Take Two: 2010

Dominican Republic August 2010: an amazing trip for the second time. I was given the opportunity to return to the D.R. after I graduated from middle school. I was just about to enter into my freshman year and I was so excited to return and see some of the same kids I had seen the summer before. Going back again helped further my faith experience with God.

This trip was a time for me to move out of the stages of junior high and enter into the life of a high schooler. This trip no one got sick and we thanked God every day for that. For my first trip I didn't have that many of my friends so it was easier to make new ones and not make it an experience with friends. 

As I was on my second missions trip I felt more like a professional than the rest of my friends. This trip I also brought along my younger brother who was going to be going into seventh grade. He had never done anything like this before. In the few months before the trip we discovered a small heart condition that my brother, Cody, had.  It caused him to pass out if he wasn't drinking enough water or eating enough nutritional food. We notified the youth pastor who was in charge of the trip and he became worried.

My mother's exact words to him when we found out was, "Cody had a heart condition. He might pass out on you, but don't worry Kelsey will know what to do." As any adult would feel nervous if they were taking someone else's kid to a third world country and leaving his health in the hands of his thirteen year old sister would feel. He was terrified. Through this experience my brother survived and nothing went wrong, with his health anyway.
In the end we all returned safely and we spread the good news of the Lord to everyone we met. We played card games and other sorts of games to strengthen our relationship with each other as a group. We learned that even the words balloon animal could bring the biggest joy to the children with nothing.
This second trip really opened up my eyes to see the world as it was. While visiting the boys orphanage the older boys made sure the younger ones received the gifts and the most attention. Those children had nothing and they were wiling to receive nothing in order for the younger ones to get more. I knew I wouldn't be visiting again till many years later so it was bittersweet to leave, but I returned home with a better idea of how I needed to live my life.

Life Lesson #11: All the possessions in the world will never make you truly happy.

Sick Little Missionaries

When I stepped into the hot humid air for the first time in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic I knew my life was going to change. I had never been on a missions trip and this was the first one. I was nervous but at the same time very excited. It was the summer in between seventh and eight grade, the air was hot but I was ready.

For the trip we stayed with Score International which was a compound within the poorer parts of the Dominican Republic.  We went to sugarcane villages each day.  We meet more and more kids as the week went on.  We went to a few orphanages to play with the kids there.  Those children taught me a lot about life even though we had no way of having a real conversation together.

We passed out food to families in some of the villages and put on a skit for them to see.  We acted out simple needs that we have or sins that we all commit while people just passed by.  But, then after it all Jesus came and saved us all from what we were suffering with.  We had someone explain what was going on in spanish so the could further understand.

On this trip little did I know that this beautiful week was going to take a turn for the worst. When one of the students on the trip began throwing up it just went down hill from there.  We had brought a sickness with us that infected us all.  Those who weren't sick helped those who were, thus spreading the germs faster among the students.  When the leaders started getting sick it was to hard to go any where and complete the mission we were sent there to do.

Rapidly one by one we each got sick.  I was one of the last ones to catch the horrible virus.  We each threw up so much that when we got to a point where we had nothing more to throw up.  Our bodies were weak and most of us slept a lot.  I slept through most of the day waking up at seven o'clock at night to go to the bathroom and drink more water.  Then I fell asleep that night at 9 o'clock to sleep through the night till 8:30.

Once most of us recovered we planned on going out again to visit some of the villages.  When I ate food for the first time with another girl in my room it took us all but ten minutes to throw it back up again.  Myself and a few others missed the souvenir shopping day but our friends bought things for us. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned but God's work still gets done even if it is your own heart. This was first learning experience of what it means to be truly grateful for what you have.  There are people in this world with way less and we must think of that when we complain about the items we do have. 

This trip impacted me so much and I grew in my spiritual walk with the Lord that I decided I would come back the next summer as well.  No one got sick on that one and I even brought my little brother Cody who had just finished sixth grade along for the trip.  I got to see some of the same kids as I did the year before and even spend time with some new kids in different villages.

Life Lesson #9: Don't take anything/anyone for granted because you never know how long they or you will be around.