I left the night of December 20th with two of my great friends, Rachel and Cole and we went to Colonia Juarez, Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico. We stayed with 60+ people that we had never met before and did volunteer work. We were there for five days, coming home on 1pm December 25th to have Christmas dinner with our families, whom we dearly missed and learned to appreciate even more. We delivered boxes of food, blankets, clothes, and toys to poor families in the poorest regions of the towns we went to. I felt like Santa Claus to them. It was an amazing, exhilarating experience. I have made so many great new friends. I hope to see these friends again next year because I want to go back again and bring my family with me this time so they can experience and see what I have seen. I also got to practice my spanish some more. I miss Moniqua, a 4 year old hispanic girl with no english speaking abilities, sitting on my lap as I sat on the trailer passing through these homes, helping me pass out toys to the other kids. I miss the woman who hugged me as tight as she could when I delivered to, what we don't even call a home, her little makeshift shack with 4 little kids roaming about. I miss her teary voice when she said to me, "Gracias. Se hay un dios ahora y yo se que el me adora." Translation: "Thank you. I know there is a God now and I know he loves me. " Incredible to hear that.
We all spent 2 days preparing ourselves to deliver. Making, unfolding, taping boxes. 350 of them. Unloading and separating 100 lbs. bags of flour, wheat, beans, potatoes, sugar, cornmeal, oranges, water, candy, and a multitude of other things. We all worked together to dispense all things into little bags for each box. We were working like clockwork. I took a moment and stopped to watch all of us working like clockwork. It was amazing to watch. 60+ people all working together for one purpose in Mexico. I have scars on my hands, dry knuckles from being out in the cold and passing out stuff without wearing gloves, a bruise or two on my legs from falling in the trailer with the games we played. I also fell once when the kids all flocked to the trailer and I was not holding onto something for support. I call all these BATTLE WOUNDS and the scars will be in rememberance of what I did December of 2007. The dry knuckles better go away soon, though. Once I get pictures online, I will put them on here. I want you all to see what I saw and hopefully, once you see them, you will become thankful for what you have, treasure your children, treasure the fact that you have children, love your husbands and wives, love your friends and family, appreciate that you have a toilet, a dining room table, a refrigerator, electricity, access to healthcare and other necessities. I've learned more to not focus on the things I WANT and instead, focus on the things I NEED in order to survive. Love, friendship, education, Christ, the gospel in my life, and my family.
If you want the history of how this trip all started 12 years ago for a family in Utah, go to rachelhale.blogspot.com. Or Link on her name under my "friends" link. Rachel.
1 comment:
They are battle scars! Like on my car. From the tumbleweeds. :) I'm glad you got to speak to these people. I suppose it made it even sweeter for ya. I suddenly found myself wanting to know spanish for the first time in my life. I'm so glad we got to go together!
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