ADHD as a Young Adult

"You don't have ADHD." "ADHD isn't a thing." "It's just a lie from doctors to rack in money from the medication sales."

Hello, I am Bethany and I struggle to this day with ADHD. Ever since I was young, I have struggled with it. It has been a life-long journey. The point of me writing this article is just to give you a glimpse of it through my eyes and I guess to give myself a chance to organize my own thoughts on it.
I'll start with my childhood. I was a very happy-go-lucky child with zero attention span and excess energy. My mom recounted to me the first time she realized something was... "different." It was when she had me in my highchair and the entire time I would just bang my head on the side of it.
I remember as a child having to take medication every morning, never being able to sit still, and having kids laugh at me in church because I couldn't sit still.
I also remember vividly my friend getting seriously upset with me because at her sleepover because I forgot my medication.
My camp counselor recently sent me this,
"I remember you being full of energy and super excited. Not entirely a bad thing either! ❤ I still remember the time at girl's camp that you told me you hated taking your meds because it made you feel weird and not normal. And I hugged you and you said but if I don't take them I'm told I'm crazy."
 I loved my childhood. I wouldn't actually change it for the world. It wasn't that hard being an ADHD child but it has been ...challenging being an ADHD adult. I had no idea what stigmas I would face as a young adult. I always thought that I would just grow out of my ADHD. Nope. The most frustrating thing I face is how many people I have talked to that have tried to convince me that what I have isn't real. What I face daily and struggle with every minute of every day...isn't real. It really hurt at first, but now I just let it roll off my back. Not everyone knows how to put themselves in other's shoes.
Another thing that is slightly frustrating is when people try to normalize me. As in, overly try to identify with me to try and assure me that what I go through is normal for everyone.
I have found that people increasingly look at ADHD as a child's thing and that having it is no big deal at all. It has even become just a meme on that internet, "I was going to the supermarket and... oh look a butterfly." People look at it like "So what, your thoughts are a little random and your attention jumps" That is an easy thing to say when it's not you dealing with it.

I am going to give you a little glimpse into my brain.
I overthink everything... my brain is like a high-speed machine that NEVER turns off. In less than a second, my brain can switch between 5 or more subjects, never quite completing the thought before it.
I struggle to look at people when they talk. It has taken me years of self-discipline to stay focused in a conversation. My brain pressures me to find another thing to occupy it when someone is talking to me. PLEASE and I mean PLEASE do not be offended if I am "looking" like I am not paying attention to you. I may be fiddling with my phone, looking around, playing with my shirt, etc. and it looks like I could care less about you or the topic at hand but THAT IS NOT THE CASE. It is how I cope with my ADHD.
Church and class are the worst for me, I cannot lie. I have been raised that you focus in church and do minimal else. It is not abnormal to see me glancing at the doors every single time someone enters. If anyone gets up it takes all the will power in me not to look.  I have this paint by number app on my phone and it does wonders helping me concentrate and occupying my need to be doing something with my hands. I have always cared to an extent of the people's opinions around me throughout my life. Most of the things that help the most with dealing with my ADHD are not always acceptable. My phone has been my biggest vice throughout my life. I have never wanted to be addicted to my phone or for people to view me as phone addicted. As an ADHD person, phones are a haven. I often sit there and just swipe left and right on my screen without even realizing it because it satisfies my brain's need for my hands to be busy. I have been known to give backrubs to my friends throughout movies because I need something to occupy my hands. My hands are almost always moving whether I am tapping the table, fiddling with a pen, etc.
I took medication during my school years. My mom wished now that she had never done that. I stopped after high school and (I don't remember this) but she said that she remembers that I started using (stimming) self-stimulation methods to deal with my ADHD. The most "worrisome" stimming I started doing was shaking my hands, sort of like an autistic child does. Although I don't remember it, it doesn't surprise me. I have successfully stopped doing that now but I do many others such as hitting my head lightly with my palm, playing with my nails, biting my nails, cracking my knuckles, popping my jaw, etc (Most humans have some stimming habits)
I have been in college for 2 years now. It has been such a journey. I always had medication throughout my school years. Doing college without it has been extremely hard. I have maintained my 4.0 but everything takes me forever. Readings are excruciating, reports are frustrating and concentrating in class is hard. I approached the topic of starting meds again with my mother but we collectively agreed to try and keep going without ingesting more medication.
I get distracted by everything. The best description I can give you for you to be able to understand what it is like for me when I am studying is this: Imagine you are trying to read a sentence and suddenly your brain starts saying "rainbows, rainbows, rainbows" and you are like no and try a little harder to focus and another thought comes, "unicorns unicorns unicorns" and you are just like NO! and try focusing harder. 2 or more thoughts come and they are just all unanimously "yelling" in your head and you just give up and entertain them because it was too loud to read your page anyway. Ten minutes later you just look at the page and want to cry because you were determined this time to get your reading done in a timely manner.
There is a "side-effect" of ADHD which is called hyperfocus. Randomly, at times not picked by us, we can focus intently for hours and not even realize what's happening around us. One night I read from 8pm the whole way to 5:30 am with only one break to stand up. In my case, it is a rare event.
If God asked me if I wanted to relive my life without ADHD, I am pretty sure I would say, "No, it is fine." It has shaped so much of who I am. ADHD has made me more sensitive to others who struggle with different disabilities. It has also, believe it or not, helped me with learning. Studies show that ADHD children are really bright....the question is, can they overcome their disabilities to reach their potential? I have friends who have learned to love me despite my ADHD. Some have even gone as far as saying that they love that part of me. They never know what's gonna come out of my mouth next and they get that amused look on their face when I try to recount my thought process. In school, I had a classmate who was my unofficial translator to my teacher because she could never follow my train of thought.
I have been described as a fun, bubbly, albeit random, energetic human who loves life and I love that! My favorite thing about ADHD is I want to try EVERYTHING! I want to overcome every obstacle and try everything out there. I am so curious. I want to visit every country, Get to know every person to find out what makes them who they are. I want to try every hobby. (I got my motorcycle license in a month just because I knew I could.) My crazy random thoughts have created an endless array of inside jokes. It has helped me live my life to the fullest and have a blast doing it. I have a friend with worse ADHD than I do. The day I found out I could just be myself with her and not try and reign in my ADHD was the funniest day. Our talks were a mile a minute, laughter was every other word and the topic changed every 30 seconds. After she left that night, my family was like.... "what hurricane just blew through?"
ADHD has been a real journey for me. It has taken a long time for me to come to terms with it. I still sometimes feel like an alien but I have ultimately learned to love how God created me. Randomness, hyperness and all.

