Mexico was the place that changed my life forever, that inspired many of my recent longings to share Jesus with the world. I bet you've never seen all the photos and videos in one place - so here you go! May these hilarious yet meaningful times never be forgotten. TravelingIt was the last day of school, and everything was all packed for two o'clock - the time when we would crinkle into the sweaty van and ride for hours to go to the airport. I remember being the most excited I've ever been in my life, the most nervous actually. What I wouldn't give to feel that anticipation again. It was the best day of school I've ever had. We said goodbye to all our friends, watched an awesome video about our iPads being taken away, had a pizza party, had another party, and when it was done my youth group set off into the distance for the journey of our lifetimes. Backpacks and my ark encounter hat and snacks and all. (I LOVE backpacks. So much. And hats. Oh, and snacks too. ) We were driving happily along when we stopped to get pizza. Then the car wouldn't start. Fortunately the jumper cables of the neighborly car assisted us and we started back up again without a second thought. Then it happened again. We kept breaking down, and slowly started to panic. We had mere hours before the flight and not enough time to get there. Sitting in the hot seats of the car, parked beside autozone, waiting for news on how the car was doing, I finally realized that this thing I was so excited for might not happen. "We can't go to Mexico guys..." I said depressingly. We were going to miss our flight, I knew. My hopes were dashed. An hour or two later, we were playing ninja on the side of the road, still waiting for any news. We had tried everything and were now calling tons of people to ask if we could borrow a bus. We had to get to the airport! Everyone was stressed and hot and moist towelettes were everywhere. AHH, we cried. Suddenly everything fell into place. A miracle happened. A bus was magically free that should probably not have been without Providence. And our tiny little broken van somehow made it all the way there to where the bus was parked, ready to meet us and whip us off to the airport as fast as he possibly could. And we found out later, our van was so broken (don't know all the technical details) that we should NOT have made it as far as we did! It sounds like a Karen Kinsgbury book, but all I know is it was a real life miracle, people. And yes, we made it to the airport.(The time change even gave us an hour we desperately needed. Without it, we wouldn't have survived.) Below is a vlog of us on the bus, being a little crazy. Don't worry, we get a lot worse later. Wahahaha. Traveling was a blast. I can't tell you how much I want to step foot in an airport again, hearing the spanish ring over the loudspeaker, wondering when our turn will be called. Leaving the common behind and jumping into the unknown. Waiting for the moment when we will hop on a machine of dreams and sit there for a while until you're there. You're going to suddenly be in a different country, an unfamiliar culture; it's your chance to go out and make a difference, for yourself or for others. The destination is amazing, yes. But the journey of anticipation, sitting in the waiting seats listening for your flight to be called, the soaring up into the clouds, all the seemingly meager in-between times... they're bonding times. They're hilarious. Why not make the most of it? The AirportSo, we made it to the airport. That's where we left off. After hurriedly distributing plastic bags and making sure everything was carry-on safe, we zipped up our suitcases, gathered our things, and ran inside the airport. We found the Aeromexico check-in place, and tapped our toes as we waited in line. But miracle again, there was barely no line. When Jon the youth pastor dude got to the front and talked to the lady, he found out we were ten minutes away from the time limit. 10 minutes. If we had gotten there 10 minutes later, we wouldn't have made it to Mexico. Just think, ten minutes is the time it takes you to do your hair probably. It was another miracle. Wow. So our hopes were cheered. It was 10 pm maybe, and we put our luggage tags on our bags, checked in our carryons because the flight was almost completely full, and ran to the waiting room area. It was dimly lit, Spanish speaking, and very exciting. I'll skip ahead to the plane part now. When we got on the plane, we spent six hours trying to sleep. And I failed. Next time, I'll bring a neck pillow, I promise! Then the long night was over. (just kidding!) We still had another flight to go. We landed at 2 am, rubbed our bleary eyes, and squinted at the long customs line in front of us. We sighed. Then laughed. It