Day 2: Hypothermia in California

The Roadtrip to Mexico Begins

February 10th

"Story #1 to tell our families back home!" Lana cheered amidst our giddy laughter. What a night. After descending into the city lights of San Diego yesterday evening, we had been happy enough just to find our motel. An ordeal including vanishing team members, an unsettling stroll and a doughnut shop followed, after which none of us was awake enough to notice the lack of heat in the room.

I woke up at 4:00AM, frozen too stiff to move. The others hadn't fared much better, for the morning found us laughing hysterically, sharing our misfortunes through chattering teeth in the little white-washed room.
"What a terrible night!," and "I think my nose is frozen!" were among the comments I heard.
But I was too stunned to reply. I could only point, mouth agape, to the large black heater unused on the wall above us.

And that was only the start of the day.

We went on to meet our team leader and join the rest of the team, a group from Minnesota. Then we all piled into the big, white YWAM van to begin the REAL adventure of the day, the beautiful drive down through Mexico.
Let me tell you about it...

Day 1: Airport Survival Manual

February 9th, 2013

In all appearances, today was a day spent waiting at airports. Those who wish to leave it at that may do so; (I would have skipped the 7 hours we spent at airports too if I could have.) But those who wish to dive in and learn tactics for navigating the carpeted jungles of terminals, spelunking the labyrinths of jetways and coming face to face with blinking mustard bottles, read on.


Flying over the Rockies, 2:07 PM:  That's the first time I've ever looked down on a mountain! The Rockies are as rugged and majestic as ever. Only shorter. They're a field of jagged pyramids and interconnected valleys...some of their peaks are rising from a low basin of cloud like bits of food floating in a bowl of soup.

Mexico: The Adventure Begins

INTRODUCTION

February 9, 2013

I Just Want to be Closer was playing on the radio that Wednesday night--a few summers ago--as our car pulled away from the back of a mall plaza. I gazed out the back seat window, listening, but Mexico was really on my mind.

My family had volunteered there twice before, many years ago. But now our friends Barb and Katrina, who had also started going, invited me to come with them on their next trip there. Adventure was in the air, forshadowed in the night like the smell of rain before a storm. Something else was calling, too.

Processing OCC Shoeboxes

A Volunteering Roadtrip

The Quiz Team at the Shoebox Warehouse in Calgary

Yesterday a full van load of Bible Quizzers--with me jammed in pleasantly among them--pioneered the snowy roads to Calgary in the morning. Destination: the Canadian headquarters of Samaritan's Purse. A few hundred kilometres and several games of travel checkers later, our van pulled into the OCC (Operation Christmas Child) volunteer parking lot, where we met our team members who had convoyed down with us.

After watching the training video we were able to get to work carrying, inspecting, taping and numbering the boxes. This was my second time working at the warehouse, and it was just as fun as before. Being part of something like that--such an incredible cause--working together for God with so many other like-minded people is an experience that leaves you wishing it could last a lifetime.


And someday it will...

Travel Preparations Begin...With Vaccinations.

               "Maybe I shouldn't travel," I proposed, glancing in the opposite direction of my bared left arm...the arm across which I could even now feel a cool, moist cotton ball sliding. This was it.  Years of existence, months of planning for Uganda and weeks of planning for Mexico had accumulated to bring me to this point. A needlepoint. 

                "Which hand do you use to write?" here came the voice of the nurse.

               "Left," I responded.

               "You're right-handed, dear," corrected my mom...