Kenya Team Update!

Hello Parents and Loved Ones of the Kenya Team,

I just wanted to bring you some wonderful Wednesday news about the progress of the team. I just talked to Britnie! She was so full of emotions as she spoke about how amazing this team is! They have worked 110% and all become so close.

Here are a few things she told me about:

• Construction: The are constructing 2 brand new classrooms and they are almost FINISHED! This is such a huge task. They do this all with their hands from mixing cement on the ground to digging and laying the bricks! 2 new classrooms is such an asset to the village. Education is something that can never be taken away and this will allow more students the right to be taught.
• Health: Everyday they have had a women health fair. A nursing student on the team planned Maturation Lessons for the 6,7, and 8th grade girls and it went great. She made feminine hygiene kits for all the girls (she made hundreds of re-usable pads, especially because that it something that you can get readily in the village) and when she was teaching her lesson all the girls in the class began to cheer! She broke into tears because who would have thought you could be so happy to have a lesson on Maturation something that most girls in America dread. They have also been teaching the women in the village about Cycle Beads which has gone over great!
• Teaching: Before your students left they all planned a prepared a lesson to teach while in the village. Whether is was art, dancing, hygiene, simple English lessons or how to blow bubbles they all have been teaching like crazy! The children in the village can't get enough! Britnie says she is so proud of all the students because they are just working so hard to leave an impact on this village and she has seen them grow this year and now they get to finally put all their planning into practice!
• Microenterprise: Everyday the Microenterprise committee has been having meetings with business co-ops to decide on where they will be giving loans. This committee before they left raised over $3000 to give small business loans to the different groups they were meeting with.
• Vocational Training: They just started teaching baking and computer lessons to the teens and women in the village. Hoping to leave with them skills that they can start their own business. This has gone great! They were able to bring laptops and a lot of cooking supplies with them which they will leave with the village.

I hope you all know how truly proud all of us at Youthlinc are to have your students involved! This organization exists to create Lifetime Humanitarians and I know that we were successful with this stellar group! Your kids are soaking up every second of their time with this village and are going to be full of so many life changing stories to share with you when they get home! Thank you for sharing them with us and allowing us to be apart of all of your lives this year! They will all be home before we know it! Can you believe it has already been a week since they left! I hope this brightens your day.

Mexico Day 10

Hola, everyone!

Wow, what a LOONNNGGG day! We went up to the village again and worked more on the mural (which is ALMOST done!!!), and then we continued painting and cleaning up the classrooms to be ready for school today. We got all the classrooms done except one, so we will paint and clean that one on Saturday (our last day at the village).

(closeup of flowers - left)

(closeup of flowers - right)

The "after" picture of the painted classroom! Refer to my last post to see the "before" pic :P

We had a little bit of contention for the first time but it eventually blew over and we were able to get everything done that we had hoped for. One really neat thing that came up is that we decided to buy the village a nice, sturdy ladder. Currently all they have are a couple of rickety wooden poles with sketchy little strips of wood for each rung - and believe me, they are NOT safe. A fellow team member suggested leaving them with a nicer one for them to use and we bought one yesterday morning!

After we got all our work done at the village, the plan was to go down to Chamula and join in the festivities while they celebrated their Saint, San Juan. From there, we all separated into groups and walked around shopping and trying to find something to eat. However, we had a little bit of drama from that point! One group actually was surrounded by a huge circle of Mexican policemen because of confusion over a camera. One of our team members took out their camera to take a picture of someone and when asked to put the camera away (she did not actually take a picture), she immediately did without any hesitation. However, apparently, the woman-to-be-photographed found the policemen and the language barrier made for a VERY scary event!!

