Today my mom left for Texas, and as she was leaving for the airport with her cute little carryon, I started thinking about my own trip last year. The one I went on planes to get to. My own experience trying to be adventurous and daring and making mistakes. So I decided to share my top ten tips for Mexico, just in case you guys are going someday. Hopefully this will help you to not make the same mistakes I did, and encourage you along the journey. If not, enjoy anyway. Here goes... The Official Dos and Donuts of Mexico1.) First off. Warning: Don't get so into projects that you forget about people. Ministry is not just doing, and you are there to build relationships with them not houses. However do put your everything into each thing you are doing. And if you build a house, do it with them not for them.
2.) Don't forget to have a servant like attitude when you get home. Yes, you will certainly be inspired to do more and more for others! This trip will most likely change your life. But don't forget that you don't have to go on a mission trip to serve others, you can do it at home too. “Don’t raise $1000 for a week and then give nothing else for a whole year” - Michelle Perez 3.) Greet everyone. I was in a small village and it was so weird, everyone said "Hola" to everyone. And at church service, we would shake Every. Single. Person's. Hand. They were so friendly. 4.) Smile. When you're eating food they made, (a.) smile anyway even if it's different and you’re not used to it and (b.) don't finish everything on your plate unless you want seconds! Cause they won't ask; they'll just give it to you. 5.) Be prepared. Moist towelettes, dry towelettes, and hand sanitizer are super important. Don't forget them ;) 6.) They are VERY laid back. At least where I went. They would talk and play and hang out all day and we wouldn't even eat supper until about 9 or 10 o'clock. You gotta learn to be super patient. Also, it's really a patience stretcher when you are waiting in customs lines. They take forever. I was kinda grumpy (it was 2 am) but I pretended I was happy and said "This is fun!" - it made the mood of everyone so much happier. You pretty much learn how to put on a happy face every time of the day. Especially when you're actually in Mexico and you have to constantly play games and you're super tired. 7.) Communicate. Or try to. Even if you don't know Spanish, talk anyway. Talk to the kids and the teens and the random people on the street. Point to stuff, ask what it is, ask their name, laugh, and show them pictures of your family on your phone (if you're allowed). It was super scary to talk to them. But just don't care about that, "Make a big mistake." I made a lot of Spanish mistakes but it was an icebreaker for the conversation. Honestly we communicated so much I almost forgot about the language barrier. When I think back to those times I can hardly remember what words we said, what language they were in, all I remember is teaching our languages to each other and worshiping God together. The barrier was broken. And it was amazing. Warning: do not.... Say "no hablo espanol" when all a dear lady wants to do is shake your hand.. Say "you already have candy you can't have another one" to a sweet little boy who apparently didn't have candy already... :( Say "no hablo espanol" to a little girl who just wants to talk to you... JUST GET A TRANSLATOR. please... Say "no bueno" to a lady in her shop. That means "no good" not "no thanks!!" ;) 8.) Live in the moment. Don't be so excited to get to Mexico that you forget about the other times, the in-between times. The traveling times and the plane times. Because when you get to the place you were so excited to go to, you might realize you missed out on the other bonding times with your team. Some of my favorite memories are from the sleeplessness, the traveling, the stressing. Literally I smile when I think of those moments. They were hard but we came through them together! Also, they were quite hilarious. Watch our vlogs here. 9.) Don't stress! (even if it's stressful). We almost missed our flight. Our van broke down. And we found out later we shouldn't even have gone as far as we did! God was in control. Someone just happened to be in the area with a bus and we made it to the airport 10 minutes until they were going to close the flight down! 10 minutes later we couldn't have made it to Mexico. God is amazing. 10.) Have the most fun. Serving others is fun. Teaching Sunday school, going to an orphanage, whatever you do, you will learn that serving God is fun. Cherish the moments and glean whatever you can. Take as many videos and pictures as you want to have to keep forever. (although don't just go on the trip to get cute instagram pictures. That shouldn't be the motivation.) Be energetic, happy. Smile. Have the best time ever. And don’t forget the awesome things you learned, or you’ll just have to go back to Mexico. Which I wouldn’t mind actually. So there you go, some tips and tricks from an eyewitness herself! Now, if you are planning to go somewhere other than Mexico, I'm afraid I can't help you there. I will say though, these tips will probably still work in other countries. Lemme know how it goes! Comment below. Yours faithfully, your crazy blogger person PS. I'm Honduras bound this summer. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
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about the authorAs a 21 year old aspiring teacher, Karissa loves to write, travel, play piano, and read. Many creative things have her heart. archives
November 2021
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