Kaiizen Mexico Trip

What do you do when you're best friend's fiancé calls off their wedding two weeks before and you have to come up with a plan to distract her on the day she was supposed to say "I do"? 

You drive to Mexico to bring Christmas to orphan children, of course.  

This is Amalia. She (7) and her sister (4) live in this orphanage near Ensenada, Mexico. We became insta-friends as we played on this tire swing. Then I got to take her and her sister, Daniella shopping at Walmart where they could pick out anything they wanted ($25): every child's dream. Even though it was tough to communicate (like really hard)…we made it work and the smiles on their faces as we left the store hand in hand, were enough to know that we had made a difference. 

After Walmart we had a big dinner together…tacos of course. And then we put on a talent show for the kids. I am quite impressed with our mad put-a-talent-show-together-in-one-hour-skills. We choreographed dances and threw together costumes. Justin Bieber even made an appearance (my idea) and the kids went wild and there was a piano duet while a guy danced with a wrecking ball. A group did an animal trash bag dance to Katy Perry's Roar and my group did a stellar routine to The Spice Girl's Wannabe and Santa Claus made a surprise appearance at the end of the show. Not to toot our own horn or anything but you should probably hire us to put on your next talent show because we are pretty dang amazing. 

The next morning we had breakfast, cleaned up and said goodbye to our new friends. It was so fun to get to stay at the orphanage and really get to know the kids. A lot of the volunteers come back often to volunteer so the children really develop a relationship with them and the volunteers really grow to love these children. I want to go back! Amalia is the cutest! 

The whole Kaiizen crew and Kids!

After leaving the orphanage we joined forces with another local organization and went to a super poor area of town and handed out food and clothing packages that we had put together. A lot of the families we visited were single moms or had families with disabilities where they couldn't work. It was crazy to see the kinds of conditions these poor people live in. The houses were literally just wooden shacks. It was such a humbling experience and great to be able to help people who truly are in need. One family we visited was a mother with six small children. She invited us into her home and asked us to pray with her and her children. So sweet. 

We ended our trip by shopping on a main street in Ensenada. We got some souvenirs (including friendship bracelets!) and had some street tacos before our seven hour excursion to cross the border back into America!

I am so glad that I got to go on this trip! We defintiely turned an unfortunate situation into one of the most memorable trips of my life. I made some lifelong friends and have a stronger love for humanitarian efforts. If anyone is looking for an organization to volunteer with go with Kaiizen. They are an LDS based organization that do trips to Africa and India as well as frequent trips to Mexico. Look them up and do something worthwhile with your time!