Eye-Opening Moments!

Our summer rush ended this past Thursday! We will have a five day break and then welcome the next team. The summer days go by so fast that it is hard to process everything at the moment. These few days of rest allow us to reflect on the past nine weeks. (The summer rush is my excuse for very few blogs!)

One of my absolute favorite things is to watch the reactions of the first timers on the trips. They are wide-eyed as they experience new sights in Guatemala.

I wrote a blog about Ingrid visiting the United States for the first time. After she returned from a whirlwind trip, I asked her about some of the most “eye-opening” moments for her. I laughed at the things we consider very normal, but she was having a hard time processing it all.

Side note: The hardest part about traveling with Ingrid through the airport was convincing people that she was not a minor. She did not need a parental letter of consent to travel with me. She can walk through immigration by herself without an adult. If you know Ingrid then you understand that she is very calm, slow, and indecisive. It really does not matter how you try to hurry her up, she takes her sweet time. So imagine traveling through the airport with me….

Here are some of Ingrid’s favorite/ eye-opening experiences in the states:

“Visiting the USA seemed like an impossible dream for me, but I am thankful to God for using people to bless me and make my dream come true.

Of course, I loved everything although it is completely different from Guatemala. I want to share with you some of the things that made my trip so memorable:

—Fast! Everything is very fast. People shop fast. People drive fast. People eat fast.

—White Sand! It was my first time being in a beach with white sand. The sand was sooo soft. I enjoyed the peace of the waves, watching the sunset, and collecting seashells with the girls.

—Car Wash! I made a video of us driving through the car wash. The soap, water, brushes, and lights made the experience so much fun. We didn’t have to wait a long time for the car to be washed. It was so simple and fast.

—Post Office! Now I better understand how people send things in the mail. There is no mailing system in Guatemala, so this is a foreign concept to me. The postal worker gave me a personal tour to explain the process of sending and receiving items. I am amazed that you can send things to people and trust the item actually makes it to the destination.

—Soda Machine! It was my first time seeing a freestyle soda machine. How do you have 100+ choices for a drink?! That’s crazy! It was overwhelming! Do you know how hard it is to make a decision about what to drink?

—Traffic! Now I understand why Americans get scared about the driving in Guatemala. Compared to people in the states, Guatemalans are crazy drivers. The cars in the states have specific lanes and rules. There was no stopped traffic like we have in Guatemala. Basically, there was no traffic at all.

—Parking Spaces! The parking spaces in the parking lots are very big.

—No Motorcycles or People! There were no motorcycles driving on the shoulder of the road or in the middle of lanes. I saw very few motorcycles and they were in the lanes with the cars. There were no people walking on the side of the road or running across the roads.

—Cleanliness! Everything is so clean. There’s no trash on the side of the roads!

—A Camper! How can you have a kitchen, a living room, a room and a bathroom in a type of metal home/van?? And not just that.. it has water, gas and AC?? I was so impressed with how nice a camper is on the exterior and interior. I could definitely live in a camper.

—Long Days! It was after 8 pm and there was still sunlight? I loved the long days!

—Roller Coasters! The rollercoasters at Dollywood were so much fun! This is very different from “rollercoasters” in Guatemala

—Shopping! The amount of stores to buy things from is amazing. I was completely overwhelmed in Bass Pro Shop. Deidra only gave me 10 minutes to be at Buccees, but it was too much to comprehend. I could have spent days at TJ Maxx, Wal-Mart, and the Outlets.

—Friendship Baptist Church! Now I understand the community, love, and support Deidra receives from her home church. It was obvious that Friendship Baptist Church is Deidra’s family and home. I am thankful to have met the wonderful people at the church. Everyone was very nice, kind, generous, friendly and funny. I could see how much they love Deidra and the girls and how they care about them. They made me feel loved and special. They also made me feel at home.

Thanks to every person for making this trip the best!” –Ingrid