, I am forced to take a look at the source of my internal sense of security. How much do I rely on knowing and understanding my surroundings for peace to be present? How much do I rely on self-sufficiency to have rest in my spirit? Already I have been thankful for a God that is bigger than circumstances. Trying to communicate to a taxi driver who knows no English, to get to a place he has never heard of, with an address I can´t even speak (I had it written down thankfully), could have been a little overwhelming. And it did put my on guard a bit, but glory to God it was not overwhelming, and I arrived without a hitch. What new depths of faith might be coming? and at what cost to my old way of thinking? Gloria a Dios!

And just an fyi, I am typing now on the computers that are in the school. Apparently they are free to use. So that is nice. But don´t make any assumptions yet about my ability to be online very much because I have yet to be introduced to my whole schedule.

This is Semana Santa (Holy Week) and tomorrow is Good Friday, so there is no class. So basically, I arrived in time for one day of class for this first week. I still don´t know if I will still be paying for the whole week or not. We´ll see. Please continue to keep me in your prayers.

Grace and Peace,
Bryan