Hello friends!! I'm back from my spring break trip! It was so much fun, and it was actually really nice not having a device with me. Now that I'm back, I figured I'd tell you guys all about it. It was a very long week with many different kinds of emotions and experiences, but God was there with us the whole time.

March 25, Saturday

I woke up around 4:30 a.m. because we (my dad and I) had to be at the church at 6, and we live a half hour away (also we wanted to stop for coffee😝).

Sixty-seven people attended this trip, and I was surprised to see that half of them were teenagers. I didn't know the majority of the teens though, only four of them go to youth at our church, and two are middle schoolers, so I didn't know them too well, nor did I know the other two high schoolers very well so it was a bit awkward for me at first.

All the teens, and several adults, boarded the church bus and we rented two vans for the rest of the adults to ride in. We left the church around 6:30, and almost everyone fell asleep within the first ten minutes. Sadly, I find it very difficult, if not impossible, to fall asleep in a vehicle, especially around other people. So during all of our long bus rides, I didn't sleep, but it's alright.

There's not a whole lot to tell about Saturday because we were on a bus the whole time and not a whole lot of eventful things happened. Here's a few pictures I took while on the bus:

I believe this is Mt. Shasta. I actually didn't take this picture, it was on the other side of the bus so I had someone else take it.

This was taken somewhere in California, though I don't know where.

God painted an absolutely gorgeous sunset and I'm sad a camera can't capture the true beauty of it all, but the picture is still good.

We stopped at IN-N-OUT for dinner and honestly, I was kinda disappointed. Everyone likes to think it's so good, so naturally I had high expectations, but I was a bit let down. I was informed that the fries aren't good, and the burger wasn't bad, but like I said, my expectations were set too high.

Around 9:30 we made it to our hotel, and I was placed with Grace (a middle schooler at our youth group who I knew the best and sat beside on the bus) and two other girls, Rachel and Bekka, who are good friends and who became good friends with us. We were also in the same tent together, so that was great!

The black shoes are mine and the grey shoes are Grace's.

March 26, Sunday

We left the hotel around 7:00. I don't really remember much of that day. I know that Grace and I sat closer to the front of the bus where all the adults were. I don't think she cared where we sat, but I didn't wanna be back with the teens cause some of them were cursing and talking about things I didn't like, so I chose to avoid it.

I took this picture in the morning (7:14 to be exact). I just thought it was a nice scene.

This one was taken closer to noon, but I just really love the rolling hills. Also the highway running through it made a for a good picture.

We stopped for dinner around 4-4:30 so we could eat before we crossed the border. I went to Taco Bell with a few friends, and they said that the guy at the counter was flirting with me. Even my dad said that when I told him the story, but I'm not too sure. He looked about 19, and I could tell he was new because he was a bit shy, but that's okay. When I ordered, he asked for my name. I told him and he said it was a pretty name (that doesn't mean he was flirting, Hope is a pretty name). But when he gave me my change, he accidentally gave me back the amount I owed instead of what was leftover. So I had to go back up there and he fixed it (my dad said he did that on purpose lolz). It was funny.

Around 5-6 we crossed the border to Mexico. It was actually a lot simpler process than I expected, and it didn't take us long. We crossed the border, drove for maybe and hour, and got to the camp we stayed at. We set up camp, and then went to bed.

March 27, Monday

Monday was the first day of work. We had a 6:30 wake-up call, and I think we left camp around 7:30.

We had four sites where we built houses. I worked with groups 1&3 (mainly 1) and my dad was put on 2&4, which was actually good because he said if we were together he would have babied me, which wouldn't have been good because I wouldn't have learned anything (that, and I'm a fairly independent person).

So, groups 1&3 started at site 1. This family had a single mom with two adult sons, a daughter about 15-16, another daughter about 12-13, another daughter about 8, a son that's turning 4 soon, and a son that's 2. They were all living in a house that was about the same size as the one we built, which isn't very big, but what we built will help them tremendously. This family was in serious need. I don't know much about the family at site 3, but they had some roosters and chickens and owned a little shop connected to their gate.

