The Journey Begins..

It's so hard to believe that at this time tomorrow I will be in Guatemala!  I can't explain my emotions right now: excited, anxious, stoked, curious, scared, happy... whatever it is doesn't matter because my flight leaves at 1:45!  I fly to Houston first where I will meet the girl that I will be spending the next 11 weeks with.  From there we fly to Guatemala City, where Luis (the local SWB guy) will meet us and take us to a hostel to sleep in for the night.  We will catch a shuttle from Guatemala City to Solola Thursday morning, and get to attend a practice that afternoon.  There will be 2 interns there that will overlap with us for 2 weeks, which I am really happy about.  I'm sure they will show us the ropes in the time they are with us, and then it'll be Steph and I until August 15th!
Well this is where i'll say good-bye to Kansas City, and all of my family and friends.  It has been so nice to spend this much time here, and each time i'm here I realize more and more how lucky I am to have the family that I have.  I got to meet my new born cousin, Lucy, for the first time and she is beautiful.  I got to spend time with my favorite little cousin Bennett, who just turned 2 and is the cutest thing ever!  Most importantly, I got to spend the most amount of time with my Mom, who is the greatest person I have ever met.  She will always be my best friend.  
I'm definitely going to miss everything that I am leaving, but I think (and hope) that I am approaching the greatest journey of my life.  Here it goes..

15 days!!!

It's hard to believe that I leave for Guatemala in 15 days!  I've enjoyed my time at home, and look forward to getting to spend 2 more weeks here.  We had our second conference call tonight, and it got me even more excited.  It looks like it will only be me and one other intern (Steph), living there for 2 and a half months.  We will be holding practices for teams in Solola, and for kids from villages in the outskirts of the city.  Also we will get the chance to hold some practices at the University that is only about a 6 minute bus ride away.  I think my family is more nervous for me to go than I am, but it's probably for a good reason.  My neighbor/ best friend(Ashur) got held up by a gun while studying abroad in Costa Rice this semester, so that freaked my parents out.  I have been told that Guatemala City is very unsafe, but where I will be living is not like that.  I still have to be cautious, and plan to take all precautions not to get into any unsafe situations.


More importantly right now, I still need your guys' help with donations to help pay my way over.  Any amount helps, and it is tax deductible if you do it through www.justgive.org once you get there you will be able to make a donation by credit card, but make sure you put my name so that it comes to me!  I have received about half of what I need, and am very pleased with the generous amounts that have been given.  So, thank you to everyone that has donated!


CLICK HERE TO DONATE:  JUSTGIVE.ORG

I know these post are boring, but please continue to follow my journey throughout the summer on here!