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| El Yunque Rainforest |
- Mayan region of Mexico
- Branches of the Vine--Ghana, Africa
- Turtle rescue in Guatamala
- Casas por Cristo Missions
- Forget Me Not Ministries
- Peruvian orphanages
- Student International, Dominican Republic
- World Servants, Puerto Rico
World Servants finally met all of Hannah's criteria--a mission trip that would lift us up and off the continent of the U.S. and place us on "foreign" soil; a trip that wouldn't feel too much like a vacation but would work us mind, body, spirit; and an adventure that would include a team of volunteers from all different ages, races, and varying backgrounds. The bonus for me in having Hannah pick Puerto Rico was that it was (and is!) a territory of the United States. I would no longer have to worry about taking her out of the country, relying on passports for entrance and exit, with intensive/extensive customs to pass through. Although the culture would be new and exciting, and the language barrier a bit of a challenge, we wouldn't have to "leave" the U.S. to experience any of it.
All of that meant great peace of mind for me.
After several more email exchanges with Patty Juarez, our contact leader at World Servants, Hannah and I finally booked two spots on their team leaving for Puerto Rico, July 28-August 4. As the weeks passed, information began trickling in via snail-mail, and one day a huge white envelope arrived with our names on it. Inside were our registration forms, applications, flight information, and packing lists. In the days ahead, I sifted through all of it, eventually going online to reserve our round-trip flights. I decided to pad an extra two days into our itinerary at the end of our week, so that Hannah and I would have a chance to breathe and reflect upon all that we had seen and done. This decision meant renting a car and finding an additional place to stay. But I knew that these two days would become just as valuable as the work we would be doing, and that we'd need the one-on-one time after we said goodbye to the new friends we would be making.
So, with our flights booked, I began searching for a place to stay those extra two nights. I finally stumbled upon Sue's Place, a little loft located near Puerto Rico's El Yunque National Rainforest. For years, Hannah and I had talked of seeing and hiking through a real rainforest, and here was our chance to do it! Making this a part of her Rite of Passage was a dream come true--and after calling Sue to reserve the room, I thought we had locked the final piece of our long-awaited puzzle into place.
All of that meant great peace of mind for me.
After several more email exchanges with Patty Juarez, our contact leader at World Servants, Hannah and I finally booked two spots on their team leaving for Puerto Rico, July 28-August 4. As the weeks passed, information began trickling in via snail-mail, and one day a huge white envelope arrived with our names on it. Inside were our registration forms, applications, flight information, and packing lists. In the days ahead, I sifted through all of it, eventually going online to reserve our round-trip flights. I decided to pad an extra two days into our itinerary at the end of our week, so that Hannah and I would have a chance to breathe and reflect upon all that we had seen and done. This decision meant renting a car and finding an additional place to stay. But I knew that these two days would become just as valuable as the work we would be doing, and that we'd need the one-on-one time after we said goodbye to the new friends we would be making.
So, with our flights booked, I began searching for a place to stay those extra two nights. I finally stumbled upon Sue's Place, a little loft located near Puerto Rico's El Yunque National Rainforest. For years, Hannah and I had talked of seeing and hiking through a real rainforest, and here was our chance to do it! Making this a part of her Rite of Passage was a dream come true--and after calling Sue to reserve the room, I thought we had locked the final piece of our long-awaited puzzle into place.
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