The Treasures Concealed by Mesas of Arizona
“We’re here!” my sister shouts, as our van turns onto a dirt road. The faded sign says “Welcome to Immanuel Mission.” As our car bumps along the road, kicking up dirt into the hot Arizona air,...
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Fantasy’s Reality
“Here.” A neatly wrapped, red package fell into my hands. “What’s this?” I inquired. We had just arrived in New Zealand a couple hours before. This vacation was my “early Birthday gift.”...
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California Dreams
The sound of waves crashing paired with memories flashing behind my closed eyelids overwhelm me as I stand in front of the salty shore, and I wonder what actions in my life have led me to this one perfect...
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The Philippines: Living in a Childhood That Was Never Mine
To visit the country that my parents remember so vividly from their childhoods is difficult; living an Americanized life really detached me from identifying with Filipino culture. They grew up knowing...
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Reflections on Omaha Beach
Sand. As far as I could see, sand carpeted the expansive, harmless beach. Yet this wasn’t just any beach, and – seventy-one years before I arrived in 2015 – it was anything but harmless. My World...
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Costa Rica: Baby Sea Turtle Rescue Mission
A shrill call from our alarm interrupted the rainforest cicada’s song and I fumbled in the dark to turn it off. We were assigned the midnight shift. Mary and Kallie slid out of their bunks, so the other...
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Peace in Churning Waters
It hadn’t rained a single day - not in London, Paris, Florence, or Rome - but of course, on our last morning before flying home, on the day we would be spending in the sea, the Italian sky was filled...
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Mortality In Paradise
During the summer of 2014, my family took a trip to Costa Rica. We explored San Jose, then traveled to Tortuguero where we visited the national park and took a canoe tour down the river. Not long into...
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