Over spring break I went on a missions trip to South Padre, Texas with Iowa State Cru. Cru, a campus ministry that is passionate about connecting others to Jesus Christ, is a group that I have gotten involved in while at college. I was privileged to be able to be apart of the spring break planning team - I worked with a group of students to plan this trip to Texas. The planning and trip itself were SO much fun. I hope I never forget it - there were so many memories made. I have come back overflowing with joy and thankfulness. I can't even express it! God is so good!
There were 19 of us that went down to Texas. We rented cars, and those who were at least 21 years old took turns driving - we just drove through the night. I didn't think I would like doing the driving, especially through the night, but it was actually a TON of fun.
On Friday afternoon, those who would be driving met up and went to pick up the rental cars. The drivers went to pick everyone else who was assigned to their car. Then we all met up and prayed before leaving. By about 6:00, we were Texas bound. I was SO excited! I was so excited about driving my Corolla rental car, doing on a road trip (an adventure), spending time with these people, and getting out of Ames.
Pretty much the whole trip there is a straight shot on I-35, which made it a pretty easy drive. We would pick a destination (a gas station) about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours of driving to meet up at. Here we would gas up, stretch, switch drivers, bathroom up, and get snacks. The whole trip went by really fast, except for the last 3 hours.
I created this document with games and ideas of things to do in the car! I gave each car a copy!
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| ^^One of our rental cars ended up being this truck. A few people in the group were pretty trilled about it!^^ |
On the way down, I drove the first shift and then again from like 1 to 3:30 in the morning. This included going through Kansas and Oklahoma City, and paying at a pay toll! This was the time of day that I thought I would like driving the least, but it was actually a lot of fun - it was something I've never done before! Each car made sure that at least one person stayed up with the driver - to make sure their doing okay and didn't fall asleep.
We stopped at a Denny's for breakfast mid-morning on Saturday.
People it Texas drive real fast! Like going any slower than 80 on the high way is going slow. It was funny seeing palm trees mixed with other trees and cows while driving through Texas - I never imagined these to go together. The majority of the trip was just driving through Texas - Texas really is huge!
We stayed at a hotel in Brownsville, Texas. It is right on the U.S.- Mexico border. We arrived there at about 5pm on Saturday. Saturday evening was spent getting checked in, and then going to Walmart to get groceries. Our rooms had little kitchenettes, so we could cook our own food some.
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| ^^I highly recommend this ice cream!^^ |
Some of us did go to Sonic after our Walmart run though.
We partnered with First Baptist Church in Brownsville. We attended their Sunday service - it was so good! The sermon was about being thankful for everything little thing. Being thankful is such a fundamental part of our relationship with Christ, but the importance of it can easily be forgotten. Throughout the week we used one of the church's classrooms. Here we did group devotionals, listened to talks, worshiped, had trainings, and had family time. Various students lead trainings on how to share our faith in the mornings. Family time was in the evenings where we shared with the group how our days went, anything interesting that happened, stories, what God is teaching us, etc.
Sunday afternoon was our fun day at the beach. We drove to South Padre Island, which was about a 40 min drive. It was a beautiful day to spend on the beach. The water was a bit cold, but once I got used to it, it wasn't too bad. It was fun jumping the waves.
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| ^^Crossing the bridge from Port Isabel to South Padre Island.^^ |
I was so surprised at how big the waves were!
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| ^^My roommates for the week. From left to right: Bailey, Me, Kate.^^ |
After a few hours at the beach, we stopped in Port Isabel for ice cream!
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| ^^Nathan^^ |
Once we got back to Brownsville, we spent a little time at the hotel (we could eat if we needed to). Then we headed over to our church classroom for a "Get Hyped" session (worship and to hear a message).
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| ^^A photo in our church classroom.^^ |
Later Sunday night, a group of us went to What-A-Burger. I know some people love this place, but I was a little disappointed. It wasn't bad, but nothing great.
At the beginning of the semester, my roommate Lydia organized a group of us and we made homeless care packages to keep on hand in our cars. I brought a couple with and we handed them out!
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| ^^Random photo, but we stopped at a lot of gas stations throughout the week.^^ |
After a few hours on the beach, we headed back to the hotel for a quick dinner, and then went over to the church for our night session. We had worship, listened to a talk, and had family time.
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| ^^There was a lot of hair braiding on the trip!^^ |
Tuesday morning was spent in our church classroom for a group devotional and more training on how to use tools for guiding spiritual conversations and sharing our faith.
A guy named Nathan who was on our trip, has a family friend named Faith, that winters down in Texas. She brought us cinnamon rolls!
Tuesday afternoon was spent sharing on the beach again. Both Monday and Tuesday were kind of cold, especially by the ocean, but we survived. On the drive to the island, my car got a flat tire. I am so thankful that my dad has taught me to be aware of all the sounds, smells, feels, etc coming from the car. I noticed there was a flat tire right away, before it got to bad. We pulled over, and luckily Nathan was in the car who was able to put the spare on (we later got a new tire). We were a little late to the beach, but I thought the tire added a little adventure that we had to get through!
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| ^^Bailey (and Nathan) using one of our sharing tools on the beach!^^ |
I was freezing cold after sharing. The sand warmed my legs up!
Josh was on the spring break trip to South Padre last year, and that is when he accepted Christ into his life. Before coming on the trip this year, he made the decision to get baptized, in South Padre, in the ocean. After sharing on Tuesday, he personally confessed his faith to us. He told us his testimony and then Eric (one of the interns) baptized him. It was so beautiful!
