Our first day!
If you’ve ever woken up at three A.M., then you might have somewhat of an idea of how tired we were this morning. We woke up, grabbed a quick breakfast, and piled into the AIM school bus puffy-eyed and smiling. Most people dozed off while we made our hour-and-a-half journey to the Atlanta Airport, so we were sort of out of it when we arrived. As we were checking in, people started to realize the time and how little of it we had left until the plane left. The Check-In ladies weren’t quite prepared for us, and it was evident when we realized we had eighteen minutes until the gate closed, and we still had to go through security. As you probably know, security is a long grueling process of waiting in the line, moving an inch forward, waiting, etc., and with sixteen people to get through we thought the situation was hopeless. Connie told us all to keep praying and trust in God, and we did, though there didn’t seem to be a chance that we could possibly make it. Then, a wonderful airline woman that we all have come to love, said, “Follow me.” She weaved us through the line, and even when other employees insisted that she could not let us cut in line, she persisted until they gave in and ushered us quickly through. By this time our hearts were racing as we took off our shoes and threw all of our belongings into the containers to go through the detector. We got our shoes back on and then we ran for our lives. We almost got onto the wrong tram, and when we got in I absolutely could not keep still in anticipation. “We now have five minutes!” Klaire informed us, and our stomachs did a flip. There was NO way we were going to make it, we still had three terminals to go, and each one took longer and longer. We were all praying our hardest, and when the doors opened to our terminal we all shot out like mad people running for their lives. We were only six gates away, and our gate was in clear site. Our backpacks were flapping, people were dropping things, and we had a look of determination on our faces that I am sure attracted some attention. There it was! We were THERE! But the door was shut. It was 7:00 A.M., and Klaire informed us that we had now missed our flight. We all let out a breath of frustration, and watched a man that had also arrived late. He was pacing back and forth in front of the door, pounding on it and throwing his hands up in frustration. There was not an airline assistant in sight. A man sitting in our gate said, “You’re not going to make the flight, they had their last call about two minutes ago.” Then, as if an angel from God was sent to us, this other man took action. He stepped behind the counter of the gate and looked at some information. He found the number of the Spirit airline and called saying that there were about twenty people that were waiting to get on the plain and if they all missed their flight they were not going to be very happy. A flight attendant then walked out of the passageway and though she was not going on our flight, we convinced her to go and tell the flight attendants about all of us waiting. We prayed, and then a miracle happened. It was as if it were in slow motion, the ticket-checking lady opened the door and said, “Let me see your tickets, please.” Truly God was working through all of these people, and thanks to them, I am now sitting in my room in Guatemala writing this story.
Jodie Prosser
Yes, anxious parents and curious friends, it is true. We have finally made it to Guatemala. After months of planning and anticipation, and an awesome three days of training camp, we are here.
Even though we’ve only really known each other for a few days, it feels like we’ve been together for weeks. Training camp consisted of God moving in many awesome ways, and many of us already have stories to share when we return home. I believe that God has already changed all of us, bringing us each closer to his intimate love, and restoring us from our brokenness. Encouraging words and open hearts were evident since our first night together, and God has moved in awesome ways as people shared painful testimonies and lifted their hands in surrender/awe during songs. Yes, friends, it is true; despite the lack of running water and absence of electricity in our training camp housing, it’s safe to say that God has already changed us.