During that day, the oldest girl told me she liked my eyes (I don't  speak hardly any Spanish, but I knew enough to figure it out. If I'm correct, me gusta means I like, and when I told her I didn't quite understand, she said it again and pointed to her eyes).

For the first day, all the groups were laying a concrete foundation. I spent all my time shoveling buckets of sand+gravel and hauling buckets of sand+gravel, which I don't mind cause I love shoveling for whatever weird reason. 1&3 worked together to lay the foundations for our sites, that way we were sure we'd get it done.

We got back to camp around 5, and we had a team of amazing ladies making us dinner (chili dogs👌).

Oh, also, there are no showers in camp. We had a giant water tank and two large rooms made of concrete with no roof, one for the guys and one for the girls. We had to take buckets (or a solar shower if you have one) and bathe ourselves that way. It really isn't that bad, but the water isn't very warm, and it's hard for me cause I have long hair that needed to be washed. It was so cold by the time I got to the showers that I barely shampooed my hair and then called it good.

Later that night we sat around the fire and sang worship songs, which was really awesome. Most of the people that were singing were kinda quiet, but at the church I attend we're used to be loud (at least I am. Half the people there were from the same church as me). So Grace and I sang really loud, like we always do, and I think that got everyone to turn up their voices too. The next day the pastor told me he liked the way Grace and I worship.

March 28, Tuesday

Same time to be up and out of camp. We were all split up into our own groups. I was with 1, which was the family with all the children. On this day, we split up into several smaller group around our site to get the frame built. Altogether we had to build four regular walls (side walls were split into two pieces), two slanted walls and two roof pieces. Our team, which consisted of Grace, an adult leader who's very skilled at this job, and three other teen guys, built a slanted wall and a roof piece. Once we finished the pieces, we put the frame together, which was really cool to see go up.

On that day, the four-year-old boy came up to me while I was taking a break, opened my back pocket and stuffed three little pieces of candy in it. He was also sucking on a piece of taffy that he stuffed in my front pocket. I gave him the candy back and threw away the piece he was eating, but it was so cute!

That night we had tri-tip steak for dinner (it was just thinly sliced steak) and garlic bread. I also took a more thorough shower, since I went right to the showers after we got back from the job site.

There's a store set up in camp (multiple groups use this camp for mission trips) and that night they had some people come in to make churros! I had never had a churro before, but it was great that I got to try it first in Mexico, so it was authentic. We watched the people make it right in front of us. It was three dollars for them, and we got five of them! I could only eat four and had to give my last one away, but whatevs. They were amazing!

March 29, Wednesday

Same time to be up, though I think we left later than normal. The work to be done that day was really tedious and kind of boring. We had a few people putting stuff on the roof, but the majority of us were nailing things down all over the house. I think first we put more nails in the framework, then strung up tight wires around the house, staple/nail this thick, paper stuff around the house, and then tightly nail on chicken wire around the house.

During that day, we had two people sick, which sucks cause both were super hard workers. Also, about half way through the day, I think I got something in my right eye (my bad eye, luckily) because it was super irritated and hurt. I thought it was just the dust irritating it, cause no one could find anything in it, so maybe it got scratched. I had the nurse take a look at it later that night but even she said it just looked irritated. Either way, I flushed it with water and eye drops so much, but it didn't help for long. It also didn't help that I had to help clean the dishes and while I was scrubbing a spaghetti pot (very delicious spaghetti btw), a bunch of saucy water splashed in my eye, making it hurt way worse.

I went to bed early that night because my eye hurt and I was exhausted. But hey, I slept super well!

March 30, Thursday

I think we got up at the time we were supposed to and made sure we left on time, cause we had a lot of work to do. My eye no longer hurt (praise the Father!) but it was quite swollen. It went down throughout the day, and was normal by about midday, but I'm just glad it stopped hurting.

As our final task, we had to put two layers of stucko around the house. Stucko is similar to concrete, but it's made with only sand and cement, not gravel. Teams 1&3 were back together, and we started at site 1 to get the first layer of stucko on. Then we went to site 3 to finish the first layer (they had gotten two walls done the previous day), and left for site 1 to have lunch while we waited for the first layer to dry. We put the second layer on, then we went back to 3 and put their second layer on.

