FLIGHT FROM "H" "E" "DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS!"

FYI: WE POSTED TWO BLOGS TODAY SO MAKE SURE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING ONE AS WELL THAT DETAILS OUR LAST DAY IN GUATEMALA!

Just an update to let you know that we are home in NJ after a long trip! We left Lauren's house at 4 am, and headed for the airport. Our plane arrived in Houston almost an hour late because of Hurricane Dolly that we had to fly around. Then we still had 2 hours in the Houston airport before boarding plane #2. Let me just say that anything that could go wrong with that flight did. We arrived at Newark on time (about 6:15) but then had to circle for 45 minutes because of a thunder and lightning storm. We then began running out of gas. SO, we flew to some hicktown airport in NY called Newburg, where we were to re-fuel and fly back to Newark. Only, we couldn't re-fuel because there was lightning there too, so we sat and waiting for over an hour and a half. FYI: this plane was "new"so they didn't have televisions of any kind, so there wasn't even an in-flight movie! Also, the Hughes family likes to eat, so sitting on a plane for 7 hours without any dinner was not fun!

Finally, we were refuelled and flew to Newark, where we finally set down about 10 PM. Then, our friend the lightning struck again. Our luggage took at least 45 minutes to be unloaded, and then only 3 of our 4 bags came out. Then an announcement was made that the luggage unloading would be delayed due to lightning issues. HOWEVER, what they later informed us was that the unloading wasn't delayed, it was STOPPED. They would need AT LEAST 2 hours to get the rest of the luggage off of the plane. Finally, we were able to get our last piece of luggage and head home (thanks to Jaci's Dad's smart thinking to ask some random people in a side office where they apparently DID have some of the luggage from the plane INSIDE the airport that for some reason they weren't unloading!) We got home around 1:30 in the morning, with Jaci having been up for 24 hours and me having been up for 22. It was so bad that even when I attempted to go to the restroom during our wait in the airport, they were closed for cleaning.

Of course, our experiences on the mission field in the last week taught us a little something about being grateful for what we have and keeping the right perspective. This little bookend of our trip was God's way of reinforcing that to us! Thanks for all of your love and support for our trip! We can't wait to see you all face to face to share with you!

P.S. We were so excited to see our little ones last night and this morning, but the second they go down for their naps, we will all be asleep!

GERBER'S FAMILY, NOAH THE KNIGHT & OUR LAST FULL DAY IN GUATEMALA!

SO SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY! We attempted to blog Tuesday night, but the internet was down at Lauren's house so we couldn't. Well, Monday night we went to dinner at Gerber's family's house. We got to meet Gerber's parents, and another sister. His sister Mirna, from the Proximos Pasos school was there as well. Noah got to play with Gerber's nephew Elvis and they had a great time together. Unfortunately, our camera batteries were charging, so we didn't get any photos, although Gerber did take some and will be emailing them to us at some point. Gerber's parents are such warm, loving and funny people (we laughed all night long)! They work really hard to advance the Kingdom of God in a village called Ixcan(?) I have no idea how to spell it, so I might be spelling it wrong. In this village they build wells, and houses for people who often literally stick a bunch of sugar cane together and call it a house. They have also been building a house and library for pastors to stay in to come share with the village, and they are putting together materials for local indigenous pastors to use in teaching the villagers about Christ. They do a VBS in December for 4 different villages in the area and have a minimum of 250 kids per VBS (that's right 1000 kids!) many of which have never heard the name of Christ before and now have a deep and lasting love for Him! The villages in Ixcan are incredibly poor, more so than any of the poverty that we saw, so it is really a large task for them to undertake. We provided them with a suitcase full of school supplies from Kids Avenue for their work in Ixcan, and they told us they would be using them for both their VBS outreach and their pastor support (many of the local pastors don't have any supplies: no commentaries, Bibles, paper, pens, anything...) Please pray for this wonderful family and the incredible work they do with these very needy people. Gerber's dad told us that our kids in GCCC were doing a wonderful service to Christ in helping people they have never and will probably never meet in the name of Christ. It was very emotional to hear him speak about the eternal difference some little kids in NJ can make simply by donating some school supplies.

After dinner, Jaci was dressed in authentic Guatemalan tipica. There were photos don't worry, but they will have to be posted when we get them sent to us by Gerber!

