East Hill

Saturday- The day finally arrived, after a year of planning, for us to leave for Mexico. Everyone arrived at the airport on time and we all got checked in and through security. Our plane left on time and we made it to Salt Lake City with no problems. In Salt Lake City we took 26 people to another terminal to board our flight to Mexico City.  No small feat. I checked on the meals that I was planning on purchasing on the plane for the kids and found out that there wouldn’t be enough meals for that many people. We then decided we would wait until we arrived in Mexico City to buy food. All the kids had snacks with them and everyone shared. Once we landed in Mexico City we went through immigration and gathered our luggage. We then went through customs where we only had one red light (which means their luggage was searched) and that’s amazing for a team of 26 people. As we came out of customs, Emily, a staff member from Esperanza Viva (EV), met us and whisked us off to the bus. There wasn’t a lot of time and everyone was very hungry and thirsty. We thought we would have time to get something to eat before getting on the bus but we had to settle for a snack and bottle of water that they served us on the bus. So, we boarded the bus and we were on our way to Puebla.  We were met at the bus station by more people from EV, loaded the luggage and then we were on our way to the youth home, 40 minutes away. At EV we were met by Ale, the group coordinator, with sandwiches and fruit. After not eating anything but snacks all day, they were so delicious and everyone devoured them.  We finally finished the day and got into our beds. We turned the lights out at 11:00 and didn’t hear another noise except for the symphony of snores (in the girls’ room). Everyone is excited about meeting the kids.

I am so proud of our team. Our moto is: We are FAT (Flexible, Adaptable, and Teachable) and our kids showed that today in so many ways. Who would believe that 18 teenagers could go all day with no real meal and still be in a good mood? Stay tuned to see how our moto continues to be tested.

~Gail