Day 1: Travel! (a.k.a. "Pura Vida" kicked my butt today) - March 7th

Everything will change, and that's not bad.

The only thing that will say the same is that everything will change.

We trust in God, and not in a Plan.

¡Pura Vida!

That is our team's "flexibility affirmation." I made it as kind of a joke, but then decided to make our team say it together after every training because I knew a lot of our plans would be fluid throughout the week and I thought that the preparation might help them cope. Poor them. Not like me. I am so very flexible and fluid. I knew I wouldn't have trouble as long as I knew the plan was to flexible.

Anyway, last night as I was driving back from a wedding rehearsal (congrats Rachel and Rob!), I got to meet up with my parents, who gifted our team surgical-quality breathing masks and high-powered hand sanitizer and wipes for us to take on our trip. Their gift and the thoughtfulness to pack everything individually and in travel sizes blew me away :) 

Today (Saturday), I got up early and got all my last-minute errands done (even got my tires rotated!) then headed to the Choffice (Church Office¹). We were all there by around 11 (way to go team!) and we distributed the donations-luggage², made copies of passport, passed out lunch money, passed our masks and hand sanitizer, etc. Then it was Time. We took a bunch of group pictures, prayed, said the flexibility affirmation, and got rolling!

Pretty early on the drive, our convoy got separated and we took different paths to get to the airport. My car was amazing; we passed around the aux cable and took turns choosing songs. Music taste is definitely good bonding if everyone buys into listening to each other's songs like that. Traffic was crazy (Howdy Houston), but we made it and actually both halves of our convoy somehow still arrived at the same time (#bless)!

Our parking shuttle took us to the wrong terminal, but we took a train to the right one, got everyone checked in and through security (though I almost got in trouble with TSA because I left some water in my water bottle (after telling everyone many times not to do that)), and got on the plane.

Our first flight (Houston → El Salvador) was a lot of fun. The plane had some cool amenities (games, movies, etc). They even fed us! I got to know Josiah a little better, got a nap in, and got to listen to Matthew narrate and make up plot lines a movie that didn't have sound. I loved every minute of it. Our landing was a little rough, which left some of our first-time flyers a little shaken, but I enjoyed seeing the other team members take care of them (way to go friends!).

After a brief layover in El Salvador, we got on our second flight, which was much smoother (and everyone was much quieter - I think the travel energy was beginning to wear off). I got an empty seat beside me, so that was lovely, though I didn't nap this time. I just sat and thought and prayed for our team (we had a few headaches and a little motion sickness added to the nervousness by then). They fed us again on this flight (God bless latino culture), which was excellent.

We landed and then got through immigration (they were kind of mean, but by the 19th person, they just let us through), and then got our bags, and then got through customs (super chill). Everyone seemed to be feeling the travel weariness at this point. I definitely was. We had a little trouble finding our people here, but we connected and all got onto a bus to take us to the hotel!

So, the hotel we're staying at is different then we thought. It's not the big hostel with a lot of bunk beds that feels like a house and has a big back yard. It's still in Heredia, very close to campus and an awesome little park. We're at a real-life hotel, with cute little rooms and individual bathrooms and it is fantastic! We'll need to find a place to do our worship and prayer times each day that won't bother people, but I am rather pleased not to have 20 people navigate 2 showers (original expectation).

After getting everyone settled in, Katie and Haley and I inventoried and cleaned³ our donations. By the end of the day, was feeling very done with everything. Like, "I'm a bad team leader, maybe I shouldn't do this again next year, Pastor Rodger can come next year and lead with Katie, I don't even know how to do ministry" kind of done. But now that everyone is settled and I've had some shell time, I feel good (tired, but good) and am so glad to be back!

Now I am going to bed. Big blessing: Costa Rica doesn't do daylight savings time, so we won't lose an hour of sleep! Please pray for us! Like a lot. Please. Pretty Please.


1 Idk which end of the word CHurCH the "ch" in choffice comes from. I originally thought the first part, like a normal contraction, but if you say churchoffice, the last part flows pretty well too.
2 We received so many donations! Thank you to everyone who gave things for the women's shelter!
3 One of our bags had several bottle of lotion and conditioner explode. There was a little apology note from the airport, but it was also covered in goop.