Summer Journal 2007

The last two days have not only been filled with hard work, but we have taken away a deluge of knowledge and experience.

The food has been abundant. Fry bread, blue meal pancakes, mutton stew and homaney have been a few of the delacacies we have been treated to. The evenings were filled with storytellers and history (the goatman skinwalker will stick in most of our minds). We were treated to a rare occasion. A local medicine woman was performing a 3 day ceremony. We were invited to observe and ask questions. This does not happen for outsiders but a door opened. You'll have to talk to a team member to hear about the experience.

Near our hosts home sits Grand Falls. In the flood season it is the 2nd largest falls in the US. This massive fall was created by a lava flow. The muddied silt filled waters that flow over it have earned it the nickname of the chocolate falls.

Our last two days have felt like a falls experience as we have been drenched in Navajo culture and hospitality. As we said our goodbyes the team offered a beautiful song of blessing and a prayer of peace. We will always remember our brief visit to the Navajo Nation.

For two days we have been the special guests of a Navajo family on the Arizona resevation. The Navajo are the largest Native American population in the US. Their reservation crosses into 4 states.

We served for 2 days. The church was given a grant of 2000 dollars that was used for a wide variety of projects to families who desperatly needed help. We cleaned, built steps, hung drywall, built a fence and there were enough supplies left over for many more projects. This is 3rd world living conditions. No electricity or running water. The heat would hit 100 in the day and the 50's at night. This is a world of extremes.

We are quickly realizing that we are the learners- guests of an open people who have much to teach us.

Slide Rock Park was our morning location. Oak Creek cuts through all of Sedona and at this particuliar location 800 feet of the creek cuts through the sandstone. This has created a natural water slide and some supreme swimming holes that we made great use of.

After lunch we headed to the one time ghost town of Jerome on the Hill. This town is now a boom town of artists and history. One of the team leaders, Shannon, challenged us to look at areas of our lives that are like ghost towns (dead and immobile) and areas of our lives that we feel blessed in (our boom towns).

We found a place this evening as we attended the moving Taize service in the Chapel of the Holy Cross, an engineering marvel built into the mountainsides of Sedona by one of the disciples of Frank Lloyd-Wright. Hearing the voices in song, praying together and leaving our burdens at the cross was a transformative experience for all who engaged.

Our day started by visiting the vibrant church of St. John Vianney in Sedona. This modern Catholic mass was both inspiring and fun. Their priest, Father JC, was quite the character.

We ate lunch at the memorable Red Planet Diner where we celebrated Melissa's 15th birthday amongst aliens and space crafts.

Sedona is awe-inspiring for its scenery. Massive red monoliths of stone create a boundry of unexplainable beauty. In the afternoon we hiked in Red Rocks National Forest up to Eagles Nest Point where we took in the entirity of the area. Truly, our God is a marvelous Creator.

The ground in Grand Teton National Park is extremely rocky.  Digging holes involves digging up rocks. That is why, for the last 200 years, the people in the area have utilized "buck-rail" fences. These fences use cantilevered log rails on top of the ground instead of fence posts dug into the ground.  This week, our students from Christ Church in Pomfret Connecticut learned the ins and outs of building a buck rail fence. 

The fence at The Chapel of the Transfiguration was badly in need of repair, and our team managed the task in near record time.  Weilding crow bars, drills, hammers, and extra long nails, the students worked like a well-oiled machine to straighten the fence and replace the rails which had been damaged by high snows in the winter.

It was really special to return to the Chapel on Sunday for the Holy Eucharist and see the work they had done just days before.  Just as the Eucharistic prayer began, the clouds drifted away and the beautiful mountains became visible through the glass window over the altar.  What an amazing place to worship the Lord! 

As we prepared to leave for our return to the States, I gathered the team to hear from each person what this pilgrimage had meant to them personally. Rochelle, a girl on the pilgrimage shared with the team of pilgrims that she had come to realize what a true pilgrim is and what a life lived as a pilgrim should look like. I thought I would share with you her description told in her own words.

