La Republica Dominicana, pt. 4

Here is to my last piece on our adventures in the Dominican Republic. This is more of a fun post sharing our travels back home, similar to my first post on our travels there. My intent is not for you to remember these travel posts as any significance compared to the middle two posts about our time actually in the DR, but to share the entirety of our experience with you. With that being said, I'll jump right in.

Our last sight of the of the DR
as we made our way back to America

Similar to our travels down, our team was returning back to America in two groups, flying into Detroit and Grand Rapids. Again, I was a part of the group flying into Detroit. Our flight left a few hours earlier than the group flying into Grand Rapids, so we had to set out before sharing breakfast with the rest of the team. Just like our trip down, it was a 4:20am wake up call for a 5am departure for the Santo Domingo air port to make time for our 7:30am flight to New York (JFK). We loaded onto the bus and Billy, our guide/translator for the week, continued to demonstrate his never failing excitement for anything and everything. I thought if there was going to be one time that week we caught him without a smile, it would be then... Nope.

It was a good thing we decided to get to the airport extra early this time. We walked in the doors of the airport at 5:30am and got in line to check our bags. The line was beyond the walking guides they have set up, but it was moving fairly quickly. After 10-15 minutes we got up to the start of the guides and then an attendant directed us towards what looked like an express line because we were in a group. We all thought our luck had finally changed from our travels down. Well, maybe not... by 6:30am we had finally reached the front of the "express" line. The original line we were in also had just cleared out. We realized that there was no benefit at all to getting moved into this other line. It actually set up back by probably 30 minutes from where we were in the other line. But security was quick, and we were still to our gate with time to grab a quick bite to eat to bring with on the plane before starting our long day of travel.

We made our way onto the plane and departed for New York. On the plane, I got to watch 'The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug', and Kim watched 'Frozen'. Things were going well. We even landed in New York early! We still felt the need to hustle as we made our way from the international terminal to grab our checked bags and get to customs. At baggage claim, all seemed well until we realized that Andrew's guitar was not with our bags... Andrew checked his baggage tracking on that fancy little Delta app that we got to use so many times on our trip down and it didn't even list the guitar being scanned into JFK with the rest of our bags. We then made our way to Baggage Services and they encouraged us that the guitar was still traveling with us and we would see it in Detroit. Apparently, they didn't feel it necessary for the guitar to go through customs? So we grabbed our bags and took them to customs. JFK was much  more lenient than I had expected... They just took our bags and put them on another conveyor belt, and off we were. I still have my customs declarations page. I guess they didn't need them.

After a few sets of directions given with the same tasks in different orders, we jumped on a tram to the domestic terminals. We then had to go outside, across the street, and back inside the airport to go through security once more. But we actually got to experience a layover for the first time on this trip. We might have even had more than an hour to wait at our gate for the next flight. That was a great sign because we knew we only had a 45 minute layover waiting for us in Washington before our final flight home to Detroit. As time for our boarding approached, the gate staff that our flight was slightly delayed... because one of the flight attendants was running late. We really thought nothing of it. They started boarding the flight, and I got to check one more thing off my bucket list... Loading onto a plane up the stairs via the tarmac. And it was a good thing too. As we were loading on the plane, we looked out onto the tarmac and noticed a bag had fallen off of the luggage carrier on the way to the plane. We then noticed that it was Ellen's bag. So we yelled and they heard. Ellen's bag made it bag onto the carrier and onto the plane.

I mentioned that we didn't think much of our delayed flight. Well, that was until we were on the plane and our fancy Delta apps started telling us that the delayed had affected our travels and suggested alternate flights for us to book. None of which left until the next day. At this point, you could see the stress level in our team begin to rise for the first time in all our travel adventures. We were determined to make that flight. At the same time, I was arranging a back up driver to pick us up from Detroit as some things had come up in our plans for that as well. Fortunately, that did not take long to figure out. We landed in Washington, hurried across the hall to our next gate, and made it on our final flight home! We were all set.