At site 1, I spent almost all my time shoveling sand. I actually got really possessive over my shovel. Our team leader was coming around to check on us, and I asked him if he could go find my water bottle. He looked and said he couldn't find it, so I told him I'd get it when the necessity for sand slowed down. I didn't even see him walk behind me, but he took hold of my shovel, while I was using it, and said "Go get your water, I will watch your shovel." So that was kinda funny.

When I was at 3, I did a few jobs. I shoveled sand, mixed the cement and sand, and smoothed out the stucko with a sponge and water (which was pretty satisfying).

When we went back to site 1, I did the same job of shoveling. I also helped with cleanup when it came around to it.

Also, there was a little shop up the street from site 1, and I bought this:

It was really good and also addicting. One of my now friends bought an apple soda the other day and he let me try it. It was sooo good and that's actually the reason I went to that store but they had no more. Also, a lot of the people in Mexico own little convenience stores in their homes, some are bigger than others, but I find it really cool.

We went back to site 3 to finish the second layer of stucko. I did some mixing and shoveling and carrying trays of stucko to the people putting it on the walls.

This is a photo (not taken by me, but by the guy with the apple soda😝) of the house on site 1. The house we built is the one on the right. This is the site I was on most of the time, and it was such a good feeling to see it completed. The people were so excited to get it, and I hope it blesses them!

After we finished the houses, we went back to camp and packed up everything. Then we set off to get back across the border. We didn't cross the border till about 7-8 I think. We crossed and then stopped at an area with some fast food restaurants (Grace wanted McDonald's so I went with her).

When we crossed the border, the people on the bus had to get off and go through security, whereas the people in the vans didn't have to get out of the vehicle. So we had to grab whatever we had with us (most of our stuff was on a trailor, but I had two backpacks with me at the moment, a blanket and a water jug) and go through security. When we got through, for whatever reason, the bus wasn't there. So we had to walk a few blocks to get to where we were having dinner. The bus finally showed up as Grace and I were walking into McDonald's. It was hilarious cause we had all our stuff with us when we went in, and several people from the vans were sitting in there eating.

When we finished dinner, we had another 2-3 hour bus ride, where we stopped at 24 Fitness for showers (we got there a bit after midnight). Then we drove a bit longer and stayed at a church for the night.

March 31, Friday

We got to sleep in till about 8, but we didn't get to bed until almost 2 so I guess it wasn't really sleeping in. We got up and got dressed, then went to our leader's sister's house for breakfast. After breakfast, those of us going to Six Flags boarded the bus and those that didn't wanna go stayed at the house, although they did have two vans, so they went around town and did their own thing.

At first, I really didn't wanna go to Six Flags, but I'm really glad I went. We got there just after it opened at 10, and we stayed there till it closed at 8. Once we got there, we split up into groups. At first, I was in a group of two adults (one of them being my dad and the other a guy named Gary) and five other teens.

This is the first ride we went on. It was a roller coaster where you can where a virtual reality headset and it's like going through space while you're on the coaster. Honestly, it was a waste of time. We stood in line for almost three hours and the ride was super short. That, and the headset gave me a headache. I will say it was pretty cool, but had I known we would be waiting that long, I would have skipped it.

This is our feet (the teens anyways) while we were waiting in line for The New Revolution. This was taken on someone else's snapchat by someone else in the group, and that's why the caption says that lolz. I'm the one with the black and white shoes and black pants.

After this ride, my dad, Gary and I wanted to get lunch, but the others wanted to do more rides. So us three went to get lunch and we ended up being our own group for the rest of the day. I ate a chicken salad that was eleven dollars! I knew I was gonna have to pay a lot of money for food but that was ridiculous. It was pretty delicious, but not very filling. So we went to Coldstone to get ice cream.

I got coffee flavored ice cream with Twix! It was soooo good! My dad got the same thing, and Gary didn't want ice cream.

After that we went on a ride called Tutsu, and the wait was much shorter. I didn't go on it. The last time I went to an amusement park I got a huge headache, and after the first ride I decided to sit out.

