Orphanage, Dance Party and Road Trip! – Final thoughts from our Penticton friends

The story of how the orphanage in San Quintin came to be is an inspiring one, a woman turned her life upside down, just to follow her heart and help those in need. Those kind of morals and the passion she had is still displayed today at the mission. We visited the children at the orphanage on Monday, for a few hours we played soccer, jumped rope, painted faces and drew some pretty epic sidewalk chalk masterpieces. It was interesting to see the contrast between the children at the worksites we had been at and those at the orphanage, you can tell that they are in better living conditions and have nicerclothes. It made me happy to see that they were cared for in such a loving way, and that the people watching over them were there to help and love, these children come to the orphanage with such tragic stories, and have lost their parents through situations that some of us could never imagine. It was a great thing to tour through and see that even though they had been through hard times, they’re in a place of happiness now.Monday night we had a little bit of a fiesta for Ben, one of the guys who had his birthday during the trip. We broke a pinata, roasted marshmallows and danced to a pretty interesting mix of mariachi and dub-step. We all enjoyed ourselves, but one of the things that struck me most was the sense of comfort we all found in one another as a group. Coming into this, not a lot of people knew most other people and most socialization consisted of small talk around the dinner table, and shy smiles on the bus. But after just a week and a half together, there was a full throttle dance party happening on the porch, and it was amazing to see.We’re now heading back, after stopping in Bakersfield Wednesday night, we drove all Thursday night and we’ve finally arrived in Abbotsford. We have duck taped a girl to a seat, given enormous groupgoodbye hugs to our newly-made friends and almost made it through a Starbucks drive through in a shopping cart. All in all, we’re a pretty great group of friends now. It’s been really incredible to see how these experiences have affected the people who had never seen or walked through poverty before. Lives have been changed, not only those of the people we have helped, but also those of the ones who have given their time and love to those in need. Its been an awesome trip and I’m so grateful to have experienced it with everyone.