30 Day Challenge: Day 30 - A Motto or Philosophy

Today we end the 30 Day Challenge, which has certainly taken much longer for me than 30 days or even 30 weeks.  However, I've managed to pull through and complete it, so I'm happy with how it went.  If you'd like to read the previous days, just scroll down until you see my cloud of tags or post categories in the right-hand sidebar and click on "30 Day Challenge."

There are several mottos, quotes, philosophies, and thoughts that I love and strive to live by.  However, since I recently returned from and posted about my Dominica mission trip, I thought I'd share a quote I heard during that trip and wrote in the inside front cover of my mission trip journal.

"Cherish the chase more than you treasure the trophy."

TD.12 (Photos)

Read A Summary, Part One; A Summary, Part Two; Lessons Learned; and Dominica vs. America.

the campsite we stayed on and ran for the dominicans

the view of the ocean and campsite from the main building

a lizard we found in the bushes by the main building

christa and ashlee eating a coconut on our first day

kimberly (one of the missionary family's children), me, and adina (the camper in our cabin)

these red flowers were found on bushes all around the main building

ricky, the deaf camper, and axel, his interpreter and teacher

the main building, set up for breakfast

kurwington and danielle

my brother eddie, jonathan, and david

me holding the puppy that hung around camp and became our team dog. he had several names throughout the week, but we ended up settling on squirt

from left: joy, me, christa, david, and shane

morning chapel

ricky and me

green team playing human hurdle

white and gold teams playing headspin

green sisserous' team photo (top row - from left: axel, jeremiah, abraham, zach, spred, kendall, kimberly, ricky. bottom row: daniel, me, katie, danielle, adina.  sitting in front: audra and kurwington.)

me holding caleb, the "american baby" (he was born july 4)

girls' hike

view on the girls' hike

girls' hike

me with heat exhaustion after the girl's hike (from left: mrs. bartow, jonathan, adina, zach)



fun night: adina and alex, as well as two other pairs, stacking baby blocks on a plate balanced on her head

fun night: country ear wash skit

fun night: pencil salesman skit

a roadside stand we passed

the corneliuses' home

hiking from the corneliuses' house to a waterfall

eddie climbing the waterfall

the view on the waterfall hike

me on a canoe in a sort of outdoor exhibit of carib culture (the campsite and corneliuses' home are located near the carib territory)

mr. cornelius explaining about noni, a smelly plant used medicinally

squirt chewing audra's foot

the corneliuses' church auditorium

ashlee and andrew on the beach

audra and me on the beach

kimberly's and my sandcastles

pastor smith buying ice cream

from left: jeremiah, zach, and eddie in a restaurant in the antigua airport

from left: me, amanda, logan, and hannah killing time in an antigua airport gift shop



TD.12 (Dominica vs. America)

Read A Summary, Part One; A Summary, Part Two; and Lessons Learned.

On July 31 at 11:16 PM while on the last flight home, I wrote a comparison between Dominica and America.  All week I'd been keeping a list of categories with noticeable differences and paying close attention during my conversations with the Dominican campers.  Obviously, this is not a comprehensive list.  A person can't learn everything about a culture in only ten days, and I can't share every single detail I did learn - it's simply too much, and a lot has to be learned firsthand through experience.  Below is what I did share in my final journal entry.

SPORTS: Dominica's focus is on cricket and soccer, which they call football.

SCHOOL: Up through sixth grade it seems to be the same.  After that, though, Dominican grades are called forms and there's one less year of high school.

FOOD: Obviously pretty different, although a few things like mac-n-cheese are very similar.

FAMILY LIFE: Here most people live with each other and have several kids before marriage.  Focus is mainly on women having enough sons to take care of them when they're older.

FAITH: Mostly Roman Catholic.

ENTERTAINMENT: There are no movie theaters, but television - especially Disney - is very popular.