I was not there for that, however, a few of us had our own scary drama. Upon arriving in Chamula, four of us decided we did not want to stay for the full time, so we found Paul and made sure it would be alright for us to take a cab down to San Cristobal. We were all SUPER hungry but did not really trust much of the food at the street vendors in Chamula and we all felt a little uncomfortable being there, as the fiesta was a little too sketchy for us.. Anyway, we ended up finally finding a "cab." These taxis coming from Chamula to San Cristobal Central were like 15-passenger vans.. And there were at least 20 people squeezed into it. At LEAST! We dropped off a couple people along the way but as we rolled to the end of the road (which the man told us would be in San Cristobal Central), we had no idea where we were. He then told us the main square was about three blocks one direction, so we started walking! After about eight blocks of unfamiliar territory, we again asked someone who then led us to a DIFFERENT "main square", however we eventually found our way to the pedestrian street and market we had previously shopped at. After that, we found the yummy restaurant we ate at while watching the World Cup and ate delicious tacos.. Which have never tasted so good! Thankfully, the taxi bringing us from downtown to La Alborrada knew exactly where he was going.. I do NOT think I could have taken anymore adventures!

What a crazy day.

Well, we are headed to the village again!

Hasta luego!

Mexico Trip Days 8-9

Hola!

Where do I even begin? Aside from our two sick team members, we have all been kept healthy so we can complete the jobs we came to do! We have been working on painting the mural so there is a little bit of everyone in it and we are all able to be super proud of the work we have put into it.. It adds so much color to their community and it seems like the villagers (and especially the children) are very excited about it!

Construction has been AWESOME. We have pretty much finished the trench and started pouring cement (along with some of the men in the village who are total PROS!) to finish up the well. Yesterday morning we also picked up lumber to build the bathroom (baño) with so that construction should start soon.

Also, I guess I should explain a little more about what the microenterprise group has been working on.. I have not completely understood it until last night`s meeting so I apologize for being so sketch about what they have been up to. Basically, they have been working hand in hand with the government`s microfinance group, Ban Chiapas, to find a way to help economically through giving out loans to those who could truly benefit from them in their businesses. As they met with multiple candidates, they chose a three-generation family who makes clothing to give the loan to so they could improve their business and therefore, their lives AND community. Yesterday a few people from the microenterprise committee visited their home and though they were unable to enter inside, they learned a lot simply from being around them. Each person who works on the clothes has a specific job, similar to an assembly line (if I am not mistaken!), and they all just want to help each other. They use homemade looms to aid in their projects using sticks and string tied around their waists. It is truly amazing! Every part of their yard is used to hold what they have or to make a living, rather than having a simple lawn. Whether it is used to house animals or plant crops, NOTHING goes to waste.

This week, the people of the village are in San Juan Chamula to celebrate their patron saint, San Juan. They have a huge celebration to honor him (which we will be going to today!), so nobody is actually in the village right now. However, we decided to strip the classroom walls of all posters, glued-on pictures, and pull all the desks away to wash and paint them -- and believe me.. Those walls are SO dirty! We scrubbed and scrubbed but ended up having to paint over lots of dirt, as it was super caked on. We have not completely finished, though they look 100 times better already! A little girl who apparently did not go to the festival ran up to her classroom window and returned with the biggest smile I have ever seen.. All because we simply painted her classroom walls. What an amazing feeling. We really do have so much to give! Who knew the joy a painted wall could bring someone? The other children have not even seen the walls.. I cannot WAIT to see their little faces!

Honestly, I do not know how I am ever going to leave this place. I love it here SO much.. These people have touched my heart through their humility and happiness and I have honestly learned so much. I only wish everyone could have this experience! It is so, so amazing. We only have today, tomorrow, and Saturday left at the village, and today nobody will even be there, with the exception of our team! Tomorrow we will finish up our last little bit of teaching and Saturday we will hold our closing ceremonies, complete with our rendition of John Denver's "Leavin' on a Jet Plane," and dancing a flash-mob to the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling." I am so glad to have had this experience and I am only going to enjoy and appreciate the time we still have here and go home with a greater understanding of life and what I have and why happiness has nothing to do with materialistic things. Ahh, I love it here.


Adios!

Thailand trip: Day 11, 12, and 13.

I am so sorry I am so behind on blogging, but these last few days have just  been a whirlwind! We finished up the service part of our trip and it nearly broke my heart in 10,000 pieces. I have always been pretty rough with goodbyes, but when you share the kind of love that we all shared with each other - and knowing it will be pretty unlikely we will ever see each other again - killed me.

I knew it was coming from day one, and I absolutely dreaded it. Since I have done these trips before, I know how hard it is...but it was still harder than I thought.

We cried hard....the kids included.

