Day 1 #cfcatrip - Dile Hola a Guate!

Judy-Anne Goldman, CFCA Multimedia Manager, and I started today at MCI in Kansas City around 3a. A bit blurry eyed from lack of sleep but thankful that the winter storm passed us, here's a brief video kicking off our Guatemala (Guate) adventure.

Our flight from Atlanta to Guate had boarded when we landed in ATL so we dashed to get on it and here's the gorgeous view during our descent into Guatemala City. 

Yes, we went from 10 degrees to 85 degrees in about 6 hours. The CFCA staff met us at the airport along with other sponsors. I think all told there's about 35 sponsors on this trip. We'll be sharing some of their stories throughout our trip and we have a talkative crew so we'll continue sharing stories here for as long as this crew wants. 

As soon as we arrived at our hotel, we met with Dave and four generations of family members from his sponsored daughter, Evelyn (more of Dave's story coming in a sponsors´stories compilation post) but here's a pic to show the amazing emotional bond Dave has with Evelyn whom he has been sponsoring for 14 years.  Evelyn's father died when she was two years old and Dave started sponsoring her shortly after. I felt honored to be part of their conversation. To see the mutual love and respect they had for each other. This special bond through sponsorship took my breath away. 

This afternoon we worked out connectivity issues and took in this incredible sunset. 

We have an insanely beautiful sunset video to share but we need to do some post production so we'll post it later. The whole CFCA crew joined Bob and Cristina Hentzen for our first awareness trip dinner where Chico and Brenda, our staff leads, welcomed us with open arms and treated us to a fantastic Guatemalan feast. Mucho gusto!

What I am learning first hand is every sponsor has a very different yet very similar sponsorship story. Different circumstances on why they are sponsoring but how they feel is very much the same. It's the relationship they have with their sponsored child that defines the how - there is a bond that can only be created in a hand up, heart-filled way that is defined by CFCA's mission. 

Say hello to Guate! Buen viaje!

Interested in learning more about CFCA and why I chose to sponsor? Here's my story.

DISCLOSURE: CFCA is covering my flight and lodging for my Guatemala mission awareness trip in return for me documenting my trip via blog posts and sharing my mission awareness experience via my social channels.