Costa Rica-Personal Narrative Analysis

I want to start of by thanking you for supporting my trip to Gulu, Uganda. This trip allowed me to bless so many people, and I learned so much during my 11 days. This trip stretched me in my faith in a lot of ways. Since I was traveling alone and meeting a team at the airport, I had to be completely reliant on God to get me across the world safely. It was a little scary, but God was at work from the very beginning of this trip. While in the Amsterdam airport I even met a whole missions team that were also going to serve in Gulu, which was a huge comfort to me after not speaking to anyone for such a long time. I had no troubles traveling in various airports that I had never set foot in. Once we got to Gulu after eight hours of travel by car, we got a tour of the children’s home that we would be spending the majority of our time in. After getting a tour of the building, I was taken to the preschool that I would be teaching in for the rest of the week. After we visited it, we walked the few minutes it took to get back to the orphanage.

Each house-- painted a very vibrant, dazzling color, purple, orange, yellow, green, and pink. I had never seen houses like that in the United States the usual house colors are gray, white, tan, blue, very dull colors. The sight of these vivid houses was just a small glimpse of this beautiful country. As I nervously traveled without my family for the first time the lush terrain of Costa Rica dotted with colorful houses welcomed me.

Much to my surprise, it had not taken a lot to convince my dad to let me tag along on a mission trip to Guatemala with him. The company my dad worked for, Family Christian Stores, held multiple mission trips each year to various locations. My dad had already been to Mexico, and was assigned to a group going to Guatemala next. Upon learning that I wanted to go, he assured me that it would not be a trip full of sightseeing or activities, but rather a time to give back to a community in need. After promising that I understood the hard work that would be involved, my dad agreed to let me

This year I got to participate in a youth outing with the youth at my church. Corp Cadets Academy, is a young people’s trip with The Salvation Army for the weekend. On October23-25,2015where the whole division of Florida gets together. It is a time where youth are able to be themselves, have fun, get away from home and worship the Lord and are able have a time alone with God surrounded by people who are trying to do the same thing. At the event, I got to see different types of talents on each day and see how the youth would praise dance in different songs and, put on plays and skits for us.

-I learned error, I made it the Dominican Republic and was to have given affection, friendship and confidence to people who did not deserve. This happened out of nowhere and It was created a serious mistake in my life, people existed which gave him affection, help and there was no care about anything. I started to love and treat them like family to me, they were people who shared daily, at school, my free time and the more things. Always looking for the best for everyone on Regardless nothing, always I wanted to know how they were, everything.

It's significant to me because when I went with my family to Cartagena, I was 7 years old. it was the first time I was going on a trip outside of the United States. when we got to Cartagena I was amazed by how beautiful everything is, and I was shocked with how different it was from back home. The differences I saw sparked a curiosity in me, that I never knew existed. from that moment I fell in love with learning about different places around the world and the culture that comes with that place. the trip to Cartagena was also the first time I got to see some of my family members. I have always lived in Florida and only knew about the family members I had in South America through what my parents would say about them. When we arrived to South

On one sunny day, I was helping my mom doing chores when she pulled me over to talk to me about something important. I was confused why my mom would want to me about something important, but I listened to what she said and followed her. What she told me was what her life was like back in Vietnam. She did not have much of an education. Instead, she stayed home with her mom to sell Vietnamese yogurt every day for a living. Since I was born in America, I never thought of life was like for others in developing countries like Vietnam. Hearing from my mom's experience, it stuck with me. I learned the importance of being grateful for what I have since they are a lot of people who do not have what we have in America and it made me want to help those who are in need. I was also inspired to do whatever I

“Don’t stop, keep going because something great is waiting for us on the other side,” my mother kept reminding me while crossing the desert. Crossing the desert to come to the United States was the hardest thing I had to. This was not optional; it was necessary if we wanted to survive. Crossing the desert is challenging, scary, and tiring

After landing in Mexico and meeting up with the people I would be working with during a three-day mission trip, we were crammed into a bus and spent the next two hours getting to know each other. We were there to build homes for a multitude of families in the town of Xochimilco, Mexico. When we arrived late in the afternoon, we were led to an empty school where we would spend our nights. Sleeping on the floor next to school lockers with bugs buzzing in my ears in a country I did not know well was an interesting experience to say the least—but that was just the beginning. At dawn, the real work began and so did a change in my thinking that had a dramatic effect on my perspectives about life.

Upon our arrival to The Dominican Republic, my mother informed me that we were going to spend most of our vacation at my grandparent’s house. Immediately, I was filled with exhilaration. After so many years, I would finally visit my beloved grandparents. I had already visualized what spending the summer at their house would be like. Rolling in the sand of the clear see-through beaches, listening to the birds sing and chirp around us as we savor our early morning breakfast, enjoying the sound of waves smashing into the rocks on the shore, and laying in an air-conditioned room when the temperature got too high.

My walk with Christ is a little unusual, but he makes everyone’s story different. The night of July 17th was a weird night for me. I said my prayers and asked God to watch over my dad’s football team and keep everyone safe, but I kept hearing this voice in my head that said , “Do not go tomorrow.” I thought to myself yeah right I’m going, and I heard the voice

In the fall of 2014 I was presented with the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Zambia. We had a few meetings about this trip and interest grew. Next thing I knew it was March of 2015 and I was headed off to Haiti. Plans had changed but I could never have imagined what great impact this would have on my life.

The first day of my life took place in a military hospital in Wurzburg, Germany. My father was an officer in the U.S. Army and my mother stayed in the home. While living in Germany I attended a German school where my brother and I were the only students who spoke English. Despite the fact that we did not speak the same language, we were able to interact the same way most young children would. As an adult I have often thought that my desire to travel and search for diverse human relationships was influenced by my early childhood.

Looking in the mirror the night before, I found myself absolutely terrified and completely devoid of self-confidence. "You can't do this! You don't speak Spanish. What do you know about glasses?" Of course, what an irony, the biggest concern before going on a trip to serve thousands who are in need, is myself. After a good cry, I popped my Malaria pill and got my full 45 minutes of sleep. Being surrounded by other people going on the trip, my father and his coworkers, made it easier to hide the emotion, no one wants to make a scene in public. Alas, after getting off that bus in Chiapa Corzo, the next ten days of my life made me realize something, hard work can not only satisfy my own little soul but if used correctly, it can greatly impact

God has beyond shown up and showed off in my life. I have been given the opportunity to start over and exceed abundantly above all that I could have wished for. Unfortunately this was not my luck back at University in Trinidad. Being a 16 year old full time student, balancing two jobs while being the sole caregiver for another aunt, her husband and their two children proved to be too big a task for at the time. However, it taught me independence, it taught me that hard work pays off and that nothing comes easy in life. It taught me to be strong despite all my struggles and it taught me to stand strong in my faith, to be resilient, patient and that with God and family I am basically invincible, sometimes.