We have done a lot at that school:

1. Pathway made with cement mixed by hand.

2. Sewage and drain systems finished.

3. We put in a medical room filled with supplies.

4. Had a health fair where we taught hand washing, toothbrushing, first aid, and hygiene.

5. We had a fun fair filled with games and prizes for the kids.

6. Taught English every day.

7. Fixed up their bathrooms.

8. Put in a play ground.

9. Painted a mural.

10. Put fans in the school.

We have blisters, sore backs. and lots of long days to prove it! We worked hard, and we came here to help....but like always I feel I got back so much more than I gave...and well, that's the way service works!

These Thai people are so giving and so loving! I have felt so safe here and so taken care of in so many ways. They are so generous and I feel like they would have given me the only shirt they have straight of their back if I needed it. Everywhere we went we were greeted warmly and I feel so happy that I have met so many new faces that  will forever be engraved on my heart and in my mind. I know, because even 5 and 6 years after serving in Kenya and Guadalajara I think of those people everyday without fail and I know this will be no different.

I will post more on our adventures later with pictures! We just got to our next hotel and I am out of steam and sunburned worse than I ever have before. More later!

Kap-kun-kah!

Ok, just one picture... my favorite that sums up exactly the love we shared:

Those are the girls I got closest with and cute Josh got this picture when I didn't know it.

Love it.

Love them.

Never want to leave! 

Mexico Trip Days 4-7

Buenos dias!

Sorry I have not been able to update the blog lately - we have had limited internet access! I am starting to accept the fact I probably will never have much time to update so I will just give a quick overview of what we have been up to! We have been making a LOT of progress and have busy with a lot of different things. As of now, we have had a lot of success teaching English in the classroom and the education committee has definitely prepared a lot of fun lessons. The kids are definitely warming up to us and we are able to play around a lot.. We even taught them the Hokey Pokey which they LOVE!

One of the main goals of the medical committee from the beginning was to put on a health fair addressing and teaching about many of the common issues in the community. We were able to do that yesterday with booths dealing with exercising, first aid, blood pressure, personal hygiene/handwashing, toothbrushing, food safety, and nutrition. A lot of the mothers were very interested in what we had to say and the kids learned a lot as well.

The cultural committee has really helped strengthen the relationship between us and the villagers through painting a mural and teaching a dance. Microenterprise has been busy organizing finances and loans to those who could use them most or who are interested in bettering their situations.. They seem responsive, though the idea is a hard one to get across to them. The construction committee (and other members of the team) have been busy digging a trench to lay pipe for a new bathroom we will be building and we have made a lot of progress.

This past weekend has been spent mostly shopping, sight-seeing, playing soccer, and even going to a local LDS ward for those who were interested. All have been very interesting experiences!

TTFN!

Thailand Trip: Day 9 and 10

Well, I am sitting here sick as ever unfortunately! It looks like I, and 3 others on the trip got either a really bad case of food poisoning, or they are leaning towards E-Coli. Next to Swine Flu I don't think I have ever been as sick as I am now. Last night I think I threw up between 20 and 25 times and was thinking, "why does my body hate me so much?!" It is one thing to be sick, but it is another knowing you are missing that time being with the kids! I hate that I can't be there...but I feel like tomorrow I may start feeling better...what a bummer!

Well, to recap yesterday before I got sick this is what we did:

1. Got to start doing medical assessments in our awesome new medical room! It was so awesome because now the kids know where to go when they are sick. When we were checking their reflexes it was so funny because they were laughing so hard! I don't think any of them have ever seen that. It was also great to see because these kids are pretty healthy, and that is what we like to see. We had a couple of things that the nurses were able to fix, like a dog bite, insect bites, and some gums that were killing a little girl. So great that we were able to help and it was probably one of the highlights of the trip.

2. Got to do some more arts and crafts with the kids.

3. Finished up the mural with our hand-prints on it.

4. Worked on finishing up their new bathrooms! They look so good.

5. Got some of the play ground equipment up.

6. Got to see their temple and also the monk over the school prayed for us. This does not happen very often and it was beautiful.

