Mission Trip? I Like That Idea

I've been tossing around the idea of going on a mission trip for about a year now, but I've never really looked upon it. About a month ago I facebook messaged a fellow sorority sister who has gone on quite a few mission trips and who I look up to dearly for advice on how to really start the process. She responded with great guidance but the hustle and bustle of school and work kept me away from paying it any mind.

Now that I'm sitting here studying for my two tests and practical on Wednesday, it of course pops back into my head and I can't shake it. (Great timing eh?) I was considering doing Peace Corps after getting my nursing degree, but I decided against it. I think a long trip over the summer sounds extremely doable and rewarding. . If you know me you know I am not an outspoken person, especially not concerning God. I have my beliefs, I do strongly believe in them, but I'm not exactly one to go and yell at people for not believing in what I do. If someone is rudely going against what I believe and personally jeering at it I do not have a problem nicely telling them why I believe what I do, I will not sit and have someone makes jests at something that I live by. That being said I do think everyone has their own set of moral codes, but I also think that some places do not have any at all and that's where I would love to go. I want to make a positive difference in a persons life and help them see something that they may have not seen before, or purposefully shut out of their life (I'm guilty of doing this myself).

I just started looking and have already found two trips that I would love to go on. I like one specifically because it is closer to the US. Sad I know, but I've never really been overseas before (Costa Rica doesn't really count). This trip is focused around working with an orphanage in Tijuana. That being said the chances of my being allowed to go to Tijuana are slim to none; my mom was just reading in the paper about how dangerous Mexico is this morning. And she's rather protective, which I'm very thankful for. But I would love to work with children. The second trip which I am extremely drawn to is in Thailand and has to do with human trafficking, an atrocity that I have very strong feelings concerning. I first really became aware of human trafficking through a Lifetime movie and since then it is something that I will willingly get into arguments about and have always wanted to help stop but have never really knew where to start.  Click here if you're interested in reading more about it! And make sure to read this story to understand exactly what is drawing me towards this. It's so heartbreaking.

If any of you have any ideas or places to point me to I would greatly appreciate it as I feel like this is going to be a great journey that I'm just starting to put my toes into.

Ciao!! xoxo

A Trip to Church

If you know me well you will know that I am both not religious and very religious at the same time. It's quite the juxtaposition. .


Unlike most people when large things go "wrong" in my life I turn away from God instead of toward him. I like to know why things are happening the way they are, while they are, not to wait for some divine intervention where I "see the light" and understand.  After an incident three summers ago I completely turned away from God and have maybe gone to church 10 times. . a fact that I'm not necessarily proud of (but one of those times was to a confession -- quite impressive if I don't say so myself). Striking out with Maryland so many times in such a short time frame made me think that maybe I should try and let the big man back in instead of being so stubborn, I mean it really can't hurt, right?  So after much "encouragement" from my parents and Nic, I decided to go back and what better day than today.

Quick background: My family is Catholic. I got detention the first day of first grade in my private Catholic school (I'm actually slightly proud of this haha), I don't have the best mouth in the world (I'm quite a sailor at times), I am really bad at remembering prayers except a select few (like 5) that I really like, I think my particular parish has too much money and it perturbs me, I want to be married in a Catholic "ceremony", and I really do love God and know he exists, I just kinda get pissed at him sometimes.

Now that those quick bits are out of the way, I'll get into why I'm writing a post about this. During mass I wasn't exactly happy. Everything Father Ennis was saying was great, but nothing was "popping out at me" and grabbing my attention and pulling me back to God like I thought it would. Yes, I really thought this was going to be THAT easy once I put a little effort into it. . But there were two immediate goods that occurred. One: Father Ennis is the cutest little old man who I absolute adore, and I always enjoyed listening to him speak, and still do. Two: The entire mass was based on the concept of faith and the forgiveness of sins (for those of you who aren't religious, I will take a pause here for you to chuckle and say "no effing way man", lol). It isn't until right now after getting into a tiff with Nic where I realized how pertinent mass was to me today. It's not that I don't necessarily have faith or trust because I do, it's more that I'm not the best when it comes to completely putting myself in someone else's hands and trusting that whatever they are going to do will be the right decision and I need to work on it, both with the people in my life and especially with God.

Look at me going on a religious inspired ramble. Whodathunkit.

The moral of this entire blog post is that I'm going to "let God back in" and put faith in people and realize that things happen. Sometimes they're great, or horrible, or okay, and sometimes they're just downright strange but I'm not always going to know why and that's just a-oh-kay.

I also am going to stop using so many quotations marks. Goodness.

Ciao. xoxo

As an side thought: I realize this may come off wrong to some people. . hmm, no se. If it does though, no mocking/mean/rudeness was intended. Just stating. xoxoxo.