Reflecting
I feel as though school is getting in the way with what I would really like to be doing. Although I finally enjoy school because I just switched my major to illustration, what am I really doing? After coming back from a mission trip to Honduras that lasted 10 days around New Years, my mind has been elsewhere. It sounds incredibly cliche, but the trip changed me….and I can be pretty stubborn. I felt things that I’ve never dreamt of feeling…overwhelming peace that cannot be described with words. I was ALIVE, truely alive. I feel a fire underneath me, and I need to do something about it. I LOVE the life I was living during those 10 days. Waking up at 6 a.m. every morning to go and serve local communities all day seemed exhausting at first, but then it became normal, and it felt right. Then we would all go to bed each night around 9 p.m., and slept like babies from the long days of manual labor and playing with kids. There was no time to sit and be bored, go on facebook, over analyze things, or worry. We got to work and spend time with some of the most loving people I’ve ever met. I wasn’t aware that people like that existed, that they were real. Seeing what some people devoted and continue to devote their lives to really put things into perspective for me. One of the days we brought food with us to make sandwiches for lunch, and a 13 year old girl from the local village joined us. She made two sandwiches, one for herself, and one for her sister back home. She told me she had many brothers and sisters so she felt bad that she couldn’t bring more back, but at least one of them will have a nice meal. She shouldn’t have to make those kinds of decisions. Despite her poverty ridden circumstances, and being raped a few years back, she was a joyous, enthusiastic, loving girl that couldn’t give out enough hugs. I wanted her to teach me about her life. These are the things that stuck with me and broke me down. Every child that I encountered seemed to have the same joyous and loving disposition. Playing with them was like a different world. The language barrier made things funny, and also a never ending learning experience. I had no idea that Justin Beiber would bring so many people together haha. I could say so much about everything, but one thing that I know is that it felt right. All of it. I know that there is much more to life than what I thought. The ENTIRE world is out there. I can’t just sit here. Yes, I could join the peace corps, but that’s too far off. I need to do something soon. After looking into something called the World Race, I’m convinced that I need to do it. The race involves going to 11 countries in 11 months doing mission work…the only issue is that I would have to raise $15,000. Not impossible, but seems a little daunting. I also have the opportunity to go back to Honduras this coming spring break, but that would mean I have to raise $1000 in one month. AHHHHH I think I’m going to try and do it.