CLIMATE: An obvious one.  Dominica is pretty hot and very humid.  Few places have air conditioning, although there's usually a nice ocean breeze and most vehicles get a good airflow by leaving all the windows open.  It rains on and off a lot.

DATING: Pretty much like America, but it's still considered unheard of for girls to pursue guys.

DRIVING: You have to be eighteen to get a license.  Outside Roseau [the capital city] roads are narrow, bumpy, and unmarked.  Very few road signs or seatbelts.  Lots of honking - generally friendly and expected - especially around the many corners.  Tons of hitchhiking.  Still, road accidents are actually very rare.

HOMES: Some are run-down and in terrible conditions.  Others are nice concrete.  Many are or were originally brightly painted.  Pigs, goats, and chickens/roosters - oh, and cows - running around are perfectly normal, as are clotheslines and ads on the sides of homes.

LINGO: Flip-flops are called slippers.  A van is a bus while a bus is a coaster.  Many foods sound familiar but are not what an American would expect, like avocadoes which Dominicans call pears.

AIRPORTS: In Dominica the airport was smaller and the environment as well as the staff seemed much more open and friendlier.

TD.12 (Lessons Learned)

Read A Summary, Part One and A Summary, Part Two.

On July 27 at 5:58 PM I wrote this in my Mission Trip 2012 journal:

Today was... interesting. Definitely busy, but not the good kind of busy.  Lunch was good - fish cooked three ways.  I learned Americans, myself included, don't like breadfruit.  Then during free time was the girls' hike, and that's when things went south.  The hike was divided in half so those who wanted could go back to camp midway.  By the time we got to that point I was out of breath and very weak and tired, so I went with Jonathan, Katie, Andrew, Ashlee, Alex, Adina, Zach, and later Mrs. Bartow.  I never made it back to camp - I pretty much collapsed on the side of the road.  I had to fight to not puke or cry and I was so dizzy.  Jonathan and Mrs. Bartow poured water on my head; Adina and Mrs. Bartow used the electric fans; Ashlee gave me a rag to wipe my face off; Jonathan cut down a big leaf to fan me.  Alex, who had sprained his ankle, actually ran back to camp with Andrew so the bus could come get me.  Jonathan and one of the other guys - I was too out of it to know who - had to lift me into the van.  Somebody - again I have no idea who - carried me off the van to a chair, where I stayed with ice pops, Sprite, and a banana for a good while.

Katie and later Ricky and Kurwington actually took photos of me looking horrific, so I now have evidence of my first (and hopefully only) bout of heat exhaustion.

from left: Mrs. Bartow, Jonathan, Adina, Zach. and obviously me in the middle looking as red and bloated as a watermelon.

On July 28 at 7:54 AM I wrote this to share in the last chapel service of camp:

Last night for cabin devotions everyone shared something they've learned this week, and I realized that yesterday's episode was a lesson for me.  I like to be a strong, flexible, reliable girl who, no matter what goes wrong or how life looks, is ready to smile, sing "Hakuna Matata," and keep moving forward like it was all part of the plan.  It's just part of my personality.  And when my reaction to problems isn't quite so happy, I chant "I can do this.  I can get through this." and just keep pushing on until the problem passes.

That was me yesterday.  I kept saying that I was okay and just needed a short breather, telling myself that if I only made it to the camp, then I could rest.  But finally my body quit listening to me.  I was forced to admit that No, I was not okay - far from it; and then I had to sit and accept help.  When my family offers help, I accept it easily.  For others, I have more trouble.  I like to do things myself and look like I'm good, I can do anything, I know what I'm doing.  So accepting help because I have no choice is hard for me.  I felt like I was such a burden yesterday - others were giving their time, water, energy, etc. just because I was weak.  I felt upset and selfish, like it was my fault I couldn't be strong and take care of my own illness.

By the time the van came and I got back to camp, I was so out of it that I don't even know who helped me out of the vehicle and who carried me to a chair.  It was awful.

