Sometimes life sneaks up on you. Or at least, summer sneaks up on you. As I write this blog, I am plugging in some of my last grades for the ESL class I’ve taught this semester at my old high school. Finals end this week, and then it’s time for a new season for all of us.
This next season for me includes some exciting opportunities I want to share with you. It involves strapping on my beloved and dirty missionary Chacos again!
That’s right: I’m packing my bags again!
This summer, I have been given two incredible opportunities to serve God and others overseas in two very different, very special countries: Albania and Guatemala! These are both countries I visited last year, and both countries I never thought I’d have the chance to see again so soon!
In two short weeks on June 22, I will embark on an Ambassador Trip to Albania for a little more than three weeks.
Ambassador is Adventures in Missions high school mission trip program, and I have the honor of leading a team of young women to Lezhe, Albania (you may note, the very place we worked last year, with the pig farm and summer camp and whitewashing) for three weeks with another World Race alum, Danielle Wieber.
This upcoming trip almost feels too good to be true. I love high schoolers, for one. This last semester I got to hang out with them all the time, and they are the smartest, most creative, honest, giving people. High school is such a vibrant, important time in life and I look forward to living with people experiencing that. I am excited to lead, and nervous. I expect my wonderful team to bring joys and challenges that I can’t even anticipate.
And then, there’s Albania. I love Albania. I didn’t know what to expect when I first went there last May, but it is a stunning country I could spend years in and never be tired of. The mix of Islam and Orthodox Christianity, the linguistically isolated Albanian language, the way nodding means no and shaking your head means yes… it is all coming back to me, and I get to go back to it!
Oh, and the pigs. There will be pigs at Lightforce International. Lots of pigs.
“You thought you saw the last of me,” says this pig I hung out with last May. “Well I’ll be seeing you again real soon.”
HOLD ON, CHELSEA, you might be saying right now. WE THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO IRELAND.
Yeah, so did I.
But that’s missions for you. Plans change. I just found out about this today, and when I did, I started laughing. I mean, I had really, really wanted to go to Ireland. But plans change. And if my original World Race plans had never changed, I wouldn’t know that Albania is a fabulous place to be relocated to!
My second mission trip will be slightly closer to home: from August 2-12, I will go on a mission trip to Guatemala!
Now, for those of you who don’t know, Tony, my teammate-turned-boyfriend, accepted a job back in February as the director of youth ministries for not one but two churches in Everett, Washington, an hour north of me. He bought a car, packed it up, and left his native Minnesota for the Pacific Northwest. While most Seattleites would consider Puyallup and Everett a long distance relationship, especially during rush hour, it’s closer than the Midwest, and nothing for two Racers who can be on buses for days.
Tony’s parish is hosting this trip to Guatemala: its first mission trip ever, an exciting milestone! When Tony first started talking about it, I salivated, itching to be back on the road and doing hard work in strange places. I dropped hints like, “So, hypothetically, would a non-Catholic be able to go?” to which he said, “Sure, you can come!” And just like that, I found myself registered to go back to Guatemala, where I spent last February.
This trip to Guatemala is a perfect mix of what I know and what is strange. We will stationed at Friends of San Lucas, a mission founded by the Franciscan Order in 1584. We will be there first and foremost, to learn from the community in which this mission is immersed. We will also have opportunities to serve in other capacities by installing stoves and ventilation in homes, working in schools, and tending a coffee plantation! The mission is actually quite near Lake Panajachel, where we Racers spent a lovely free day last year (pictured below).
Now, I have an idea of what I’m getting into. I know mission work, and I know what snacks to buy and what antimalarials to take. I know what to pack and how to work hard and a little Guatemalan-flavored Spanish. But this trip will be strange for me because I’ll be the only non-Catholic in the group! (I guess I’ll know a little how Tony felt for the majority of the Race.) I went to a fair number of masses on the Race, but I am interested in the ways my fellow missionaries’ Catholic faith shapes the rest of life on the field. I expect great things and great learning.
So there is my summer for you: Albania and Guatemala. Again, I will be raising funds to attend each of these trips. And again, I want to humbly ask you to consider coming alongside me this summer to send me on these two trips by donating to one or both of them. As the summer and fundraising progress, I will keep you up to speed on the financial situation.
Albania: $1210. This covers travel, lodging, and food, just like the World Race money did. I need to have $363 by June 22 and can raise the rest on the road.
TO GIVE: The easiest way to donate is simply to click the orange “Support Me!” button above, choose “Support a World Racer” from the drop down menu, and follow the prompts to give with your credit card. Alternatively, you may mail a check made out to Adventures in Missions (not to me). Their address is:
Adventures in Missions
P.O. Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
Guatemala: $900. $600 of this will go to my airfare and the remaining $300 to food, lodging, and transportation in Guatemala. Since I am not a member of the parish, I don’t have access to the funds that they raise in offerings, so your support is especially appreciated!
TO GIVE: Send a check made out to me, Chelsea Greenwood. I don’t want to publish my home address online, so please send me a message on Facebook or email me at [email protected] so I can give it to you privately.
I am so excited to learn, serve, and love God this summer all over the world again. Thank you–or “falimenderit” and “gracias” in Albanian and Spanish–for your support, prayers, and for your constant encouragement to me as I try to follow this wacky, awesome path God is forging!
And thank you for reading my blogs. I love writing them and I can’t wait to tell you stories of this summer!