I had two of my roommates generously driving out to the airport to pick us up and get us home. And then I opened my mouth one more time... I turned to Andrew and Ellen and said "Now, as long as nobody has parked Kurt's car in at Ellen's house, we are home free." We landed in Detroit, made our way to baggage claim, and then I received a text. My roommates were stuck at Ellen's house trying to find the owner/keys of the car that had parked Kurt's car in... I definitely got some dirty looks for that one. We were exhausted and ready to be home, and you could tell. Eventually, my roommates borrowed another car, made it to the airport, and we all loaded in and drove back to Ann Arbor. Kurt's car was still parked in, so I sent my car back with him, Andrew, Evan, and Kim so that they could just get home. My night was done, but they still had a 2 1/2 hour drive back to Zeeland with a stop in East Lansing to drop Evan off at school.

By the end of the night, we were all at our respective homes. We were safe and we had everything we left Santo Domingo with. Praise God for His sovereign rule over something as silly as our crazy travels.

Praise God for an amazing week in an amazing place with amazing people.

peace and love,

La Republica Dominicana, pt. 3

After our long week of service and loving the community of Mojarra, we had the opportunity to venture out into the city of Santo Domingo on Saturday to explore more Dominican culture. The best part of the day was bringing two boys from Batey Fao (the original batey mentioned in the Mika's Lunch excerpt in my previous post) that we had all grown very close to with us for the adventure. 

Tony (left) and Neftali (right)

The boys' names were Neftali (15yo) and Tony (14yo). They have been very close to Heather, the wonderful woman who started Mika's Lunch, since she started working with Fao. And they so desired to get to know us during our time there that they skipped school every single day that week and would somehow show up at Mojarra, a mile or two the road from Fao, every afternoon. [Keep in mind that school in the Dominican is not like it is here in America... missing school is much more common there than it is here. The big sacrifice the boys were making was giving up their lunch that school would provide if they didn't make it to us before we had breaked from work to head into the town of Guerra for lunch. But to them, spending the week getting to know us was more important than eating lunch.] 

Neftali and Tony grew on us by teaching us. They understood that we did not speak their language but saw that we were trying. So they did their best to decipher through our broken sentences and hand gestures to communicate with us and expand our vocabulary. Not only did they want to teach us their language, but they wanted to learn ours, giving us the chance to teach them as well. These boys were smart, and they were caring.

So Friday when we left the worksite, we brought Neftali and Tony back to our hotel to spend the night with us and explore Santo Domingo with us the next day. We didn't know what to expect. It was a very real chance that this could be the first time they've ever used a real shower or slept on a bed with a mattress. I couldn't even wrap my head around what this might be like for them. They were excited. Andrew and I had them sleep in our room with us. They started out sharing a bed while Andrew and I shared the other bed in our room. After the giggling had finally come to a stop, Neftali decided that Tony took up more bed than he was comfortable sharing so he threw a towel on the tile floor and went to sleep there like it was nothing. So we decided to change it up and had Tony come over to share a bed with me and Andrew shared with Neftali. I soon realized that Neftali wasn't kidding... Tony may have been small, but he had me limited to the edge of the bed on my side.

Los Tres Ojos Cave

In the morning, we all awoke for our last breakfast together and loaded onto the bus for our first expedition of the day. We visited one of the top sites in Santo Domingo, Los Tres Ojos Cave. Originally one single body of water throughout the cave, it has split into 3 small lakes throughout the years, giving it the name 'The Three Eyes'. The water was crystal clear and cool to the touch. I wanted nothing more than to jump in for a swim, but they don't take to kindly to that there. 

After the cave, we made our way into town for the market where we got to test our international bartering skills. I've never been one much for bartering, but I was definitely enjoying the practice. Kim and I even got our first souvenir for our future home together to start a collection from all the places we visit. But the bartering did not come without its stresses. The shop owners were incredibly pushy to get you to look at their stuff and didn't take 'No' for an answer very well. But if you could get past that, it was a fun experience.

From the market, we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. It felt extremely out of place to be eating there after all of the home grown market food we had been eating all week, but some 'American' food sounded great to me! We got a kick out of our cokes being served in giant plastic guitar cups and obviously had to bring those back home with us.

