Our amazing journey started by saying some goodbyes on our dock in Belize, followed by a boat, a small plane, a van, a bus, two more planes, and another van before making it to the YWAM base in Guyana. Our travel was anything but boring! We took an 11 hour bus ride overnight from Belize City to Cancun, Mexico, but don't worry we weren't riding the whole time; we made a few random stops and then three sections of border crossing stops before arriving at the Cancun airport around 6:30 AM. It was quite an adventure! When we arrived we had about an hour to catch our flight and a long line stood in our way of checking in. When it was our turn to finally check in, we were left with 20 minutes to make our flight. The lady at the check in desk proceeded to tell us this was impossible and our only hope of making it to Guyana this day would be to ditch all of our liquids from our checked bags (Full shampoos, conditioners, contact solution, bug spray, toothpaste, body spray etc.) so we could take them through security with us and run to our gate. We did this as a team with surprisingly good attitudes and no complaining! After emptying our bags of all liquids we took off running;I quickly realized how out of shape I am, however we made it to the gate just in time! Sweaty and out of breathe we boarded the plane and breathed a sigh of relief! From then travels were relatively smooth and included some American airport treats ending in Guyana around 10PM! It was a fun time of bonding as a team and really makes for a good story now!
America!
Since arriving last Saturday (March 22nd) we have been doing ministry every day! We have done everything from hosting kid's church services, playing games and singing songs with 5-9 year olds, running full church services, manual labor blessing the YWAM Guyana base, door to door evangelism, dramas and skits, hosting a youth camp, attending a two night prayer meeting, visiting the hospital, helping with a feeding program, and receiving love from the people of Guyana. It's crazy we have only been here a week, it feels so long but so short! The people are so friendly and hospitable. They have received us with open arms and open doors and sure do know how to prepare some amazing food! They speak English Creole so I pick up about 50% of what they say; I'm learning though!
I am looking forward to sharing more specific stories and pictures soon, but I wanted to update and let you know that your prayers and your support are making a difference here. You are a huge part of what God is doing in Guyana and without you I know this wouldn't be possible!
Our leader Becky and I walking to kid's church! Yes, I am in fact wearing a skirt and have every day since arriving in Guyana, those true die to self moments on outreach!
We will be in Guyana a couple more days before boarding a van to drive us 12 hours to Suriname and another mystery amount of time to French Guiana this week! The adventure never ends!