I decided I'm going to break this up into days.
That seems to be the most effective.
So... here we go!
We had to be at the church at 3:45am. I went to sleep the night before at 10 something and attempted to sleep.
I got two hours :)
So I got up around 2:30, took a shower, got ready, packed last minute stuff, woke up my parents ;) and headed to church!
Right away we knew God had awesome things planned for this trip,
because satan tried really hard to stop it!
First the box truck blew a tire on the way to the airport.
Then, we barely made our flight.
And when I say barely, I mean we ran on the plane and they closed the door behind us.
A lot of us had to sit with strangers.
And not only did I sit with two strangers,
I was in the middle :)
Woo!
Since we were so late to the airport we didn't have time to eat, so added on to all that stress, half of us were starving to death.
But we all made it to Phoenix alive!
Barely alive, but alive.
When we landed it was 91 degrees and only 7:30am :)
Thank you Jesus for McDonalds in Arizona :)
After that things got a little less ridiculous.
We shared testimonies in our vans and got to know each other a little better.
(Note: We pretty much drove through the desert for 4+ hours.)
We went to Walmart, got groceries, last minute toys, etc.
Okay, now the part you've really been waiting for :)
We crossed the border! Woo!
I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest I was so excited.
I. Love. San. Luis. Mexico.
We're here!! Finally!!
While we were driving to the orphanage,
I saw a man, sitting on the corner, selling grapes.
There was something about him that caught my attention.
He was old, he looked tired, his clothes were dirty.
He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning either.
He was just kind of... there.
He held up his grapes, watching our big shiny air conditioned vans drive past.
Slap in the face?
Right away God reminded me what we were there for.
I'll never forget that man.
When we finally made it to the orphanage, most of the kids were taking their siesta.
So we had time to get our stuff to our rooms.
Oh, one more thing satan did - I like to be on the top bunk on the end.
I got the bottom bunk in the middle.
I know that's such a dumb thing, but it did manage to bother me for a while until I realized how dumb it was and pushed it out of my head :)
When the kids came out, one of the little boys, Luis, who I played with a lot last year, saw me.
He gasped and ran over and hugged me.
I said "Hola!" he didn't say anything back.
He just stood there and held on to me so tight.
I asked if he remembered me and he shook his head yes.
He stood there forever.
Then I met another little girl, Jazmin.
She was so funny.
She was asking everyone their name but she wouldnt tell anyone hers.
She asked mine and when I told her she said "JOANNA!?!?"
Note: No one in Mexico can say my name.
So I said yes and she whispered in my ear, "Jazmin."
She held my hand and walked around and wanted to take a picture.
So sweet <3
I saw Alejandro (the boy I sponsor's brother) and he gave me a hug.
The first thing he said was "Ricardo no here."
Uh oh.
I asked where he was and he said "Oasis."
Deep breath.
Thank you, satan, very much appreciated. Just kidding.
I had to remind myself Oasis comes to church so I would see him the next morning,
and probably multiple times after that.
It was kind of a rough day.
But amazing at the same time.
We spent the rest of the day playing with the kids, loving on them, jumping rope and making bracelets and just having fun.
We went to bed that night and I hate to admit it but I was not in the most pleasant mood.
But I asked God to please get satan away from me and that I know this is His week.
I woke up the next morning in a much better mood, gracias a Dios :)
The first day was kind of uneventful compared to the rest, Day 2 - 7 will have much more ministry stories :)
Thanks for reading!
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