Mission to Guatemala

April 14, 2007, Milwaukee to Atlanta


We met our mission group at the Milwaukee Airport at 5:00 a.m.. In one case, literally; one member's wife could not go and, on less than a week's notice, another member's brother came from Michigan to fill in.

This year we flew Delta Air Lines via Atlanta. The Milwaukee flight was on a regional jet of Delta's connecting airline. It was too small for the jetway, so we boarded using a rollup stairway, handy for turning around at the top to give the farewell wave.

The Atlanta airport had a lot of soldiers in the current light green and beige camouflage uniforms. It's one of the major points of departure and arrival for overseas assignments. Young soldier is redundant but while they looked young they didn't look like kids. Last time I had to fly on duty, we were required to wear our dress uniforms. I later heard that's changed, and soldiers aren't usually packing a dress uniform to Iraq or Afghanistan.


April 14, 2007, Atlanta to Guatemala City


This Delta flight was on a Boeing 757, so no Airbus rattles on takeoff. (Counterpoint) There were a couple other mission groups on the flight, including the Grace Team, and a group from the Diocese of Charleston. The safety briefing warned that the FAA prohibits "congregations" in the aisle.

Guatemala City's Aurora Airport terminal is in the middle of expansion construction. The jetway power went out leaving about a one foot drop so we had to mind the gap on deplaning. The power also went out on the baggage carousel, which slowed the process. I saw what appeared to be a U.S. soldier and his girlfriend. Why, I wondered, would they come to Guatemala on holiday. Then I saw what looked like more U.S. soldiers. One was in uniform and he told me they were here for training. The young woman, I then assumed, was another soldier. I later heard these are usually combat engineers and, much like many of us mission tourists, they work on projects like digging wells in rural towns.

We met the folks from the orphanage, boarded our bus, stopped for supplies at the Hiper Paiz, and set off in heavy traffic for Santa Apolonia.