Expect The Unexpected: Guatemala Day 2

I was glad to go to bed at a decent after a long and eventful day but due to a long over due late night talk with Erin (my sister) that decent hour was no more. Realizing i had to be up in 2 and a half hours, I went to bed hoping to sleep a little, but my 3am wake-up call was not a good start to the day.

Day 2 started with my feet hitting the floor at 3am. We needed to be at the airport at 4:30am but needed to pick up Cindy and Sarah Easley first. We had no problem getting our bags checked but yet once again.. I got in trouble at security… not for Sarah's water bottle but because I didn't take my laptop out of my backpack. wow. smooth move Jordan. We board our plane at 5:30am after getting Starbucks, again. The flight was only about 2.5 hours to Miami, so once we landed it was about (with time change) 8:45am. We walk to our other gate and wait to find a seat, at this time it's 9:30am and we are so hungry because we had been up since 3, so the only thing we could find to eat that was open was a chinese restaurant. Eating Chinese food at 10am is the weirdest thing ever but it was good. I don't know if that was because it was actually good food or if I was just so hungry that dirt would have tasted good.

After chilling for a little bit catching up on the social media my mom, sarah and I decide to walk around; As we are heading back to our gate I see a group of teens heading our way, and who do I see with them? my good friend Mackenzie Kern. WHAT?!?! Mackenzie use to live in Brentwood and we use to go to school together but after her family moved to North Carolina about 12 years ago, i only get to see her maybe once a year now. We both were so shocked to see each other in the Miami airport, out of all places. We sat down and caught up on life for about 20minutes before she needed to get to her gate. She is on her way to the Dominican Republic for a missions trip as well. Crazy how God will put surprises like that in your day. If we had made it to Guatemala yesterday, i never would have gotten to see her and hear about her life.

We finally board our plane heading to Guatemala at 11:30am, once we take off at 12:30pm Sarah and I watch "She's The Man", it took every muscle in our bodies to try not to laugh out load and be annoying to people around us but if you have ever seen She's The Man you would understand how hard it was to keep quiet. Once the movie was over I figured i'd try and take a nap because i was running off of 2hours of sleep from the night before and 6 from the night before that. Right when I get comfortable and put my iPod in to drown out the world around me of babies crying, children playing with iPads and having the sound effects all the way up, parents chatting very loud; the flight attendant tells everyone to turn off all electronic and sit up properly. well…. there goes my nap. awesome. We finally landed in Guatemala City at 2:30pm. PRAISE THE LORD! we had no trouble getting our bags or getting through customs, once we walk out of the airport I see the sweet welcoming faces of our amazing translators. we load the bus and finally meet the rest of our team. wow.. their are more people then i thought there were going to be. At last we are on the road heading to Xela. For the first 2 hours of the bus ride i was able to sleep for about 20 minutes before i got a rude awakening from Sarah saying we were stopping for dinner.

When I stepped off the bus i was refreshed by a beautiful Guatemalan sunset over the mountains and a nice temp of 74 degrees. which was so greatly welcomed after being in 100+ degree weather in TN. We had an incredible meal of steak, chicken, sausage, pork, rice, guacamole, black bean soup and fresh salsa. After dinner we got back on the bus for another 2hours before we reached our hotel. This is the first night i have ever seen a crystal clear sky with the stars shinning so bright in Guatemala. Sarah and I also got to watch fireworks be shot off in the city while we were on our descent from the mountain we were driving down. I will never forget this night. Thankful for a shower and a bed to sleep in for more than 2 hours.

This country is more Beautiful than I remember and I cannot wait to see what we have planned for tomorrow.

Never expected to see Mackenzie in the airport or to have my breath taken away again by how beautiful this place is. All I can say is Expect The Unexpected.

Here are some photo's from today-