“It doesn’t matter how long the friendship is, it’s the quality that matters” – Unknown
Today was the first free day for the group and we took advantage of it by exploring the city with our GG Ambassadors. It was really interesting to see the city from a local teenager’s perspective and uncover one another’s views of the world. While venturing across the town, multiple groups paired up with each another and we continued on together for a shared experience. The glimpsers utilized this “explore time” to do various activities such as buying souvenirs from the gift shops, cracking jokes with the fellow ambassadors, and playing sports with the locals. I’d say that this day was well spent and incredibly eye-opening at the same time; the most illuminating moment came part way through our exploration of the city.
While venturing into San Juan, we visited a locally popular ice cream shop to quell the dehydration and heat. As we arrived, we had met a young boy who was alone and seemed to speak no Spanish. We came to find out that he was in fact a Haitian immigrant who had traveled across the border by himself and had been living alone in a park. Our compassionate hearts sought to serve his needs and we provided him with some pesos, food, and a few bottles of water. Afterwards, we discovered a community center where he could seek shelter and receive food and aid.
To sum it up, as we had our fun for the day, we were also able to acknowledge the fact that some struggle to survive and us glimpsers can only do our best to help serve the people around us.
Hey Chloe, we miss you a lot. Keep doing great things in San Juan love you!!
PS: hey Sam Levine and Katie tam
Kailee & GG Friends,
The Smash Titan tourney was hmm… interesting. Since it was a charity event, the pairings/matches were not even. Our little Didi had to play adults and college students (2-3x his age). It was long, but fun to watch. Unicorn girl and K-boy had a long day, I think Unicorn girl will be posting her experiences in a separate post to you. I’m glad you guys had a ‘free’ day to explore the city in groups. You guys have such compassionate and caring hearts. Love you guys! It’s very comforting to know that you guys were able to help out someone in need, with what little you guys had. My prayers go out to the special young boy you found, who was so brave and was going through such a hardship. He must have felt so happy and very grateful to see your faces and probably felt ‘not as alone’ since his began his slong and lonely journey to the DR. You guys put a smile (and happy tear) on my face, and I was so glad to hear that you were able to find him shelter and assistance. You guys are so awesome and amazing!
P.S. Don’t forget to take your (weekly) medicine. Miss you lots, especially on Father’s Day.
Love you,
Mom, Dad, & Didi
Kailee,
I almost forgot to tell you. Didi finally let us cut his long hair after the tourney. He has an extremely short crew cut, even the front. Can you believe that? He’s looking good. Have a great day tomorrow.
Love,
Mom, Dad & Didi
Hey Dany, first off we’re sorry we didn’t leave a comment for the living like a local day, we didn’t realize you were leader of the day! hope you liked the experience and are continuing to love it. It’s amazing what you guys are doing and providing for the community. Not only will everything you guys have been doing be rewarding and memorable for you guys as glimpsers, but the people you are interacting with from the community, and helping out even in the littlest of ways, will remember this forever. And THAT, is what the trip is all about. We love and miss you so much!
PS: Argentina tied to Iceland (1-1) (and Messi failed a penalty kick and 2 tiros libres…), Peru lost to Denmark (1-0), Mexico beat Germany (1-0) …. ouch. You know thats gonna be big talk for a while lol.
Other then that we’re all good! I’m eating as always (can you guess who), mom is working hard (and sometimes hardly working), dad is watching TV 25/8, bel is cringely talking to Noah abt her being a snack, and Noah is begging for more of his rice cereal and doing sit-ups.. literally pulling himself up now. Can’t (but can) wait to see you! …. (mom said to write we love u again so I have to, WE LOVE YOU!!)
This is so great Vincent! It sounds like so much fun. I’m really proud of you and all of you there. Keep being great!
Hello Kailee,
I am not surprised that you all took time to help someone in need. I know that you are a very special person with a big heart. You do so many things that I am proud of. The act of kindness you all showed makes me even more proud!!
Thinking of you and can’t wait to see you when you get back!!
Ms. Mary