Getting here.

It's hard to believe but we've been in Merida for nearly a week now. The days have been full of meetings, decision-making, Spanish classes, introducing Sam and Amber to the city, moving into apartments, and ADVENTURE.
The adventures began before we even left our first airport (Spokane) when we found out that our (carefully planned) travel plans to get here had been turned upside down by tropical storms hovering over Miami. Forced to re-route through Dallas, and extend our travel time by an entire day, we got some great experience in being flexible as a team and some extra bonding time. If an 8 hour layover that begins at 3am doesn't bring out your true colors, few things will.

Dallas Airport (hours 5-13 of our travels). Bryon, Sam, Amber, Me.

Although we were tired and anxious to get to Merida our delays served as great team-building times. The Lord gave us many opportunities to pull together throughout our 48 hours of airports and hotels. Bryon and I took a run across the Seattle airport (hour 3 of the trip) in an attempt to get my purse, which I left on the first plane, before it flew off to its next destination. We found it waiting with the agents at the gate. And while we were running back and forth across the airport, Sam was having a monumental phone conversation with his dad. So after only 3 hours, we had already had plenty of opportunities to rejoice with each other!
Although it took a long time to reach Merida, we arrived in good spirits (still able to stand each other...and even enjoying each other!). We were greeted by a handful of students and community friends at the airport, which made us feel very welcomed and loved, and excited to spend the next year here.