We Have Arrived

11.22.25

Tanner and I started our day bright and early at 3:30 a.m. We made sure we had everything we needed, said goodbye to the dogs, and headed to the airport for our 7:13 a.m. flight. Thankfully, TSA was quick, and we made it through with plenty of time to eat and grab coffee.

Our flight ended up being delayed about 40 minutes for maintenance reasons, but soon enough we were off to San Diego! We arrived at the airport and sat around for about two hours as our team slowly arrived. At 11:30 a.m., we headed to lunch with our very large team. We had three options for food: Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, and Chipotle. Our team split into three groups and got to munching on some lunch.

Afterward, we got Handel’s Ice Cream. To Tanner’s and my surprise, we both ate all of our ice cream. After lunch, we hopped back on the bus and made our way toward the border. We all had to get out and go through security once more before we finally entered Mexico.

By now the day had felt EXTREMELY long and we are all very ready to rest. We had an hour to spare before we had orientation on base. Majority of us took naps, while the kids played soccer and volleyball. During orientation, we learned everyone’s names. Watched the got an overall overview of Homes of Hope and what we will be doing tomorrow at the build site. Afterwards we went to dinner to get some REAL tacos.  We had a great time chatting with the team at dinner and eating some quesadillas! Our van ride to and from dinner consisted of blasting Taylor Swift, Rhianna, and Justin Bieber “Drummer Boy” which our driver Omar made very clear was “cringey” 🤣 so he skipped it. After dinner we came back to base and got to talk with some of our friends who work at YWAM. It’s always amazing getting to catch up on life and share with each-other! Then we were off to BED! 

We had a good first day, we made it safely to base. Got great food and stayed well hydrated on the way. We are beyond excited for what tomorrow holds and the family we will be building for!