Mexico Round Two

After this first year of crushing disappointment, it only seems fit that we were again to return to Mexico in and unfortunate turn on circumstances.  Originally the plan was to go to Panama in August 2012.  A month or two prior to the trip our youth pastor got a job on the other side of the country in California.  And he was scheduled to start work before our trip.  By now I had learned to live on my toes and expect the unexpected when it comes to ministry.


None of the other pastors on staff had the availability to go with us to Panama and the youth pastor taking over had no experience down there.  So in drastic measures we quickly switch the trip to Mexico for a second year in a row.


The route was the same as the summer prior, we flew into California and drove down into Mexico.  This trip though was much more child oriented.  We did help with some construction projects but nothing as demanding as the year prior. But this trip was still a blessing.

Since my youth pastor was already moved into his house we went to visit him at the college he still works at.  This campus is in Marietta, California and has natural hot springs.  The smell wasn't particularly that appealing but the warmth quickly changed our minds. We got to experience college life and eat some great food that only the west coast offers us.


I learned that making balloon animals is way harder than it looks and takes a skill of some sort to make them awesome.  We sang some of our spanish worship songs that I learned in my spanish class.  The kids couldn't get enough of them.  At the orphanage that we spent decent amount of time at one of the workers daughters was fluent in english.  She served as our translator with many of the little children.

One day we spent with some local people from a village I spent the day with a brother and sister who never said a word to anyone.  When their mother came to get then she smiled at me and took her kids.  She pointed at a piece of paper that said thank you written on it with the children's ages; 4 and 5.  I never figured out their names or their mothers for that matter.  Maybe they all couldn't talk or they were silenced.

We spent some time at the beach doing devotions and just getting to know each other through the missions trip.  At first I was really upset about the fact that I didn't have the opportunity to go to Panama, but as the bible says when the Lord closes a door he opens a window.  This was one of the first times I started to open up about my spiritual journey.  I made a few friends cry while I told my story but in the end it was all worth it.

Life Lesson #20: Sharing my testimony the first time was hard, but it only got easier with experience.

1st Summer Camp

Going to a summer camp for the first time that is six hours away from home brought some nerves.  It was a sleep away christian sports camp for two weeks. Summer of 2012 I went off to Summer's Best Two Weeks with my best friend.  With intense competition between the Cool Blue Galatians and the Red Hot Romans, the octatholon, swim meet, track meet, canoe meet, overnight trips, and dinning hall singing.

Immediately I loved the entire camp atmosphere and my cabin.  I was with my best friend and six others girls my age and two consolers that where in college.  I quickly made friends with girls of all ages.  As someone who eats constantly it was hard to adjust to the rule of no food in the cabins.  We also weren't allowed to have any electronics, but for me that wasn't a major issue.

I enjoyed every moment of camp and as the weeks passed I didn't want to leave.  The Galatians ended up winning camp for the term and it was a great victory for us.  My best friend was put on the Romans and I was a Galatian.  I helped the soccer team win and I received first place in all my events in the track meet.  The canoe meet wasn't in my favor when in the doubles my partner and I flipped our canoe and it started to sink into the lake.

This camp pushed me to the limit and I spent a lot of time with God.  I went white water rafting as the Legend trip.  which the legends where Cabin 11 and 12 for the boys and girls, which in camp is the oldest group and why we go on an overnight trip.  It was a lot of fun and we named our raft the Titanic 2.0 and ironically we were the only raft not to flip over or have anyone fall out.  In the end I had such a great time that I decided to go back again the next summer.

Life Lesson #19: The more time I spend away from home the more I can be myself and forget what really goes on.

Girl Scouts Take D.C.

Celebrating 100 years of girl scouts at the capital means that there will be a lot of other girls around, like thousands.  We had the honor of having one of group members win a contest for creating and original song that she got to perform for everyone.  It was a girl scout cookie rap that we helped her right while trying to sell girl scout cookies.  It's easy for the little girls to sell things to people because they are all cute, we instead had to use our talents and impress our costumers.


On our trip we not only got to celebrate what girl scouts has done over the years we get to visit all of the monuments that celebrate America's history.  The Washington monument was closed at the time so we could only admire it from a distance.  We weren't allowed to visit the president inside his very large house so we instead took a picture and attempted to count all the security guards around and on top of the building.  I was the only one able to spot the snippers, who are supposed to be known for their stealth and ability to go unnoticed.

At the end of our trip we took one of those hilarious ghost tours.  I don't know about my readers, but I personally do not believe in ghosts but the writer side of me thoroughly enjoyed the creativity of the people who made up some of the stories.  My friends though were not so convinced that they were not real.  This made is easy for me to scare them for the rest of the night, which I took full advantage of.  Even though this was my third trip to Washington D.C. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet other girls scouts from all over the world.

Life Lesson #18: When girl scouts take over a city, it will always be left cleaner when we leave than before we got there.