Day 1 in Miami, Florida

31 October, 2009

Jim and I are traveling through several states but will be visiting churches and people who sponsor girls at Prince of Peace Home for Girls in Guatemala in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas. Yesterday was the first day of the trip and we all arrived safely in Miami tired but happy. Some of the girls had tears in their eyes when we saw them. Altogether there are 13 girls ages 16-22 and a Tia in charge of the girls in the Home in Guatemala and a young teacher who grew up at the Home. Including 4 adults, there are 19 people traveling together. Most of these girls have never even traveled in their own country much less visited another one. This will be the experience of a lifetime for them and we will get to thank churches and individuals who have brought teams to Guate and who have sponsored girls in the Home.

Today will be written by Myra who is a very sweet, petite 18 year old. Here are her impressions -

It was my first day in Miami and am very impressed by all of the places that I saw. But, the thing that I like are the lakes that are in many places near Miami. I was also very impressed by the people here who are very nice although they don't know a person very well. The people of Cooper City are very special for me because without knowing us they have provided a home and a place for us to sleep. That is nice!

Today is the last day of October and it was so fun to celebrate with some of the children from Cooper City Church of God. We helped with a Fall Festival there and one person asked me where I am from and I told him that I am from Guatemala and that this is my first time to come to the United States and that I am impressed with many differences in here and Guatemala. For example, in Guatemala, the streets are very small and here they all seem very large. In Guatemala there are many mountains but here there are many lakes and the lakes look very pretty because they are located near to the houses. In Guatemala, the lakes can't be seen from the houses. We had a good conversation some in spanish and some in english.

Today we visited the beach and I liked it a lot because it was very clean and the sand was white. In my country, the ocean isn't very clean and the sand is black. I had a lot of fun today at the beach playing with my friends. There are 12 other girls here visiting from Prince of Peace Home for Girls in Guatemala. We had fun seeing a jelly fish which we refer to as a medusa in spanish. I am hearing a lot of English and although I understand much of it, I am hesitant to speak it. It is hard to speak in English.

Mike Eckler and his wife Sherry are with us here in Miami because he helped Prince of Peace purchase a van for this trip in the states. He drove the van to us here from Kentucky. He and Sherry are very special to me.

Another thing that I like here is that there are many people from Jamaica and they are very friendly.