Monday, March 22, 2010

Final Thoughts Stateside...

After arriving back in snowy OKC around 11:00pm last night, everyone hugged our goodbyes, anxious to catch up on some well-deserved rest before school starts on Tuesday!!! I wanted to put down some final thoughts on our trip:
First, let me say how proud Kristi and I are of all the girls!! These four worked without ceasing or complaining during our homestay in Armenia village and made a huge impact on not only the physcial facilities of the school, but (more importantly) on the lives of the students. It was great to watch the connections they made playing soccer, tutoring, and playing on the new swingset! They worked through sweat, rain, and sand fleas without ever once whining or wanting to stop! This was such a great group to work with!!
I was also very impressed with the quality of the people with whom we worked at every stop. From the staff at Monkey Bay, the guide at Xunantunich, the host moms, Matt and Michelle at Tobacco Caye, to our eternally optimistic guide, Juan--all were of the highest caliber and expertise. This was one of the best trips I have been a part of in almost six years of leading student trips.
Perhaps the best thing was seeing the connections the students made between the changes that occured in them and through them. On their own, they came up with almost three pages of ideas for how we can continue to engage in the work we started in Armenia. We are all different people because of this trip and I can't wait to see where we go from here!

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