7. Had to say good-bye for the day and I got really emotional. I hate that we are winding down our time at the school and I just have so much love for those kids! I am getting teary right now. This experience is one like no other and I can't tell you the joy that comes from serving. When you are doing things for others is the time when my heart feels so full that I didn't know I had that much love in my heart. I am so happy here, and I just don't ever want to say goodbye. 

Then I got sick....blerk. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to make it for the health fair! I will be devastated if I am not feeling better.

I also just wanted to say how AWESOME our team is. We have so many great people on this trip that I feel we have formed lifetime bonds. It is also going to be sad to have to say goodbye to them as well. We have such great team leaders and I have loved so much having Sarah and Matt over us! What great leaders and I have come to get to know them so well and I love them so much! Thanks everyone for being such a hardworking and loving group of individuals! Also thanks so much to the nurses for taking care of me....couldn't have made it without them. I love Youthlinc!

Pictures of the day:

The kids came to school in their scouting outfits and it was so darling!

I love this picture of Joshy with this little boy!

Me with Asia! 

She also looks so cute in her outfit.

I love her so much. 

Doing medical assessments.

I was listening to their heart and lungs!

I was happy to hear so many that were healthy,

because from other missions I have been on I haven't

seen them this healthy.

Especially in Kenya.

Me with the Monk!

I know it looks like we don't like each other, but they can't be very close to women.

And they DEFINITELY can't touch you.

I love this picture.

He loves to give kisses!

Love him.

More later!

Mexico Trip Day 3

Buenos dias!

Again, I do not have very much time as we are heading up to the village very soon! Yesterday we got a lot done. The construction committee began digging the well though we have to plan work times around the rain (which is frequent!). As for education, we taught 5th and 6th grades and it was so much fun.. The education team definitely put in a lot of effort into their plans and the kids really seemed to enjoy the time we spent there.

The cultural committee started teaching the kids a dance which they will hopefully present at our closing ceremonies toward the end of the trip.. The kids really enjoyed it while secluded inside their classroom, though were more timid when they tried to dance outdoors. Better luck next time!

The medical committee did multiple things -- The mentors and a few students had the opportunity to visit two medical clinics in the area, giving us great insight on the wide view of medicine in the communities and helping us with a LOT of information. The other half of the committee that stayed at the village worked on gathering the children`s ages, heights, and weights to calculate BMIs for nutrition assessments.

It seems that most of the children are definitely on the small side, though that has a great amount to do with the culture itself. We have not had a chance to calculate and chart those BMIs though will soon! The microenterprise group met with Ban Chiapas, a branch government microfinance, and we will be giving the money the microenterprise committee has collected, and Ban Chiapas will give out the loans where they can be used to benefit the community. We have lots to do today so there will be plenty more to read tomorrow.

Adios! :)

Thailand Trip: Day 8

Today was a great day...exhausting, but great day. I can't believe we have been here for a week! In some ways I feel like I have been here forever,  but in others, the time is passing too quickly.

Well, once again, short and sweet.

1. Got to sleep in til 7:00 this morning, but was still tired! We are all reaching the exhaustion point I think! We have worked so hard.

2. Played with the kids a lot and taught school mostly. I had a really rowdy class this morning and it is so hard to control them without speaking their language! We sang, danced, did math, English, and played random games.

3. Colored pictures for a card exchange with kids around the world! We are sending theirs to Ghana. We have a great lady on our team named Shawn, and her daughter started this great program where the kids draw pictures of the places they live and they do an exchange! I thought it was so cute. They are great artists here! They sent me with some and I was quite honored. 

4. Came home and got a chance to take a short nap. I have never fallen asleep faster in my life! I don't even remember my head even touching the pillow. I was out after a long-awaited shower.

5. One of the guy's who set up the site here is a Rotarian named Stefan who is from Germany. He is HILARIOUS and looks like and acts like someone straight out of a movie. He owns a pub and pizza place in town, and man did we ever down the pizza! I was laughing so hard at how much so many are dying for some American food. I am WAY happy with the  food here, but I can see how it is getting old and sea food for people is just not cutting it. I on the other hand feels like I have eaten more carbs in every meal than I ever have. Wish I could avoid it, but I would starve like the other people here. Anyway, we had a blast! Complete with a dance party to boot. It was great to let loose after we have worked so hard.