Once we had finished with lunch, we stopped back at the hotel to change into our swim suits and then went to check out the beach, Boca Chica. The beach there is nothing like we are used to here in Michigan. The water is significantly more beautiful, but most of the ocean shores are comprised of rocks rather than sand. Boca Chica is a sandy beach, but probably only 20 feet of sand between the shop stands and the water, as the sand is likely imported in. And the vendors on the beach might have actually been more pushy than those at the market, with higher prices too. But we got to end our last day relaxing on the beach and playing in the ocean as a team. It was a great way to enjoy our fellowship and catch a little Sabbath before we headed back home.

Neftali thought he could use
some sunscreen at the beach...

On our way back to the hotel, we dropped Neftali and Tony back off at Fao. We wanted to bring them back with us, but we figured that would be looked down upon by customs and immigration... The boys were quiet on the bus. They wanted us to leave as little as we wanted to leave them. As soon as we pulled up to Fao, Neftali had to make his way off the bus before his emotions hit him. I get that; I hate goodbyes too. But I know that won't be the last time we see those two. They are going to grow into amazing leaders in their community, and I cannot wait to return and see their progress.

Up next: our travels home

La Republica Dominicana, pt. 2

After an exhausting day of travel, as mentioned in my previous post, the time had finally come. We were settled into the Tropicana Hotel in Santo Domingo, ready for a week of service. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect for the week. This was my first time ever out of the country, let alone to experience poverty of this magnitude.

Fortunately for us late arrivals, breakfast wasn't served until 7:30 the first morning, so we had an extra half hour of sleeping in. Since it was already dark by the time we had landed the previous night and we were all off our bearings from travel, breakfast was our first taste of Dominican culture. Everybody gathered around a collection of table and the ladies working served us like we would serve a family meal. An assortment of different fresh fruit juices topped the meal every morning. It was fantastic.

After breakfast, we all filled our water bottles, loaded onto the bus, and headed for Batey Mojarra, the community where we would be serving. Here is an excerpt for the website of Mika's Lunch, the organization that we went to serve in building a kitchen for:

"Outside of Santo Domingo, the capitol of the Dominican Republic, lies Batey Fao.  The village is a shanty-town, made up of tin shacks and inhabited by Haitians from the other side of the island.  It lies under a set of high power lines.  The Haitians are mostly illegals, having come over from Haiti to work in the sugar cane plantations that used to be owned by the Dominican government.  The plantations were later privatized, and the new owners fired the Haitians and replaced them with Dominicans.  The Haitian people, often living as squatters, are now day laborers, hustling to get work wherever they can find it.  In a good day, they might make the equivalent of two American dollars.  The conditions in Haiti are so much more horrific, however, that the Haitians remain in the Dominican as they seek to make new lives for their families."

[Please take a deeper look into Mika's Lunch and read about all that they are doing. I truly believe in the program and the opportunity that it gives to the children in these bateys. If you feel so lead, you can also donate to the organization to support their efforts. All support goes directly to the students, allowing them to feed a child for a mere $88.40 for an entire school year.]

Kitchen and picnic tables
at Batey Fao

Batey Fao was the original community that Mika's Lunch began working with, in partnership with Harderwyk Ministries. Now, alongside Drenthe CRC, Community Reformed Church has begun building a similar relationship in Mojarra.

Our task for the week: finish building the property wall and build the kitchen for Mika's Lunch to begin preparing hot lunches for the students in. Because of the extreme humidity on the island, it is entirely unrealistic to build anything of wood frame, so we all got to become expert brick layers throughout the week.