I've Been Destroying Myself Through the Lies I've Believed.

WARNING: I am going to be a bit gutzy honest and very vulnerable throughout this post.

I have allowed myself to live for FAR to long believing so many lies that the truth is almost incomprehensible to me. Tonight I was kind of at my wit's end. I decieded that it was time I did something about it. I went down stairs with sticky notes, my Bible, my tablet and my Lies Young Women Believe book. I started writing down every lie I could think of that I consciously knew I was believing and then I stuck them on the wall in front of me. It was hard to face that wall. I almost cry still looking at the lies I've allowed to control and interally destroy me. I went one by one and found verses that destroyed each lie and wrote a scripture verse over every post-it.

John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

This was my key start verse. I want to feel truly free. I'm tired of believing lies that will only bind and destroy. 

I am gonna go over each lie. My hope in posting this is that it can give somebody that needs it courage to cry out to God to help break lies that they are believing as well. I don't do this to get "glory" from this post. I just want it to be a tool to help others.

LIE:God is going to take away everything I enjoy

Jeremiah 29:11 "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

This was a two-fold fear for me. Part of it was sin that I enjoyed that I knew I needed to get rid of and the other was exactly how it sounds. I was afraid that EVERYTHING I enjoyed God would not be happy with and I would have to give up sooner or later. I am starting to realize that God gave me certain likes and desires so that he can use me through them. If that makes sense. God want to completes his work in me using those likes and desires. 

LIE: God couldn't care less about me

John 3:16 " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (ESV)

If you haven't noticed yet I picked common verses. Everyone knows these verses. Have we allowed the fact that we know them so well water down the immense truth these verses carry?

I let myself believe for years that God couldn't care less about me but this verse is so plain. He gave his SON FOR ME!! FOR YOU!! Let that actually sink in! You are allowing yourself to believe this lie on what grounds? He died for you, He forgives every grevence you did against him and has a place prepared for you in heaven yet... he doesn't care about you.... yea keep trying to convince yourself that (sarcasm).

