And we are off!

Due to technical difficulties at the housing site, I am not able to post from there - but will get to a location I can post from as often as possible! :) however, I currently cannot get the photos to upload, :( At 11:59pm Pacific time, the 2012 Mission Trekkers took off from SeaTac headed for Philadelphia! We are so excited to have started this incredible adventure! After a long, and for some, sleepless, flight to Philadelphia, via Houston, we arrived in the City of Brotherly Love at about 11:30am Eastern time. After a slight confusion about our rental vans...I had made a reservation, they did not have it...but in the end we got our vans...we headed off to find lunch at reading Terminal Market, a small version of Pike Place. Once our bellies were filled, we walked down to Independence Hall and got to learn about and see the Liberty Bell before heading to our housing site for the week and meeting our city guide, Brittany (not Spears...). We settled into our new home, had a brief orientation, and then went out to our first ethnic dinner - incredibly delicious Indian food at a local restaraunt. We all ate too much, but were pretty happy about it! Next on the agenda was a powerful prayer tour of the city, in which we traveled from the heart of downtown Philly into the most broken and impoverished neighborhoods, learning about the problems and challenges facing the people of Phily, and lifting them up at each step as we offered a decade of the Rosary at each stop. The night ended at a park overlooking the city as we shared what had impacted us most on the tour. From learning that the average age of the homeless in Philly is just 9 years old, to seeing the physical effects of poverty in the buildings we passed and prayed in front of, we all had our eyes opened and hearts broken for this both beautiful and hurting community. The depth of pain, heartbreak, and despair was literally palpable in some areas, but so was the hope and love that radiated from the voices of missionaries and ministers working in the neighborhoods that we listened to as we drove. In the end, we were all touched and moved by this incredible place, and eager to dive in and see what God has in store for us. Exhausted, but excited, we crashed on our air mattresses to get a good nights sleep before beginning our work tomorrow!