was fun anyway. It was our trip. (a mission trip, but crazy fun nonetheless.) It was Mexico. It was a blast. Watch the video below to see all the hilariousness. (my FAVORITE VIDEO FROM THE TRIP.) Ok, so. Aside from losing a suitcase and an actual person (we got them both back later), the airport experience went pretty well. We got an amazing breakfast where we got to look at cool menus and order in Spanish, we met the missionaries, and found an awesome beetle on the ground. The airport was a "smorgasboard" of new sights and sounds of Spanish and suitcases. While waiting for random stuff, we played suitcase soccer and almost killed someone in the process. Oh well. I would also like to humbly mention, yes, we are still wearing those shirts... we wore them for twenty-four hours... I would like to apologize for that. The Roads along the WayIf you watched the video above, you already saw so many wonderful things about the trip: -us stressing about not making it -us getting a miracle and borrowing an awesome bus -us on the airplane -Josiah sleeping on the airplane -the beautiful sights of sunrises, mountains and clouds -getting on the van for the first time -being slap-happy ("We're going to a counterfeit store... wait... a counterfeit store??" "THERE'S MOUNTAINS" *we crazily dance*) -trying strawberry "water" ("how much did you pay for that?" "not enough" ;)) -actually getting to the village and playing volleyball at the church What you didn't see: Us being normal at the pizza place we went to right before we broke down. Us playing ninja on the side of the road. Us eating breakfast for the first time in Mexico! Waiting on the side of the road in Mexico for our van taxi thing. Us going to the convenience (not counterfeit!) store. The crazy swervy bumpy van ride that jerked and jolted every 10 seconds, Me buying a mango that apparently was bad for you, but I ate it anyway. And I didn't get sick. Uriah puking. And me eventually collapsing in tiredness in the van. (Right after we said "We'll check back later - if we make it!" ... well... we didn't make it. I fell asleep with my camera in my hand every five minutes because I WAS SO excited to take pictures and didn't want to waste a moment even though we hadn't slept all night. Yeah I didn't make it. Apparently we stopped somewhere and I didn't even know.. lol. Also, we stopped somewhere and got coconut ice cream. Sadly from that and the strawberry water, Uriah puked like six times. You didn't get to see that part, sorry.) Actually, I would do it all over again. It was so fun. And the music from the taxi was so Mexicany, we couldn't help dancing to it. The pictures I got from the sights are really Mexicany toooo!!! I love the horses, the mountains, the palm trees, the coconuts, the houses, everything. AHH. Something that was really cool: Whenever we would stop for gas or whatever they do, the vendors would just open the van doors and poke their wares inside, usually fruit or tortillas. Of course, how could we resist? We bought them, obviously. Typical tourist gringos, yep. I am SO glad that I vlogged a lot, because basically the only things I remember are on the videos! I am sad to say that I forget most of what the first night was like in Mexico. But I shall continue on with my saga and go on to describe the beautiful town after the 6-9 hour van ride we partook on. The TownI do remember though, the first time we drove up to the missionaries' little house after basically days of traveling. I wouldn't say it was culture shock, it was more of an expected shock, because everything looked exactly Mexican as it was supposed to. The so-called culture shock didn't happen to me because I don't think I was there long enough. I was so glad to be there after months of anticipation. But the tiny houses they lived in, the el banos, the dirt floors, the sweet little girls selling candy, kids that didn't have clothes, and the random stray dogs wandering everywhere, did humble me and yes they made me sad. They weren't sad though. The people there were absolutely so happy to host us, to serve us, to meet us, to communicate with us, to play with us; they were laid back and comfortable and patient. I only wish I could be like that. I didn't have Snapchat on my phone, but other people did and so that's the first way we bonded with them. Using the crazy filters.. and the awful face swaps. Even though we were initially scared to talk to them, we soon got more comfortable. I felt a little guilty about using snapchat and phones and stuff, but hey, it worked. Snapchat is the same in every language. Every morning we'd wake up at about 7:30 to the sounds of the village loudspeaker bubbling across the village. Yes, we could hear it in the little house. They announced so many important