Dear Loving Families of Global Glimpse,

Today we began our second day of the CAP project with an early wake-up call around 5 am while having our breakfast to go on the way to Playa Venao. Just as yesterday, we expected the day to be a lot longer since our new goal was to plant a whopping 1,500 trees! As leaders, we made sure everyone was working harder and faster while also keeping track of our peer’s well-being. After only two hours we reached our goal with the handy work of every single one of our Glimpsers. Shout-out to our top two Glimpsers who planted the most trees in the last two days, Joanna and Ashley. We hope to double it tomorrow for our third and final day.

We inevitably faced the challenges brought by the heavy rain during the previous night which led to even more mud than yesterday :(. Nevertheless, we pushed through and planted 500 more trees than yesterday. Way to go Glimpsers!

After a hard day’s work, lunch started around noon at Wao Venao, a food plaza located right outside Playa Venao (Venao Beach), allowing our Glimpsers to head to the beach after eating their food. Just when we thought we were free from the rain, it came down pouring on many of our students located at the beach and tables. Due to the lack of rain in LA, we were all excited to see rain on the daily, especially today after much work.

Our night closed off with the passing of the torch to our next two leaders to lead us into the third day of our community action project. Good luck McKenzie and Yanai!

Joel Pacheco:

My experience as Leader of the Day was a great learning experience. Throughout the day I learned that being quiet is not beneficial as a leader. One thing that this trip has taught me is that I am not as loud as I think I am. Applying that knowledge to today’s work, I made sure to sound off with a bigger voice. Shouting “Global” alongside Jalen, and hearing my peers respond with “Glimpse” gave me confidence. At first, I was nervous to be the Leader of the day on a hard-working day, however, it turned out to be one of the best experiences I’ve faced. I learned a lot about myself; most of my day was filled with self-reflection on how I can be a better leader, as a Glimsper and back home in LA.  This trip overall has brought a lot of self-discovery, and being the Leader of the Day was just one of those moments.

Jalen Perez:

As the official Leader of the Day, my experience was quite the “living in the moment” kind of thing. I very much enjoyed being loud and always making sure that my peers were taken care of. Everyone was amazing today and loved that we had a larger group supporting our goal and nobody was left behind or alone. Today made me feel as if being a leader is my true purpose in life- by not only leading people but also being there for them and sharing the love that can only be felt from the heart. This experience has shown me that everyone has the power to light up the environment around them and the people who they surround themselves with. This is exactly what I hoped to find for myself and grateful to receive such blessings every single day. As always, love from me;).

The group after day 2! So excited to have everyone join today!

Miguel and Judith in the midst of the tree planting process!

Enjoying a rainy day afer CAP snack at Playa Venao!

Trekking through the muddy grassy trails. Thanks to our PCs Marco and Luz for making sure we were fully prepared!