The last day in Guatemala was spent at the school in Santa Lucia (check out the pic above of Noah and I with Optimus Prime holding a Bible!), where Noah once again played soccer and some kick ball with the boys. He was nicknamed "Noah the Knight" by some of the boys and they really seemed to flock to him. He even said "I wonder what I did that made me so popular?" We worked with 4 more classes on Tuesday, and taught them both You Are Good and Mighty To Save. The "Mighty To Save" worship time was amazing. The kids really worshipped the Lord and all of us felt the presence of the Lord there in the classroom. It was quite an amazing experience. We also presented the school with the supplies donated by GCCC's Kids Avenue.

After we were done, we had a luncheon with Wally (the principal of the school) and the teaching staff. They each shared a little bit about what they do and Wally shared the vision of the school to really provide these kids with the education they need, but also to share Christ with them and their families. He talked of the many people in the community that had come to Christ as a result of the school since its inception in 1999. Tuesday night we went out to dinner at an Italian place to celebrate both my birthday and Lauren's birthday. It was a great dinner and we returned to Lauren's house to pack and go to sleep! Our Guatemalan experience was phenomenal. It really opened our eyes to the work that is to be done our there and the wonderful people serving God in very difficult circumstances. Please pray about a return visit next summer and the possibility of joining us on this very exciting spiritual battlefield for the Lord!

10,000 MEMBER CHURCHES, BATMAN, DROOLING CLOUDS & FUTBOL!

"I love the Lord, He heard my voice, He heard my cry for mercy, because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2

"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible...I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." 1 Corinthians 9:19,22

Sorry that we didn't get to blog yesterday, but we were too tired! On Sunday, we attended a mega-church in San Christobol. The church sanctuary seats 10,000 members and this particular church has 2 locations! It was great, and as you can see from above we got to wear trendy headphones for an English translation of the sermon...the problem with that is that the woman who did the translation often stopped translating and started again several sentences later, so we missed a bunch. I actually understood more of the beginning of the service when I was only listening to Spanish. It's amazing how quickly you begin to pick up spanish when you have to!

Well, for the last few days we have not had running water in the house. The picture above is Jaci washing her hair with bottled water in Lauren's backyard. Sunday night, Lauren and I and a guy named Ricardo (who is also down on a short-term trip to Guatemala) went into the city to see the new Batman movie. It was PACKED! It only costs 3.50 to see a movie down here at night my friends! We actually pulled an ugly American moment. The lines were so long there was no promise that we would get seats, so Ricardo took our money and went up to the front of the line and offered to pay for the couple's tickets if they could buy ours as well. They said yes!

It rained quite a bit yesterday. Noah referred to the clouds as "drooling" because of the pouring rain and we thought that was funny!

Today we went to "Vida y Esperenza" (The School of Life and Hope) which has about 230+ students and is located in Santa Lucia. On the way, we got a good look at the volcano "fuego" which is active and a few days has been smoking. You can also see red at the top where lava has come out!

Anyway, this school has both boys and girls and Noah had a great time here playing soccer with the kids as you can see from the above picture. He really felt in his element. I think he made some good friends. We sang "You Are Good" with some of the kids, and taught it to them in Spanish and English. It's such a precious message to share with the kids because together we represent the words to the song, we are different nations and tribes and we are different generations praising the Lords together (a view that heaven will be like no doubt!) Tomorrow we hope to tackle a new song "Mighty To Save." Also, Noah is going to spend 30 dollars of his own money buying some athletic equipment for the kids at this school. All of these kids at the schools that we have been visiting are sponsored by Christians in America who sign up to donate a certain amount per month. That's Lauren's job at Mission Impact and she really tries hard to get all of the kids sponsorship as many of their families are in absolute poverty. This village is definitely more Americanized. Lauren said they are still poor and many have dirt floors in their houses, but some of them have televisions!

Also, we failed to get a pic of this because the camera was dying, but they have a mural of Optimus Prime (from the Transformers) holding up a Bible! Noah and I were quite excited about that!

It's been so great to see God working in the lives of these kids as they learn more about Him. This afternoon we went to the market in Antiqua and did a little bargaining. I bought some sort of wristband thing, but after looking at it realized that the design on it was a topless mermaid! So, we returned if for a more appropriate elephant face! It was very funny!

This evening we will be having dinner at the home of Gerber, a Guatemalan who serves as a missionary with Mission Impact and his family. Tomorrow we will spend our last day in Guatemala back at Vida y Esperenza. Please pray for Jackson and Reagan, as Jackson is starting to miss mommy. Reagan is doing great so far. God bless my friends!