Our wall half way through the week

By the end of the week, we estimated that we layed somewhere between 180 and 200 linear feet of brick for the wall, standing 8 feet tall. Then there's whatever it took for us to build the kitchen. That's a whole lot of brick. By the end of the day Tuesday, it seemed like there was no way we were finishing all that we had been tasked to do. Even with the 21 person crew, not counting the hired workers from the community, work was slow to get done compared to all that was needed by the end. Thankfully our God is so much bigger than we could ever imagine and He has the ability to counter our doubt right before our eyes. By the end of the day Friday, all was complete. We had finished all that we were tasked with. The only things left were installing the gate, which had been shipped during the week and might possibly be there by now,
and the concrete poured for the ceiling and floor in the kitchen. The floor couldn't be poured until the ceiling was finished and the ceiling was worked on by contracted help, so that was out of our hands. What an amazing feeling it was to see all of the progress God had made through our hands in our time there, even with all of the extremely non-conventional work methods we got to learn. Not to mention, we stopped back by on Saturday after we had ventured Santo Domingo, and the ceiling was poured and set!

The kitchen is set for pouring its
concrete ceiling

While we got to see all of this progress right before our eyes, it certainly wasn't all of our work while in Mojarra. To be honest, I wouldn't even consider it the most important work we had to opportunity to play a part in while we were there (not to take away any importance of the wall and kitchen at all). But the part that excited me the most about being there, and the part that I think will be most influential in bringing Community Reformed Church back to the Dominican Republic was the relational work that we got to play a part in.

That work is by no means done. We have an entire community to meet and to love, to show Christ to. It was great working alongside men of the community in building throughout the week because we got to see their care and devotion to supporting and building up their community while they got to see the same desire in us

as newcomers. We spoke different languages entirely, yet we all managed to scrape by with the most basic of words and hand gestures. You could see God breaking down that barrier of communication right before our eyes. We didn't need to speak the same language to work with each other and love one another.

As the week went on, more and more children would come out and play each day while we worked, latching to our sides and loving every chance for a photo opp. These kids melted our hearts. We would have mandatory break time just to spend some time goofing off with the kids and remembering the true reason for our presence there; that Christ might shine through us and provide a hope that they cannot find elsewhere.

Wilkins' old shoes

As the week came to a close, it was so hard to leave. It felt great to have completed all of the physical work, but we did not want to leave all of our new friends and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Bittersweet for sure. I had the opportunity to leave my work boots with a man named Rafael, one of the hardest working men I've ever met in my life. He worked in what looked like dress shoes to me for the entirety of the week. To see the gratitude in his smile was payment enough. I also got to watch another worker, Wilkins put on a pair of boots given to him by another person on our team. Through the week, he was our concrete mixer. No machine, just his arms and a shovel. And he wore some Nike tennis shoes that were so busted up that his foot was falling out the front. He didn't even know how to respond to receiving boots that simply covered his whole foot. These gifts were nothing more than material objects to us at this point. But to our friends who we were able to bless with them, they were God's provision.

My mentor/boss man, Victor

All in all, what an amazing experience it was to spend my spring break building new relationships with both people in my church and people from an entirely different country. We got to watch and experience God move in incredible ways. And I absolutely cannot wait for the opportunity to return and continue working at the school and with the people of the Mojarra community.

Up next: Exploring Santo Domingo

La Republica Dominicana, pt. 1

Today marks the third day of re-acclamation back to reality after what I would call one of the most eye-opening weeks of my life.

Last Sunday, March 2, A group of 21 people from all walks of life came together to make the trip down to the Dominican Republic for a week of Kingdom work. We sent 14 out of Grand Rapids and the remaining 6 out of Detroit to meet up with the rest of the team in Atlanta for our layover before flying to Santo Domingo. I was a part of the group of 6 flying out of Detroit alongside my new fiancée of a whopping 20 whole hours, my best friend, his high school sweetheart, our courageous pastor (he actually chose to travel with the group of us... I find that pretty brave), and our new found friend, Evan. And oh what a trip we had!

The group of us made our way out to Ann Arbor Saturday night to cut our drive time to the airport Sunday morning. We left just in time to drive all the way through Michigan's most recent snow storm. Though, what actually is a drive across Michigan without a snow storm this winter? Once we were all safe in Ann Arbor, it was time for an early lights out for our 4:45am wake up call. We did manage one random laughing attack before bed.

Sunday morning started off just the same as Saturday night ended... with the leftovers of the snow storm. The drive to the airport was certainly no better than the drive to Ann Arbor. But as Kurt put it, he just followed my tail lights, and if I was going in the ditch, "we were going in together". All was well.