She framed her understanding around three words, Explore, Experience, and Express. “A pilgrim is one that explores the world and other faiths to see what power and control God has so that you can encounter all that God has to show you. A pilgrim is one that experiences God’s awesomeness and takes in all His ultimate beauty which is eminated within yourself and the world. A pilgrim thinks about what God has planned for you and what His role is to be in your life and ultimately what He wants you to do for Him. A pilgrim is one who expresses the love and devotion that He has for you by doing good works for others. A pilgrim is a missionary every day showing God through yourself in thought word and deed.”

Rochelle caught what the spirit of a pilgrimage is and how a pilgrimage transforms you in such a way that you begin to rethink everything. We each came to Ireland looking to discover more of God, and we left with a real since of what His presence in our life can make when we learn how to live everyday as a pilgrim.
 

Following our time on the Aran Island of Inisheer, we arrived at Esker - a Monastery that welcomes groups of travelers and pilgrims. Here we will explore what a monastic community can teach us about how to deepen our own spiritual life. The monastery is located near the town of Athenry, a Norman city founded in the thirteenth century.

We stopped to explore the Athenry Castle which is one of the oldest castles in all of Ireland. Castle raiding can be a great time of discovery. That evening we spent time together walking and praying through the Stations of the Cross. The Monastery has a beautiful outdoor path lined with the fourteen stations. The pilgrims prayed and led this powerful time together and found this to be an intimate spiritual time of wonder. The weight of this spiritual experience was palatable and left us in silence as we all walked back to our beds for an evening of rest.

The next day we went to visit the ancient Monastic Community of Clonmacnoise, a 5th century development founded by Saint Claram. This was a great historic place to explore and discover what monastic life was like in the ancient monastic way and what can be learned to help us improve our own spiritual life. These pilgrim travelers are beginning to discover what God can do when we yield our life to him and follow in his footsteps. The rhythm of spiritual prayer work and community life has begun to awaken a new reality of the disciplines required to live the authentic life in God.

Today we awoke to a sea voyage to The Island of Inisheer one of three Islands known as the Aran Islands. We arrived on the Island to a beautiful day.  The weather was sunny, and each pilgrim’s heart was filled with a sense of adventure.  We spent the day exploring the island.  Some of the group hiked the circumference of the island, while others took a more leisurely view of the island via a pony-drawn cart.  With the weather clear, we were able to see all the way to the Cliffs of Moher. 

As we hiked around the island, we were often overcome by the rough terrain.  These islands are known as being quite rough and rugged.  One of the pilgrims commented that, while walking on the shifting stones that our path was made of, it reminded her of her spiritual journey.  She said that you never really know if, every time you place your feet, that step will be absolutely secure.  But if you take your time and steady yourself, and keep moving forward, the vistas that you see make it worth the work.  As the day grew towards dusk, we made our way to an ancient site known as the Church of St. Kevin, which is called on the island, Teampall Chaomham.  This is a sacred site where our team gathered to explore the grounds and to read the burial stones of the saints who were buried in this spot. 

Before we left this site we gathered to discuss what it really means to live.  The pilgrims were challenged with the idea that until they come to terms with their death and dying, they can never really learn to live.  The way of the cross and the pilgrim’s walk, follows in the steps of Jesus, and requires us to die so that we might really live like Christ.  The way of the pilgrim is to ask ourselves the question, “Are the things I’m living for, worth Jesus dying for?”  The site of St. Kevin’s Church is quite beautiful, and our walk down from this place was a quiet, reflective walk.  We concluded the evening by listening to traditional Irish music, and prepared to rise early the next morning to catch our ferry back to Galway Bay.

Our final Wonder Voyage of the summer brings us to the Arizona desert in the heat of the summer. Driving with our 19 pilgrims from the Boston MA area we are constantly on the lookout for an ever emerging landscape. The desert is both intimidating and lovely.

We stop on the way to our first home for the next few days. Montezuma's Castle is a 5-story cliffdwelling built into a huge natural recess in the cliffs at least 50 feet off of the ground. Over 200 people lived in these natural apartments built over 800 years ago. This monument, left by the Sinagua people, paints a picture of life hundreds of years ago in this harsh environment. We took some time journaling and pondering the monuments we are leaving behind.

