"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve."

It is past midnight and I just can’t sleep. Louisiana is on my mind. I feel like I spent the day in a daze, overcome with distracting but wonderful thoughts of the past week, while my heart ached to be in a place thousands of miles away from home, a feeling I have never truly experienced before this trip. How can I be home sick for a place that I only called home for a week?

I spent the day unable to concentrate in my classes while my thoughts wandered to Daisy Street and the houses I knew were in the process of being built, unfortunately now without us. As a looked out the windows of May Hall and saw the snow flying about I craved to be in the Louisiana sunshine that my skin is currently regretting, carrying wood or nailing nails, any task that would help transform a foundation into a home.

All day I struggled to explain to people just how much I enjoyed our trip. There are so many words to describe the trip and yet none of them can accurately express how my heart is feeling. I often just found myself saying to those who asked how the trip was that “it was better than I could have ever imagined”. Words cannot do the trip justice, it was beyond words and an experience that I know only those on the trip can truly understand.

Today I found my greatest comfort in seeing familiar faces of those on the trip. I craved being reunited with these people who played such a big role in my life last week and who have forever impacted my life and shared an experience that is impossible to forget. I can’t imagine not knowing them prior to this trip. They were under my nose the whole time and I didn’t even realize it until ASB. As I was reunited with some of these familiar faces today, I didn’t want to leave their sides, hoping that I could hold on to what we all created in Louisiana for just a little longer.

I cannot accurately explain how grateful I am for ASB. I have been reminded of the power of service and how one person can make a difference in someone else’s life. I am grateful to have met new friends, to have opened up to a crowd of strangers, and to have realized how precious and valuable a home is. I am fortunate enough to have the life I do and after this trip I truly realize how important it is to use what I have to give to others. This experience has changed me forever.

:) Molly