LIE: I can't do anything Right

Phil 4:13 " I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (ESV)

I've believed this one for years. I have allowed my failures to drown out my success and have tried relying on my own strength. That's too exhausting y'all! Yea you are gonna fail but raising above those failures and trying again builds so much character. This is literally my favorite verse. Proverbs 24:16 "for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes." Yea you are gonna fall. That's a given but don't let it get you down! Raise again and rely on God. 

LIE: The Bible screams confusion

Psalms 18:30 "This God, his way is perfect;the word of the Lord proves true, he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

This one has kept me from reading my Bible for way to long. I know the root of this lie. I went to a Baptist school and a Mennonite church and they would use the same and different verses to contradict each other or so it seemed to me at the time. I avoided reading my bible for a very long time because I couldn't get over that lie and I still struggle with it. But tonight I choose to believe this verse that what the Bible says is true and holy and the absolute word of God.  

LIE: I need a Boyfriend to be fully satisfied and happy

Psalms 107:9 "For he satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul he fills with good things."

 I have watched to many dramas and read to many romance books that have bred this idea deeply into my brain. Moms be careful how much you let your young daughters read romance novels, even christian ones. They so often portray a girl's life as dull and miserable until Mr. Perfect shows up and makes everything better and everything is then a breeze. I'll be honest I am not sure I can date until I have fully understood the concept of the verse above. I want to be able to say that I am fully satisfied with Christ so that when I do enter into a serious relationship, I am not expecting him to be the answer to all my problems and to be my all in all, that these unrealistic stories have convinced me of.

LIE: I could never be the kind of woman the kind of man I want needs. 

Phil 4:13 ^"I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

I think a lot girls can relate with my on this one. I want a truly God committed man that will be a spiritual leader in our home. I think there is truth in the fact that I am not at that place yet where I can be the kind of spiritual support that a wife should be for her husband but it's time I cut the lie that I could never be.  With God's strength and direction I can. I will not be perfect but with God's strength I will can be a strong and faithful faith who will support her husband is anyway possible. 

LIE: God isn't real

Genesis 1:1a" In the Beginning God....." 

I am truly ashamed that I struggle with this one because of every way he has showed himself true to me. I KNOW GOD IS REAL. I KNOW HE EXISTS AND CARES. So why do I live so often like he doesn't? In the beginning God... I choose to believe that. I choose to forsake the devil's lie that God is a man made fiction story! MY GOD IS REAL!

LIE: I have to act like I have everything together.

2 Corin 12:9 "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

I am Christian, I am a pastor's daughter, I am a professing christian of over 10 years. I need to be perfect and without fault right? No.... no I am human.. I am a sinner. I lie, I lust, I struggled with porn as a young teenager, I'm not perfect. I am not God. I am a sinner saved by the merciful grace of God. I don't need to be perfect. That's not our job. You are gonna stress yourself out just like I did and you will never achieve perfection. The only thing you will get is weary and a fake mask keeping all who care out.  Be vulnerable, it's okay and it can bring great healing.

LIE: I'm UGLY

LIE: I am undesirable because I am not "skinny"

LIE: I should be ashamed of who I am 

LIE:I am not worth anything
Pslams 139:14 "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Girl's you all know what I am talking about. We see all the media telling us that only skinny girls are beautiful and we see the guys all flocking around the skinny girl and we allow ourselves to believe that we are ugly and undesirable. We allow ourselves to spit in the face our creator. We tell him You are a horrible designer! Why couldn't you have made me with smaller hips or have made me shorter or taller. You have no idea how to make a beautiful creation. We slap him in the face. We are so obsessed with selfies and makeup and our weights and mirrors that we miss the fact that we were each created unique and special. We are peculiar treasures designed by God. Can you grasp that amazing fact! read that verse again. I am fearfully and wonderfully made!! I AM! THANK YOU JESUS! Lord help us finally believe this and know this in our hearts!

LIE: I can't Overcome my downfalls, my sins

Romans 6:6-7 "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin."

1 Corinth 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

 I will admit upfront that I sins I feel trapped in. That I can not let go. I have believed for far to long that I can't overcome it. If I am honest with myself I have struggled with not really wanting to over come them. I was satisfied with my sin even though it left me completely empty and miserable. I halfheartedly tried to stop but you know what with God's help I can overcome!! Will it be hard? Duh! Will I be tempted again? Hundreds of times. But it's not impossible to overcome. Don't allow yourself to believe that! Stop your sin, Ask for help, Persevere and OVERCOME

LIE: My disability keeps my from a relationship with God

Phil 4:13 "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 

Y'all all know that I have ADHD pretty bad. I can't concentrate and that affects my prayer life a lot. But I have been using that as an excuse and I am done. I can do all things with the Lord's strength!!! 

