Day 8 (2023)

Hey St. John’s! This is Jack Manausa. Today was a bittersweet end to our mission. We travel home tomorrow, so this was our last full day. 

We began the day by making our final journey to Carmen Bajo camp. We played numerous fun games with the kids (11/12 year old boys and girls) and sung many songs of praise and worship. 

After all of the fun, we ate lunch and it was now time to say goodbye. The workers and kids of the camp were very grateful for our service and thanked us greatly. Many hugs and numbers were exchanged as we finally said goodbye and left the camp. 

We then headed to El Refugio where we each spent two hours alone in isolation in nature. 

Personally, walking around alone in the woods allowed me to figure out things about myself I never had recognized. It also helped me establish a much stronger connection with God. 

After this, we played some Gaga Ball, then ate dinner which consisted of hot dogs we cooked ourselves around a fire. They were extremely delicious. 

We then ended the night by passing around a talking stick and saying what we appreciated most about each other. This time was extremely heartwarming and really made us grow close together. 

We reflected on our mission and all good times we had together. Even though it’s almost over, all the moments we shared together will live with me forever and I will always remember our journey.

- Written by Jack Manausa

Note: William Proctor will blog about our journey home, and Nic Mandolini will wrap our blog up when we return to Tallahassee, so stay tuned!