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.