When Josh came out of the water, we started singing (a song that was a part of his testimony).
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| ^^Josh and his finance Lydia.^^ |
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| ^^The group praying over Josh.^^ |
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| ^^The view of the sunset from our church classroom.^^ |
On Wednesday morning, our training was on how to share our testimony. Sharing your testimony can be a powerful way to share how great and powerful God is. Someone can't deny how God has worked in your life personally. We partnered up and then shared our life before Christ, how we came to Christ, and our life after Christ and how we have been changed.
Wednesday was a beautiful day for sharing on the beach - it was warm and sunny!
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| ^^My apartment roommates (I feel like we're sister)! From left to right: Lydia, Me, Stephanie.^^ |
After sharing on beach on Wednesday, we were invited to Faith and her husband's home for dinner.
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| ^^Left to right: Me, Travis, Stephanie, Tasha, and long story short, a girl we met that joined us for the day.^^ |
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| ^^In the back is Faith and her husband. In the front from left to right: Dom, Sam, Josh.^^ |
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| ^^Left to right: Lydia, Matthew, Eric, Molly.^^ |
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| ^^Left to right: Bailey, Christine, Kate, Natalie.^^ |
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| ^^Left to right: Tori, Becky, Cole, Nathan.^^ |
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| ^^From left to right: Tori, Me, Natalie^^ |
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| ^^Another random photo.^^ |
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| ^^Cross car communication - we got in and out of the cars a lot.^^ |
Getting around Brownsville was pretty easy and a lot of fun!
Thursday, was our day of service. We went to Good Neighbor Settlement House. This is a place that serves the homeless community in Brownsville. It is located in the poorest area of the country. They provide three meals a day, have a food pantry, have shower facilities, many services, and are working to make rooms for people to live in.
When we got there, we first got a tour of the place. Then we helped them out with various things like labeling water bottles that they were going to hand out, putting together some packages, cleaning, organizing, and just hanging out with the people that come to the place.
We got to eat lunch in the kitchen that feeds the community.
It was so green in Texas!
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| ^^Hanging out and playing games in the hotel room.^^ |
Thursday evening was our family dinner. We went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. I got enchiladas - they were okay. But, the atmosphere was fun!
The next day was going to be Bailey's birthday. To celebrate birthdays at this restaurant they put a hard hat on the birthday person's head, tap it with a shot glass, make noise, sing, and then give the birthday person a shot (I don't think it's alcohol) to drink. It's quite the scene. For several days after the trip, several people made it a point to celebrate Bailey's birthday. Several funny birthday things happened for several days after the trip!
On the last night, Matthew gave a talk. He is only a freshman. It is so cool to see how willing he is to jump right in and get involved and take steps of faith. We also had some worship and a nice, long family time, where we shared and reflected on what we learned and experienced throughout the week.
On Friday morning, a bunch of us got up and headed down to Krispie Kreme for doughnuts. Shortly after, we hit the road and made our way to San Antonio.
San Antonio was about a four hour drive from Brownsville. We spent a few hours there - to break up the driving and just for fun. It was a beautiful day! I really liked San Antonio and the area around it!
There seemed to be a lot of historical places in San Antonio!
We parked up in the Pearl district and then walked down by the river (on the river walk). I really liked it - it was really pretty!
But first, we got ice cream from Lick!
We pretty much started off staying as a large group, but then eventually broke up into smaller ones.
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| ^^The river was died green for St. Patrick's Day (we were there the day before St. Patrick's Day). |
To me, it felt like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
There were turtles in Texas!
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| ^^Sam and I^^ |
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| ^^Stephanie^^ |
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| ^^Lydia^^ |
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| ^^Grilled beets for an appetizer.^^ |
For dinner, Sam and I went to a BBQ restaurant called The Granary. It was really good!
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| Left to right: Lydia, Stephanie, Matthew^^ |
We left San Antonio around 7pm and then headed home to Ames.
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| ^^Drinking coffee at 11pm to help stay awake for driving!^^ |
We were completely stopped in traffic due to road construction at like 1:00 in the morning in Dallas! Crazy!
On the way down to Texas, we watched the car's temperature reading go up. On the way home, we watched it go down. When we got back to Iowa, there was snow on the ground... a little different from Texas' sunny and 85 degree weather. I wish I were still in Texas! We arrived back to Ames Saturday afternoon.
Honestly, I didn't think I would like Texas. But, I loved it! It was almost like we were in a different country. Since we were so close to Mexico, there was basically a mix between two cultures - it was neat to see.
This blog post just barely captures the trip. I came home being SO INCREDIBLY thankful for this group that I get to be apart of. And, that I get to call these people my friends. The people on this trip are seriously some of the coolest people out there! They are so much fun to be with, caring, thoughtful, kind, want to put God first, loving, and so much more. I love them so much!
For the trip, we had a GroupMe that we used to communicate in. Reading through the GroupMe is so funny! I think it would make a really funny book. People started making memes with any funny pictures that they got throughout the trip. (A few pictures were posed for the purpose of making a meme, others were not.). Here are just SOME of the memes from the GroupMe. They were so funny!
NOTE and SHOUT OUT: A lot of these pictures come from other students that were on the trip! Thank you to them for all the great pictures.
This trip definitely wasn't completely perfect. But, I definitely came back with being overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness for this community that I get to be apart of, all that God has done for me and in my life, and that I get to live this life. I don't even know how to express myself or put it into words. This blog post just barely gives a glimpse of the trip.