things such as "Who stole our bananas!? We know you you are!" and played both opera and mexicany music over it. It became the background music in the setting of the movie of our trip. One time Jon actually paid to use the loudspeaker and announced such stuff as "Hello to Shaylee! Hello to Karissa!" then Jojo announced "Soy un gringo, muy guapo pero muy rojo, necesito una novia por favor." Very important message. Of course. We actually did never know what time it was, because there were two different time zones. Not to mention the different time zones in Chicago and then Cincinnati. So four different time zones, and we never knew what it was "back in our land." Oh well, time wasn't important anyways. Once we were roaming the streets in amazement, and apparently some random person said "Muy guapo" to Jason as he was just walking around. "They are very friendly here," said Jason. When we first got there to the house, I was scared to take my camera out and take pictures. I was timid and shy and what if it got stolen or broken or what if people stared at me?! But someone said, "You brought the camera, why not use it? Go big or go home!" Something like that. And I'm so glad they did, because I have really nice good quality pictures now to look back on. They didn't contribute to the limited space on my phone, and it broke a lot of language barriers. People loved that camera and loved seeing themselves on it! They even got to take pictures on it. For the whole rest of the trip, I went big. And it really paid off. I was no longer a timid little shy girl hiding her camera behind her back. I took advantage of all the opportunities I could find, and probably took too many pictures. But hey, go big or go home. Some of the things we did: Played countless games and learned new ones from the youth group. We played charades (with pictures), uno, a bird game that's kinda like duck duck goose, a game where you have to call out people's names and slap them with a rag or something (I failed), a game where you have to be the cat and the mouse and the streets and the avenues (you had to know spanish for this one), that one hula hoop game, a bunch of relay races, and Selfish (with spanish numbers. Luckily we had learned them in Spanish class recently before or I wouldn't have known them.) After that we had a delicious meal of tostadas in their little kitchen. And strawberry lemonade I think. Explored the town on our off day. We saw beautiful plants that looked like they came from the zoo, except nope, we were in their natural habitat. Whoa. We went to shops and cobblestone streets and churches; we saw fruit trees and mangos and limes; we smelled tortillas and bought those pops in bottles, etc. We went to a cute little "family" restaurant with the famous missionaries who were all so nice and friendly and helpful. They taught us so many things and told us so many stories. One time I left my phone in one of those random shops and will never forget me panicking and yelling down the hill "Tienes mi iPhone??" (yeah I don't know spanish) Fortunately I had left it on the table in a shop and no one had taken it. *shakily sighs in amazement* Made new friends with kids. Unfortunately I didn't know how to speak much Spanish, but I tried to be really funny and hilarious anyway. Actually I didn't have to try that hard. One day we had basically a flood with waters rushing over our feet and pounding our heads with winds swirling around us, and the kids all busted out laughing at me as my tiny little mushroom umbrella failed to shield me from the torment, flapping up and down like a flimsy piece of paper. Once I finally got to the church (with the roof) it was a lot easier to talk to them, because of my hilarious umbrella icebreaker. They even taught me the word for umbrella, which I unfortunately forget now. Went shopping in the shops for water and gatorade and Takis. Sadly someone didn't know how to say "no thanks" to the lady running one of the shops, and accidentally said "no bien." That means no good... Taught Sunday school to the kids. Michelle was the main speaker but of course we had to have translators. We taught them a Bible verse in Spanish, sang them a song, and helped them make crafts. I still feel a little guilty that I never was able to fix a little girl's broken craft, and probably made it worse in the process. One little girl that I met there was adorable but shy. I kept trying to get her to talk to me, and she wouldn't so I just took crazy pictures with my camera, smiling and laughing because they understand that, right? Well, later she got the courage to finally talk to me. She came to me in the church after service and unfortunately I didn't have a translator!! I was panicking, embarrassed, and didn't know what