Traveling

Missions Trip to India

Getting on that plane was so hard

Being only 14 and leaving my mom to go half way around the world

To India

I had no idea what to expect

No idea how much I would see

No idea how much my eyes would be opened

And how much my heart would be changed

I felt so out of place there

Like a green alien walking down the streets in the U.S.

Was what it was like when we walked down the streets in India

People were fascinated, wondering why we were there

Why would we leave our comfortable western lives to come there?

We wanted to encourage the churches there

To save more if we could

To show our support for what they were already doing

To show that despite our differences in race, we had our faith in common

And that was all that mattered

The trip showed me how much we have

How much we take things for granted

How truly and incredibly blessed we are

I would go back to India in a heart beat

But it only took one trip to open my eyes

To make me appreciate more, love more, and care more

To be more thankful

For everything

And I am.

Hawaii

Off the plane, in a new world

My aunt graces my neck with a lei

I see my cousins for the first time in 6 years

See their gorgeous house

With a view of the ocean in the back yard

I have it made

But I feel so out of place

So new, so alone

I take my cousins to the pool, the beach

We fly kites, they go on a water slide all day

Sometimes I slip away by myself

Go snorkeling in the calm, warm bay waters

See schools of colorful fish

Swimming and follow a sea turtle for an hour

Watch the ocean waves crash on the shore

And have beautiful times of worship

Just me and God

See the sun setting over the water

So beautiful, so serene

Drive around with the windows down at night

And feel the sweet warm breeze on my skin

Feeling so lucky that I finally got to be in Hawaii

My life goal

Taking pictures of every sunset over the water

Seeing the rainforest

Seeing where their active volcano meets the ocean

Driving around the island with my grandparents

Seeing waterfalls and scenic, breath-taking beaches

Exploring

Living

Alaska

My other lifelong dream and goal

To see Alaska

After growing up obsessed with books about the Iditarod

Best memory; seeing the sun come up at 2am just after it had gone down

Over the horizon

A faint glow of orange over the mountains

Seeing the ice break off the glacier with a loud crash

That sounded like thunder

And exploring the rain forests of the Alaskan summer

The damp, mossy floor of the forest

That felt like more like a trampoline then the earth

The beauty of the many shades of green in the trees

The rugged outdoors

The hike almost to the top of a mountain

Along a water fall

The grand views from the tops of the mountains

Embracing the adventure of Alaska

Being alive to see it

To discover it

 

Missions Trip to Taiwan

 

Never had I felt closer to God

Never had I been so in love with God

Never had the words of Scripture seemed more like honey to me

Never had I had as much passion to reach the lost

Never had I had so much drive, so much confidence

My team around me all the time, encouraging me, loving me

The exhilaration of new experiences

The bond I made with close friends

The joy of seeing the light bulb go on when teaching English to students

The excitement of learning how to teach when I never had before

The thrill of being in a completely different culture

Around a language I did not know

Eating different food, seeing different weather

Running in the pouring, warm rain just for fun

Seeing the geckos everywhere on the walls

Wishing we had so many cute geckos in the states

Running through the night market with friends

Harmonizing and singing with other girls everywhere we went

On the bus, on the street, walking around

Playing basketball and showing off my skills lol

It was the time of my life!

I will never forget my time in Taiwan.

Thank you God for that time :)