Hello, my name is Jesus! We awoke knowing it was one of the last nights together so we all mentally prepared for it. We packed a little early at around 8:15 and began our bus ride. We had a four-hour bus ride to our lunch at Subway and then began to go to the Panama Canal. At the Panama Canal, we bought souvenirs, watched a movie about the Panama Canal that was narrated by Morgan Freeman, and saw the Canal in action. We then hopped in the bus for the last time to head over to the final hotel. When we got there it was like a full circle arriving at the first place we stayed at but with the new friendships and experiences that we had. We went off to dinner and came back for our last nightly meeting. It was a solemn moment, knowing that we may never see each other in person again so we tried to give as much love to each other as possible. At our Big Love, we spent maybe 30 minutes appreciating our new friends that we’ve grown to love and spent the last two weeks with. Tears were shed by the end because seeing our leader Luz cry was a tell that we all had to accept the fact that we need to keep going even if we never see each other again. After the nightly meeting, we all embraced each other and tried to spend as much time as we could together on this final night together.

I want to talk about my personal experience being Leader of the Day. Being the last leader was always daunting and seeing the example that everyone else put my nerves off a little because I felt like I had a lot to live up to. When the day finally arrived to be leader I felt like I was more than ready. Since I knew that we had a long bus ride to get to the hotel, I went and bought snacks for everyone to make sure we stayed full the whole ride (I also had to search for some wafers as a vegan option). We all had fun on the bus ride singing and talking amongst each other. Knowing it was the last day I tried to socialize with the people I talked to the least on the trip. The canal was fun but the highlight of the day for me was the nightly meeting. I already had an idea of what I wanted to say because I was so grateful to everyone who had come on the trip and like everyone else at the meeting said “The trip wouldn’t have been the same if even one of us wasn’t here.” which I think encapsulates the spirit of our trip entirely. When it came time to give my big love I made sure to individually congratulate everyone on the trip because I didn’t want anyone to feel left out. Being able to tell everyone how I felt about every single one of them and how happy they all made me feel throughout this whole trip felt like lifting a massive weight off my shoulders. The one that really made me tear up was my first big love to our leader Luz, I let her know that whenever she sang and made us all smile it reminded me of my abuela who I’ve barely spoken to in the past two weeks, it set the tone for the rest of the big loves that I gave everyone. If I could I would put all the accolades that I gave everyone but it would be a long read and a long write. Spending this night with everyone showed me that friends and experiences can happen fast and you have to be ready to cherish them and leave them behind. I wanna thank everyone that came on this trip and everyone that supported us throughout the trip. Gerardo, Joel, Jalen, Ronald, Judith, Miguel, Gael, Joanna, Ashley, McKenzie, Yanai, Kimi, Nathaniel, Edwin, Dania, Christian, and Jacob, I wanna thank all of you and shout all of you out. I’m so grateful to have gone on this trip with you and I wouldn’t have it any other way, so please keep being the way you are and use the lessons you’ve learned from this trip to better yourselves and better the friendships that you already had to improve them. I will be annoying you all to make sure you’re doing alright!

Here is a link to all the photos that were taken on this trip! Everyone is welcome to add their photos here when they get home so we all can see:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9N1Q7hkFjnHwcBs8

If you did want to read the big loves here they are!

• Luz: When you sang to us and made us smile it reminded me of my abuela which was nice because I haven’t seen her in two weeks.<3
• Tim: I want to thank you for being so kind even though on the last few days i could tell we were all getting on your nerves a bit.<3
• Marco: Thanks for being so chill with us and going along with the jokes that we had amongst the group because it showed that you really did pay attention to us<3
• Bri: I wanted to thank you for taking such good care of us and especially taking care of our friends who got sick<3
• Judith: I wanted to thank you for bringing out my talkative side when I was keeping to myself and being quiet<3
• Ronald: You’re one of the coolest people I’ve met, whenever you came to talk to us you brought a really good energy to the room and again you’re just a really cool person<3
• Joel: I don’t think I could have asked for a better roommate but you actually listening to what I had to say when I had to rant meant a lot to me and I hope you go as far as you can<3
• Dania: I know we didn’t talk all that much outside of group conversations but like Ronald you bring a really fun vibe to conversations and I think you should keep being yourself<3
• Ashley: I sat next to you on the plane and it was really awkward but throughout the trip, you let your personality and I’m glad to say you’re really fun to be around<3
• Joanna: I didn’t talk to you much but I could tell that you are a really fun person to be around and I hope you go far in life<3
• Nathaniel: You are one of the most fun and energetic people I’ve ever met and talking to you was always a treat.<3
• Yanai: I couldn’t tell whether you were annoyed during the light small talk I tried to make on the hike back during the CAP days but you still kept talking so I really appreciate that.<3
• McKenzie: You and Christian and a really fun dynamic and you by yourself are also just a fun person to be around.<3
• Miguel and Gael: I couldn’t separate each of your big loves but you both match each other’s energy so well and I wanna thank to Gael to always playing us the guitar and to Miguel for trying to teach me guitar.<3
• Kimi: You are a really funny person to be around and you bring a new dynamic to conversations I do wish that we found out about the common interest that we had sooner.<3
• Edwin: One of the most genuine people I’ve ever met, you’re also really funny and kept my spirits up whenever you were around.<3
• Jalen: One of the funniest people I’ve met and I really appreciate that whenever I was quiet and just standing around the group you still tried to include me.<3
• Christian: You are one of the funniest people to be around whenever you come out of your shell and I hope you continue to be out of your shell.<3
• Gerardo: One of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you mad and you always kept a smile on your face and tried to keep everyone’s spirit up.
• Jacob: You were my friend before the trip but being on this trip with you really allowed us to grow closer.<3

Our first group photo

Our most recent group photo

Our last nightly meeting

The Canal