The document is a personal statement from Nick Vlardi about his experience on a mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico to build a house for a family in need. Initially, Nick did not want to go on the trip and begged his parents to let him stay home. However, he went and found the experience changed his perspective. He helped with construction tasks like nailing boards and sifting sand. Nick enjoyed developing camaraderie with the other volunteers and presenting a cross he made to the family as a symbol of hope. The trip gave Nick a new appreciation for life and perspective on how people can find happiness without material possessions.

1. Nick Vlardi
Period 4
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My personal statement
I have had a lot of memorable experiences over the course of my life. One in particular
really stands out to me. This summer I went on a Mission Trip with my church to Tijuana,
Mexico to build a house for a family that really needed it. Leading up to this mission trip I
wasn’t happy and I didn’t really want to go. I was sulking for weeks trying to figure out ways to
get out of going. I even begged my parents, not to go, and they stood there, cold as stone and
refused and ignored my constant pleading with them to let me stay home. Finally, the time had
come that I had to pack up my bags and leave for Mexico. As I was packing my suitcase for the
church van, I didn’t know what to expect from this whole trip.
There were three vans leaving for Mexico and I was assigned to van number one. There
were 7 people in my van, ranging in age from 60 years old down to age 15. As I was riding in
the van, amusingly observing the banter between the driver and the passenger up front, I began to
relax and I slept the whole way to our first destination, which was San Diego. In San Diego, we
stopped at the church leader’s parents’ house. We unpacked our sleeping bags, went swimming
for awhile, ate dinner and went to bed. That night, I had a very restless sleep. I couldn’t sleep at
all that night. Not because of nervousness, but because the ground was incredibly uncomfortable
because I had my tent as a pillow, as I couldn’t find my sleeping bag. At 6:00am I had enough
so I got up, walked to the game room, which has a more fluffy carpeting, and just laid on the
ground, face down in the middle of the floor, attempting to sleep. I slept for about 1 hour before
I was discovered by everyone, who thought I was sleep walking to this position.
After breakfast, the leader gathered us around in a circle and he said a short prayer and
then we got into the vans and we continued our journey to Mexico. I again, slept most of the
way, as it was way more comfortable than the floor. I just woke up when we reached the
Mexican border and I instantly noticed change from where I lived. I didn’t see a single piece of
grass anywhere. It was mostly dirt and sand. We pulled into this barren sand wasteland with 5
or 6 port-a-potties in the background and we set up camp. After I set up my tent, we ate dinner

2. and then I went to bed, trying to prepare myself for the tremendous amount of work that I had to
do tomorrow.
In the morning, we got in our vans and went to the work site where we would be building
the house and met the family that would be living there. None of them spoke any English and I
spoke no Spanish so I didn’t talk to them or any of the kids that were around the site (I don’t like
kids anyway). I felt a little dizzy as we were driving up there, so I slept in the car while the other
people worked. It was nice to sleep well for once. After my nap I got to work. I helped the
guys nail boards. My main job was sifting the sand because my asthma, or my allergies, not sure
which one, were acting up and I couldn’t be on the worksite because it was hard to breathe. We
worked at the worksite about 9 hours and then went back to our campsite and rested, ate dinner
and relaxed with each other. There was a lot of comradery between everyone who was there.
One of the more special things that I did was I made a cross for the family whose house
we were building. When the house was finished, I presented it to the family. The cross was a
symbol of hope to this family.
Overall, I really enjoyed this experience and I would love to go next summer. I feel
changed after this experience. I have a new zest for life. I realize that our lives a lot different
from the people of Mexico that we built the house for. I found if very interesting that even
though the kids don’t have a lot of the “stuff” that we do, they are still very happy with their
lives. Their lives are not focused around video games, computers, Instagram, Facebook,
Twitter, etc.., they are focused on actually interacting with each other face to face.