LIE: God doesn't care about my dreams

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

This lie got debunked very hard this year. I wanted an exchange student a lot and God worked out every detail so that she could come and y'all also know I like Korea a lot and want to go REALLY bad! God has handed me a free trip to Korea. After all the doubt I've cast on him. He cared about my dreams and my desires. To say that I don't feel worthy of these enormous blessings is a HUGE understatement. I also believe that God has given you certain desires and will use them in you to complete his work! God cares about your dreams and has great plans for you! I promise!

LIE: If I wasn't Mennonite people would accept me more   

Matthew 10:32-39 "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, ³³ but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. ³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

 I HATE standing out, being different, being considered weird or odd. This is more a sacrifice I need to be willing to make for my Jesus. He died for me, Isn't this the very least I could do?? I will honestly admit I struggle very much with being Mennonite. I get very insecure around not Mennonites. You know what though, If someone can't accept me because I dress modest and respect my Lord's commands by wearing a veil then I guess that is their issue they will have to take up with the Lord. I will consciously choose to show Christ by following his commands and obviously following Christ and I will do it proudly! Honestly Its an honor to represent our Lord!

LIE: I have to earn my salvation

LIE: I am not gonna make it to heaven

LIE: God doesn't love me because I always disappoint him.

John 3:16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

 I'll admit that I still struggle with thinking that I have to perform to be loved by God and others. I struggle with truly accepting his free gift. I think I HAVE to be perfect or He could never love me or forgive me. I forget that being perfect ain't my job. But I don't have to be.. God's Grace is sufficient for me and his gift of salvation is a free gift. 

LIE: God has a hammer ready to hit me if i ever make a mistake or sin. 

Ephesians 4:7 "But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift."

Comprehending God's truly AMAZING grace is so difficult for me. God is a loving and gracious God. Someone once told me to picture him as a parent. Sure when their child is misbehaving they are disappointing but they still love that child unconditionally!

LIE: I won't like the man that God has picked out for me. 

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

I'll be honest I almost didn't include this one but I decided that a lie as stupid as this one needed debunked. I know this ties in with the lie that I am not worth anything. I have struggled with thinking that I will never get the kind of man I desire and I will have to "settle" for something less than that. Ok this can go in many ways. I am by no means saying that I want a PERFECT husband. I am just throwing it out there. God knows who you need and who you will mesh the best with and also what the desires of your heart are! Let him guide you and trust him. 

Those are the lies I put on my wall and allowed God's truth to debunk! I know that this isn't the end of those lies but I at least am armed with truth to destroy those lies that want to destroy me from the inside out. I hope that I may have helped out someone reading this as well. I encourage y'all to do the same and thanks for letting me sort through my thoughts this way! 

John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

 

Belize-Day 5 & 6 & 7

Day 5&6 (Saturday & Sunday)

