Sing me to Heaven - Mexico: A Mission Trip Adventure

Monday, May 26, 2008 - Mexico: A Mission Trip Adventure

I'm back! From the depths of a foreign country, from Morelia, Mexico, I have returned! Oh, it was SO amazing!!! What a true adventure! I had never been out of the States before, and found it to be wonderfully exciting, absolutely exhausting, and a bit suspenseful at times! In some ways it was just as I had expected. In other ways it was nothing like the picture I had imagined! I have to admit I had not expected it to be so exquisitely beautiful! And I had underestimated the amount of work we'd be doing! My legs were so sore every night when I got in bed at 1am! Too much volleyball, I guess! Just kidding, we really were very busy. We were in Morelia for 5 days, and were in town for our puppet/drama presentation 4 of those days. We also passed out a lot of bi-lingual tracts around Morelia and the surrounding cities. It was great! Every aspect of the trip was so fun and educational. I learned a lot of Spanish, believe me. ;-)

Now, rather than give you a boring long outline of the entire trip, I'll just list 10 of my favorite highlights:

(1.) The Norris family. These are the missionaries we went to support. It was so wonderful to meet them! They are so fun and flexible and easy to talk to. And all of them, from the parents to their 6 year old daughter, have such a heart for missions and reaching out to the lost. They're an amazing family. Here's a picture of them, with me in the middle!

(2.) The language barrier. It was totally confusing, but so fascinating! I loved to listen to Spanish conversations, just to see how much I could recognize. I tried to converse sometimes, but eventually I'd have to call in someone to translate!

(3.) Passing out tracts. In Mexico, people will actually read what you give them, rather than just throw it out. Mr. Norris said that the fact that the tracts are in English and Spanish causes people to be more interested, since they all want to learn English. So it was fun to walk through one area handing them out, and then pass back through later to see people still reading! Here's Josh L. doing his favorite thing! He loved passing out tracts more than anyone, I think!

(4.) Games with friends. What can I say? It was just a lot of fun. On the nights when we got back before midnight, we'd play volleyball until then. I am no good at the game, but it's fun to play with friends. There was also a reeeally long zipline at the camp. Here I am, trusting my health and well-being to the strength of the wooden seat, the thickness of the rope, and the people at the end who grab you before you slam into the cement pole.

(5.) Inside jokes and nicknames. And there were a lot. I'm sure you all know what it's like when you stick a bunch of good friends together for 9 days!

(6.) Eating an avocado popsicle. It was real avocado! And it was really good!

(7.) Cheering when the 15 passenger vans made it safely out of the tiny parking garages.

(8.) The trees in the cities which are painted white on the bottom. Supposedly for bugs. It looks really funny!

(9.) The authentic Mexican food! One night we all had dinner at a native couple's house, and they made us tacos. Real tacos. Mmmm... Here are some of us enjoying them. On the stairs, that's my sister Emily, Andrew L., and John Mark Norris (who kept dripping Coke on my head!) And in the chairs, from the left, that's Michael L., me, and Sam L. Sorry about the strange face I'm making. I was probably talking.

(10.) This amazing view from right outside our cabin! This is me, Sarah T., and Christi V. It was like 60 degrees in the morning, so we had jackets on. Wonderful, especially compared to the sweltering air here in Texas!

Well, those are just a few specific things, but I have more pictures to show you! These stairs were so cool! We did a presentation outside of this home one night, and the stairs are made out of concrete, with no support beams or anything! As you can tell, I was very fascinated by them. ;-) At the top, that's Andrew L. and Emily. And Noah L. is near the bottom.

Here are a couple puppet show snapshots. This one is from the practice round! Before the curtains were put up!

And this is a crazy picture. I just thought you might enjoy it! ;-) That's Daniel Norris, Brittany N., and me goofing off.

Pull-up contest! Or maybe it was a contest to see which could hold on the longest. That's Joseph N. and Josiah Norris.

This is my dad with Emily and I. We were in a sort of tropical forest.

Group picture! Actually, this is only about half of us. The moms stayed home that day. Oh, well. I think we have a real group picture somewhere.

So the moral of the story is, we had a fabulous time. Reaching out to the people there, strengthening our own hearts, enjoying each others' company as we lived, laughed, played, cried, and loved together. We made memories to last a lifetime, and most importantly we planted the seed of the gospel in many hearts. I pray that those influenced would accept the truth and begin their own journey with Christ. Life is truly an adventure when He is the Leader. I can't wait for the trip next year! Gracias for all your prayers and well-wishes!

Hasta Luego!

~Grace

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Monday, May 26, 2008 - Welcome Home!

Posted by Anonymous

Hi Grace,
I'm so glad that your group made it home safe. It looks like y'all had a fantabulous time! I am so very proud of you for putting up pictures as soon as you did. They are great!

We will have something up eventually...I have been keeping the girls busy, busy, busy trying to unpack and make our home homelike. Know what I mean?

Much love to you and your family,
Mrs. Hall