Home - A Bittersweet Ending

Friday morning, 9am. We've just rolled out of bed and are ready for a cup of tea. Can it be that we were gone for almost 12 days? Mind you, just crawling in last night at 2:30am reminded me that we were home for real - no more hard 'coffee tables' with flat mattresses! Our hips were thankful for the comforts of a bed!

And thus is our thought processes of our first morning back. Full of gratitude for the amazing lives and gifts we have here in Canada but ever mindful of our brothers and sisters around the world, esp in Guatemala, who have so little physically but have LIFE in Christ. Thankful for the ability to travel across many countries through the air in a matter of hours, yet mindful of those who lost their lives just hours before we landed at the same airport. Bittersweet......blessing that is pain. And such is life.

Our last few days were uneventful in that our travels and time together went exactly as planned. No accidents, no vehicle break-downs, no bad weather, on-time flights, good connections, time to enjoy the process and not have to rush or panic. It was our prayer that this would be the case and God heard our prayers and answered, true to his faithfulness. We are thankful for this. But it was also our last two days! We were drawing closer to the time we'd have to say good-bye to many people who had made our time in Guatemala a time of learning, a time of blessing, and a time of joy. Bittersweet......blessing that is hope and pain.

We woke Wed morning to blue skies, a warming sun and the promise of another gorgeous day. However, this morning after breakfast the suitcases we had packed up the night before were to be loaded back onto the vans....oh, only ONE van!?? All in one van? All the suitcases on top of that van?? Oh my goodness, look at what Hank will have to drive through those mountain roads in! The old pick-up - no tail lights, bald tires and looking like it will fall apart any minute - you can't be serious! Oh yes, Timo is serious and with a look of resignation, Rosario shrugs her shoulders and tells me she will go with Hank b/c she is very worried about this. We load up most of the suitcases in the back of this little Toyota pick-up, which has definetely seen better days, cover everything with a tarp. Then we all load into the van....don't worry, its not full yet - Hank and Rosario will join us once we arrive in town! (It holds 15). And off we go.

We are ready to roll - until we hit "Four Corners" when somone realizes that there is no spare tire for the pick-up. Timo decides to park the van alongs-side the road, leave us there and then take the pick-up back to Camp Shalom for the spare tire. Now, under normal conditions, this may take about 15 minutes (normal, as in driving around home). Here, it is 'crazy time' - everyone is on the road - in car, truck, transport, delivery truck, walking, biking, scooter, motorcycle, buses (lots of those noisy, black-smoke spouting things!). So, we sit for 45 minutes. What do you do when you are wanting and ready to go then get stopped? Well, you do what most good Guatemalan's do - you talk, you read, you pray, you talk some more, you share peppermints, you get out of the van, you take pictures, you people watch - ok, that's what we do...lol.

Back on the road, the van in front, Hank and the pick-up in back, we went from San Cristobal to Guatemala City in about 4 hours - not bad. It could have been much worse if we had been stopped for construction. They are working on the Pan Am highway, making it four lane - they need to blast and then clean up and so stop all traffic, sometimes for hours. We first went to Antigua and spent two hours enjoying this beautiful historic city, full or stores and a huge artisans market. You could spent two days there! From there we went to our loging for the night, a seminary right in town, near the airport. With small but wonderful rooms and 'real' beds we rested, showered and got ready for dinner out.

For supper we went downtown. We saw the upscale, affluent side of Guatemala. Beautiful, trendy clothing and furnitures stores, jewellery, big highrise businesses, restarants. Several Steak Houses were here and we ate at one of them. We enjoyed our last night of fellowship together over a meal, talking out our week, our trip home, watching a great soccer game and just relaxing, allowing the events of the past 10 days to begin to perculate in our hearts.

Yesterday morning we had breakfast at 8 and met on an outside patio for devotions. Over the past few days we have become close and there were tears from many of us on occasion as we talked about how God works in our lives, how blessings are not always what we expect, how pain and suffering can also be used by God as blessing in our lives to teach us His ways. We debriefed a little on the 'now what' topic - now that we've been on this trip, what do we do? We talked about each of us having a 'story' - how does this trip impact our life story? What has God been teaching us the last few weeks? We talked about God - how big he is and how small we tend to make him. We talked about the impact of the gospel on a country such as Guatemala. Again, Hank and Rosario contributed much to this discussion in offering their experiences and thoughts.

Time to go to the airport. A brand new airport and beautiful! Check in went well and my concerns about missing our Atlanta connection were put to rest when the young man who check Karl and I in said, "You've been here before?" "Yes" I said. "Why?" "I remember your group two years ago - your flight was delayed, it was my first day and you were not a happy bunch!" He said this with a smile on his face but I apologized to him and then asked him about todays flight. With a smile he said, "You'll get home tonight." A little story, but a huge story in God's faithfulness even to me! After check in, we had some great coffee and lunch.

It was time for Hank and Rosario to enjoy a few days of peace and quiet - it was time for them to leave. With many thanks and hugs and a few tears we said good-bye. They will be staying in Guatemala until the end of March - leading Team Niagara yet and visiting family. Relationships - such joy in building but bittersweet when we have to say good-bye.

The rest of the day was spent flying, transfering, lugging luggage to re-check in, standing in line, sitting, sitting some more, sleeping, going up, going down. The last leg to Buffalo was quiet as we got closer there was anticipation for coming home. We all have missed our families, we were all tired, some of us are still sick, all our sense have been overwhelmed, and our hearts have been filled with so many emotions and thoughts. It will take some time for us to 'come-down' and be able to share with you what has happened.

We landed early in Buffalo, unaware of the event that had taken place just hours earlier. As usual we went to claim our luggage just wanted to go home. But slowly we began to get wind of something that sent shivers through us - a plane had gone down nearby and all were killed. The announcer asked several times for friends and family of flight#____ to please come upstairs to the ticket counter, media were starting to show up, flashing lights were out on the runways, people were quiet. The realization, once again, of how fragile life can be in a world where we often take so much for granted, began to settle in. Our homecome was bittersweet....a blessing to us, so much pain for so many other who had expected the same thing.

We left the airport, subdued and praying for those affected by this accident but so feeling so thankful and eternally blessed that we were spared. God, indeed, is not done with us yet!Through customs and off to our homes - it was time to put it behind us for a few hours and get some sleep.