Our home is the beautiful Living Water retreat center outside of Sedona. There was a stark change as we drove from the arid desert into this refreshing oasis. The team, though tired, seems extremly excited about the journey ahead.

It was late and very dark when the pilgrims from Christ Church in Pomfret Connecticut arrived here in the Grand Tetons, so they had little idea of the beauty that awaited them with the rising of the sun. At every time of day the mountains look different: sometimes pink, sometimes blue, often purple, and in the evening, merely as silhouettes; but no matter the time of day, the handiwork of God the Creator is always spectacular here. We approach our journey this week with the determination to "Live It"...that is our life in faith.

After a day of orientation, acclimation, and light hiking, we spent half a day with the "Veg Crew" from the National Park Service. Thistles have flowers with a beautiful purple hue, but their effect on the ecosystem here in the Tetons is devastating. Our students spent hours in the hot sun, pulling these non-native invaders to keep them from wreaking havoc in the park. Herds of roaming bison made our drive to and from this project quite entertaining. We also spotted a huge bull moose that was attracting quite a crowd on the side of the highway. An afternoon hike through an area recovering from a forest fire gave us the opportunity to think about struggles that exist in our own lives.

Our day today included geysers, mudpots, thermal pools and waterfalls. All of these amazing wonders are in abundance at Yellowstone National Park. Again, we were overwhelmed by the amount of acreage that wildfires affect; but we also were reminded that just like regrowth in a forest often requires death first, so our lives in faith often require putting certain things to death. The students engaged in a lively discussion about struggle, suffering, and pressure in their lives, and how they can still live out their faith in the midst of these things.

Letters from home brought the evening to a sweet close, and the students were led to ponder their loved ones, and a loving God who has promised never to leave nor forsake them. We pray that more incredible adventures await us tomorrow...

Fellowship in the Spirit is a great gift from God. Thanks to His goodness towards us He gave us the gift of friendship and we were accompanied today by a friend of Wonder Voyage, Fr Brandon Filbert. We started our day with Fr Brandon by sharing in a Eucharist at his home church in Forrest Grove. His congregation provided us with a great lunch afterward and then we headed out for our new day of adventure. After spending some time on the road we came to a place known as Devils Lake. This stagnat lake is unswimmable due to pollution and toxins, and yet there are numerous houses and landowners developing all around it. It seemed like a strange place to bring the team, but Fr Brandon knew his reasons why and quickly brought out the spiritual significance of a place like this to the pilgrims from St Columbas.

He explained, as many of us know, how we all have places like Devils Lake in our own lives. Places that we never want to reveal to others and places that we never want to bring before Christ. We allow these places to fester and they never change. They might be issues of the past, issues that we can't seem to overcome in the present, or maybe issues we are afraid of in the future. The point is, and the challenge was, to not keep the places like Devils Lake in our lives hidden from Christ. Fr Brandons challenge was to invite Christ straight into them. Don't try and keep them from Him, run to Him with them.

As we headed to our campsite on Devils Lake for the evening we all took some time to reflect on Fr Brandons test for us, and we all prayed that we could be courageous enough to come to Christ with all of our fears and all our shame.

Today, in many ways we concluded our pilgrimage of discovering the story of Lewis and Clark. But before we headed back into Portland for our last few days we left Devils Lake and drove up the coast to Ft Clatsop and Astoria. Ft Clatsop was the end of our trek with Lewis and Clark. This is the place that the two explorers and their party camped after they had accomplished the seemingly impossible, trekking clear across the continent. Their arrival marked the claiming of the land for America and that history is marked by the fort and by Astoria, a city founded in 1811, only a few years after the expedition.

We spent the majority of our day in Astoria seeing what all the city had to offer (besided being the birthplace of The Goonies) and then we were off to Portland. Our next day we spent on the Deshutes River rafting, eating, and enjoying each others company, but after our dinner at a small ski town at the foot of Mt Hood we got back to our home in Portland and started packing.

