Ecuador 1 - The Girls Have Arrived!

HEFY's first ever trip to Ecuador has begun! 

The 20 young women (and other adult leaders) landed in Quito on Thursday afternoon. They spent 2 days touring all over the capital of Ecuador enjoying fun activities and getting to know each other. Here are a few pictures of their adventures in Quito.

After all the site seeing and fun activities the girls boarded a small plane and headed to Cuenca to start work at the orphanage. As you can see, there's never a dull moment when you get 20 teenage girls together. 

A few words from Tonga 1

Here's a letter I received from Jaynie, our Tonga 1 Trip leader today:

Hi Mary, the group is in good health and doing awesome!! We had a great weekend of snorkeling. We tried to go out and see whales but there weren't any. However, we enjoyed the boat out there and had a great time dancing on the boat! We went to the temple on Thursday and did baptisms for the dead, that was probably the highlight of last week. The work project is going awesome. We have been busy renovating Fanga Priamary School as well as building the foundation for the learning resource center. This group works super hard and super fast, they are awesome. So far we have helped to re-roof the school, built tables and benches for the classroom, cleaned up and renovated 2 classrooms, and are building a vegetable garden for the primary kids to grow food. Attached are some pics of our work.

  

Peru 1 Friendships and Adventures

Our Peru 1 expedition will be returning home this Saturday. It's hard to believe by looking at these pictures that this group of 23 participants didn't know each other at all before they all got together just 2 weeks ago. That's one of the greatest parts about service, when you come together for one cause and one purpose friendships are quickly made and the group starts to feel like family.  I am sure it wont be easy for them all to say goodbye on Saturday, especially to the wonderful friends they have made in Peru. 

 I remember returning home from New Zealand on an HEFY (then it was called AYS) expedition in 2003. I remember how much my heart longed for the people I had met and the friendships I had made. It's similar to the way I felt after returning home from a full-time mission. It was harder then to keep in contact with people so far away. Lucky for us we have technology and Facebook to more easily keep us connected. Nonetheless, I am sure each one of our participants will keep a place in their hearts for the wonderful people they met and served with this summer. 

 

Belize 1 is Staying Busy

It's crazy to think our first expeditions are already coming to an end and getting ready to come home. Belize 1 will be retuning home this Saturday and I'm sure they have a lot of good stories to tell. Here are a few pictures of some of their adventures.

 

                      

An update from Tonga 1

We have received word from Tonga 1 and finally a few 
photos we can share with you all!

 Tonga 1 has been working hard this week doing some maintenance at the local school. The group has really enjoyed painting, and believe it or not they have a hard time only getting it on the walls. I hope you packed your kids with extra soap, I think they're going to need it. 

From Fundraising to Fiji

One of the greatest parts of working for HEFY is seeing the youth from the very beginning of the registration process and then actually out on an expedition.

I recall one youth in particular, Alec Barney. He visited our office often for help with the registration process and fundraising. He would stop by every couple weeks and drop off donations he had received for his trip. 

He was always so amazed at how willing and wanting people were to donate to his Fiji expedition.  Just this week his trip leader sent us a few photos of the group and I was pleased to see a picture of Alec working hard building toilets.  It's fun to see his fundraising efforts paying off and actually see Alec (and the rest of the youth) 

changing lives through service. 

Here are a few more pictures of our Fiji 1 group and the fun things they 

have been doing this past week. 

 

 

Our 2012 Trips are underway and having a great time! Our trip leaders will be updating us from their countries and we will post any news we get right here! 
So, to stay up to date on the 2012 expeditions, this is the place to be. 

Here are a few group shots of the expeditions that are currently taking place. 

Fiji 1

Peru 1

 

Tonga 1

 

Belize 1