Guat's Up?

So we made it to Quiche, Guatemala for month one of The World Race!  We are working with a ministry called Agape in Action.  We are staying across the street from a hospital that the ministry helps with.  A nice older couple, Sally and Erv, live there most of the year and head home to Michigan for a few weeks during the summer. 

The whole squad, all 57 of us, are staying together this month.  We have set up our tents in front of Sally and Erv's place.  It gets very cold here in our tents at night and a storm usually rolls in every night after dinner.  We have three showers (VERY cold showers) and restrooms to share between all of us.  Each day, our teams are taking turns making meals.  We are eating a lot of rice, beans and tortillas! 

My team of 7 people, including Ms. Minkel, goes to a daycare every day.  We help teach kids in the mornings, which can be very difficult because they all speak Spanish!  We are also responsible for helping serve and clean up lunch.  We wash a lot of dishes! 

Another project we have to do while we are at the daycare is build a new playground for the kids and paint murals on the inside of some of the classrooms.  All they have is a dirt patch in the courtyard of their school.  The kids seem very excited every day when we bring in a new piece of equipment.  Ms. Minkel is excited to be working with kids because she misses the Explorers so much! 

Snuggling in the tent

 

 

 

Working on the new playground!

Forever an Explorer,

Amelia

No Moose Left Behind

I arrived in Atlanta on July 2, 2013 for what Adventures in Missions calls “Launch”.   Launch is a five-day preparation period, or conference, where experienced racers and other speakers share encouragement, safety tips, cultural considerations, and stories of God showing up on their World Race.   We spent time in worship.  We practiced certain scenarios, regarding safety, which might occur on the field.  We spent time sharing our anxious thoughts and anticipations with squad mates and teammates about the upcoming journey.  After five nights, we packed up our belongings for the year (in one backpack) and headed out.

The trip almost ended very abruptly for me.  I want to document all of the places we go, including our starting point, so I asked Ms. Minkel to take a picture of me next to the sign of our hotel in Atlanta.  She gingerly placed me in a pot of plants decorating the outside of the hotel and snapped a lovely photo of me...and then she walked away, leaving me in the pot.

Luckily for me, someone on another team found it strange that there was a moose sitting among the plants outside our hotel and scooped me up.  I was reunited with a very distraught Ms. Minkel at the terminal gate in the airport. It was obvious that the 3am wake up call had left her in a fog and the attempt to leave me behind was not intentional.

After a quick flight to Miami, Florida, we left the country for our first stop in Guatemala!  I hope you all will keep up with my travels better than Ms. Minkel has kept up with me so far!

Lovely photo, isn't it?

 Forever an Explorer,

Amelia

Goodbye Explorers!

All packed up and ready for the world that awaits me!  The halls are quiet and the classrooms are empty.  I've said my goodbyes to Marco, the students, and the amazing staff at Polo Road.  I've got a lot to take care of in the next month before I leave, but I'm looking forward to a journey of a lifetime!  Join me in this adventure through Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Nepal, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda!

Forever an Explorer,
       
                  Amelia