Last night, thinking about all that, I saw clearly the lesson God has for me this week: It's okay to be weak sometimes.  It's good to accept help from others and to admit that you can't do everything and help everyone, especially without someone helping you too.  And it's necessary in my life right now for me to let go of my self-dependence, my strong attitude/personality and learn to rely on God and say "Yes, I need help."

I close with this verse, which seems so tailored for my situation: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 "And He said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.'  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

TD.12 (A Summary, Part Two)

Read A Summary, Part One.

July 27
6:17 AM  Adina and I get up for the sunrise to see only a golden glow through all the clouds.  The world is wet and it rains again.

11:25 AM  More rain, camp games, and Dominicans using my camera.  They love taking photos!


11:34 AM  Notes from CLS about purity and modesty.

5:58 PM  I try more new foods before going on the hike, which became quite an adventure - I mean that sarcastically - for me.  That will have to wait for its own blog post.

8:11 PM  Notes from evening service about sin.

July 28
7:54 AM  A testimony I share in chapel based off the previous day's afternoon events.

9:23 AM  Notes from chapel about how we might fail as we leave camp and return to everyday life.

12:00 Noon  "Gold team officially won, but then we found out there was some confusion regarding memory verses, so green team actually had more.  Anyway, I got to keep the green team's progress marker from the map of the island."  Taped underneath is a laminated green paper bird.

1:50 PM  Pastor Smith is eating dark chocolate and gives me a piece if I promise not to tell.

10:26 PM  I hold a cry-fest over some personal issues before the team heads to the Corneliuses' house for a hike to a waterfall, a game of soccer, calls to home, and homemade pizza.  (The campers went home around noon, but I forgot to mention that in my journal.)  Hannah Psyk, Amanda, Jeremiah, and I play card games and almost get left behind since we're in a different room than everyone else.  Andrew and Ashlee are officially boyfriend and girlfriend, and the water tanks are back to normal so the plumbing works now.

July 29
8:25 AM  "We have a team dog!  He's a light brown puppy with chihuahua ears and a German Shepherd look.  All the dogs on the island have the same outline and distinctive ears.  This one's had five names.  I first found him in the kitchen and named him Brownie.  Then Deyn, one of the Dominican boys, found him and named him DJ (Deyn Jr.)  The dog ran off and came back a couple days later.  Logan saw him and named him Wimpy.  He came into my cabin and we gave him a sheet for a bed and a ball for a chew toy - he made of mess of the foam and slept right outside our door.  This morning he joined everyone at breakfast and we officially named him Chewbacca for his more than a little chew-happy personality."  (After this entry, he was finally and permanently renamed Squirt.)

9:01 AM  The team has group devotions and prayer, and I discover that Danielle learned unselfishness by lending me a towel when mine was soaked in the rain.

9:16 AM  I write out a prayer.

11:21 AM  Notes from morning church service about faithfulness and Daniel.

1:51 PM  I talk about Eric, the Corneliuses' two-year-old, as well as the post-service potluck, a little boy named Nathaniel, and another dog around the camp that we named Rufus.

8:13 PM  Notes from team challenge about treasuring Jesus.

July 30
10:57 AM  Yesterday: naps after church and lunch, followed by a good conversation with Audra about friends and talent and jealousy.  The team Skypes with the church back in Georgia before having a team challenge with singing and a graduate edification project.  We all play Mafia then and Danielle and I sing Disney and Sound of Music in the showerhouse.  Today: eggs and sausage breakfast before driving to Portsmouth, only to find that the river boat tour we were planning to take (and see the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 swamp set) is closed due to weather.  So we drive to Roseau, the capital city.

12:22 PM  Notes about the details one notices when one spends several days with the same group of people.

my journal after the trip

8:07 PM  I talk about our day of being tourists: lunch at KFC.  Souvenir shopping.  A beach with black volcanic ash sand.  Swimming in the ocean. (Just me and the Cornelius kids.  Everyone else stayed up by the shore.)  Dinner at a Roseau hotel.  Brizee's supermarket.  Awesome ice cream.