Goodbye snow!

Even with the roads, we arrived to the airport with plenty of time to spare to get all of our bags checked, through security, and to our gate before boarding. But that's just when the fun started. After filing onto the plane and into our seats, we taxi out onto the tarmac. Only to sit for at least an hour waiting for the plane to be de-iced. After we eventually make it into the air and reach altitude for Wi-Fi capabilities, our fancy Delta travel apps tell us that the delay "has affected our trip" and begins listing alternate flights to Santo Domingo, as it suspected we were going to miss our connection in Atlanta with the rest of the team. At this point, I began wishing I never told the group I've always wanted to run through the airport... But our determination began. We were making this flight. We landed with 20 minutes to make it from our domestic terminal to the international. Unfortunately, my bucket list got one more check mark. We were most definitely running. Only to make it to our gate at 10:41am for our 10:36am departure, with not a single person in sight at the gate. The gate staff must have had something very important to get to.

At this point, Delta had already automatically re-booked us for a flight out of Atlanta at 1:20pm for New York (LaGuardia), and then from New York (JFK) to Santo Domingo. Yes, arriving in one New York airport and departing from another just a few hours later, with our luggage to come with. Thank goodness for that fancy Delta travel app because not all of our bags followed us to LaGuardia as expected... But it listed our missing bags as going straight from Atlanta to JFK on a different flight. So we jumped on a shuttle and made our way to JFK. After re-checking the bags we had and going back through security, it was again time to hustle. That 3 hour layover was eaten up quickly. Just as we made it to the gate in the nick of time, the flight was delayed by 30 minutes because our plane was late arriving and needed a quick cleaning and resetting for our flight. A chance to catch our breaths. Had the flight been on time, we just might have missed that one too.

But finally... we were on our plane set for Santo Domingo. It was a good feeling to know that regardless of this final flight time, we were going to be in the Dominican Republic when we landed. Only 9 hours after we had originally expected. Now it was just time to get to the hotel and catch some shut eye before waking for our first day of work. And work it was. Hard work.

Up next: serving in the DR

let's risk the ocean, there's only grace

In the midst of all the chaos of finals, I can't help but to pull away and reflect on life around me. It's been far too long since I've taken the time to slow down and soak it all in. It's been an interesting semester, to say the least, coming off of the best summer of my life - hands down.

Personally, it's been a battle. I spent at least the first month of my time here in Ann Arbor this semester absolutely hating where I was. Not a day went by that I didn't wish I were somewhere else. And I knew exactly where that somewhere else was. My [c]hurch. More importantly though, my home [C]hurch, being the body of people I built such a strong community with over the summer as I found my new desire for the church as a whole. I was willing to give anything to be back in that place, back with those people. Most readily available to give up... my Michigan education. I was emailing back and forth with the admissions office of a school closer to home, my application all filled out, and my current credit audit in hand. I was ready to go. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my school. The opportunity to be a Michigan Wolverine is not something I take for granted. But I love my church a whole lot more. Long story short, as our God does so flawlessly, he revealed himself to me through his Word in one of my devotionals and brought me back to reality. I think I was in Romans 15 at the time. Paul was writing to the Romans explaining how he wanted to be with them so badly, being away from them for years. And then it hit me... Paul ends the passage telling them that he will return to them at the first chance of God's will, and that his return would be in the fullness of Christ. The fullness of Christ. And there I was wallowing over being away for two, maybe three weeks. At that time, I knew I was where I belonged, and that time when God's will allowed for me to be back home and in my church, it would be in that same fullness of Christ as Paul wrote about. So here I am, in Ann Arbor, confident of the path the Lord has set before me.

