Sydney Love

I got to go to Honduras on a mission trip with a group from my church, New Heights, over spring break. This trip was incredible growing and transformative, and it was really cool getting to go into it with all I have learned this semester from my Intercultural Communications class as well as my International Relations class (as well as background knowledge about missions).
We flew in on Friday, the 17th, and stayed Friday and Saturday nights in a place in Yamaranguila. On Saturday, we went to Abundant Life School (a Christian bilingual school for grades K-12) and hosted a youth program there. Some of the kids showed us around, and we got to play sports and games with them. Then we went and did a bible study / youth program with the high school students there, shared a sermon, and got in small groups and discussed questions and read passages from the Bible about the Good Shepherd.
On Sunday, we drove a couple hours to the base of a mountain, San Pedrito, and then we hiked 3 hours (5 miles) through the mountains until we reached a remote village called Agua Caliente. The first full day in the mountains (on Monday) we hosted a medical clinic - a Honduran doctor, Honduran dentist, and Honduran pharmacist all came with us to serve. We also had a station at the end where people would pray over Hondurans from the village after going through the clinic and getting meds. Finally, there was a lice/hair wash/nail painting station (that I was at) where we washed women's & girls' hair. It was very humbling and very much a situation where the Lord was saying "are you willing - to get lice to wash these girls' hair that have probably never had their hair washed before?" and He protected us from it! Praise God!
The following few days, we got to teach English to kids (5-11y/o) in two different classrooms. It was such a cool opportunity that opened my eyes to wanting to potentially move back and do that in the future! I am so thankful for my experience learning Spanish, because all I have learned over the years was a huge help! I am nowhere near fluent, but I was humbled and honored being able to speak with the kids and teacher as much as I could. Something fun that we did every afternoon was play soccer with the kids. They had a huge field where they would always play. Even the teachers from the two classrooms would come play with us. One day after soccer, my friend got baptized, and all of the kids got to witness! It was a really cool experience. While some of us were teaching, others were working on a construction project with cement. Also, we got the opportunity to go in small groups (just a couple of us) to different houses in the neighborhood to learn from the women how to make corn tortillas! There we got to talk to them (we brought a translator with us) and learn about their lives and what they loved about living there. Their answers tended to hit hard when they would say "we have everything we need. we have clean water!" which is very counter cultural (to American culture especially). Through talking to them, we were able to tell them about who Jesus is and the free gift of salvation He has given us! How HE is our Living Water. On the last night, we got to co-host a church service with the Honduran pastor, Bernardo, and one of my friends gave a sermon which was translated too. Many Honduran kids, teens, and adults attended as well. The whole trip was completely life-giving and encouraging! I would do it again and again. One big thing I learned from the Hondurans that hosted us and welcomed us in so consistently with open arms is the value of hospitality. I want to incorporate that aspect of free/open invitation into my life. I am so grateful for my experience and have grown so much from it.

In February, I got to volunteer for Up All Night through KLIFE! This is an event we do every year for middle school kids. We play LOTS of games, sing songs, compete in challenges, and so much more! It is just a fun way to get to know the students better. I learned a lot about organization and leadership through this.

On this day my group got to go to Hill Coffee with the pink slips given to us by Conversation Club Committee, and we got to get a free drink (on them). YiChan, Fallon, and I all got the same thing. It was really good! We talked about how our weeks were going, followed up about some things from the first week, and talked about cars and driving and how that is different in China vs US (and different states within US). We also got to talk about being outside, and the different weather in China vs. US. Also talked about some other things but this is what I remember.

I got to serve another time at LifeSource! Again this time, we also worked in the back in the food pantry section. We broke down boxes, packed a bunch of bags, and brought them to a big bin to put all the bags in for people to pick up. We also got to help with the after school tutoring and play with kids for the last hour. It was so fun to get to play a part in the behind-the-scenes packaging of bags, but also the more hands-on engaging with the kids!

I got to serve at LifeSource in the back to help with organizing the food pantry side of it! We broke down boxes as well as packed bags of food for the homeless community to come and pick up. It was cool getting to do a job more-so behind the scenes. I learned that it is just as big of a help and just as humbling. I am grateful to have gotten to help!

I have had the opportunity to serve and lead a small group of freshman girls this year. We meet for an hour and a half each week, but have had a couple weeks off due to exams or breaks. So, that is a rough estimate, but we have probably met around 35 hours (maybe more but went on the safer side). I have learned so much about discipleship and leading girls. Diving deep into scripture (last semester in John) and learning about the Fruits of the Spirit more in depth (this semester) has been really cool and growing even for me! My girls teach me so much as my co and I continue to lead them. It has been such a joy!