We had reached the end of our pilgrimage in Oregon, covering almost every eco-system the state has, seeing the glory of Christ in each other and in His creation, but during our closing meeting we returned again to the story of Lewis and Clark. Both of these men, and all of their party, risked it all to traverse the great Louisiana Purchase, but that was not the end of their stories, the same as this is not the end of the story for the youth of St Columbas. Lewis and Clark represent two very different futures. Lewis' did not end with much joy while Clark lived a long and fruitful life leaving a large family with members still alive today. The challenge for the youth of St Columbas is to realize that this pilgrimage is not over, and in many ways it is still just beginning. Their lives will forever be a journey with Christ and with Him they will never be alone. Our prayer for them is that they will never lack the faith and courage to pursue that life with Christ the same as Lewis and Clark were not afraid to pursue their call into the unknown.

After picking up Todd and Suzie Clark, our two guests for the day, we loaded our vans and headed to the Oregon coast. Todd, a youth minister with the Presbyterian church in Salem, is just back from his own Wonder Voyage in the Tetons. Suzie, Todds wife, is a marine biologist and loves bringing our teams out to play in the tide pools. Today these two will be our guides and reveal a new part of Oregon to the group.

Once we arrived at the coast, and before we began our new discoveries, Suzie posed the question to the team to find how the patterns we witness in ocean life reveal Christ. It was a lingering thought, but after our lunch on the beach we had some free time to swim and then we were off again. This time it was Todd who lead our adventure and he took us deep into Silver Falls Forrest. A completely different terrain from the ocean life we just discovered, but just as powerful. After exploring two of the seven waterfalls this park has to offer Todd flipped the question of patterns on us from finding Christ in the patterns to finding patterns in our own lives that limit us from allowing Christ to reign.

It was a sober question, one that we pondered in silence on our return home that evening. It is a scary thought that the very God that brought patterns into this world also allows us to build some patterns in life that limit us from seeing Him. It is only through our knowledge and relationship with Him that we will grow to see those patterns that are actually destroying us.

A good pilgrimage is rooted in a balance of exploration and spiritual encounters with our living God.  With this being the last day for us in Galway, these pilgrims are setting out today to explore that city, giving time to revisit places that were meaningful to them, while still finding other treasures of wonder tucked away in this amazing urban city. 
 
Before they left for their exploration, they were treated in true Irish bard form, to a fascinating story teller who shared Celtic tales steeped in Irish lore.  This gave each pilgrim an even deeper view into the culture of the Irish people.  Today, as the students explore Galway, they were encouraged to discover for themselves a sacred space in this bustling city where they could create a sanctuary for themselves to connect with God.  In our modern, western world, with the distractions of activities, we often find ourselves overcome with the “me-focused”, right-now, agenda-driven demands.  Our goal today is to help these pilgrims discover how to create for themselves a sacred space where they can contemplate the wonder of God among the business of our modern day.  Jesus himself was profoundly able to find sacred spaces that became sanctuaries for Him to commune with His Heavenly Father.  As we learn to walk in the steps of Jesus, in the every day rhythm of this world, if we listen carefully, we can still hear Him say, “Could you tarry with me a moment?”  When we learn to create a sanctuary among the ordinary, we will begin to see in ourselves an inward transformation that reflects the nature of Jesus. Tomorrow we set sail for the rough and rugged Aran Island of Inisheer.
 

Today we left New York City with the team of pilgrims from St. Paul Episcopal Church in Connecticut to embark on a voyage of wonder in beautiful Ireland.  Shortly after landing in Shannon, the 12 pilgrims set off to visit the Cliffs of Moher.  Each time you come to the cliffs, you never quite know what the weather will be like, and whether or not you’ll be blessed with a picturesque view and clear skies.  On this occasion, however, we were able to marvel at the beauty of the cliffs and see clearly all the way to the Aran Islands.  During the few hours that we were there, we were able to explore the beauty and majesty of this natural wonder.  After a time of exploration, the team gathered for an encounter time to discuss the spiritual wonder of all that we were seeing.   These cliffs are both majestic and terrifyingly dangerous.  Few words are sufficient to capture the splendor of the Cliffs of Moher.  We talked about how many people have lost their lives over the cliffs due to the lack of respect of the height, winds and weather associated with the cliffs.  We discussed how the cliffs are a picture of God; both majestic and yet dangerous.  We discussed how the book of Proverbs says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.  As we sat together reflecting upon all we had seen, and discussing the awe of this natural beauty, we discussed how during this week of travels in Ireland, we want to learn what it means to behold God’s beauty and majesty in such a way that we are captured with reverence in the still moments that await us. 
 