When I finally found myself at peace with my life, I thought things would be smooth sailing from there. I don't know why I ever think that... it never actually happens. I don't think life will ever be smooth sailing, and I'm okay with that. Actually, I rejoice in that. But honestly, it wasn't all the great things in life that sat me down tonight to reflect. It was the brokenness of life all around me. Day after day, new prayer requests are brought to light as we realize we can't fight our battles on our own. Without a word needing to be spoken between us, I share the broken heart of my best friend for a loved one. I'm reminded of my own broken relationships and how I wish with every ounce of my soul that my heart would soften. I've noticed a new trend on Twitter right out of Zeeland (and even slowly spreading here to Ann Arbor) called #ConfessionNight. I feel lost in all of the struggles I read, but I praise God for the vulnerability he has brought about and the opportunity to share his name through that. I see people I love turn towards all but the desires of the Living God who lavishes us with his very Spirit to lead us in this life. My heart breaks knowing that their immediate satisfaction only leads to eternal dissatisfaction. Pain surrounds us in all walks of life, and it breaks my heart most when we try to pretend as though it doesn't.

Pain does exist. It is real. But in that pain, we understand just how broken we are and just how much we need the grace of our Savior. As I was walking home from work this evening, the song "Sometimes" by David Crowder Band began playing, and all sorts of emotions began filling my heart. Here are the lyrics:

Sometimes every one of us feels
Like we’ll never be healed
Sometimes
Sometimes every one of us aches
Like we’ll never be saved
Sometimes

When we’ve given up
Let Your healing come
When there’s nothing left
Let Your healing come
‘Til we’re rising up
Let Your healing come
Where You go, we will follow
Where You go, we will follow

It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, we’re lost in You
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You, we’re lost in You
Sometimes

Sometimes
It’s like we’ll never atone
For all the love we’ve known
Sometimes
Like in a smile or a song
When you feel it come
And that feeling’s gone
It flies

When we’ve given up
Let Your healing come
When there’s nothing left
Let Your healing come
Feel it rising up
Let Your healing come
Where You go, we will follow
Where You go, we will follow

It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You
We’re lost in You
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
We’re lost in You
We’re lost in You
It’s Your love that we adore
It’s like a sea without a shore
Don’t be afraid
Don’t be afraid
Just set your sail

And risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace
Let’s risk the ocean there’s only grace

This song has been the cry of my heart this semester, my prayer.. I pray that we see this life as it is, a sea without a shore where we are so lost in the Lord's love that we will follow wherever he goes. I pray that we risk this ocean knowing that there is only grace before us. This is nothing more in this life. Nothing we have done can take away our grace. Nothing more we do can earn us any more grace. It is this gift of God that we receive as we draw near to him and he satisfies our every desire. He is love. He is good. He is God. = )

peace and love y'all,

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." [Ephesians 2:8-10]

Alaska 2012: Part 2

And we’re back at it. I left you guys at the end of our first day at camp. That brings us to the morning of our first full day in Alaska. Fortunately, we had a fairly loose schedule on that first Sunday, so we got to sleep in until 8:30am before waking up for our morning devotionals. Well, we were supposed to be able to sleep in until 8:30 at least… I remember waking up to the lights flashing on as Andrew tells us all to wake up because it was 8:30. I knew my alarm hadn’t gone off yet, so I was a little suspicious of the validity of that statement. I checked my phone, and it said it was only 5:50am. Apparently my filter shuts off while I sleep because I was very blunt in my response to him… “It’s only 5:50, turn off the stupid lights!” I may or may not have followed that with another unfiltered statement and then fell right back asleep. 8:00 rolled around and our bunk house was up and moving yet again. I still didn’t understand why we were getting up a half hour before our scheduled wake up time, but it sure was better than 5:50, so I accepted it and crawled my way out of my sleeping bag into the chilly room. I was one of the last two people to officially make my way out of the boys’ side of the bunk house at 8:15 and began to see all that God had in store for this devotional time. The majority of us on this trip struggled with setting aside time for God on a daily basis, yet all of the guys (yes, the guys) were out starting our devotions 15 minutes earlier that the scheduled wake up time. It was obvious that time was going to play a significant role in our spiritual growth throughout the trip. We spent our time with God in devotions until breakfast at 9:30. After breakfast, we headed on over to the only church within 20 miles for our Sunday service. Without our team there, this church probably had a congregation of around 10, including the pastor and his wife. With as many issues as this church has experienced in the last three years since I was last there, the people demonstrated comfortability. They were comfortable with our team filling their church. They were comfortable with the works of the Lord in their lives. I loved to see how Pastor Larry would ask for desired hymns to sing, and people were just chomping at the bit to get their suggestions in. After the service, we headed back to camp and ate lunch quick before our first Alaskan adventure. After we ate, we made our way out to the Matanuska glacier. I always enjoy visiting the glacier, I mean, really, how often does a person get to say they hiked on top of a glacier? The staff must have been tipped off on the rowdiness of our group or something because we had far more restrictions on the hike than we had in years past. Generally, we’ve been able to split up and explore the glacier in smaller groups of our own, but the Eaglecrest staff were leading the hike and attempting to keep our group of 38 all together without any sidetracking. Nothing against their attempt to follow their orders, keep us safe, or whatever it may have been, but this just isn’t a group to try and be controlled like that; it only makes people want to explore all that more. That’s why we have a group of leaders we feel comfortable with leading the team. But all in all, it was still fun for the group to experience hiking a glacier. After returning from that adventure, it was time for our campfire discussion. This was campfire #2, and you could fairly easily tell. Discussion was opening up, but you can only get so far with a group of people that don’t know each other much at all for the most part. With that said, we were still progressively opening up more and more. The excitement was continuing to grow.