  Our last day... The hardest day of all... :/ We woke up at 6 and packed up everything and put it all on the bus. We cleaned out all the rooms. We had to practice our skit before breakfast. The skit for the day was the crucifiction. The most important skit yet. This was for all the marbols. By 8 everyone was headed for our last meal at the pastors house. The cooks gave all the girls homemade seasoning that they put on their chicken. AMAZING stuff. :) Bible school started at nine that day since it was Sunday. We started out singing and then everyone moved to the school yard where we had crafts, games and snacks. I stayed with Manuala and Rivaldo's group the entire time. I had a blast! I got to hand out beads for salvation message bracelets and play flying dutchmen. I received many goodbye presents that I will forever cherish. After all the groups went through the stations we had the play. It went fantastic up until James (who was playing Jesus) was about to say "father forgive them." A snake came literally out of nowhere and caused an uproar which was quickly squelched when Jason promptly squished it! The play was still a success. So many kids were there and even the big bad guys showed up on their bikes and before we left I got an opportunity to talk to some of them. When the invitation was given Manuala accepted Christ as her Saviour! YAY :):):) Then everyone joined hands and sang We've got the Power. Let me tell you that was one big circle! Then seemingly before it had even started it was over! Goodbyes were hurried because we had to make the water taxi in time. Sieed and Manwell didn't come. That was really hard because they had promised they would. At 10:45 we were rolling out. It was all I could do to keep from tearing up. We ate lunch on the bus needless to say i wasn't very hungry but I ate it all because I knew I would need the energy for the rest of the day. The guys soon cheered us up by singing any song we requested if they knew it.  Admittedly, they were pretty good! We did catch the water taxi to Caye Caulker on time thankfully and it was about a 45 min ride out there. The hotel that we stayed at was 2 min walk from the beach and it was pure luxury! Beds, AC, running water, etc. apparently Thirst Missions has the hotel booked for 2 months! We quickly changed for snorkeling and went and got sized up for our gear. The boat ride out to the barrier reef was amazing! Ok before this trip I was terrified of the ocean! So to jump out of the boat was a big thing but man did i have a blast once I did! Apparently this is the 2nd greatest barrier reef in the world! I saw so many fish and beautiful coral and the best yet was I swan with sharks!! They were literally like inches away. Us girls only saw 2 while the guys apparently swam with like 15. We also swam with sting rays. Awesome creatures. They would swim right under you. We even go to touch them! They are gooey. :) After cleaning up we ate supper at a buffet called Happy Crab or something like that. Then it was off to explore the island (which is relatively small but absolutely beautiful), chase crabs, shop for souvenirs, almost get lost, break soda bottles while trying to open them, and discuss whether laundry mat and laundromat were the same thing and whether it was one word or two! At 8:30 we went on the roof of our hotel and sang songs and shared how we saw God work in each member of the group that week. It lasted like 2 hours but it was worth every second. All in all it was a hard/great/amazing day. 

  The next morning we went to catch the water taxi at 9 but it didnt come till 9:45 so we took pictures, talked and some of the guys swam. We actually ended up missing our flight so its costing us $7500 since we had to transfer flights. More fundraisers! We waited like 3 hours and caught the next flight at 2:30 and arrived in Miami at 4:30 Belize time, 6:30 our time. we had a 4 hour layover there and caught our flight home at 10:45. We arrived at Reagan, dc about 1:30 am Tuesday morning, got our stuff and went home! I didn't reach home till about 4 am. So there ya go our awesome week! 

Belize-Day 5

Day 5 (Saturday) 

Today was a bit more relaxing. The guys had to wake up at 6 to pour the cement that didn't come till like 8:30 :) Flexibility is key. ;) A few of them learned how to sleep on church benches. Us girls woke up at around  8. Alicia and Marybeth woke Krista up by dog-piling on her. Quite amusing to watch actually. There was a nice breeze going all day although at times the skies would sprinkle a little rain here and there. Once again we were painting in the morning but to throw a twist on things we had to paint the rebar from the inside of the church so we had to reach through the wooden windows to the rebar. :) But we successfully got that finished up and a few of us got to watch some of the church men that had been helping pour cement jam out up front. This little church had a drum set, a keyboard, an electric guitar and a bass guitar and 2 huge speakers. And for some reason they loved turning the bass way up! I soon learned why the whole congregation sits in the way back of the church! As I sat there watching them i realized in less than 24 hours we will have left this small village of August Pine Ridge. I started to dread leaving! Relationships were just starting to form and become strong and we would just have to up and leave them with little chance of furthered communication since none of them have address. At least they have Pastor Fernandez and his church family. I sincerely pray that some of the kids with find hope and love there. After lunch we prayer walked again but this time there were no surprises! I wasn't in that day's play so it wasn't necessary for me to attend practice so packed up awhile and got a chance to talk with Kelly and Austin and practice my spanish on little Wendy and Angel. Bible school's skit for the day was Daniel in the Lions den with the theme of God protects. I got to introduce the Skits and then wandered around just taking pics and watching the kids. Afterwards The guys played one last game of Futbol with the kids. Needless to say we lost once again. But our guys played amazingly! We almost had them that time! We invited all the guys to come to the church service that night and especially to the last vbs on Sunday morning. We attended church that night. Apparently at the end of every month they have a time of testimonies. I sat right in front of the speakers. STUPID THING TO DO! But I had Wendy and Angel on either side of me so I lived. It was mostly Spanish singing. Someone would come up and say something like "I am thankful for the health God has given me" and then they would sing a song in espanol. At one point I looked out the side door and there Rivaldo was peering in and watching, when i waved at him to come in he shook his head. At the end of the service the church gave every last one of us a souvenir/gift. It really seems that the major love language down here is giving. Everyday I had something given to me whether it was a pack of spice or a set of earrings. I never knew what to expect. Then the  pastor asked whomever in the congregation who wanted us to come back to please raise their hand. Almost every hand went up and my heart broke! I wanna come back! When we headed back to our rooms I realized that some of the guys that had been playing futbol had sat outside the church and watched us the entire time. Jacob, one of the guys, told me he was gonna sleep there the entire night. :) We still didn't have water that night so a bunch of us learned how to take bucket showers! Then we packed up everything that we could. 