July 31
11:16 PM  I write one final entry about our smooth but very long day of travels, some personal issues that came up during camp, and a comparison between Dominica and America.  I'll post that soon.

TD.12 (A Summary, Part One)

As many of you know, I just got back very early yesterday morning from a ten-day mission trip to the island of Dominica.  When you spend ten very busy days with almost thirty other people immersed in a third-world island country - no cell phone, internet, computer, television, air conditioning, or hot water; plenty of bugs, sweat, heat, strange foods, new people, new lingo (but thankfully still English) - it takes time to adjust to your life. A simple example is the fact that I'm writing this post in August wearing long socks, a wool head wrap, and a hoodie because the air conditioning is freezing my nose off.

All that to say: I'll try my best to share my experience with my lovely readers, but you really had to be there.


Throughout my trip, I kept a detailed journal with multiple entries a day, as well as accumulated nearly 400 photos.  (I'll be shortening and paraphrasing so these posts don't take up a whole month.)  It's only fitting to begin at the beginning...

my journal before the trip

July 23
5:07 PM  Waiting for a very late final flight in the airport in Antigua.

7:10 PM  Our plane finally leaves just to turn around and come back due to technical difficulties.  So I decide to do something on my bucket list and people-watch in an airport.

10:45 PM  We arrive!

July 24
8:22 AM  Details about the camp, the view, and how much I love the island.

10:37 AM  "Already I've watched a native crack a coconut, tried and gagged on coconut water, and tried and spit out coconut meat.  Oh, not to mention climbed up and down a major hill too many times and eaten - and spit out - what I later discovered was a very unripe mango.  Tasted like a cross between tree bark and paper. :S"

7:00 PM  The campers arrive; teams are assigned.  There are three teams, White Hawks, Green Sisserous, and Gold Jackos.  I'm on green team.  The Sisserou is the national bird of Dominica, a parrot found only on the island.  Jackos are another local parrot that are found in several nearby islands.

7:56 PM  Notes from evening service about the importance of the Bible.

July 25
8:15 AM  Thoughts on Dominicans drinking a hot cocoa type of drink with breakfast.

2:15 PM  Details about the food, which is tuna for breakfast and a very different version of chicken and dumplings for lunch.  Notes about the camp games and postponed girls' hike, as well as the fact that the water tanks ran out so there's no water for showers, sinks, and toilets.

7:15 PM  "The guys just got back from bathing in the river.  We've figured out how to fill and flush the toilets manually so I haven't had to 'pee in the bush.'  The chapel dress code will be everyday wear tonight and then all the girls will drive to the Corneliuses' house for showers.
Every girls' cabin has had some sort of nuisance.  I found a spider bigger than a quarter on a bedpost when we first arrived.  That night one cabin had an enormous moth that eventually flew into a fan and got cut in half.  At some point the third cabin dealt with a large roach."  Talk about photos of geckos, getting used to bugs flying into your hair, and how much Dominican boys love candy.

7:25 PM  Notes on how Dominicans call flip-flops 'slippers,' and how Adina and I want to be pen pals.

8:05 PM  Notes from evening service about the game that is life.

July 26
7:52 AM  "Last night was great.  After evening services Adina, Danielle, Joy, Katie, Ashlee, and I rode to the Corneliuses' house in the back of the truck.  We said hi to people we passed and sang 'In the Jungle.'  Then, when we were taking showers, first the breaker for the lights then the shower faucet broke during Joy's turn.
Adina and I were going to see the sunrise today but we set the alarm too early and it went off at four, waking the whole cabin while I fumbled to turn it off in the black darkness.  Katie, Adina, and I walked up to the bathrooms in the dark and admired the amazing starry sky before going back to bed.  Tomorrow we'll set the alarm at five-thirty and try again." Notes about the food, which included mac-n-cheese, cheese sandwiches made with mayo and mustard, and corned beef sandwiches.

