Reflection On A Mission Trip To Florida

I gave up. I was not good enough. Pressure got to me. I was a failure. Key word, was.

Today is Valentine's Day and I have nothing to do. Today I went to my brothers basketball game. They won 38-30 against auburn-y. This was a elimination game. I can't believe those ballers pulled it offing fugu. I mean when I was in 6th grade we didn't even make playoffs. Still single as always but I hope that will change. I like Evelyn Kitchen but I don't know if she likes me. I wimped out to ask her to dance with me and another kid in my advisory likes her too. It's pretty obvious. I just don't know if she likes me. I told my mom and dad and they told me to ask her. The worst thing that can happen is she says no and I get embarrassed to death. The next dance there is in March I'm going to ask her. I should probably explain

Growing up in Southern Florida is something most people don’t experience with a sun shining brightly every day and water canals everywhere I looked, with spacious land to play on in most places it was definitely a great time as a child. I remember going on field trips in my elementary school, to the great Everglades which was something so exciting. Also, remember every Sunday going to the beautiful springs with my family to enjoy the great fresh water coming from underground. Now 16 years have passed, and things don’t look the same anymore going back to the places I grew up in was so exciting to find out there is no more space anymore or land to play on all there is business buildings everywhere and went to the everglades to visit and show my adult friends how wonderful it is to see nature come alive but the experience was nothing like when I was a child the everglades looked destroyed with a bunch of “Welcome to the Everglades” shirt selling places surrounding it and more business building too, it was depressing to see were this beautiful ecosystem went. What I did realize was the

When i went Destin, Florida. I went to Florida this summer after school was out . We went with my sisters best friend, and my best friend’s family. We drove from Arkansas all the way to Destin, Florida. The day we got there we went straight to the beach! It was the first time I had ever seen the ocean! The following day we decided to go down to the smoothie shack and get a smoothie then swim in the pool. The grown ups went to the beach while we were at the pool.

It was May 1st, 2014. Time for our family’s annual vacation we were getting packed up for the night and our drive down to Florida. We’ve had been to Destin once before.

South Florida can be viewed and appreciated for it’s cultural diversity. At it’s core, it can be assumed that it is the pinnacle of popularity among tourist. It is a melting pot of island nations and shares multicultural foundations of places like Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica among many, many others. People get to experience the ethnic foods, and arts from these cultures, guilt free. Very few care to know the history, migration patterns, family structure, or cultural behaviors of these cultures, in which this paper will highlight. The Haitian-American population of South Florida is one of these ethnic groups with a rich history and culture worth exploration.

I first encountered the ocean in 1958; I was ten. Being a map enthusiast, I knew exactly where Florida was, and I was excited to swim in the salty Atlantic Ocean. Born and raised next to frigid Lake Michigan I understood a large body of water as well as a sandy beach, but no book or encyclopedia prepared me for understanding the flavor or immensity of an ocean and its adjoining shore. Arriving at the beach I raced across the hot pure white sand to keep my feet from burning, stopping in wonder when I saw ocean waves gently caressing a seashore that seemed to go on and on forever. I knew I was somewhere special.

So my first two weeks at Florida Southern have been exhausting to say the least. One does not really know how flipped their sleep schedule is until they have to wake up early to drive to 8 am classes every other day. The bright side to these days, however, is that I end up making it home by about 11:00 am, where, beforehand, I might have even woken up at this time. I honestly don’t know what I expected from college, but I knew that the college that I planned on attending had a very beautiful campus. Living in the area, you always hear people talking about how world class architecture is located within the city. Florida Southern, along with Publix, and the location between Orlando and Tampa were the reasons everybody talked about

Three years ago, on an early, hot July morning, it was time to begin our trip to Tallahassee and Perdido Key Florida. My parents were buzzing around the entire house to try to finish up the packing, and the last final details such as food, money, and all those things that adults have to worry about before a big trip. My brother, Zach, and I were sitting in my muggy living room with all of our bags watching Spongebob, trying to comprehend how we are possibly going make it through a 16 hour car ride. My parents aren’t too keen on flying, well, actually my mom isn’t too keen on flying. My parents rented a car for us to use on the trip, because my mom didn’t want to add anymore miles on our ten year old van. Basically my parents could not trust

After living in Florida for many years, the most important lesson to learn is not to panic. “True Floridians” have an interesting behavior that is noticeable in time of crises and stress: they let things happen naturally. This is applicable to new jobs, new schools or programs, even hurricanes. Between a hard work ethic and taking advantage of every opportunity available, one does not need to worry or panic. This lesson was ingrained in memory from childhood, and can be applied every day in life.

“The early Adventist Church emerged from a climate of religious revival in the Northeastern United States”, (Lechleitner, 2013). Its founder was the late William Miller, (Slick, n.d.). The Church was founded based on the idea of the Second Coming of Jesus, (Church, 2013). The Seventh-Day Adventism is a Christian faith with multiple fundamental beliefs such as the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the day in which God decided to rest after creating the Earth. For the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Sabbath is Saturday, as God rested on the Seventh-Day of the week. Ellen G. White, a woman considered one of the founding members of the Church and a prophetess, developed another fundamental belief of how “husbands should treat their wives as equal, the way they were created to be”, (Banks, 1992). As we can see, women play an important role in this doctrine.

During the summer of 2016 I attended a mission trip to Lynn Massachusetts. The city of Lynn welcomes refugees and give them a place to stay that helps them establish a good foundation. After the refugees have a good foundation they will disperse around the country to start a better life. Little did I know that during that week my life would be changed. When we arrived they split us into groups and told us who we will be serving this week. The group that I was placed in would be attending a soup kitchen. As we pulled up to the soup kitchen there were about fifteen homeless waiting to eat lunch and it was only nine o’clock in the morning. My job in the soup kitchen was to serve the people coffee and hot tea. The people came in for lunch and

This is how i have felt ever since I came home from my mission. Now a little bit of background about my mission. I was called to labor in the Florida Orlando Mission from December 3rd, 2014 to December 6th 2016 speaking the English language. For most of my life I never really thought that I wanted to serve a mission but as I was on the downward swing of High School everything started to change. Long story short I began the long process of filling out the missionary papers, getting the required dental and doctor appointments, the interviews, and finally the infamous waiting for the big white envelop telling you and all of your friends and family where you will be living for the next two years. When I opened the white envelope I had no idea how differently my life was going to change. I had a general idea that it was going to be hard and disappointing but in a strange way it was extremely satisfying and worth the heartache and sleepless nights. I knew that it was going to bless me and family. I fully expected all of these things as I turned around at the MTC and saw my family in the flesh for the last time for two years.

“Honey, we’re leaving,” my mom said, waking me to get to the airport. I was excited to be on my first trip to Miami. Travelling with my mom and her boyfriend, Jiram, was going to be fun. I was light on my feet and couldn’t contain my excitement. But little did we know that Jiram had planned a surprise along with his friend, who lives in Miami.

First week of nonstop missions work from 8 am to 5 pm is officially over all I can say is I am physically exhausted,but mentally fulfilled. If we are going to be completely honest I had no desire to come to Houston when I first heard the Lord's calling. What I have learned over the years is you don't question the Lord you follow even if every part of you wants to turn away. Well just like every new setting I adapted really well and have learned to call Houston a home away from home. From the street tacos to the diverse culture I couldn't help but fall in love with this city. The first couple days I remember going over all the statistics and thinking I should just lock myself up in a box for safety reasons. I honestly feel safer here in