a note from guatemala

take pepto every day. seriously.

thankfully, i didn’t get sick, but all of the people around me did at some point during the first 72 hours. poor ted was sick 24 hours in.

after 9 hours of travel, breaking down on dirt mountain roads/hills, and swapping out vehicles with the rental company, we made it back to guatemala city this evening. yay toyota hilux: king of vehicles.

no drama queen here, but this takes the cake for most difficult trip ev-errr. i believe most of it was spiritual warfare… satan does not want us to tell oscar’s story.

can’t wait to tell you of all the adventures we had, daily. seriously. daily. including the first 90-degree-night in our bunk-bed hostel with ripped screens and tin roof when we had an “unusual storm” (i.e., flipping hurricane force winds, thunder and lightning) tearing through the area from 11pm-4am. our two body guards (i.e., translator and driver) and ted came to see if i was “ok” in the storm. the power had gone out minutes after the storm began. rain was pounding on the tin roof with deafening force. i was leaning against my door that had blown open -and wouldn’t latch shut- from gale-force wind, standing with headlamp in hand in a pitch black, unfamiliar room, praying. the guys flashed their lights outside the window (couldn’t hear anything above the storm, even through an open screen window, flapping in the breeze). i let them in and we all chatted for a bit… it was really really hot and humid. eventually the guys laid on the floor, ted got in the extra bunk on the other side of the room – there were no mattresses on the upper bunks. i climbed back on my mattress and sat there for awhile, waiting for the storm to pass, listening to the tin roof slam against the building and willing my heart rate to slow. when i realized the guys weren’t leaving, i fell asleep on and off for a few hours. after 4am the power kicked back on (yay, fans!) and they guys trickled back to their quarters. it was a huge, terrifying, slumber party.

thank you for praying friends. people need to hear oscar’s story. what one man is doing in the mountains of guatemala will blow your socks off. the things ted and i witnessed this week are only a mere glimpse of what oscar endures every day.

God is so good to give me the privilege of telling Oscar’s story.