8:09 AM  "Kurwington, a boy from our brother cabin, has a major crush on Danielle.  He drew her a big flower on one side of a paper and a heart with their names on the other.  Then on another paper he drew a heart covered in ivy vines.  He's really good at drawing.
Ricky is another little boy in our brother cabin.  He's deaf and has his teacher, Axel, here as an interpreter.  It's really cool to watch them 'talk.'  He's a funny kid.  He likes to call people fat, except Lauren and Logan who he called skinny as a paper.
We're having bread, oatmeal, and Dominica cocoa for breakfast.  It looks good.
Delrun, a boy from another cabin, just had Ricky pass a 'love note' to Audra.  All these notes are funny."

8:39 AM  My poor opinion of Dominican cocoa and my high opinion of sign language and its beauty.

8:45 AM  Notes about my brother and how he's a great volunteer.

11:22 AM  While waiting for Christian Life Session (CLS) to start, I talk about the games we played that morning, the crazy bug bites everybody's getting, the funny smell that's starting to build up in the cabins, and the lack of rain to refill the water tanks.

11:35 AM  Notes from CLS about purity and impurity in our culture and mindset.

8:05 PM  Notes from evening service about friendship and choosing the right friends.

9:05 PM  "Today was another perfect day.  During free time the guys went on a hike and I enjoyed working in the Canteen snack shack.  Then it rained!  Only for a little while, but it was a great downpour.  I ran around and was soaked to the bone.  Katie worried about my getting ill and Eddie told me to get my umbrella, but Danielle and I enjoyed it immensely.  Everyone could see it coming over the ocean and some of us cheered and did happy dances.
After that the girls went to the river to wash, which was also an amazing experience.  I mean, other than the fact that I was stupid and wore cheap flip-flops, one of which broke, and took my evening service clothes to put on.  Dressing in a skirt while standing barefoot on slippery rocks and ankle-deep in a river is a challenge.
Really though, I loved it.  I actually think bathtubs might be a little overrated.
My only complaint for this entire trip is the bug bites, which I would've gotten at the Wilds camp anyway.
I can't wait to see the sunrise with Adina tomorrow."

9:32 PM  I try starfruit, guava, Dominican pineapple and Dominican bananas while the Dominican boys use my camera.  I only like the pineapple but can now say I've tried them!  Thoughts on the natives and how I simply have to return to the island someday.

10:39 PM  Adina and I swap addresses.

To Be Continued...

Adventures, Travel, and the Amazing Feeling That Is Takeoff

As you read this, I am either on a plane or in an airport somewhere between Georgia and the tiny third-world island nation of Dominica, where I will be spending the rest of July, along with twenty-one other teenagers and five adults from my church. We'll be helping the Cornelius missionary family host a VBS-style summer camp for native children, as well as helping around the church with services, maintenance, and anything else they need.

Prayers for safety, no lost luggage, and no delayed/nonexistent flights (yes, that happened last time this trip was made) would be appreciated.

As for this here blog, I have one of my own posts and some guest bloggers scheduled. However, I'm not sure if I'll have any Internet access during the ten days, and if I do I may not have time to use it. Therefore, any comments/emails will have to wait until my return.

I'm very excited for this trip. A lot of people I know would call our mission team crazy for (a) flying on a plane (b) to a foreign country (c) that happens to be a third-world country (d) in the Caribbean. They might also think our group crazy for (e) not staying in a hotel or (f) living like the people there, including sleeping arrangements, food, showers, etc. But for a military brat who loves to read stories about two women who go on a cruise and end up driving halfway across Mexico alone to claim an old trailer left to them by some great-uncle... well, this is my idea of awesome!

Oh, and did I mention that it's been entirely too long since I stepped foot on a plane? *Sigh* I just love flying.