to do except sadly say "no hablo espanol." She walked away, shoulders slumping that we couldn't talk. Oh what I wouldn't give to go back and say I'm sorry, to either know more spanish or get a translator, to play with her and to talk to her one more time. Something that was awesome about the town was that everyone greeted everyone. On the street, in the church, everywhere. On one such instance, we were walking to the church in the tropical weather, taking pictures of palm trees and umbrellas, when one sweet lady stopped me and rambled out spanish and stuck out her hand. It was our first full day there, and I panicked. I didn't know what to do; I thought she was asking for money so I walked away and said "lo siento, no hablo espanol," feeling guilty. Well, I felt even more guilty when I found out what she was saying to me. She wanted to shake my hand. Oh, Karissa. Seriously. If I ever could redo that again I would shake her hand for a thousand years if only to make up for that terrible experience. *sighs in despair* One more thing that I would like to mention about the town - the church. The pastor was an amazing pray-er, the songs were unbelievably Mexicany and I was so excited that we sang a few that we knew, and the language barrier was broken as we worshiped. Everyone used real Bibles. Not on their phones. We sang together in Spanish and English, and I choked up in love for the place. Not just the beautiful blue benches or the colorful church, but the people there and the love they had for the Lord. One lady was talking to us about how she prayed everyday for people she didn't even know, for us. It was amazing. Actually I barely saw anyone on their phones. (only once to take pictures when we left.) I saw them laughing, having a good time, bonding, connecting, worshiping. Something I will never forget. We loved the house we were staying at, too. We made so many inside jokes there and started rapping about loofas, moist towelettes, strawberry water, and machetes. It holds so many dear memories that I can't help but laugh at. The BeachJust realizing we did a lot on this trip already. Wow. Okay. Day 3. On Monday after we got on an amazing taxi ride around the village, we got on another van ride and headed to Puerto Escondido. It's a really famous place for surfing, and has gigantic waves that are too dangerous for us to swim in. (there was a danger sign.) By this time we were adjusted to buying water bottles and using pesos and asking where banos were and all that important stuff, so it was a great time. At the beach we went on a banana boat and got flung off into the water. Luckily we had lifejackets and those sorts of things. We also pushed people into the water, one of the highlights of the trip. Heh heh. But actually, the highlight was the sea turtle boat we went on next. We were expecting a slow ride chugging along, 10 feet away from shore, trying to peer down into the ocean and see a turtle's head pop out every 384892798374 hours. Nope. We got in the boat and zoomed out to sea, wind blowing in our faces, swaying in the breeze. It was fabulously fast and it felt like we were flying out into the middle of the ocean. All of a sudden our one Mexican driver (who spoke Spanish, obviously) saw something. The next thing we knew, he had grabbed a rope and flung himself twenty feet into the air, launching into the water and plunging deep below. He lassoed the gigantic sea turtle he had seen as we sat there in shock. Our only driver was out in the ocean. We didn't know what to do. After a few seconds of amazement he yelled at us to pull the lasso in, he and the sea turtle dragging along the top of the ocean. When he jumped back into the boat we saw just how huge the sea turtle was. We all got to hug it and everything! We wanted to take it home, but he wouldn't allow. He put it out into the ocean, its natural habitat. Not the zoo, not the aquarium. THE ACTUAL SEA. Yup yo. We also went to a coffee shop with the view of the beach. It was really scary ordering actually, as my little timid self waited in line to talk to the spanish ladies behind the counter. People helped me, though, and I ordered some coffee beans to take home. Should've bought more, though, if you ever go there bring me some. It's amazing. Please. Thanks. When we walked along the beach, we had already been in the sun quite some time, and this was the closest I have possibly ever gotten to heat stroke or somethin. Our flipflops were lagging in the sand, crunching like sandpaper. My hair was plastered sweat underneath my hat. Water was the only thing keeping us alive and we were vaguely delirious. But what we did see was amazing. We saw fishermen catching fish with nets, the ocean waves splashing up against the rocks, and a giant shark-like