Day 31 - I'm home!!

I’m absolutely brimming with emotions today.  All of the jovens and interns spent last night dancing again.  Meringue and Salsa are my new favorite things!  Several of the interns were flying out very early this morning, so they had to be ready to go to the airport at 3am.  I had planned on sleeping, but my body had other ideas.  So after sending that group off, I returned to the room and laid in bed for a while and finally just gave up and showered and finished packing at around 3:30am.  Finally at around 5am I fell asleep, only to be up again at nearly 7 because our room was absolutely freezing and none of us could sleep.  At 7:30 it was time to get out of bed and drag our suitcases downstairs and over to the main building.  

Many of the jovens and other friends we’d made on campus came to say goodbye to the 9 of us flying out this morning.  There were tears, hugs, and laughter everywhere you looked.  Saying goodbye to the people who have become your family is not something that any of us wanted to do, but we all know that there is a mission field waiting for us back at home too. 

The bags were packed into the Urvan and the final goodbyes were said, we were off!  Rodo (staff member taking us to the airport) had me jump out of the van to open the gate, and then decided it would be funny to drive off.  Chasing down an Urvan was not on my to do list this morning, but they all got a good giggle at me running and yelling all the way down the street. 

Flight #1 to Houston went smoothly, there were 4 other B2B interns on the flight with me, we weren’t able to sit together, but were able to be together when we got off the plane.  Customs went smoothly and after saying goodbye to 2 of the interns, Casey, Renee, and I headed to McDonalds for some lunch.  Saying goodbye to them was hard because it meant from then on I was by myself, and that my Mexico journey truly is over.

Flight #2 almost felt like being back in Mexico when the attendant came over the intercom and said, “Ladies and gentlemen we seem to be having problems with the air conditioner, so the ride to Indianapolis is gonna be a little toasty.”  I’m a seasoned vet at dealing with broken AC’s….the other passengers however, look like they are going to pass out.

I arrived at the airport in Indy around 6:45pm and couldn’t run towards my family fast enough!!  Mom, dad, Tanner, Michel, Sarah, Jacob, and Dan were all waiting for me when I got there.  Jacob told me that we needed to check to the sign to see where my baggage was gonna come out at, and mom and dad told me that they had to get me something just like they had a sign in the hotel for my 18^th birthday this past year, but that they had to do better this time.  I turned the corner and my Granna was sitting right in front of the sign!  I started crying all over again.  It turns out that she flew in from Florida on Friday to stay with our family, and only has a one way ticket, so she’ll be spending several weeks here!

We all came back to the house where Italian beef sandwiches and pizza were waiting for us.  The rest of the night was spent telling stories and appreciating the little things about home.

Day 30 - Change

I didn’t get to sleep last night until after 2am.  I have no idea why, but my body just refused to go to sleep.  Benadryl has become one of my dearest friends on this trip.

Everyone woke up this morning in a tired and cranky mood….not good seeing as how we were expected to deep clean campus.  I got to unclog my first toilet today, a task that I would’ve been ok saving for another day…or never.  After about 4 hours of everyone dragging their feet and moving slowly, we finally finished and were released.  This was both a happy moment and a sad one, because what comes next is packing.  None of us want to pack.  We keep finding ourselves laughing and wanting to cry all at the same time.  Some people are actually packing, and everyone else is delaying it as much as possible. 

It’s hard to leave a place that has become your home and where you’ve made so many close friends.  It’s easy to stay focused on God when you are surrounded by 100 other people doing exactly that, but when we are expected to go home and do it on our own, it gets a lot harder. 

I feel like my life in the last month and even the upcoming month is one of packing and of change.  My clothes and belongings are all packed up, but I have to wonder how long it’s going to take to mentally unpack when I get home.  I’ll be there for nearly 2 weeks, and then will have to pack everything all over again to move out of my home for the first time.  I’m excited and nervous at the same time.  But if I’ve learned anything in Mexico, it’s that God is constant, never changing, and forgiving.  He has been the same God as He was at home, in Mexico, and at college. 

Day 29

Today was long.  We sent off the last set of groups early this morning and now it’s just staff on campus.  We went an hour and a half away from campus to a cave that you can walk all around for our intern outing. 

Three of the four brothers from Douglas are back with a staff member this week, so we took the little guys with us to see the cave and they LOVED it!  They were climbing all over the inside and running away from us as often as they could.  They slept hard on the bus ride home, a much needed break from chaos for the rest of us.  They are going to be staying on campus for the next several days until David is well enough to join his brothers again at Casa Hogar Douglas. 

We all pitched in for pizzas tonight before going to a birthday party for 2 of the jovens that are in the Hope Program.  We all spent the rest of the night dancing like crazy and attempting to salsa with the Mexican boys, who are much more talented than the Americans!

Day 28

Things went against my plans again today, and I’m stuck on campus again.  I went to our 8am stand up meeting and got with my staff group for the day.  They all started asking me if I was ok, and I repeatedly told them that I was fine and ready to go on the zoo field trip today, but against my will they all took a vote and decided that I should stay back and get some more sleep.  So here I am lying in bed in my dorm, another girl is sick also, so Sarah and I are going to do absolutely nothing today but sleep, watch movies, and read.

All week I have really missed home and been ready to go back, especially now that I’m sick.  Today has been a little different; I’m really going to miss the “family” that I have been accepted into here.  There is always someone around who understands exactly what you are going through.  Sure it’s hard to share 1 shower, 1 sink, and 1 toilet with 10 other girls, but I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. 

Day 27

Today was hot, in more ways than one.  I woke up this morning with a fever, sore throat, and a cough.  It’s been going around campus to the kids and the nannies who have so graciously passed it on to the interns.  Instead of getting to go see my Douglas kids again, I stayed back on campus and was able to get several more hours of sleep to be ready for the field trip tomorrow to the zoo.