Beautifully and Wonderfully Different

Team Journal Entry for Friday, July 10 

Today was so bittersweet. We concluded our service at daycare center one today and those kids and tías have made such an impact on me. The love and fun and humor and respect and value shared within the freshly painted walls of the small building sitting inside a regular food market is so unreal. Success is the goal, and milestones are accomplished. Songs and dance are the norm and tears are kissed away and turned into laughter. It was an experience unlike anything I have witnessed in my twenty years on Earth. Although I didn’t speak the same language as the tías, they always made every effort to make me feel important and include me in their classrooms. I’ve learned that facial expressions and hand gestures can communicate more effectively than words sometimes. I’ve learned that you don’t have to have the newest crayons or the shiniest walls or the best books to make a child feel loved and help them to begin their learning. None of the kids that I worked with come from luxurious homes, but they lack nothing in spunk, personality, and love. Daycare center one will always hold a place in my heart; one much bigger than I could have ever dreamed. I’m so thankful for the opportunities that I have had, the friendships that I have made, and the love I have received. God is so good to show me a life so beautifully and wonderfully different than the one that I have always known.

Entry submitted by: Sarah

Message of the Day – Chelsea: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” –Mahatma Ghandi