Okay! More later. I'm tired. I will post pictures tomorrow!! Loves

Mexico Trip Days 1-2: We Made It!

Hola, everyone!

I do not have much time at all so I am going to make this super quick! We had some problems in the different airports -- In the Mexico City airport, we had to drag the giant YouthLINC duffel bags clear across the airport (which is HUGE), and we were all pretty exhausted. Also, the Mexicana Airlines told us we were allowed only one checked bag each without a fee. We luckily convinced them to let us check both for free to avoid a $5,000 fee! However, not all of our baggage fit on the flight so a third of us got to Tuxtla with no sign of our luggage, though they DID send it on the next flight.

Mexico is beautiful! We visited the village yesterday and the people are amazing. There are SO many children! They presented a big, wonderful opening ceremonies for us full of dancing, music, and poetry, and then we had the opportunity to mingle and play with the people. We are all learning lots of Spanish phrases so we can have small conversations.

Also, yesterday we sorted through all our wonderful donations and we have TONS.. So thank you to all who helped us out! I am super excited to hand those things out to those who need them. We had lots of down time after visiting the village (which will not be very common), so some of us had the chance to visit a little bit of San Cristobal de las Casas, which was an adventure in and of itself.

I am hoping tomorrow morning I will have more time to write, so check it out tomorrow as well!

Adios!

Thailand Trip: Day 6 and 7

Sawadee!

I didn't post yesterday on account of the internet was not working, so I apologize. I am going to do my best to catch up on what happened! There is always so much in one day that it is hard to remember 2!

Yesterday (Once again it is simplified, because now it is going on midnight, and also it takes forever to upload anything).

1. Worked on a ton of projects at the school: building our pathway, finishing up the sewage system, and teaching school.

2. Started working on our awesome mural! It is going to be so beautiful!

3. Went to the market for a little while and got some great cooking wear.

4. Played cards and tried to cool off. 

Honestly....I can't remember much else!! Forgive me, but all I remember is vague....that feels so long ago and my mind is fuzzy this late!

Today:

1. Finished up the mural that is beyond gorgeous!

2. Mixed TONS (literally...or almost literally) of cement by hand to finish our pathway to the classrooms. This is a big deal because during monsoon season it is so wet and muddy. This will make SO much difference. We also got to put ours and the kids handprints in! It was so great.

3. Found out today that the playground where we put all of the gravel will soon have actual play-ground equipment in it! The best part: the kids have no idea it is coming! I can't wait to see their faces.

4. During the morning there was too many people helping with construction, so I took 30 kids in and taught school for 4 1/2 hours. It was awesome, tiring, and I about lost my voice yelling and singing things they can't understand! But we sure had fun. We did everything from math, to ring around the rosie, to hokey pokey, to down by the banks, to english lessons, to tag, to...everything! I was exhausted and that was almost more tiring than construction work! Loved every second of it. 

5. Realized that we are only at the school til monday and had a little emotional moment. I don't know how I will ever leave these sweet faces. I will miss hearing, "Selsie, selsie!!" every two seconds, constant  hugs, and overly warm greetings. I just love them so much, it will be devastating to leave.

6. Went to the market! Our tour guide Japan, who is not from Japan took me back on his scooter! It was epic, and I am officially Thai, because that is all they ride! I have never seen so many. And boy did we get a million honks and waves! Look at the stupid American hahaha.

Now I am here ready to fall into bed because I am exhausted in so many great ways. I just can't tell you how wonderful it is here. I wish I could scoop every last one of everyone here to just feel the things I feel in my heart, see the things I am seeing, and experience the joy that comes from serving those around you. The good news: you can still do it at home!! Find a place to serve in your community and my wish will come true...almost. You just may not see all the things I am seeing :)

Pictures of the day (some, copyright our dear Shae on our trip! She takes the most BEAUTIFUL pictures.)

Possibly my favorite picture of all time.

Ming, one of my girls at the school grabbed my hand today.

Shae captured it in the best picture ever.

Tender!

Our awesome finished pathway!

That's a lot of work right there. 

My scooter ride in Thailand!

I am way too legit. 

My English lesson!

Cuties at the school.

Our beautiful mural!

