I have never...

One thing that I love about taking students on trips is watching them experience things for the first time. At a number of points on our Haiti trip, someone would comment, "I've never done THIS before!" I finally said, "We need to write down all the 'I have never's." Little did I know that once we started naming them, we'd have this long a list!We thought you would enjoy reading along with us all of the things that at least one person on our team said "I have never before..."

• been afraid of a mango
• pushed an airplane
• been to Haiti
• been outside the US
• drunk 2 gallons of water and not peed
• let it mellow in the toilet
• had Coke with a French label
• had ants crawl over me when sleeping
• sweat this much
• gone without Mountain Dew for 5 days
• slept so close to a fan
• been able to call people "black" or "white" without seeming racist
• ridden in the back of a truck with 15 other people
• been heckled when trying to buy something
• gotten something half off without a coupon
• wanted to bathe in deodorant
• appreciated a cold shower
• ran out of water when showering
• got in a wrestling match with my shirt when trying to take it off
• climbed a mountain
• been in a prayer chapel on a mountain
• seen a cactus fence
• prayed for someone who didn't speak my language
• seen a wild gecko
• taught people in another language
• been on Facebook in another country
• been in a plane
• had our pilot pray before our flight
• flown in a DC-3
• thrown up twice on a plane
• been woken up by a rooster
• seen so many naked little boys
• sang in two languages at the same time
• missed my sister
• seen broken glass used as barbed wire
• seen someone guarding the gas station with a gun
• seen people walking around with a machete
• picked a fresh mango
• painted an orphanage
• been so thankful for a Culligan
• written my own lesson plan
• had to look both ways for cows
• been to Florida
• had white sauce
• seen a Japanese butterfly
• been to a Japanese steakhouse
• eaten at Chick-Fil-A, Steak & Shake, Moe's, or Kobe's
• gotten a $20 hotel room
• had to be so flexible with plans
• seen New Tribe or Wycliffe
• had so many men ask if I'm married
• been offered money for my clothes
• gotten a stamp on my passport
• been to a 3rd-world country
• left a trip with less luggage than I came with
• blogged
• heard of breadfruit
• used high school French in real life
• had the power go off every night
• seen and smelled burning garbage
• known a woman could smell so bad
• met a professional hula hooper
• sat in the jump seat in the cockpit of an airplane
• gone to a Creole church service
• been on a trip without disagreements
• seen people so passionate about worshipping at 4:30am
• enjoyed a fully-loaded 15-passenger van
• had a play-by-play announcer for blind man's bluff
• seen such extreme poverty in person
• destroyed so many flourescent bulbs at once
• been stared at for so long by everyone around
• had so much fun overcoming a language barrier
• seen someone drive a motorcycle with a goat tied to it
• seen 5 people on a motorcycle
• seen someone so excited about nametags
• worn a skirt for that long
• had to treat water as a precious resource
• had the time not matter so much
• been on a trip with so many schedule changes
• become so comfortable with always being uncomfortable
• seen God's plan so clearly
• been in 3 countries in 1 day
• had breakfast in the Bahamas
• been so comfortable with food in another country
• had fried plantains
• been pooped on by a pelican
• held hands with so many grown men
• had strangers say, "I love you so much."