Oh, I left my heart in Puerto Rico...
A looooooooooooot has happened since the last time I updated.
Obviously.. I've been in PR for a week.
But we'll start with my missions trip.
It was one of the best weeks of my life, and most amazing experience so far.
It was awesome.
I bonded so much with my team, and made to new relationships with some of the Puerto Rican youth group kids.
Our service projects went waaaaay better than I expected.. so that was definite blessing.
The first day was our cleaning day.. that morning me and Laura washed like 50 windows. It was fun though. not hard work at all, but it was something they appreciated.
Then after lunch ( and the food was a whole other story) we cleaned classrooms.
I was tired that night, but probably mostly because we hadn't slept at all for like 36 hours or something crazy like that. But it was a good tired... I felt like a did something useful.
The next day was a trying day for me. I let some issues I had get in the way of why I was really there, and I snapped on a couple people.
But I got that under control, and I ended up having a good day.
The Wednesday I helped paint the Kindergarten rooms.
5 people in like a 4x7 foot bathroom was challenging.. but it was really funny.
That night we went to the church, and hung out with the youth group.
We worshipped with them that night, and that was really cool.
They came back to our "debriefing" meeting, and we got to know them a lot more.
Thursday I finished up the kindergarten room, and left early so me and Callie could make a craft to give to the kids at the orphanage we were going to.
Carlos and other people helped us so we got done waaay faster than I thought we would.
The orphanage kinda was a surprise, in the fact that we expected younger kids when they were mostly our age.
And poor Trevor.. he dressed up like a clown.. but it was soo funny that they laughed anyways.. probably mostly at him but whatever. lol.
That night we just hung around, I got to know Lillibeth and Carlos a lot better.
Friday was out sight seeing day! It was a lot of fun.
The beach was soooo beautiful! And thry had shark nets up. That made my day because I wasn't gonna touch the water with a ten foot pole 'cause I didn't want to get bit by some icky shark.
Anyways.. so we left there and stopped for lunch. It was an interesting lunch, but it was easier to eat that what we'd had all week.
Then we went to Old San Juan. That was awesome!
The old fort was really cool.. and the town looked like somewhere in Europe.
Shopping was fun, even though some of the stores had closed.
I got a t-shirt, a scrapbook, coffee for my mom, some coconut thing for my dad, 2 books in Spanish for my dad, and little baby moroccos.
That night we ate a mall foodcourt, so it was the first American-ish food we'd had in a week!
The next morning 3 girls were sick, probably from what we ate the day before.
That morning the rest of the girls cleaned out our room, and moved rooms. Then painted our bathroom, a Pepto-bismal pink color. Kinda gross but it's ok.
The rest of the day we just hung out and played some games with the youth group again.
We never ended up have a big VBS, and I'm not really sure why not. But we were all really good about our attitudes and being flexible, and for some reason that wasn't in God's plan for our week.
Sunday was our last full day.
That morning they split us up and we went to church, I stayed and went to the church with the kids we'd met that week. Church was a different experience, and everyone there was so warm and welcoming.
Then we ate lunch, and all of us girls were all laying around in our beds when Sarah came in and told us we were going to the market! Well that woke everyone up and we were running around changing and getting ready.
The market was fun.. everyone was trying to buy something Puerto Rican to take home. I bought plantain chips and OK Champagne flavored cola, coconut cookies, a Spanish magazine, and raisinettes ( not so Spanish but we hadn't had chocolate in a week so it tasted amazing!)
We got home and it was time for dinner, and they ladies made us Spaghetti type thing. It tasted pretty good, but I definitely lost my appetite watching Pierce eat. Gross. and Matt took pictures. On MY camera.
After dinner me and Katie did Pierce's hair, and Katie shaved a part of his leg.
He sat there rubbing it allll during our meeting.
And the people at the school bought us a cake, and a picture thing of San Juan, and a towel thing.
That night we had to make some good-byes... it was sooo hard. I sat up on the steps with Katherine that night and we both just sobbed.
That night we packed and went to bed later, but I couldn't sleep. I laid there forever before I finally did.
The next morning we ate breakfast, and we left by like 8:30.
We said all of our good-byes that morning.. and all of the girls in my van cried the whole way to airport.
I miss all of them so much. They were such awesome people. I will never forget any of them ever.
The airplane ride went pretty smooth.. a little bumpy and I freaked out a little.. lol.
I cried a little too.. on the plane and in the van on the way back to Peoria.
I bawled the whole way back to my house. I missed it sooo much.. I could've easily stayed another week if I had more clothes ;).
Then I cried myself to sleep.. haha that doesn't happen very often but this was definitly one of those times.
I miss them all so much still and this is one trip I won't ever forget.
It made me realize so muvh about myself, and I feel so much closer to God and my friends.