Alright I am falling asleep while these load.

More tomorrow!

Thailand Trip: Day 5

Once again, it is late and I am so tired! And we just had visitors in our room until late, so I am posting short and sweet about what we did today.

1. Woke up bright and early to get to the school at 7. Ate our quality breakfast full of rice, noodles, fried eggs, and seafood. Plenty of carbs to go around!

2. Had opening ceremonies with the kids and got to give them our gifts of a school bag and friendship bracelets. We also sang to them and it was darling (video posts when I get home. It is WAY too slow here).

3. Hot, humid, sweaty, exhausting work! It was so funny, most of the kids are in high school that are here and so a lot of them are getting a good dose of reality and hard work. As they are digging away, one says, "I wish my father could see me now! He doesn't even think I know how to wash a single dish!". I thought it was cute, and everyone is working so hard here and the school is looking AMAZING.

4. Worked on the first aid room we are putting in the school. It is going to be great! Soon it will be filled with supplies, they are plumbing in a sink, supplies, and a bed. 

5. Went to visit a Thai hospital. After seeing a few third world hospitals, theirs was awesome. So hot though. We got into the E.R. and I thought to myself, "Wow, I would want them to let me die if I came in here in massive amounts of pain in this heat. I would also hate to be in this heat working on a patient all day. I would also like to die for that as well." Mainly what they need now in that hospital is a CT scanner and an MRI. Pictures to come later.

6. Sang and played with the kids after some of our group taught English lessons. These sweet little girls also presented me with a gift. I LOST it, bawlling like a little baby. They were so sweet and tender and I know how much of a sacrifice that was for them. It was one of my favorite little girls and she wrote in English, "love you". So sweet. 

7. Went to an INSANE Buddhist temple. Let me just set this up for you: we get there and there is a long 

dragon tunnel that you walk through. It is probably the length of 50 yards, maybe longer, that is  creepy! This takes you to a cave full of Buddhist statues and spirit houses for honoring their ancestors. After you come out of that, there is a garden with statues depicting Hell. The scariest, creepiest place I have ever been. I mean these statues are GRAPHIC. And well, I just hope I never end up there. Intestines being pulled out, a tree stabbing through a lady...I mean, gross stuff. After we get out, I walk into a garden to see a Monk, with a slingshot shooting at a monkey. Aren't the supposed to be peaceful? Anyway, these monkeys were climbing all over us, we were feeding them bananas. It was awesome! That then leads to the Monks inviting us to climb up 6 flights of the tallest stairs you have ever seen to this beautiful temple that overlooks everything. I am guessing that was Heaven, and I will keep aiming towards that. It was pretty cool that they invited us, apparently that doesn't happen very often. 

8. Went to a Thai market. Not like one for touristy stuff, but like a legitimate market. Oh, and don't worry a guy pulled a gun on us. Good thing it was FAKE. I never ran so fast and have been that scared in my life. I was for sure he was going to open fire on us. Whew.

9. Had a FABULOUS dinner, and the much awaited shower. You can't  know how bad we sweat and are gross. 

Ohhhh, more later. I love it here! It is going to kill me to leave.

Quality pictures of the day:

My girls with their brand new school bags!

The 'I Love You' sign I taught them. 

One of the holes.

That is HARD work.

And hard ground.

Pretty much you are also only using a hoe to dig.

Good work team.

(Notice the sweat)

The cute gift they gave me!

I sure love them.

I was trying to say good-bye in the picture.

It gets harder and harder every time we leave!

Feeding the monkey that FREAKED me out.

So funny, I love this picture.

On top of the Temple.

So amazing!

Us with the Monks!

Pretty awesome. 

Yep, I think I will call that a day!

More later. 