fish being sliced open and skinned and chopped up to eat at the restaurant beside it. Eventually someone realized that we were about to die of heat though, and ordered a little taxi so we could go eat up the hill at a different restaurant. It was my first experience with one of those things. We fit SO many people in that taxi. Me and Lauren were squished up front with the driver, me trying to breathe as they closed me in on both sides. Yeah I was trampled in the middle, wondering how the driver was driving with me blocking circulation in his arms. It was a short drive but was a long minute to say the least. Also, the coffee I had bought kept falling out of my Ark Encounter backpack with the now broken zipper. The food we ordered was amazing. (tacos and tortillas and rice.) The restaurant was the ultimate Mexican place, huge and airy with a water bottle vending machine and tacos galore. I do feel guilty though for accidentally being mean to the waitress... WHY do I keep doing that?!?! I feel so bad. Another thing cool about the restaurant is that the napkins and silverware and other essentials were in little drawers atop all the tables. Life hack!! The OrphanageThis was at Puerto Escondido too, but I gave it its own category. Because obviously this was the best part of the trip! It wasn't really an orphanage as much as it was a home, a loving abode of a family. The people who ran the orphanage were basically the wonderful eager parents. And it was amazing, let me tell you. Nothing like Annie or a hard knock life. It was colorful and bright and cheery, with honey and bunkbeds and mangos, a yard outside with a treehouse and monkey bars, green plants with pops of color scattered around, the most Mexicany thing yet. And the kids were so sweet. We played the bird game and selfish game again with them this time, and they were so happy and energetic and joyful. After a few awkward silences we instantly became friends. The snapchat filters were great in that place too. But most of all, my camera. This one little girl knew how to use one of those things and took amazing pictures of me and the girls which I treasure!! They all got to take turns taking pictures and selfies and laughing at themselves, smiling with toothy grins. I even learned how to say "Be careful!" in Spanish. I still smile when I think that I got to talk to them with my limited spanish, ask them what their names and ages were, and tell them to hold their hand "debajo de" the camera. We took so many photos with "todos" the "amigos." Somehow with my terrible vocabulary already used up, we communicated so well. When I look back I can't even remember what was said in English or Spanish! I just remember the good times of laughter and friendship and tickling and hugging. It was the saddest thing I've ever done to leave that wonderful place of magicalness. The MountainsThe most adventurous part. Shooting up swervy cliff-edged mountains, losing my water bottle on one of the many bumps, singing Spanish songs with Mexican friends as we bounced along, playing basketball at a high altitude, buying out a mini la tienda, trying a new drink that I don't know how to spell, hiking straight up a squishy rain-crusted mountain forest, and eating huge roasted crunchy ants with 500 eggs inside that get stuck in your teeth. Just a few of the experiences I encountered on this beautiful, captivating day. We hung off the backs of the bouncy open trucks, clinging to the ropes for dear life. Singing "we'll be coming round the mountain when we come" as we literally did come round the mountain. Another adventure right after another.We explored a breathtaking waterfall hidden deep into a corner of the land, and surprisingly I didn't drop my camera even though we jumped and slipped on the large rocks of the creek. I didn't even fall when I had to jump over a large puddle blocking the path! On this particular rest stop on the way to the mountaintop church, I felt like we were in a rainforest. The mountains towering high above us, trees closing in hundreds of feet in the air, the bright green plants and sounds of parrots and birds, the soakedness and moistness of water droplets in the air.. everything reminded me of my favorite movie when I was little - The Ultimate Gift. The part in the movie where the guy goes to Ecuador and it's wonderfully green and Spanishy and moist. The place I've always wanted to go beautifully replicated in an equally amazing adventurous place. I'm wrinkling my eyebrows as I type this, I'm confused on how I got to do this. I'm absolutely so thankful that I had this opportunity, and secretly the rainforest part was my favorite of the whole entire trip. No words could describe it and I can't contain it. It was the ultimate gift in my memories. (see