The Here and Now. Summer 2010

This is my first summer without a mission trip and it's harder than I thought it would be. I feel like I've done nothing for the kingdom. It been a really rough summer. Plus, my newly diagnosed migraines can make it hard to do anything if the headaches bad enough. The only community service I've done is Cradles to Crayons and Habitat for Humanity.

I'm ready to work on VBS in the next two weeks...Then I'm ready for school. I miss the Cordero's from Guatemala...and I miss EVERYTHING about Juarez. It's pretty clear my heart is not going to let go.

At least I know what I wanna do in college. I'm going to (hopefully) be going to PBU and taking a Early Childhood/Elementary PK-4 Education with Special Education (K-8)...and Bible of course. Then hopefully I'll get a job to get on my feet and then spend sometime as a missionary like God wants me to be. (:

7/27/09 2 Days after Guat.

You can't explain it. Especially not now, it's just to fresh. My heart is torn and confused between Mexico vs Guatemala. It's hard...

7/26/09 Back to New Life after Guatemala

Coming back from any mission trip is hard. I had barely gotten any sleep and I knew I was going to start experiencing reverse culture shock. Guatemala was totally new experience for me and it required me to go way out of my comfort zone and just trust that God wanted me there at that time. So this is my thoughts from that Sunday:

At church back home I had to say something about my trip in front of the congregation...Something really haven't done with my other trips. What could I say about an amazing week in a few sentences? How can I explain what I learned, saw, and felt? -I already posted the I learned post-

At first service I just stood at my seat and said that the week was so crammed with no free time, but amazing nonetheless. Dad talked about distributing the food and how they had to turn people away. He started crying telling the story...This trip really impacted him.

Second service we had to go up front. Dad kinda explained everything but Pastor Norm wanted me to say something. I talked about holding the crying girl and how it stained my shirt and my heart...and then I started crying.

Guatemala Day 8: Homeward bound!

I decided to sleep in until 8 because, like many other people, I was feeling sick. All I had for breakfast was some pineapple then I went on to the roof and down the street to watch a super long parade.

We said goodbye to Antigua, went to the airport, checked in, got through sercuity, and got McDonalds food.. Yummmmm~ I didn't know if I was going to get to say goodbye to the team since our flight boarded early... I watched Mall Cop on the plane and ate a weird noodle thing.

At Houston we had to go through customs and immigration and then I finally got the chance to say goodbye to everyone. I barely cried (compared to almost sobbing in Mexico)...got hugs from some people and off we went. Our flight to Philly was delayed and moved- Again. We got home at about 1:30 but I didn't go to bed until almost 4.
I can't believe it's over already.

Guatemala Day 7: Off to Antigua!

To get on the road for Antigua, we had to go to breakfast super early... Once again our 4 hour drive turned into a 7 hour one. This happened because one van got a ticket and there was this huge union protest blocking traffic. The roads were going to be closed until 5 that night so we had to take back roads to get around the mob. And by back roads I mean like -desert and mountain, not completely a road, side of cliff, one way- roads. It certainly was an adventure. Jusui, our driver, was awesome at navigating and conducting traffic so that we could finally get going.

When we finally got to Antigua, we left our stuff in the Hotel Carmen and went off to shop. First dad and I went to the market where you can barder just like Mexico. Then we went into real stores. I got a shirt, a scarf, coffee, bracelets, a stuffed donkey and elephant, a nativity, knives, and 2 bags.

At 6 we met up with the whole group at La Casa de Flan which had yucky food so Kelly, Linsy, Kaylah, Byanat, and I went to McDonald's for McFlurries.(: After that we all got our rooms and I went out shopping again, this time with some other teens since dad wasn't feeling well. We were in the center square when Walker and Jeremy decide that we are all going to walk into a big crowd of people at different times and freeze in random positions. People were staring at us and taking pictures of us. It was out of character for me but still a lot of fun. Jonathan scared Mariela and Marylin by jumping out of a bush to which they both screamed LOUD and declared they'd get revenge. I got back to the hotel at 11, packed my souvenirs and went to bed...