Thailand Trip: Day 4

Today has been great! I am exhausted however so this is kind of going to be a short post with just down to the nitty gritty of what we did:

1. Got up at 6 AM to get ready for construction day at the school.

2. Dug (and are still working on) 6 ft holes with tools that are really hard to work with and very old.

3. Sweated our brains out, to the point where I drank 5 bottles of water in 4 hours and never peed once.

4. Helped work on pathways, sewage systems, and a park for the kids.

5. The kids took me down to the Buddhist temple for worship....so today, I respected Buddah. Hmmmm...

6. Played with the kids and learned some Thai! It is so hard not being able to communicate.

7. Went to a monkey park! So funny, and crazy, and even a little scary at times.

8. Saw my first Monsoon rain! We all ran outside and played in it. It was pouring! Beautiful, and warm.

9. Went through our hundreds of supplies that we brought! Awesome!

10 Got my first Thai massage. 2 hours=12 Dollars. It was, definitely different. They contort you, and get all those pressure points you're praying they won't get. Not the most relaxing, but I feel good now!

Because photos take so long to update here, I will just post as many as I can before this body withers away. Today was some hard-core manual labor. I have worked some hard days in my life, but between the heat, humidity, and difficulty of the tasks at hand, I am pretty pooped. In a great way....these people are SO incredibly appreciative of everything we are helping with and are some of the most giving I have ever seen. You just can't know how wonderful it is to be here and to love them on such a different level. Our hearts are so connected and I just love them so dearly. 

More later!!

Photo choices of the day!

1. Awwww, we love each other!

2. Cutie! Love this picture times a million.

I taught her Shaka Brah! Hang loose :)

Wish you could hear her laugh....so funny. 

3. Our Monsoon dive! Fun, fun. 

4. After a hard day's work on construction.

SA-WAT-EE :) 

Kenya 2010

Hello All

My name is Kyler McGee and I am the blogger for the Kenya team this year! Our trip is quickly approaching and the nerves are only growing bigger. It seems like I still have a ton to do before I board the plane on the 23. I turned in my last hours last week and finally got my malaria prescription filled after losing it 3 times... I don't think there will be internet access available in the village where we will be staying, so I won't be able to blog while on the trip. I am okay with this because, in all honesty, I want to forget about the real world. I want to forget about my cell phone, my Facebook, my car, friends, even family. I want to forget about everything for 2 weeks and get lost in the people and culture of Kenya. So I apologize ahead of time to anyone out there who was just dying to stay updated on the Kenya trip while we are in country. I will be keeping a journal every night and later be posting them as blogs after I return on July 9th. I am growing more excited every day our trip draws nearer. I know it will be worth everything it has taken me to get here, and more!

Thailand Trip: Day 1-4

Well, all I can say is this trip is turning out to be more than I ever could have expected! I am having THE time of my life and trying to soak it up as much as I can.

Today we went to the school we will be working in and met with the beautiful children we will be working with. So great! I was pretty emotional today, as I always am on these trips. It is such an opportunity to travel the world and to be able to help! I am lucky to be here and to witness the things that I am.

Well, just as a recap, here are a few pictures. The internet is extremely slow here and so I don't know if I will get to post as many as I thought, but here is one of us getting ready to fly out:

Here is us girls after we landed in Tai Pae. This is our tour guide "James Bond" who seriously was THE funniest man in the world! We love him so much and his talking on the microphone on our tour bus for 12 hours straight....no joke. He knows ALOT about Taiwan....too much.

This is what it looked like in Tai Pae! We were literally in a cloud, pouring rain. We were soaked!! And it felt good.

This was another part of the tour to the ocean! It was beautiful, 

and everyone wanted pictures with the  Americans...hahah.

This is after we landed in Phuket after 2 LONG days of travel.

Miracle number one: every single one of our bags made it.

Crazy I know...that never happens with that many people.

Today was our first day at the school, like I said. 

We enjoyed some entertainment from the kids below, 

and mostly just got to play and have a good time.

It is eight billion, thousand, million degrees hot with 100 percent humidity.

You can't even imagine the heat here.

You sweat more than I can explain!

In most of these pictures you can just see all the sweat and wetness.

Anyway, I ADORE these kids. 

I feel like our spirits must have known each other before this life.

I always feel like that when I get to serve these children,

you can't express how much love you feel for them.

Also, on every humanitarian trip I have ever been on, there is always one special

bestest friend that you always meet.

Asia (Az-ee-a) has to be her I think! I adore her.

You always find them right off the bat!

And here is our group at this beautiful school!

And 2 cute other little girls. 

See the sweat!? Bah, so hot.

But so great!

Alright, time for a nap!

More later :)