what I did there...) An hour later probably we got off the trucks and arrived at our destination, a tiny village which we could see the whole thing from one glance. It was wonderful, the church was colorful and looked like Noah's ark we thought. We saw chickens running around, turkeys, mountains in the distance. This was the place where my Spanish language speaking was changed forever. Yes, I had tried to talk to kids in the past and we still had fun. But we actually had full conversations with the girls especially one who is still my friend today! A lot of hilariousness of mistakes happened, but still. We taught each other our languages while hiking deep into the mountains. It was a breakthrough. Basically my comfort zone was busted open. The church service, too, wow. Jason stood up and gave his testimony, Jon preached a wonderful sermon about taking up your cross, and a woman touchingly cried and asked for prayer. I would never be the same again after this day. Oaxaca CityA "smorgasboard" of tastes, smells, sounds, and colors. (compliments of Josiah for the smorgasboard word) After leaving the mountains and then leaving San Gabriel forever with tears in our eyes, we headed back on the 6-9 hour trip to Oaxaca City, a tourist place of amazingness. The hotel had the cutest lobby, the most colorful breezy patio, huge windows in our room, REALLY NICE showers and bathrooms, an amazing breakfast, laundry service. It was basically shocking for us after sleeping on the floor and washing our clothes in a bucket! I can't say enough about how much I recommend that hotel. And the markets, the colors, the wonder. We learned how to bargain, to talk to people, to try to get good deals, and we got way too many recuerdos. heheh. The smells of the random raw beef just hanging there, the dazzling colors of backpacks and bracelets, and the sounds of chattering in amazement were impossible to take all in. They had pancakes and chips and souvenirs and mugs and everything you could ever imagine. We also went to a chocolate factory. It was huge and shiny with blue umbrellas and sleek wooden tables. Sniffing the mysterious free mole sample they had set down, I innocently wanted to try it. It looked beautiful. So I did. And uh..It tasted like warm spicy puke. Sorry guys, but that's what my tastebuds tasted. After that I stuck with just ordering a normal chocolate milkshake. I also bought some Mexican chocolate - really good. And the five star restaurant that night... blew me away! It had two floors and looked like it was straight out of Los Angeles or somewhere super fancy. They had aprons and chalkboards with the gourmet meal of the day. They even brought over the gigantic chalkboard from the front to right by our table! I was absolutely dying of wonder and excitement. It was such a change, so different! They had both Spanish and English menus. Which I tried to order in Spanish from but the waiter apparently wanted me to talk in English. Oops. And, I'm not kidding or being dramatic, but it was the most amazing luxurious restaurant ever. I got my own coat rack to hang my purse on! We had a balcony right by our table with an amazing view and sound of musicians down below. The waitress brought out a huge basket of loaves of different breads and flavors, loads of homemade inhouse potato chips, dip, and some mashed potato ball delicacy! Kinda still in disbelief at how glamorous that restaurant was. I loved Oaxaca City. One time it was time for lunch and Alyssa and I were the only one who got really cool tacos. Exploring the tight inside food markets and trying crickets and walking down the streets searching for the taco truck are some of my favorite memories from that experience. The next day we hopped in another van, swerved up another mountain, and headed to the ruins of ancient times. Monte AlbanWe felt like explorers traveling back in time, to the land of pyramids and sacrifices and Indians and who knows what. Hieroglyphics, sundials, and secret tunnels. Another jampacked day of fun and adventure awaited us on the last day in Mexico. Our final memory in this amazing place. These ruins were rich with history and artifacts, complete with a museum containing the actual old things from the ancient days! It was so fun to explore and run up and down those steps, however rickety they may have been. I love history and old things, so I took the opportunity and got sacrificed on a real actual stone table. For some reason I kept thinking we were in Egypt or Israel, though. When I realized we were in Mexico it shocked me. Even though I realized the same thing every five minutes... I also got to buy a tshirt from the gift shop. It cost me like eleven dollars, and I was feeling really guilty about wasting my money like that. But