TMI= "To Much Info" & "Teen Mission International"

Hey
So I know I have been talking about going on a trip for a while. And I have been fully meaning to do a post on it, well the day before I leave, today, I finally am sitting here to start writing about it.

TMI. This cracks me up like none other. TMI stands for To Much Information, or Teen Missions International. And I will tell you that Teen Mission International can sometimes be the other kind of TMI.

Anyways. My mom mentioned to me that maybe I should go on a mission trip this summer earlier this spring.

My sister Chantal went on a TMI mission trip exactly ten years ago. So I decided to look on their website, this was like the beginning of March. Now I will tell you when go to TMI's page and look at the trip list, you get overwhelmed, and you feel a large amount of greed and lust,

"I want to go on ALL of the these trips... How am I supposed to chose one..." okay check out the list, http://www.teenmissions.org/mission-trips/ pretty awesome right?



So because I was signing up kind of late I found a comment saying what teams still had Openings. Some of the options were

Malawi Aids Orphans
Uganda Children's Soccer
Kilimanjaro Backpack\Construction
Australia
Cambodia
And I think the Philippines
And somewhere in Central America.

So I looked through the trips that still had open spots, and started to weed through them. I ended up wanting to go on the Tanzania Kililmanjaro trip, (On the map above, Tanzania is on the mid eastern side of Africa, right below Uganda and right above Zambia. In the picture Tanzania is colored green.)
Emma's Trip Description

So I read through what we would be doing, construction, and drama. I love acting singing, bascally if I am performing I am happy. I wanted a trip that had a lot of acting, but I also wanted construction. I think the Kilimanjaro trip is the perfect balance.

So I signed up praying that I would raise enough money. It was a little stressful at first dew to the trip being full, but I was put on a waiting list and they got a spot for me.

So I mailed out letters, and talked to my church. I had roughly 2 months to raise $5,000.

The money actually came in without any stress, people were very, very, generous, and I am incredibly grateful to anyone that gave me money. So when the money started coming in it came to be more and more sure that I was going.

First I had to do some stressful Visa forums (we kinda forgot about it until the last minute. Overnight shipping is amazing stuff.)

And than I had to start buying everything I needed for the trip. Here is some of the big stuff:

5 gallion bucket,
Sleeping bag,
Sleeping mat,
Camera
Framing Square

Before go any further let me explain my trip a little better.

First I will fly to Orlando, where I will stay at the TMI base, at the Lord's Boot Camp, and be trained to do what I will be doing in country.

Than I will fly with my team, to Washington DC, have a 9 hour lay over, Than I will fly to Addis Ababa Ethiopia, have at least a 12 hour lay over, than I will fly too the airport in Moshi Tanzania. After about 4 weeks working, and witnessing, I will fly back, through the same route, back to Orlando for a 4-5 day debrief before being sent back.

Alright lets talk about boot camp.  

Every morning at 5:00 am my team and I will have to run the Obstacle Course. I am actually really excited about this. I think it looks like so much fun. Here is a video of the O.C. It looks like blast!

I am really excited about the obstacle course. I think I already said that.

Through out the course of my trip I have to memorize 40 verses. I have around 20-25 of them memorized already.

Here is the schedule for boot camp. I am part of group C, 09 K

Emma's Boot Camp Schedule

I get at least 10 hours of acting classes! I am so excited!

After 2 1\2 weeks of Boot Camp. I will fly to Tanzania.

While I am there I will be building something (TMI has not told me yet) at the TMI base in Moshi Tanzania. After we have completed our project time, we will be back packing up Mount Kilimanjaro to witnness to mountainside villages using puppets, videos, singing, and acting.

After completing my trip, I will fly back to Orlando for 4-5 days of quote "fun" debrief. I will be back on July 29.

I am so excited about flying tomorrow!

So Good Bye, I will see you in 2 months!

Emma




 

BFF'S

Hey
so I don't think I would get very far in this blog before I would mention my three best friends. I have been friends with these girls, well I don't remember how long.... Our mom's were friends before I was even born, so we were sort of guaranteed friends.



So to start oldest to youngest we will start with Gemma (I personally like to tease and her call her Gemima which she doesn't appreciate)


That is Jake she is holding who is a very sweet dog. The thing about Gemma is that she is a kind of weird funny. She doesn't try to be funny, she just says stuff that cracks us all up. she is super sweet, has a beautiful voice and all around is a blast. Plus she is really easy tease. And she has a drivers license that really helps get us girls around to do stuff.



So this is Cecilia (who I normally call Cil.) Who is holding Chief their cute black lab puppy. Cil is crazy tall, when we were younger we always wanted to be taller than everyone else, well Cil beat us all. and it's still a hard spot for Gemma. :P Cil is has an awesome laugh. It's so loud I can't help but laugh when she does. She also loves to taking pictures (most of the ones on this post she took) so most pictures of us together Cil is taking them. She has a huge black monster of a camera, that I would have absolutely no idea how to use. And she was so sweet and cornrowed my hair for my trip (more on that in the next post)



Last but not least is Gianna. In this picture with their pony Rose. Gianna is so funny. She just makes me laugh, she says things that are so true, and so funny. She has beautiful hair, and normally wins our tanning competition because of her darker complexion. She loves 1D and really gets into the fan girling over them. (which I do in secret when my mom isn't watching. Hehe)



Just so you know we were dressing up here for fun, I don't normally wear a black sequin dress.... just saying.

The girls were over last night to say goodbye (more on that later) and I realized just how close we had become in the last year. We went through a couple of months where we didn't really hang out. Than we started going to movies together, our friendship has grown so much in the last year, I felt like crying when we said goodbye. :(

So, thanks girls for being awesome friends! I miss you guys already!

Emma