Greetings!

Esther and I are just about all packed and we are definitely ready for our departure day on Thursday. We will be meeting the team at 2:30am to make the trek to Pittsburgh Airport for our departing flight which takes off at 6:00am. I can attest that it is really getting real now. Esther has been working on getting herself packed and everything gathered for at least two weeks. I have (in true Gary Fashion) put it all together in the past 48 hours!

Our journey will take us to Houston for a quick layover and our connecting flight is scheduled to land in Guatemala City around 12:26 local time (Central time zone). From there we will meet up with our in-country hosts and head to the house we will be staying at. Then the adventure really begins!

In the next 31 hours you can be praying for last minute tasks including me teaching my online class and conducting the church’s annual business meeting! Also pray for traveling mercies and for the family that will continue on here including Heather, Tyler, Grace, Josephine, Isaiah and Josiah.

I have also started to post the emails to our family website in blog form. The link will be shared out before we leave. If all goes well we will email updates as well as share them on our blog while on our trip. As part of our trip Esther and I plan to record daily video journal entries which we will edit and share once we get back state side.

Thank you again to all who are receiving his email for your support and prayers in so many ways. We sincerely appreciate it. We certainly could not take this adventure without it.

Blessings.