Today, I was leader of the day for Reflection day. We started with a wake up at 7 AM. This was followed by breakfast of fruit along with bread and jam. From there, we moved on to our Final Reflection seminar. During this seminar, we talked about the entire trip as a group. Our first activity was to make a journey map of our entire GG process from the time we were nominated until now. I found it to be the first time I really sat down and thought about the whole process. By thinking about it, I was able to emotionally process the trip as it is coming to a close. We moved on from there to our “Stop, Start, and Continue” activity where we discussed our past, present, and future habits. For me, I said I would continue to try new  things and be open minded. Our next to last activity during the reflection was Big Love. This meant everyone passed a sheet around where each person wrote a “big love shout out” to the owner of the paper, anonymously. My favorite Big Love that came to me was a reminder that I’m the “quiet voice that we all need at times.” After Big Love, we did an open mic that included some speeches and two great poems/raps from Kevin and Darwin. Our last activity was a final Unity Clap where we used “adventure” as the word, because it best describes how we were all willing to come on this trip even though we didn’t know most of the people (if any at all).

After the reflection, we finished our letters to GG supporters before heading off to lunch. There was a great surprise at lunch, HAMBURGERS! Michaela was very excited for this revelation. After lunch, we headed out to see the first Riobamba delegation’s CAProject. It was really cool to see what they accomplished. Our last stop was at a viewpoint, where everyone hung out and had a good time together before free time.

Then we came back for dinner and our last nightly meeting. The meeting was a blast with lots of laughs and love. When passing the torch to Bryant, he demonstrated an amazing talent. He did a perfect dummy act with his puppet, Darwin (pictured below). We ended with a “sound-off” on the end, with Celest doing her amazing potato impression once more. Jannett also did a great impression of Ben, and Alex did a near perfect asparagus.

Reflecting

Reflecting

Erik brushing is amazing locks

Erik brushing is amazing locks

Unity Clap time

Unity Clap time

Lunch

Lunch

The Boys

The Boys

The Ladies

The Ladies

Michaela is quite excited for the burger

Michaela is quite excited for the burger

From the Viewpoint

From the Viewpoint

All of us in the park

All of us in the park

Caleb with Tobi

Caleb with Tobi

Darwin as Bryant's Puppet

Darwin as Bryant’s Puppet

A sound-off

A sound-off

Start, Stop, Continue

Start, Stop, Continue

Being leader of the day was not as difficult as I thought it would be. It felt good to finally be a leader as my usual position is to step back and let others lead. In the past, I always doubted myself, but now I know that I can be a (great) leader and not let others keep me down. Looking forward to bringing these lessons home with me tomorrow.