Smiling South of the Border

This week is a very special week as far as student missions go.

The first mission is in Tlaxcala, Mexico where Arielle Sasson and Alexandria Spiegel are spreading love and joy and smiles from August 26th to September 1st. I am so excited for Arielle especially because she has been waiting a veryyy long time for her mission with a little bit of heartbreak in between. 

(l-r) Arielle, and another amazing student- Julia

Here's the story: (as far as I know and have heard)

When I left MTW in Virginia, I had a different mission partner- Sasha. Because of some things that happened, Sash had to be reassigned to another mission. Hence, Lisa & Taylor, Sasha & Arielle. (She had been assigned a 'Mystery Mission' at MTW) WELL, those two girls got a mission to China the first week of August and on the way to the airport, Arielle had an allergic reaction  to the shots that she was required to get and was unable to go! Ahh! Yeah, I know. I would  have cried. So Arielle is FINALLY on her mission to Tlaxcala and I am SO happy for her and Alexandria!

Visit their blog,

Transforming Lives in Tlaxcala 

to follow their mission!

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Sam, Fran and Lisa Downy with their sponsor Suzanne Unger, ready to go! :)

The next mission is in Fortaleza, Brazil where my two good friends Samantha DeVito and Frannie Coxe are! Both are exemplary, funny, sweet and talented girls. I absolutely love them both! While I had the very FIRST mission, Sam and Fran have the very LAST mission from WMTW '10 so they are finishing off the group! We are all so excited for them. They  have been preparing for 7 1/2 months for this to finally happen!! And after some minor flight dilemmas, they are in Brazil now! Congrats girls, we love you!!

Sam and her twin sister, Deanna 

Sam DeVito could quite possibly be the most prepared and pumped student volunteer that Operation Smile has ever seen. She has had her donations, presentations and bags packed since MARCH. .... WHO DOES THAT?!?!? For real. She is just phenomenal and inspires, motivates and drives me to be better, daily. 

Follow Sam's blog on OSCentral, 

HERE!

&

Frannie's blog: 

Frannie Smiles in Fortaleza

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Good luck girls!