I love me a list, so coming back from mission trip, I have two for ya.
The first is my standard ten things from Mission Trip:
Ten Things I Learned on Mission Trip:
1. Stars are made of farts, duh.
2. While cruise control is quite a nifty invention, it is futile and downright useless if the leader of the caravan will not go consistently 60 or 85, but instead varies continuously between the two speeds.
3. There's nothing like flourescent lighting at 6:30 in the morning to make a girl feel pretty!
4. Nothing kills a song faster than 40 teenagers adopting it as the "Mission Trip Song" and insisting that it be played every time you got in the van! (I used to like "Fidelity")
5. When left to the devices of high school boys, the song will be transformed Weird-Al style into an ode to some sort of bodily function.
6. It takes $2.00 and ten minutes to get from the U.S. to Mexico, but it takes $2.30 and 2 hours to get from Mexico to the U.S. I am not exaggerating.
7. I frustrate the people at Home Depot, and they frustrate me.
8. It is way easier to "take care of a ticket" in Mexico than in the U.S., and it only takes roughly $15.
9. When taking 40 teenagers across the border to eat lunch and shop at the mercado, one idiot- I mean, novice- will cross with only $4 and his mother's Mastercard. When he asked to borrow the 35 cents it requires to walk back across the bridge, I had to think twice about loaning it to him. (I eventually did).
10. Skinny seventh-graders are faster than AAA when it comes to getting a van unlocked.
The second list is the soundtrack for our trip. Mikel made a mix, and the van adopted five of the songs from it to be played in a specific order everytime we had the opportunity. After that, I was allowed to play my mix.
Their soundtrack:
"Fidelity" by Regina Spektor (beat to death!)
"Irreplaceable" by Beyonce (every opportunity to use the phrase 'to the left' was taken)
"Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas
"Ridin' wit' my top down" by LaCrae
"The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice (with the words changed to "I can't take my eyes off pies)
my mix:
Those, plus:
"Colorful" by Rocco Deluca and the Burden
"I'll Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie
"Love and Some Verses" by Iron and Wine
plus, a cd made in honor of my birthday that had all of the big hits of 1977.
We did have some very meaningful moments for both me and the students on the trip. More on that later.
The very best stuff about youth ministry. Right here in one blog. Again, thanks for going.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, and the reason it's cheaper and less time consuming to get back than to go in to Mexico...ummm, Jen, because very few people are trying to emigrate TO Mexico. The economy's a bit better on this side of the border.
We knew it would take a while, we just thought that a while would be 45 minutes to an hour. The upside of it all was that I was the passenger and got to take a nap as we inched ever-closer to the border. Naps were few and far between, so I didn't mind one bit!
ReplyDeleteI would like to suggest that maybe the reason a song loses it's charm once it's adopted as the "mission trip song" is the lack of staying power as an artist and songwriter.
ReplyDeleteI have found that Bon Jovi's Bad Medicine NEVER gets old.