Spring 2018 Semester Project

For this semester, I proposed a project for myself. This project was meant to help me improve myself in ways that I normally would not on my own. I decided to go on a mission trip this semester during spring break. For this exciting opportunity, I had to raise money to go on the trip. I wrote many support letters and mailed them to family, friends, coworkers, and church family members. After doing this, I was blessed with enough support from these people, and my entire trip was paid for. Following this, I had to gather the things I needed for the trip, like clothing and other supplies. When we finally went on the trip to Puerto Rico for disaster relief, I was so excited for the next week. I was expecting to meet many new people and hopefully get interactions with a lot of children. I do best with children and wanted to share my faith with them. However, it did not go as I expected. I met one little boy the entire time I was there. To make things even more difficult, we did not have any translators on the trip. We were assigned to one household the entire week and worked to rebuild a roof and pressure wash/paint two other roofs on the house. It was difficult to communicate with the family we were serving, but we managed to make it through the week with the little amount of Spanish education that we all had before coming. I was exhausted every day; we were on a roof in the sun for hours on end each day doing work that I do not do at my home. It was a challenge to stay focused on my task and not slack or get tired and sit down. I learned a lot about strength mentally and physically. It was an amazing experience, though. The family that we helped was so grateful and kind. They fixed us a snack each day. I got to meet other people from colleges in the US like Charleston Southern University and University of South Carolina. I gained so many friendships and memories that week. Now, I am working on writing thank you cards to the people that supported and prayed for me. This trip really showed me how to care for others before caring for myself. I am grateful for this opportunity and plan on attending more mission trips in the future. Out of this project, I achieved around 5 hours of service each day of the week during this trip.