Memory, all alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
Touch me
It’s so easy to leave me
All alone with my memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me, you’ll understand what happiness is
Look, a new day has begun
(Yes I am writing this blog while listening to the Cats: Musical soundtrack as I am so excited to be seeing this musical for the 3rd time on my birthday- Sept. 4th)
In case you haven’t heard the news, I am officially back home in Michigan after spending the last 11 months aboard serving God with P Squad. I am so excited to be back home, and get reunited with everyone. But before I say goodbye to this season of my life, I thought I write a blog to share with you some of my favorite memories from each country as well as training camp & travel days.
Training Camp:
Meeting Issac, Brittney, Marissa, Rocky, and Samuel for the 1st time a day before training camp, and the adventures that we had together in Atlanta.
Recieving the piece of paper with the names of my first teammates (Martha, Sarah Ann, Jillian Lauren & Kaitlin), and picking the name of Team Surrendered
Eating out at Buffalo Wild Wings with Team Surrendered in the afternoon after the fitness hike & doing some evangelism.
Eating crickets
Winning Squad Wars in come from behind fashion
Getting rebaptized by Madie
Travel Days:
Stepping off the plane in Belize to begin my world race journey
Having to wait 3 hours outside of the Honduras border for it to open at 6am
Chilling in the orlando airport hotel suite during our layover on our way to Vietnam with pizza, a comfy place to sleep & a hot shower with soft towels
Kaitlin getting mad at our bus driver and demanding that he stop to allow those who needed to use the bathroom on our way to Hanoi as there was no working bathroom on the bus & it had been several hours since our last bathroom stop
Running through the Istanbul airport to catch our flight to Albania, and just bearly making it while Half of the squad missed our connecting flight from Turkey to Albania, which was our first travel day solo (meaning no alumni squad leader)
Half of the squad’s big packs getting left behind in Turkey for a day on our travel to Ethiopia (I can laugh at this now, but at time I was pissed as my bag was one that got left behind)
All the movies that I watched on all the long flights/bus rides
Stepping off the plane in Boston and the feeling of being back on American soil for the 1st time in 8 months
Belize:
All 6 of us crammed into the only room that had AC in the only coffee shop in town
Visiting the Mayan Ruins
Having a sleepover with the youth of the church and our ministry hosts
Feeling accomplished after Painting the preschool
Visiting the Mayan Village
Snorkeling in the Caribbean
Sitting in the sports bar on Caye Caulker during month 1 debrief sipping on a rum & coke while watching the UM/PSU football game then giving my teammate Jillian a hard time later.
Honduras:
Hanging out with Molly the Dashound more then I actually hung out with my squadmates & spending most of the evenings with her sleeping on my lap in my chair. I even let her spend the night with me one night when I slept on the couch.
Getting my ear cartilage pierced
Visiting the Christ Statue
Visiting the coffee plantation
El Salvador:
Playing “Fugitive” during MDB
Turkey dinners on both Christmas & New Years eve
Christmas Day
Shooting off fireworks in the street
Climbing the volcano with the kids
Beach weekend
Vietnam:
Flying into the airport as the airport used to be the American Air Force base where my dad served during the war
Visiting the Hoa Lo aka “Hanoi Hilton” Prison
My ice cream “date” with Kaitlin
Last day in Hanoi when we spent the day as a team just in our room pouring into each other
DaNang Vietnam- our last day of doing life as Team Surrendered
Cambodia:
Visiting Angkor Wat & The Killing Fields
Pub Street
Albania:
Day trip to Macedonia with our hosts and Hailey
our attempt to teach the students how to play American football
Serbia:
Visiting Belgrade Fortress with Issac & trying my hand at Archery & actually hitting the bullseye
Building a relationship with the Serbian gals who worked at American Corner, and spending almost everyday with them
My unbirthday party thanks to Maggie during one of our team times
Almost getting jailed for not being properly registered
Dray’s team time
Romania:
Finding out my best friend since 6th grade getting engaged to her boyfriend of about a year & being asked to be a bridesmaid in her wedding
Visiting Bran Castle
Ethiopia:
Laying out on the deck looking up at the stars while listening to the song “Stars” from Les Mis & listening to the hyenas howling in the distance
Watching most of the Marvel movies on my Ipod
Rwanda:
Visiting the genocide memorial/Peacekeepers memorial
Playing golf with Issac
Everything about our ministry especially morning devos with the ladies
Our “B4A” event with the ladies & giving them a Bible as many did not have one of their own
Uganda:
Going on a safari
Final Debrief
White water rafting on the Nile
Going home
