5 days before Mexico

I sit down with only five days before we leave the cold New England weather, our comfortable beds, and all the luxuries of home. Seventeen individuals are giving up a week of their precious vacation time to go down to Mexico and hang out with a bunch of kids they have never met. We will roll up our sleeves, paint, clean and fix what ever nook and cranny we are directed to. Yet more than this we will play and learn from young people in a way many of us have never had the chance to before.
I am not sure really what to expect. However, I am going with the understanding in my heart that these precious opportunities to serve are often more for the people going, than the people we are going to help. After all, we will all go down bask in their sun, learn their stories, and share in their young pure spirits. I can only pray we leave behind a piece of ourselves bigger than the check we write out, the toys we have collected, and the new clothes they will now have.
I am very excited to be part of something like this. I am eager to leave the cold I mentioned before, sleep anywhere there is room, and let a smile of a child replace any of the luxuries I may have left at home.