Forever Changed...

I don't even know where to begin...my week in Mexico was absolutely amazing. The things I saw, experienced, and got to be a part of have made an impact on my life and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to be there for a week. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. I could truly feel them and see them through how God was working in my life and the lives of those around me.

There's so much I could say, but I'm going to mainly give pictures and tell a few stories. I'm still processing all that I saw and experienced and I'm praying about what my response is supposed to be. First of all, Mexico is incredibly poor. I was stunned at the level of poverty I witnessed. "La Colonia," the area where people have built their homes on the city dump, is just a 30 minute drive from San Diego, yet there are people who do not have food to give their children each day. That is unbelievable to me. The first day we got there, we went to the orphanage to spend time with the kids. But before we went, we bought tons of food because they did not have enough to feed the children the next day. I am so blessed that we got to be a part of being the answer to their prayers of food for the children!

This is Alma and Wendy. I carried them around all day on Sunday and we had a blast. We are playing chase on the playground in this picture. They were so sweet! They also enjoyed painting MY fingernails and hands. Unfortunately, the "facepaint" they used on my hands turned out to be poster paint so I looked like I had some weird disease for a few days. It came off with paint thinner in the process of getting tar off my hands!

This little girl helped us paint a house hot pink. The kids were off school on Monday, so a lot of the kids in La Colonia helped us with our projects. The girls that helped paint decided to have a paint war, and you can see some of the result of that in this picture. It was EVERYWHERE!! But they were great painters and helped out a lot.

This is the finished result of the pink house. A single mom and her three young daughters, older daughter, and grandson live here. The house is very small and very dirty. It is now very pink as well. People in La Colonia really like bright colored paint!

We put a new roof on this house and painted it. This was my first experience with roofing and I got tar all over me. Luckily, someone knew that paint thinner takes it off.

This is Nana. She lives with her grandmother, who is probably in her 70s. I fell in love with this child and before I left, her grandma asked me and Hannah to take her home with us. It broke my heart because I don't know what will happen to her after her grandma dies. She was absolutely adorable, incredibly sweet, and very smart. I would have taken her home with me if I could have.

This girl is from the orphanage for the older kids. Her name is Niki and she has a year left of high school. She then wants to go to college and be a lawyer. We had a great time conversing using my little Spanish, her little English, and lots of charades!

This is Cassie, Elizabeth, and Hannah. We were watching a volleyball game...the Mexicans versus the Americans. I have no clue who won!

We flew through Dallas on the way back to Knoxville, so my family picked me up and we went to dinner at La Hacienda. It was great to see them for a few hours!

I am sure that I will have more to say about the trip soon, but honestly I have too much to say to adequately write it down at this point!

Off to Mexico!

I'm about to head to the airport to go to Tijuana. I'll be there until next Saturday.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Look for an update Sunday.

Mexico...6 days!

Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and advice about my trip to Mexico. This has been a really stressful couple of weeks trying to decide what to do, but the Lord's provision and mercy on the situation has been so awesome! I just wanted to share a few things that have happened in the last few weeks...

First, I spent a lot of time praying about whether I should go. I finally felt a peace about two things: 1. That I should honor my parent's wishes on the subject. If they asked me not to go, I had decided not to go. I very much felt led to make this commitment. 2. That if, at any point before leaving on the trip, I felt uneasy about anything the church was or was not doing regarding safety, that I would not go. However, I was going to reassess the situation after our final meeting (which was today).

I prayed intently, talked to several people not involved in the trip or the church, and did extensive research on the violence in Mexico. Our last meeting was this morning after church, and if you had asked me even last night if I felt like the church was doing all that it needed to do to help with safety, I would have said no. This was mainly because they weren't sending any information about what they were doing. I (wrongly) interpreted this to mean that they were not doing anything. Going into the meeting, I had several things that I had established as "must-haves" for them to address in order for me to feel that they were taking appropriate steps toward safety. They were: 1. Already contacted the US Consulate in Tijuana and registered our trip. 2. Canceled the plan to go to the mercados in Rosarito on the final day. 3. Give instructions on what to do in case of emergencies while we are there.

Honestly, I didn't think this was all going to happen and I didn't really believe that I would be going on the trip. BUT...they addressed all of these things and more!! I was totally blown away and THRILLED that all of my concerns had been fulfilled above and beyond what I had prayed for!! Going into the meeting, I had prayed that I would have either an undoubted peace about the situation or a definite feeling that I should not go. Peace was granted!!!

I talked to my parents about it, and while they're a little nervous, they are also supportive. They were very happy with how the church handled the situation.

So...I will be going to Mexico on Saturday!! I am really excited and just blown away at how this has come together above and beyond what I could have asked or imagined. I am still a bit nervous, but I very much have a peace about the situation and can't wait to leave!!

Sorry this was such a long story...I am pretty amazed with the whole thing, if you can't tell :-)

Please continue to pray for safety for our team while we're in Mexico, for continued peace about the situation, and that we can really be Christ to the people we will be serving in Tijuana.

Weekend with Grandparents

Maw-maw and Paw-paw leave tomorrow morning to drive back home after a fun (although rainy!) weekend in Knoxville. Aunt Ann left this morning. Today we went to church (a Spanish service, which was a quite a surprise), took naps, and went to dinner with my friends who had been to New Orleans to visit them for the past to Fall Breaks. We had a great time and I am so thankful that they were able to come visit!
Maw-maw, Aunt Ann, and I in front of Neyland Stadium. It was really cold and nasty but they really enjoyed the tour of the campus!

Carli and the roommates at Olive Garden.

Hannah, Leigh, and Diana at dinner.

The whole group at dinner.

Freezing outside the restaurant.


After coffee and birthday cake before they left.