1. Lummi 2015
Lia Jin

2. What Is Lummi??
Lummi Island lies at the southwest corner of Whatcom County, Washington, USA, between the mainland part of the county and offshore San Juan County. I am talking about Lummi because last summer I went to a mission trip from my church to Lummi. We help them clean their house, we play with the kids there, and we go to the senior home. I stayed there for exactly a week, July 18th – 25th. A church in Texas came to the mission trip as well. I got to meet new people and got to get closer to people through this mission trip. It was the best week of my entire summer break. The fact that I am giving other people happiness, hope, peacefulness, kindness and thankfulness is something to be grateful for.

3. Activities With the Kids
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, we went to a elementary school. The sun was bright and it was a perfect day to play with the kids. The bus was filled with excitements and happiness. When we arrived at school, we saw the kids playing at the playground. They were bright and intelligent. Their voice tickly my ear. Their voices are soft like a petal. Their eyes were addicting like a drug and they sucked me in like a black hole. Before we began our activity, we started with praise songs. We made actions so it was fun to follow along. After the praise songs that danced to, we got them into groups and we did fun activities. We made frames, we played games that were teamwork based and we did storytelling. I was leading the praise team and I was one of the leaders in a group to pay attention to the kids and to help them. As I got closer to them they held my hand as we go to the next activity. Their soft hand and little fingers made my fingers cringe. My feeling towards them grew bigger and bigger so it was hard for me to say a goodbye.

4. House Cleaning
We also cleaned a house in the middle of the week. Before we went, we had to bring our rubber gloves, sunglasses, a water bottle, a pair of pants that I don’t mind getting wet or dirty, a mask, and a hat. I put a lot of sunscreen on so I don’t burn or get tanned. The stickiness from the sunscreen bothered me but I had no choice. When we arrived at the house we were going to clean, I was in shock. I couldn’t see anything but garbage. There was no grass, I couldn’t see one at least. When we went outside, the smell immediately went through my nose, slowing me down. But I had a responsibility so I had to hold it. They gave us a big garbage bag to put the garbage in. We wore the mask and started to pick up the garbage. After and hour or so, I could feel my sweat dripping from my face. I want to touch my face but I can’t. Inhaling the smell was hurting my lungs. The water I drank tasted sweet. Sweeter than sugar. Every gulp I take is makes me happy. It was hard to breathe. I thought I was stuck in a hot room filled with garbage. But then I realized that the owner of this house must live in the house everyday looking at the garbage. At the end, we finished cleaning the front yard, the backyard and the garage. It was a big accomplishment for all of us.

5. The Seniors Home
On Thursday, in the afternoon, I went to the seniors home to perform a dance. Before we went to Lummi they asked me if I could dance in a seniors home, so I said okay. I made a short dance by myself, and it was horrible. I wanted to tell them I don’t want to do it but it was too late. I arrived at the seniors home and I remember it was really peaceful. It was really quiet and still. As I was reviewing my counts, the seniors came where I was going to present and they had a seat. Only 4 to 6 people came to watch. Other people went first and then it was me. I was the last. I started my dance made a couple of mistakes but made it all the way to the end. Surprisingly, they loved it. I’ve never seen someone that loved it like they did. After the performances were over, we started make frames and we played card games. They shared us their favourite memories, and their favourite games to play when they were younger. We also shared riddles and jokes that we knew. We had to be careful so we don’t insult them. Looking at their smiles and hearing them laugh just made me so happy and satisfying.

6. The Last Night
Every night, there was a specific time where we had to sleep. But because it was our last day in Lummi, we were allowed to be an all-nighter. An all-nighter is when you don’t sleep at night. I decided with my friends to be an all-nighter and we went to a room where there was nobody there. We were playing music quietly and we were talking about all the things that happened during Lummi. As we talked more and more people came in to talk too. There was a point where there was a complete silent and all of a sudden one of our leader started to tell us a scary story. I hate listening to scary stories but on that day, I listened. After listening to that story, I couldn’t sleep for another 2 hour. I was traumatized. The scary story was continuing on until the teachers said it was time to sleep. I looked at the time and it was 5h30. My friends and I decided to sleep for 2 hours. But when we went to our bed, we began to talk about other subjects by ourselves and then we went to sleep. This was our last night in Lummi.

7. Pictures That We Took Link:
(My church’s facebook page)

8. Thank You
Lia Jin