After that we went on a water ride, and by this time it's about 6 p.m. I don't remember what the ride was called, but we sat on this big, circular floating device and went down a man made river thing that generated rapids. It was pretty fun, and I didn't get too wet. Poor Gary was soaked. After that we stood in the sun for about ten minutes to dry/warm up.

We didn't really have time for another ride, and I wanted to go look through the shops, which the guys were cool with. As we headed to the shops, we came across some games, and of course, we had to play.

The first was a ring toss game. $1 for five rings and $5 for thirty rings plus one of those bendy flower things. If you get one ring on any of the bottles, you get a giant stuffed DC character.

I bought a dollars' worth, just for fun, but I didn't get any. Both my dad and Gary bought five dollars' worth, and my dad gave me the flower. My dad didn't get any rings on there, but on Gary's last ring he made it! We were so excited it was so cool! He told me that he was praying that he would get it so he could give me the stuffy for "hanging with two old guys all day". I actually really liked hanging out with them, they are so much fun!! So I ended up getting a huge Harley Quinn doll. Luckily we won it later in the day, so I wasn't packing it around all day.

And when I say huge, I mean HUGE. I'm on the right, my dad is in the middle and Gary is on the left. I swear that thing looks bigger every time I see it.

After that, there was a game right beside the ring toss where everyone who plays wins. It was $5, and all you had to do was shoot water to fill up a meter. I didn't play, but my dad and Gary did. Again, Gary won, and they both got Superman capes. When they put the capes on, they started running around the park like Superman. It was hilarious!

Then we went on the carousel. We strapped Harley onto a horse with us. It was pretty great. My dad was getting over his fear of horses (not for real lolz).

After that we looked through some shops. I got a chocolate pretzel at the candy shop and then we met with the rest of our group near the front.

I tried to stuff Harley in the back of the bus, but apparently she didn't fit. So when I got on, there were already a few guys in there, and I asked them if they wanted me to take her. One of them said "No. This is the only time I get to be with her." And then he pet her. I thought it was pretty funny.

We went back to the sister's house and had dinner/picked up the rest of our crew. When we were heading back to the church, Harley got passed up to my seat. The guy behind me sat her in his seat, and I asked him if he wanted me to take her. He said no, and then took a selfie with her.

So we got back to the church and we all slept well. It was a really good day!

April 1, Saturday

We had a 6:00 wake up call. I was getting ready to go when a lady came in the bathroom and told me my dad needed me. So I went to him and he told me that my mom was in the hospital. The Tuesday before we left for Mexico, my mom had surgery for her stomach pains. There was a 1% chance she'd have complications after the surgery, and she just happened to be that 1%. It's not anything life threatening, at least it wasn't because she'd caught it soon enough, but it was still scary because we were in Southern California and she was many miles away.

My dad wanted to get a flight, but there were none available. He was gonna rent a car, but there was a group of people willing to take a van and drive with us all the way back home early. We left about 7-7:30 a.m. and didn't get back to the church until 11:30 p.m. It was a loooooong day, especially since I can't sleep in vehicles. I am very thankful to those who were willing to go back with us. I knew my mom would be okay, and I was only sad about it for a little bit. But I was really upset because I had to leave all my friends so suddenly, and the two that I became closest with I won't see for a while, since they get dropped off in a town an hour away from mine. I know I'll see them again, but it was so sudden and I was so tired.

I went and visited my mom that night, and then I stayed at my mom's best friend's house for the night (they live closer to the hospital than I do). I thank the Lord that she was safe and is healing now. The next day we went to the church as everyone else was arriving so we could get our things.

And that's the reason I hadn't posted this sooner. Since my mom has been in the hospital, I've had to get up every day at 6 to open the daycare (she runs an in-home daycare) and I work almost all day. She has an employee helping me, but it's still been long days for the both of us.

Oh, I bought a couple things from the street vendors in Mexico: a blanket, backpack and bracelet.

So all in all, I think this has been the best spring break I've ever had! God was so good to us and He kept us all safe! I have learned a few things, mainly having a deeper appreciation for the things that I have. I'm going to make a better effort to not complain, and although that may be tough sometimes, I know that what I have is more than plenty.

I can't wait for next year!!