Belize-Day 4

Day 4 (Friday)

 I don't want to get used to this time change! I wake up at 5:30 not tired! Belize is 2 hours behind us. First thing this morning I attended a meeting to discuss the youth meeting that we were holding in the school yard tonight. Its something that was on the forefront of our minds! Its where we were hoping to really get to the hearts of these kids. Also there had been some guys on bikes that always seemed to be watching from a distance and our prayer was that they would have the courage and curiosity to come and listen to the guys' message. We called them the big bad guys to differentiate them from the guys our youth played futbol with although they were just big kids under all the walls they had put up. After the meeting Rivaldo, a kid that really connected with us, came and sat next to me and was looking through my bible and it was fun showing him the maps in the back of my bible and explaining to him where Jesus was born and all that. For construction that day we painted the re-bar surrounding the windows with black oil based paint and painted their Sunday school room white. Some of the guys helped with that while the others continued to work on the building outback of the church. Marcy, Galen and Marybeth over the construction time actually had the opportunity to take a little girl, Wendy, who was having problems with fainting to get her blood work done. The family had just moved here from Belize and didn't know any English so communication was a little hard. We got to babysit Wendy's little brother Angel while they went which was interesting and fun. At one point I found him tracing bible verses we had written on a chalk board. After lunch we went prayer walking around the village in groups of 4. My group consisted of Ian, Ryan and Kirby. The prayer walk was very eye opening because we got to see more of the town and people. At one point the guys were all kinda in front of me but all of a sudden I felt myself being grabbed from behind! I screamed and jumped like 3 feet! It was a little girl that apparently had been going to bible school although I didn't remember her. Ryan and Kirby jumped a bit too but Ian saw it coming and just watched the show. They had a good laugh at that one! Shortly after returning to the school we began practicing for our skit Jericho which was a little bit more complex that the others ones and plus we were all a bit tired but we conquered it! While waiting for bible school we played an epic game of duck duck goose! We had so many kids we played another game of duck duck goose inside the other game! :) Then it was time for BIBLE SCHOOL!! Like I said the play was Jericho and the theme of the day was God is Powerful. The kids loved it! Afterward again a select few kids would stick around to hang out with us and I became una mona (monkey) and then a monster and was chasing the kids around which ended in again another photo shoot! The youth night was a hit! It started actually unofficially at 4:30 when ours guys started playing yet another game of futbol and volleyball with the guys. At around 6:30 our guys started speaking. James started off with a parkour demonstration and then went into a talk about the difference between happiness and Joy and how drugs wont bring joy. Davy talked about following Jesus and not the world. Jordan and Jon also talked along the same line as Davy. Dalen had a hardcore talk on purity and respecting girls not using them. When one of the guys would start talking about something really essential the pigs would start snorting really loud or a truck would start or something else distracting would happen as if Satan didn't want this meeting to happen or didn't want the guys to hear the message! Well they heard it! Praise God! Another praise was that the big bad guys came over!! James and Jon had the opportunity to really talk to some of them about hardcore stuff. They even joined us for games afterward! Volleyball, Team freeze tag and some of the kids tried James' Skateboard. Manwell even tried the skateboard! I let some of the kids take pics with camera and once again a photo shoot broke out and they learned how bright flash is in the dark! I had to walk Manuela home again since it was dark and I told her to pick a guy to go with us and she picked Davy and every since she then she adores him. For Supper we had hot-dogs for everybody which all the kids loved! After all the kids went home except Rivaldo of course (he don't leave until we are all in bed!) we had our meeting. It was a really good meeting. We got in a big circle in the church and held hands and each thanked God for something from the week. Then outa the blue Derek and I were pulled up front infront of everyone and Avir (Our leader for the trip) brings out this huge birthday cake!  I shouldn't have been surprised! When we all got ready for bed we learned how to rough it. We were dirty from our heads to our toes and the water wasn't working! Baha Got to love it!