To be continued…

Alaska 2012: Part 1

Ten days ago, 38 people gathered themselves together at the ugly hour of 3:30am to begin their journey on a trip nobody could have ever imagined. In all my trips with Real Life/Anthem Student Ministries, this team was probably the most diverse group I have seen as far as students from different groups of friends goes. Especially during my time as a student on all of these trips, it seemed as though it was always the same group of amazing people that went on trips together. This was definitely a different taste, and I had no idea how that would turn out for this trip. I will just say this… this year marked my third trip to Alaska, and the third time was definitely a charm.

Day one was quite the whirlwind of travel. 4am departure from church… three hour drive to Chicago (6am Central time arrival)… approximately three and a half hours of waiting in the airport for our 9:40am flight… seven hour flight to Anchorage (about 1:30pm Alaska time arrival)… topped off with an hour and a half drive in three jam packed 15-passenger vans plus two trucks full of our luggage to arrive at camp in Sutton, AK around 3pm. That would be 7pm back here in Michigan for a nice 15 hours of travel. Surprisingly enough, as dinner time at camp rolled around, it actually felt like dinner time, and we had seemingly already adjusted to the new time zone. Fortunately, all we had planned for the first night was dinner and campfire with free time in between. I don’t think we could have physically managed to do much more than that. It was exciting to see any inhibitions of a group that didn’t know each other very well disappear. We got to camp, unloaded all of our luggage, and headed right outside to play like a bunch of little kids in the school yard. Naturally, with the adventurous personality of our group as a whole, it didn’t take but a couple of hours for a group of us to get a mini lecture after having a little extra fun. Rule number one… no playing down by the river side! After dinner, we moved on to our first campfire of the week, and Roger introduced to the team what the week was going to look like, including daily devotionals in the mornings and campfires every night. With 38 people in our group, we had a few worries about doing a large group discussion every night. With that many people, it can be all too easy for people sit back and not say anything. With that thought, we did have small groups planned out in case we needed to break the group up to encourage more people to take the chance to talk. We started each campfire with everybody sharing our ‘God-Sightings’ from the day. I think taking the opportunity to have everybody talk about the ways we saw God moving through our day was the key to comfort around the campfire. You could see the first night that the group was already starting to open up as a whole and everybody was willing to talk. This was just the start of how we grew together as a family throughout the trip. Finally, it was time for bed. Without any darkness to fall asleep to, mind you. But this thought of never ending light was the beginning of all to come.

Well, my brain is beginning to shut down, and I don’t want to waste time filling space with empty words, so I will return to catching you all up on our amazing journey tomorrow. Until then, thanks for loving this team and having the desire to watch God work through our lives.

To be continued…