Time to Take a Breath

Not going to lie, this week was one of the most stressful weeks here so far. With a research presentation in my writing class on Wednesday, a world civ final on Thursday, and a chemistry exam on Friday, I was drowning in work. Not to mention having a late night lab on Wednesday and work on both Thursday and Friday nights. Oh, and finals next week. All of which made the relief of Friday afternoon feel like Heaven.

My Friday began before sunrise, at 5 AM, with wind and rain foreshadowing the chem exam I didn’t exactly study for. It NEVER rains here, but on Friday morning, I rushed to class with my hair and my Toms shoes sopping wet. I was unusually calm considering I’m usually a nervous test-taker. I suppose I had accepted the fact that I would need a miracle to save me on that test. Anyway, after I walked out of the classroom, I felt like I was floating. After lunch I ran back to the dorm with Megan, barefoot, worry-free, and with a cookie in my hand. Once in the dorm, we filled up our water bottles and changed into our shower flip-flops, eager for our next adventure!

So of course we thought it’d be a great idea to walk down to the cliffs on a rainy day, and we were right! Sometimes all it takes is a breath of fresh air to brighten your day. The smell of rainy pavement and the gloomy ocean in the horizon were finally setting the atmosphere we all wish for in the winter (if you can call it that here in SD). As you’d expect of California girls, unaccustomed to rain, we didn’t think about the cliffs being muddy. I took the first fall for the team, nearly sliding down the cliff in the splits, and getting the entire backside of my jeans muddy. Once I was able to get back up, and once Megan and I were able to recover from laughing, we decided to find an easier cliff to walk down. Unfortunately, all of the cliffs were equally as muddy, and our plastic shower flip-flops made it extremely slippery. The entire way down, we continued to slip and slide in the mud, laughing until stomachs ached with happiness.

We finally arrived muddy but unharmed to a small lookout on the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The sound of the crashing waves and the view of the brooding gray clouds casting their shadow over the ocean were breathtaking. A feeling of peace washed over me—a certain peace that you only get in those rare, joy-filled moments when every worry in the world leaves your mind. Needless to say, I am so grateful for moments like these when I’m able to just sit back and take in all the blessings in this life, including going to this extraordinary school and having my amazing roomie as a best friend.

Love and blessings,

Lisa

 

  

Gran Familia

         Last Saturday, Lisa and I decided that we needed to get into the Christmas spirit. The Christmas season is all about giving, spreading joy, and being selfless. It can be hard at times to separate yourself from your busy school schedule, especially at the end of a semester, but for us, it is a necessity. It was really important to us to help spread the joy that we had received from Christ to others. We decided that a good way to spread the love and joy that we have found in Christ was to go on a Mexico Ministries trip.

We were going as apart of Gran Familia. For Gran Familia, our job was to put on a Christmas party for the children from Niños de Fé home, Eunime orphanage, and our friends from La Iglesia ministry. So to say that we were excited would be an understatement. 

We left from PLNU at 12:30 and started making our way to Mexico! This was going to be my first time crossing the Mexican border and going into Tijuana. As we were driving, the anticipation of getting to see all of the kids was building. We could not wait to play with them all and help make their Christmas a little bit happier.

Once we finally arrived at the church, it was time to set up. We helped to decorate the room that the party would be held in and Lisa and I were assigned to a station. Our jobs for the Christmas party were to help paint the kids' faces. Lisa and I were really lucky to get this job because it would allow us the chance to talk to the kids more. Well actually, it gave Lisa the chance to talk to them and me the chance to awkwardly try to communicate through my own kind of sign language. Luckily for me though, Lisa was willing to act as my translator and whenever she was not busy, she would help me with communicating.

Finally, after a lot of preparation, the kids arrived!! There were about fifty children. They started coming over to us and were making their selections of what they wanted us to paint – from Santa hats to Frosty the Snowman, we did it all!

Once nearly all of the kids had their faces painted, it was time for Santa Claus to give all of them their presents! This part was especially exciting because for most of these kids, they did not actually own any of their own toys. Also, they probably did not have many other things to their names, so these presents were even more important to them. Seeing the faces of all of them after the presents had been given was truly a blessing. Just seeing their happy faces made the trip worthwhile.

Soon after the toys had been given, it was time to go. It was sad leaving Tijuana because Lisa and I wanted to spend more time with all of the great kids we had just met. Leaving was not unbearable though because even before we left on our bus ride home, we were already planning our trip back. So Mexico, you have not seen the last of us!

My favorite memory from Gran Familia has to be when a little girl named Clara, whom I had just met, gave me her Hello Kitty toy. She just walked up and handed it to me. I thought that she just wanted me to hold it but she was trying to give it to me as a gift. At first, I did not want to take the toy and I kept trying to give it back to her, but after probably the fourth time that I tried to give it back, I decided to keep it. I felt absolutely terrible that she had given me her toy. These are kids that literally have nothing. Yet she wanted to give me, a perfect stranger, one of her few possessions. Her selflessness left me feeling honored at the thought that she cared for me enough to give me something so special, even after such a small amount of time.

I went to Mexico to help children who have not been as fortunate as me and instead  the children helped me. This little girl helped to show me the love of Jesus this Christmas.