Mr. Stetler cheered me up! He said something like I'll never be in that place again, so it will be a good memory to have! Go big or go home. And I did. And I will forever treasure that shirt and guard it with my life. After all these amazing things, we went back to the hotel. We had to say a sad goodbye to our "tour guide" Mr. Stetler, who had been such a great help in translating, ordering, bargaining in the markets, and telling us so many amazing stories. He was really great. I kinda teared up, I'll admit okay. I did get his autograph, though. That night was the most emotional I've ever been in my whole life. All of us talked about what we had learned from the trip - getting out of our comfort zone, patience, simplicity, being brave, following God no matter what.. That God is always faithful, how wonderful he is to bring us here, to work miracles, to protect us, and change us forever. And as I sat there in the darkness of the open air patio, tears were accidentally squeezing out of my eyeball, making it moist and watery. All of a sudden I started sniffling, hoping no one would notice and wiping my eyes with my jacket sleeve. Nope, it didn't work, because after our devotions and prayer time were over I sobbed my eyes out in front of the whole world basically. I was so torn in leaving the place and all my friends and the adventurousness; the trip that changed my life was over. Fortunately other people were sad too, and we all sobbed together in a bundle of comforting tears. Crying for hours into the night. Ignoring each other's red faces, we said goodbye to the land we loved. And proceeded to sleep our last few hours before we headed to the airport at 4 am the next morning. The last sweet hours of time I can never get back. When we went to the airport and got through security all that, we reflected on all that had transpired in such a short time. A meager seven days. All the way through the interesting times and hard times and hilarious times and breathtaking times, we learned so much from every jampacked moment. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, letting go my frustration at leaving and getting on that plane for my homeland. It didn't seem like my homeland anymore though, I felt as I was leaving myself there and going back into the reality. It felt like waking up from amazing dream you want to be in longer but are waking up, and you can see the normal coming back. And all you want to do is go back. The unusualness, the unexpectedness, the different language, the bright colors of my dream trip are gone except for stuffed back in my memory. But the lessons I learned aren't gone. God is still the same faithful and amazing and wonderful and beautiful. I can only hope I can live my own fulfilling life where I belong in the States, in regular normal boring school, in real life. It's hard, every day actually. Because I miss Mexico still after nine months. But hopefully my memories will never be forgotten, and I will watch this recap vlog over and over until I remember what I have learned. The video below feels like it was a dream of yesterday, and I don't know if you will have the same emotional connection I have to it. But feel free to watch it anyways. The trip that changed my life summed up in one video. I feel like we experienced so many aspects - mountains, beaches, five-star fancyness, small villages, hustling markets, and ancient ruins. Here in one video, I have brought most of that together and made a dramatic, emotion-swirling trailer. Because we didn't just have a fun great fabulous time, we didn't just make good memories. But Mexico impacted us. Hoy más que nunca Señor yo te amo
Hoy más que nunca Señor te necesito Hoy más que nunca Señor quiero decirte Que te amo hoy mas que nunca Señor
2 Comments
Hannah Christina
4/28/2017 06:30:02 pm
This is so great!! Looks like you had a wonderful time! It was really encouraging to read especially since my family plans to spend a week in Mexico in June on a missions trip! Just a question: did you wear skirts because of personal convictions or is that what they do in Mexico? Just wondering so I know how to pack and if shorts would be ok. I probably should also ask the missionaries we will be visiting too!
Reply
Karissa
4/28/2017 06:52:17 pm
Hey Hannah, so happy you read this! :) That's so exciting you're going to Mexico, and I know you'll have an amazing week. We wore skirts because of personal conviction. It's what our church we went with does. I still would suggest asking the missionaries too, though, because I don't know where you're going and who you're going with! :) Good luck on packing, and see you on YWW!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
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
latest video: |