So thank all you guys who were praying for me and the team while we were gone.. your prayers really did pay off!
<33
Obviously.. I've been in PR for a week.
But we'll start with my missions trip.
It was one of the best weeks of my life, and most amazing experience so far.
It was awesome.
I bonded so much with my team, and made to new relationships with some of the Puerto Rican youth group kids.
Our service projects went waaaaay better than I expected.. so that was definite blessing.
The first day was our cleaning day.. that morning me and Laura washed like 50 windows. It was fun though. not hard work at all, but it was something they appreciated.
Then after lunch ( and the food was a whole other story) we cleaned classrooms.
I was tired that night, but probably mostly because we hadn't slept at all for like 36 hours or something crazy like that. But it was a good tired... I felt like a did something useful.
The next day was a trying day for me. I let some issues I had get in the way of why I was really there, and I snapped on a couple people.
But I got that under control, and I ended up having a good day.
The Wednesday I helped paint the Kindergarten rooms.
5 people in like a 4x7 foot bathroom was challenging.. but it was really funny.
That night we went to the church, and hung out with the youth group.
We worshipped with them that night, and that was really cool.
They came back to our "debriefing" meeting, and we got to know them a lot more.
Thursday I finished up the kindergarten room, and left early so me and Callie could make a craft to give to the kids at the orphanage we were going to.
Carlos and other people helped us so we got done waaay faster than I thought we would.
The orphanage kinda was a surprise, in the fact that we expected younger kids when they were mostly our age.
And poor Trevor.. he dressed up like a clown.. but it was soo funny that they laughed anyways.. probably mostly at him but whatever. lol.
That night we just hung around, I got to know Lillibeth and Carlos a lot better.
Friday was out sight seeing day! It was a lot of fun.
The beach was soooo beautiful! And thry had shark nets up. That made my day because I wasn't gonna touch the water with a ten foot pole 'cause I didn't want to get bit by some icky shark.
Anyways.. so we left there and stopped for lunch. It was an interesting lunch, but it was easier to eat that what we'd had all week.
Then we went to Old San Juan. That was awesome!
The old fort was really cool.. and the town looked like somewhere in Europe.
Shopping was fun, even though some of the stores had closed.
I got a t-shirt, a scrapbook, coffee for my mom, some coconut thing for my dad, 2 books in Spanish for my dad, and little baby moroccos.
That night we ate a mall foodcourt, so it was the first American-ish food we'd had in a week!
The next morning 3 girls were sick, probably from what we ate the day before.
That morning the rest of the girls cleaned out our room, and moved rooms. Then painted our bathroom, a Pepto-bismal pink color. Kinda gross but it's ok.
The rest of the day we just hung out and played some games with the youth group again.
We never ended up have a big VBS, and I'm not really sure why not. But we were all really good about our attitudes and being flexible, and for some reason that wasn't in God's plan for our week.
Sunday was our last full day.
That morning they split us up and we went to church, I stayed and went to the church with the kids we'd met that week. Church was a different experience, and everyone there was so warm and welcoming.
Then we ate lunch, and all of us girls were all laying around in our beds when Sarah came in and told us we were going to the market! Well that woke everyone up and we were running around changing and getting ready.
The market was fun.. everyone was trying to buy something Puerto Rican to take home. I bought plantain chips and OK Champagne flavored cola, coconut cookies, a Spanish magazine, and raisinettes ( not so Spanish but we hadn't had chocolate in a week so it tasted amazing!)
We got home and it was time for dinner, and they ladies made us Spaghetti type thing. It tasted pretty good, but I definitely lost my appetite watching Pierce eat. Gross. and Matt took pictures. On MY camera.
After dinner me and Katie did Pierce's hair, and Katie shaved a part of his leg.
He sat there rubbing it allll during our meeting.
And the people at the school bought us a cake, and a picture thing of San Juan, and a towel thing.
That night we had to make some good-byes... it was sooo hard. I sat up on the steps with Katherine that night and we both just sobbed.
That night we packed and went to bed later, but I couldn't sleep. I laid there forever before I finally did.
The next morning we ate breakfast, and we left by like 8:30.
We said all of our good-byes that morning.. and all of the girls in my van cried the whole way to airport.
I miss all of them so much. They were such awesome people. I will never forget any of them ever.
The airplane ride went pretty smooth.. a little bumpy and I freaked out a little.. lol.
I cried a little too.. on the plane and in the van on the way back to Peoria.
I bawled the whole way back to my house. I missed it sooo much.. I could've easily stayed another week if I had more clothes ;).
Then I cried myself to sleep.. haha that doesn't happen very often but this was definitly one of those times.
I miss them all so much still and this is one trip I won't ever forget.
It made me realize so muvh about myself, and I feel so much closer to God and my friends.
So thank all you guys who were praying for me and the team while we were gone.. your prayers really did pay off!
<33