Well it's been two days since I've been home from Mexico. And I gotta say, it was probably the best time I've had in my life!! It was so fun travelling with the Youth group! We stayed in San Diego the first night, and went to Seaport Village the next day. It was nice to hit some warm weather! Seaport village was a blast, going around taking lots of pictures and going to the little shops!
Later, we went to the YWAM base in Tijuana. It kind of interesting because it's like 15 minutes from San Diego to Tijuana and you don't even have to stop at the border. Now getting back into America, that's a different story. There was like a three hour line up of cars. Ya, pretty intense. Plus there was an hour time change from san diego to Tijuana since Tijuana didn't have daylight savings time yet. So there was a total three hour difference from Tijuana and Home.
But ya so we went to the base which was in a nice location since it was by the ocean. Our girls stayed in one room with a bunch of three bed bunk beds crammed together. I'm kinda glad it was just our youth group in that room since the guys had to share a different building with other guys from other youth groups.
A normal day consisted of waking up before 6 AM, showering, then chilling outside til breakfast. After breakfast there were devos which we did by the ocean. Afterwards, there was worship and then we would be off for the day and get back at the base around 5:00. We had sessions in the evenings, or sometimes team time. Then we usually went for ice cream at an amazing place where they made the ice cream themselves! It was sweet.
Sunday, our youth group did a church service at a church in a not so wealthy area in Tijuana. We went around the homes and called out good morning to the people and invited them to come to church. We did a service in the morning for the kids which was really fun and cute, and then a service in the afternoon for the older people. I gotta say, those mexicans sure know how to worship! It was so awesome to see them so passionate about God! It was fun and we also got to do our dramas for them.
Monday, we started on building the houses. Since our group was so big, we got divided into two, so we could build two houses. The houses were close so that was good. I mainly painted non stop that day. I can't believe how much we got done just in one day!
Tuesday, back to the house! We got the roof done and mostly everything on the inside. I helped hammer some dry wall and I got to play with the kids from the family and area a lot. We even went to a play ground that was down the hill of the house. Wow those were deathly hills though! I was so scared I would fall and die, but thank goodness we didn't. It was great spending time with the kids!
Wednesday, we finished the house! We assembled furniture for the house. We presented the house to the family. It was really awesome that we all worked together for this so that we could provide a home for them. It went by really fast and was a really sweet experience. After presenting the houses, we did our dramas for the families. After that, we went to an area near a garbage dump and handed out stuff to a lot of people in that area who came, like food, toys and stickers. It kind of broke my heart that those people didn't have very much and I couldn't do more to help them... but hopefully we helped them in a small way by providing them with some things they needed and playing with the children. It's so great to see those smiling faces. :) It's intersting how we can take so much for granted back here at home and be disatisfied, where as the people in mexico can wear big smiles on their faces while having so little... That night I wondered how the families liked their new houses we built for them. I hope they are doing good.
Thursday, we went to an orphanage in the morning. Since the kids had school, we didn't get to play with them as much as we wanted to but it was still fun. There were lot's of kids there that came from a lot of different situations. I'm glad that we got to play with them and be able to see them smile. When we first started playing with the kids, I saw a cute one who was sitting by himself on a bench. I sat down by him and introduced myself. His name was Denae. I gestured to play with him and he grabbed my hand and started leading me around the area. He got right into it and spoke a bunch of spanish and pointed out all his amigos to me. It was so cute. He also used my pocket to stash the balloons he got haha. It was cute, he would dig around in my pocket to get balloons and give some to his friends. And when I showed him a sheet of stickers, he would take it and offer to the other kids and his friends. It was so sweet. We also got to do a drama for the kids. But after that, they had to go back to class. We went and did some jobs around the orphanage to help out however we could. I cleaned a bathroom, folded laundry, and peeled onions. I wish we could have stayed there longer. :( That afternoon, we went to rosarito to go to the market. It was pretty cool. I bought a few things there. And the beach down there was soo nice. It was so beautiful! The water was so nice!
The week went by so fast! It was so amazing! Like the days would go by pretty slow, but once they went by, it felt like so quick! Thursday night I caught my last sunset by the ocean. It was the best one that week. We were going to be leaving for San diego at 3 in the morning that night so I didn't really sleep. We had a flight around 7:30 in the morning to Salt lake city, and then a three hour layover til we could fly back to Fargo. Then a five hour drive. So it was a very long day. We lost a few hours too since the time change. But I finally got home around 11:00 PM. Even though it was nice to be home and sleep in my own bed, I already miss Mexico so much. I miss the kids, the church, the sessions, the ocean... It was such an amazing experience. I know I will be going back some day... Hopefully someday soon...
-Ang<3
