San Vicente, Forever In My Heart

San Juan, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, California, Guatemala City, Guatemala, I’ve been to all those amazing places all that share a special memory in my mind. But they were all vacations taken for pure pressure. I never found myself being the kind of person to change the world or even have a major impact on it.

I have also never found myself the kind of person that can be thrown completely out of her confront zone and loving every minute of it. The greatest trip I have ever taken was when I went on a mission trip to San Vicente, Mexico.You have probably never heard of it. Its not a place most go for a vacation or even can locate it on a map.

San Vicente is in Mexico located right under Tijuana. I went there with my church community, which I knew people’s names but I didn’t know them personally. Which is something I’m really not use to I have always had someone with me, either a family member or a friend.

But Mexico I didn’t really think I was going to enjoy it as much as I did and I made a small impact in the world.I went there not knowing what the place was like or what I was doing down there. All I knew was that my pastor asked me to go because I speak Spanish and I would be a major help down there seeing that no one speaks English. I get there after a 32 hour drive to a hotel.

I get there to a hotel that was small but fit us all, me being in a room with seven other girls. It was late everyone was tried and we still had the adventure in carrying luggage up the stair case into our bedrooms. Just to find that we had to be up at six-thirty the next morning to go to breakfast and then a church service.Sunday went as quickly as the night came.

We saw the town, the women’s and men’s shelters, the new church, the old church, and the simple corner stores that made up the town. Then we later got our assignments.The next day was the hardest of them all. Trying to get everyone organized with supplies needed for there said assignments.

My group’s first assignment was to paint the kitchen at the women’s shelter. We couldn’t do much that day but to clean the walls and try to move things out for the next day. Later that day all the youth that came to Mexico organized and soccer game for the local youth.

That was a bunch of fun, but I think those kids learn to play soccer before they can even walk.Tuesday again we were waken bright and early to start our assignment, but not with out a great traditional Mexican breakfast cooked by a lovely lady from the shelter. We started painting, the walls a sun yellow with orange accents. It turns out that the paint was oil based and after not using gloves and not protecting hair the paint became part of us.

At the end of the day the kitchen was done and when seeing the grateful faces of all the women and children that live there.Through out the week we did several other tasks at the women’s shelter. But there we also heard of stories of women that came to the shelter for whatever the reason and the bright future they now hold. But there was one story that truly stood out to me; a story of a woman that seemed to have no light at the end of the tunnel with three children to support. The littlest, Jesus brightened up my day every day down there. He was cute, and a total joker. He helped me realize that life isn’t about what technology you have or how you compare to others. It’s living it up to the fullest.That’s why Mexico is the greatest vacation I have taken. I was thrown out of everything I knew. No TV, no itunes, no cell phone, and no drinkable running water, for ten days. And by the end of it I didn’t even miss those things. I learned to value what I have and value the lessons I learned. At the end of the trip I found myself looking out the window waving good-bye to San Vicente, whispering I’ll return again, and missing the little boy that captured my heart, Jesus.