We've Arrived!

Our flight this morning was at an early 6:00 am - which meant checking in at American Airlines at 4:30 a.m. That's early!!!!

We met up with the group of 7 from Kearney UMC, and we had an uneventful flight to Dallas. There, we met up with some new friends who are doing missionary work in Guatemala. It was a God-moment to be able to talk with them at the airport about their work, and about possibly hooking up with them this summer in Guatemala.

We had a 5-hour layover in Dallas (ugh), but we eventually flew out at 12:55 pm and arrived in Belize City this afternoon. A LONG line through immigration, and then a scary moment while retrieving our luggage. All of the luggage was off of the belt - except for mine. I was missing my one piece of personal luggage - all of my clothes, etc - and there's no more luggage coming down the chute.

Uh oh.

This doesn't look good.

About when the group was going to give up and go help me file a report, an airline employee comes walking in with my suitcase - said it had been "taken off of the line" for some reason.

Woo hoo! I have clothes!

We then went through a LONG line at customs - apparently, school supplies and toys make a big stink coming through - and then we were on the bus, heading about 2 hours north to a small town called Corozal.

We arrived in Corozal around 7:00 pm and checked into our hotel - which is pretty nice, actually.

It's dark - it gets dark early here - and so we opted to walk just half a block down the road for Chinese. I thought that was kinda' funny - our first night in Belize and we eat Chinese. But, it was GOOD! And plentiful!

Time for bed now - it's only 9:00 p.m. and we're all exhausted. Church is at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow and we have to begin walking at 6:40 a.m.

If any of the church staff is reading this right now, don't even THINK about moving church services to 7:00 a.m.!

Peace.

Posted by Sherri Odell

Packing parties aren't just for girls anymore

Being the only guy from WCC is well... interesting. I am only kidding, I look forward to having a great trip with the WCC group and the group from Kearney. I know we will have a lot of fun and do some good work in Belize.

I finished packing last night, all except putting in my toothbrush and, on note from Sherri, checking the DEET level of my bug repellent. Can't wait to get going...

Nathan

Packing Party!

Posted by Sherri Odell

Tonight was our "packing party."

As I was heading to the party, I ran into the music director at church. He said, "I hear you're going to the packing party tonight. What IS a packing party, anyway? That must be a girl thing."

A girl thing??!!!

Nah....it's a mission thing.

A packing party is when you gather up your spare suitcases - and you pack them will of your donations and supplies that you're taking with you. For medical missions, you pack up all of your medications and medical stuff; for construction trips, you pack up your tools and painting supplies; for school/orphanage trips, you pack up the toys and school supplies.

Tonight - we packed up soccer balls, backpacks, painting supplies, pencils, paper, glue, and scissors. We'll be doing construction AND working with children...so we have a little bit of everything.

I think we had just enough space left in one of the suitcases to pack up some extra snacks. Cuz' that's important, you know. Something from home that is familiar - to take with you to the unfamiliar - just to provide that little bit of comfort and peace of mind.

In my case, that would be chocolate. I'm taking chocolate. Yum!

So - I'm packed. The supplies are packed. And now it's just a matter of time - waiting until we leave, bright and early Saturday morning.

Can't wait!

Peace.