Mexico: the trip of continued growth

This summer I had the wonderful opportunity of going on my third mission trip. This time to Mexico. 

Originally I was hoping to go to Haiti with a few of the same people from Shades but after that fell through I wanted to find another trip opportunity. After calling churches and asking around the Lord guided me to a non-profit organization called Reel Life International! I didn't know anyone, I just knew people who knew people. Either way, I was sure that wouldn't stop me. 

So here I am, almost a month after the trip and I'm finally blogging. 

A glimpse of what we did:

Day 1: We spent the first day traveling to Atlanta then flying to San Diego. 

What should have been a simple, non-stop flight turned into hours and hours of waiting. We loaded up the plane, got settled and realized it was taking much longer than normal to take off. Between the POURING down rain and the thunder, I was not interested in going anywhere. :P Finally the captain got on the intercom and told us that there are two lights that indicate there is fuel in the tank and both of those lights were not coming on. Although he KNEW there was fuel in the tank (there are other ways to know than the lights) he wasn't allowed to take off until one of those two lights came on - which I was extremely thankful for. I had no interest in going anywhere until all was as it should be. SO, he tells us to sit still and he'll hopefully be back with us soon. He comes back on the intercom, bad news.. problem was still not solved and he had NO IDEA when it would be solved. The flight attendants then come around with free headphones and all the movies were now free. Me and the kids, we weren't complaining about that. I watched Identity Thief which is a hilarious movie! I watched a movie to try and remain calm. I HATE flying and the extended waiting was not helping. I was nervous cause it was storming and I just wanted this flight to be over with! In this time God was teaching me alot about being flexible and patient. I was so happy that this would be a quick and easy flight and we'd be enjoying San Diego in no time. But that was not the case. Americans can be so controlled by our plans and the way we plan/hope for things to go that sometimes we don't let the Lord do His thing, if you know what I mean. He obviously had a reason for us not getting to San Diego when we were supposed to. This just set the tone for the whole trip - the Lord teaching me to be patient, flexible and simply. trust. Him. (if that's even simple.. ha) After 2.5 hours we are finally told that we are moving to a new plane. We received a $25 food voucher which we were all thankful for cause we were starving! I got a goood dinner and 3 key chains (I collect them from the different airports I've been to). We also see that we've been given 1,000 skymiles (to San Diego and back). Delta did an excellent job at accommodating and reimbursing us.   

Moving on..

Day 2: I wake up in my hotel and decide to take stroll in San Diego. I'd never been to California and I really wanted to see everything. I walked about a mile down the road to a Panera Bread for breakfast. I was able to go because of the amazing app called Find My Friends. Dad could know exactly where I was and we were golden. At about 1 o'clock the whole team met up and had lunch and prepared to drive to San Quintin (pronounced San Kin-teen). We talked about the process of crossing the border and our plan from there. All 30 of us loaded up the vans and made our way to Mexico. We made it to the border, got through with no problem then made a few stops on the way, one being at a very yummy taco stand. We arrived at the Mexican Medical base (MM was who we worked with in Mexico), had dinner and headed to bed. 

Day 3: This day was considered our recreation day. There was nothing in particular planned so the boys went fishing (which was a big part of our ministry there). The girls went to the beach, which was beautiful. 

Day 4: Today we had an incredible church service where we were challenged to examine our hearts. One of the biggest questions asked was "have you grown in the past year? .. can you see the growth you've experienced in the past year?" Buky, a long term missionary actually from Baja California, really challenged me to examine my heart. That was one of the big topics.. examine your heart! It was a great kick off to the week! Examining my heart and asking myself what I've done the past year that's everlasting.. eternal.. that was challenging yet encouraging. The Lord taught me a ton about myself! 

Day 5: This was the beginning of a huge health clinic we did! We worked with one of the most wealthy and well-known strawberry farmers in Baja California.. his name is Hulio. We did the health clinic for all his workers. We had a dentist on wheels, a pharmacy, doctors, eye glasses, glucose testing, hair cuts, counseling and more. It was the coolest experience. I've never been apart of a clinic so large! Later that day we got to pick strawberries from Hulio's field. They were incredible! We were told we could eat the strawberries right off the branch. Come to find out, that's the biggest no, no in Mexico. We should have gotten really sick but the Lord completely protected us! We finished up the clinic for the day, packed up and went home. 

Day 6: We woke up at 5:45 and began our day. We continued the clinic and I met some incredible people (Isabel, Marianna, Laura, Mark and many more). It was a ton of fun! We said our goodbyes to our new friends and headed to our next event: VBS! We went to a much poorer area of Mexico called San Francisco. It was so cool and amusing to see how the crowd of kids formed. Once one kid sees the big white vans.. they all come out from nowhere! We did crafts and games and songs! It was fun. THEN we headed to our next event.. film ministry! We went to another community of kids who just need a lot of lovin. This is an area of specific housing where the parents work in the fields and get free housing and the kids go to day care all day.. so they don't get the love they need. They go to daycare and then by the time their parents are done with work it's time for bed. So we just played, they jumped all over us and then we watched Veggie Tales in Spanish. I had 5 little girls in my lap that night. That ended our 6th night. 

Day 7: Today we had our second day of VBS where we did crafts and songs but we also taught the kids the importance of brushing their teeth. I actually got to brush a little girls teeth. It was the sweetest! We gave them their toothbrush and toothpaste and they went on their way. and Day 8 we continued our VBS and taught them handwashing then they got to eat watermelon! 

Day 9: Today was our last workday.. we worked around the base fixing leaking holes, cleaning up, preparing for the next team and more. 

Day 10: We packed our bags and made our way back to America! The scenery back to San Diego was beautiful but man the roads were SO windy. I got so car sick a lot of times but I kept my composure. After 5 hours and many stops we finally made our way to the border. The family we traveled with has been to Mexico so many times that they know exactly at which point it'll be 3 hours.. 2 hours.. 1 hour. We hit the spot at about 2.5 hours, which supposedly was great timing! The border was actually quite the experience. There are 250,000 people that cross the border every day so they have tons of vendors out selling food and souvenirs and ice cream and CHURROS haha. We bought stuff.. did touristy things. It was fun! Definitely a sight and an experience! We finally made it to the border. We handed him our passports and the first things he asked to the youngest member in the car was "do you have any fireworks?" Obviously we didn't, we were just observing the fact that he asked the youngest member in the car cause he knew she'd tell the truth.. she was 6, by the way. : ) 

Over all the trip was amazing! The Lord taught me so much that would take forever to say it all! But here's a couple bullet points...

-He taught me to be patient, flexible and to trust Him.

-He asked me to examine my own heart. 

-He challenged me to live fully for Him in ALL I do. 

-He's helping me to overcome my fear of planes.

-He's growing me in terms of living quarters.. it's not all as happy and accessible as it is in America. 

I'm thankful for all the Lord did and cannot wait to see how I'm going to grow from this year to next!!

My challenge to you is to examine your own heart.
I've learned it's really important to visualize what the Lord has done in your life and how that has made an impact on you! What has the Lord taught you? What's the significance of what He's taught you? Why do you think He's trying to teach you that? It's hard.. examining your heart is hard because you find the icky stuff too but overall it's really healthy and will help you to grow.

The Lord wants to renew our hearts! Are you willing?

That's all for now. 

Adios and good night. : )