Guatemala Day 6: Last Ministry Day

Today is our last day to actually do ministry work. :/ We didn't have to wake up to 7:30.. Now in the summer that's early, on a missions trip it's a blessing! :P Breakfast was simply eggs and toast.
We went to the last school which was younger kids. We did the Daniel Skit, the Noah skit, the Doctor Skit, and the Statue Skit...They just kept yelling "Mas dramas, mas dramas!" They wanted more and more skits and we just kept going! I loved it because we really got to go and meet the kids like Sophia. (There was an iguana on the wall)


After that we went back to Palabra de Vida (The church) and splatterpainted 2 of the nursery rooms. Erica and I did alot of the work. We were worried we'd get high on the paint fumes..:P Hahaha it was alot of fun, even though we ended up covered in many different colors.
We got a long break from 2-4:45 to pack and hang out at the hotel. So a bunch of us went swimming and Amy even came along. (: When we got back to church I put everything back where it went while some others packed more beans. Lunch was chicken and beans.
The team got the chance to go to the Cordero's house which had a breathtaking (literally) view from the roof. It was just amazing... Jane took a couple people to the grocery store. On the way a girl on a moped crashed into the side of our van. We all screamed of course. At the store, I got powder for the yummy drinks, some chocolate, and some mint chocolate gum.
Dinner was rice, pork, and pina. (pineapple). A special treat was chocolate covered strawberries. Then we had to say goodbye to our amazing host family. <3 Amy cried as we said our goodbyes and I got a hug from the whole family.

Guat. Day 5

• we needed to get up at 6ish to be ready to leave by 6:45ish to eat pancakes and eggs for breakfast



• soon after we left for a long day in the mountains which was about an hour away.



• _____, dad, Todd, and John talked while Erica, Denise, Nolan, Leigh, and I talked until the twists and turns made me dizzy



• dad actually made us stop for a snake



• we stopped at a church/ house of Pastor Eliu and had to ride standing up on the back of a truck which was alot of fun with Denise and Jeremy



• when we got there Erica and I painted hands for hours while others colored, and played. (it felt like 20 minutes)



• one really cute girl just stood and stared... I don't think she spoke Spanish



• I taught one group of boys how to blow bubbles because they've never seen them before. I also taught them to say it in English because no one knew the Spanish word for them. I also taught others how to throw a frisbee and one how to jump rope.



• we gave out candy and bags of food



• it was beautiful... the hills, mountains, fields... were just amazing



• on the van ride back to Chiquimula I felt sick again so I got to sit in the front which helped a lot



• we got a surprise and went to natural hot springs which felt SO good...it relaxed us a little to much because after that is when everyone started feeling sick



• Kevin and I washed dinner dishes all alone and he didn't want anyone else to help. We talked some, got soaking wet, and just had a great time. Jane kept calling us the 2 KC's.

Guat. Day 4

• not as dizzy today as I normally am


• breakfast was yummy mush cereal with "egg mcmuffins"


• finally talked to mom on Johnathan's phone


• Team 2 went to the mts and dad went to San Juan to work on wiring


• Team 1&2 went to a mostly boys tech school where some of the girls felt uncomfortable


• at the end only 2 people came up for prayer but when in was over we to just take to people. So me, Erika, Kaylah, Bethany , and Courtney spoke in broken Spanish to 3 girls. We asked if they went to church and 2 of them did. We ran out of things to ask so we told them to ask us anything. Finally, the one girl who's name is Heidy (didn't go to church) asked when we became Christians. When we answered we all knew she was interested in Christ. So we went and found Jane to translate and Heidy accepted Christ. We got her inf to put her in a cell group and told her we are now sisters in Christ. In the mist of the sunny, 100+ degree weather courtyard~ I was cold. Amazing.


• We then had lunch of mush mix with peppers and rice and mango juice.


• We bagged beans and made piles of food to take to the mountains with us tomorrow. (100+ bags)


• Since we had extra they're going to distribute it at a land full


• After that we went to an all girls school of girls wanting to be teachers. They were definitely more responsive than the guys. At the end the guys were just singing and Marilyn invited them up to pray; almost immediately girls came up alone or in pairs. This one girl came up to me and we just stood and hugged and rocked for 20+ minutes. I prayed and sang while holding her. She left a tear stain on my Orlando shirt with the Mexican tar.


• Next we went to a college but I mostly just played with Amy while they did testimony's and a statue skit because we were only in each classroom for 10-15 minutes.


• Dinner was meat, tortilla, cucumber, and potato


• I had the opportunity to have a nice long talk with Kevin and he made an awesome statement. "I cannot declare something that I don't really know."