First Installment of Mexico

So I've been back from Mexico for a week and not yet managed to post a THING about it! Somebody please just check me for a pulse...that's so not like me. My goal is to post at least once a week and more if I have something interesting to say. Well I have hundreds of interesting things to say and I haven't posted in over 2 weeks!

The ride down and back was...let's just say...brutal. Thirty-six hours in a 15 passenger van holding 15 adults. I remember riding in a 15 passenger as a child and being crowded! Needless to say, I didn't sleep much! Something that made me happy for awhile on the ride, though, was waving at the Master's exit. For some funny reason, being in that area now feels a little like coming home to me. It was cool!

By the time I got to Mexico, I was already tired, but God gave me the energy to stay strong and healthy throughout the whole time and I know that was because of prayers. I was sick beforehand and sick immediately upon coming home, and people were sick all around me, but I was protected!

So...my team. It was 13 other people that I'd didn't know at all beforehand--a scary situation for a self-proclaimed introvert! (I know the math doesn't add up. It's because we also had a driver.) But God was amazingly good and I was able to really feel like part of the team. One of the nights we had a time of telling each other strengths and growths we had seen, and most of them confessed they were unsure about my addition to the team at first (I was like a quiet little mouse at our pre-trip meetings), but that I had really opened up. This was really encouraging because it's something I had to fight for. We were also blessed as a team in that there were no major personality conflicts and we all got along.

Being on this team also touched me in other ways. As they shared their testimonies, I saw God's amazing grace saving each one of them. To see these young Christians who were so much older than me inspired and challenged me. I've been "saved" for 13 years and I'm only 18, and we had all the way up to a 30-year-old who received Christ last year. But does my life show the fruit of all these years? Sadly, in some ways it does not.

God gave me new friends through this trip, and I hope I am able to keep them. I am beginning to see how my life has been so blessed because of the protection of a church upbringing, but there are many lessons these people learned from their mistakes that I would be wise to take note of. They are also just plain fun to be with and we made many great memories on this trip, with more to come when I write next!