Belize-Day 3

Day 3 (Thursday)

Late, late, late :) That's how my morning started! Late to breakfast, late to get a shower and late to get on the bus to head to Lamanai! But the bus wouldn't start right away so I was fine. We had a two hour bus ride to Lamanai and like I always say the bus rides are half the fun! From Speaking in British Accent to taking pictures of Amish kids (i know shame on us ESPECIALLY since we live in Lancaster! :}) to watching the guys try to hang off the ceiling. If ya don't know what Lamanai is it is an ancient Mayan Indian site. Our guide Eddie was incredible and had a teasing side to him. He got us to believe that the howler monkeys were jaguars! Such gullible people we are! The ruins were amazing and so surreal. The really neat thing was we were allowed to climb the ruins and James was even doing some parkour on them (no surprise there). The biggest ruin we got to climb was over 100 feet tall and it was above the tree line so it was absolutely gorgeous! Then it was souvenir shopping we went! Belize money is 2 to our 1 So its like a 50% sale everywhere you go! The trip back was awesome although many people slept. ( I have no idea how!!) We only had a little time to prepare for vbs when we got back but even so It went Amazing! We ended up doing David and Goliath and the theme was God is Faithful. David and Goliath would have been the play I had written and this time we used a translator which worked amazingly!  The kids seemed to understand the message so much clearer! At one point I felt a phone being placed on my ear and it was ringing and dad answered! I got to talk to my daddy on my birthday! Afterwards some of the kids stuck around and we had a photo shoot and got to know the kids a little better. One of the kids even took me and Tim (us girls needed a guy with us at all times!) to her house and I got to meet a few of her family although her mom didn't know a lick of English so I had to communicate solely in Spanish. It was really eye-opening. The pastor told us he had been praying for someone like us to come for over a year which was really humbling realizing. After supper some of the guys went and played basketball and Marybeth Alicia and I went along to watch but soon we were surrounded by 9-14 year old guys. They were hysterical! First they were convinced we had boyfriends that we weren't telling them about and then explaining to us that when someone is suspicious you say "I smell a rat" but the whole time I thought there were saying "I smell arot" so I thought I was learning a new saying while they were proud of the american phrase they knew!! :) Sieed (a 14 year old kid we grew to love) said that Sunday (our last day there) would be a very sad day (awww that made my heart melt). As we left the basketball court and were walking home we heard the kids running after us. apparently we had forgotten like 3 of our water bottles and there were returning them. "See, See we are good kids" one of the guys told us. :) That night we had our nightly meeting where we would discuss the day and we each gave our highs and lows of the day which was really cool hearing each persons experience. Then off to bed we went! :)

Belize-Day 1 & 2

Day 1 & Day 2 (Tuesday &Wednesday) 

 On Tuesday we basically arrived, unpacked and attended the welcome service the church had for us.Today was awesome. I love the culture,the healthy and not splurging on junk food way of eating,the Spanish language, the people. I just wanna stay down here and serve he people and learn the language better. I have never Been so glad I took two years of Spanish in high school. I even am learning the like the constant heat and the excercise of playing with the kids while sweating away. I have also learned us in america care way to much about the way we look! Down there ya look the way ya look! And there is so much opportunity to play sports! And they seem so content. Not like the commercials portray them as siting around with sad faces. here is a real shocker I haven't missed my phone iPod or fb one bit!!! It's a simple life and I love it! Today for construction we picked up trash around the church, cleaned the church, while the guys worked on adding a second story on a building behind the church. The kids helped us picked up trash. It was a great way to get to know them. After a wonderful lunch cooked by some of the women from the village I played futbol with some of the girls which was rather interesting but very fun! At 3:30 we started vbs. we had 4 stations. Drama snack craft and sports. I was able to be the in the drama team. 4 of us had actually written the scripts we used. Today we did the 10 lepers which was hysterical. Especially James doing a belly drop in front of Ryan. Then at the beginning and end of each vbs we did music. I got to do motions which I adored. I got to look into every kids eyes and just grin at them and get them all excited! After bible school played volleyball with a 15 year old kid named Manwell while the guys played futbol with the native kids and the girls rested. We talked and played for like a half an hour. It was really interesting. Afterwards Alicia and I got to throw football with this kid named Kevin who was really good. :) that night we kinda ran the church service. Galen preached wih and interpreter and it was hilarious!! I loved how much Spanish I could understand! Great first day and last day of being 16. Ya know what I like sing 16 I don't wanna be 17 :)