From the cliffs, we headed to the city of Galway.  Galway is a bustling, busy urban city, and one of the fastest growing cities in Ireland.  We were welcomed by our friends at An Tobar Nua, an outreach ministry to the people of Ireland that Wonder Voyage partners with.  An Tobar Nua was started in 1996, and in 1998 they opened a bustling café to reach out to the youth of Galway, at which time they also opened a Christian book store, a counseling center, and a crisis pregnancy service.  This is where we will stay for the next 3 days as we explore the city and discover what God-moments await us, and as we stare into the face of God with a sense of wonder.

This morning we were greeted to a welcome sight in Galway:  sunshine!  This summer has been one of the rainiest seasons on record.  We set off early to visit two important sites to explore in the city of Galway.  We started at the Spanish Arch and traveled into the center of the city to visit the church of St. Nicholas. Many tourists visit St. Nicholas’ church because it is the oldest gothic church in all of Ireland, built in the 13th century.  One of the amazing pieces of history tied to this particular church, is that this is the church that Christopher Columbus visited to pray prior to his departure to discover the Americas.  We took time discussing what a great leap of faith that must’ve been for him, and discussing what might have stood in the way of his voyage.  As pilgrims, we have come to Ireland on a voyage of wonder.  We found ourselves asking what stands in the way for each of us that might keep us from moving forward with God in the calling that He has for our lives.  The students were asked to pick up a stone from around this great church and write on the stone what was standing in their way to intimacy with God.  They took their stones with them in their pockets, as a reminder that we are separate from the issues that hold us back, and while we’ve been carrying these burdens for some time, now that we have a tangible object to hold, we can see that we have the power to once and for all remove them from our lives. 
 
That afternoon, we joined a local Irish Church, called Discovery Church, to support and assist them in a city-wide cookout that the church was holding as an outreach to the city of Galway.  We invited people from the city to join us for free food, music, face painting, and a bounce house for the children.  The pilgrims from St. Paul Episcopal church mixed in well with the Irish from the Discover Church, serving and helping wherever they were asked.  The Discover Church, when asked why they were doing this, and even more why they were doing it for free, answered that they were a Bible-based Christian group made up of ordinary people that had encountered a loving God who transforms hearts and minds.  This was a way for them to give back to the city of Galway and express their love for this fine city.  Because of all of the sunshine, many of the pilgrims left at the end of the day with shiny, pink noses and rosy cheeks.  They were tired, yet satisfied, that they had seen God and discovered Him in the ordinary.

On our way north, farther from the California-Oregon border we stopped for breakfast at the well-known little town of Grants Pass. We had our morning session under the shadow of the large town mascot, a neanderthal man, and we prepared ourselves for the drive to the YWAM base in Salem, our next home. The team did not know what our schedule was for the day but it did not take them long to figure it out when they saw the ropes, tires, and other objects hanging from the trees at the base. Once we ate lunch we quickly headed off into the surrounding woods for our afternoon activity, the high ropes course. It was a challenging set but the team did great motivating each other and pushing farther then many of them thought possible.

For dinner we spent our time with some old friends at St Timothys. The youth from the church met us with lasagna and stories from their own Wonder Voyage to Wales last summer. It was a great time of fellowship and to build upon pilgrimages past and present.

Today we talked about Lewis and his mentor, Thomas Jefferson. During our morning session we challenged the youth from St Columbas to think about a relationship where they have been mentored and one where they have been the mentor. It was Thomas Jefferson who made it possible for Lewis to have the opportunity to scout the great Louisiana Purchase, and their relationship flourished because of Jefferson's investment into Lewis.

As we spent our time at the high ropes course, and then later in St Timothys, it became clear how important it is for us all to have those mentoring relationships in life. The relationships that the leaders of these youth have built over their years of investment became clear as they encouraged and exhorted the youth to push farther than they thought possible, and spending the time with the St Timothys group in the evening reminded us of the relationships that pilgrimage brings.

We started the day early. Breakfast burritos around a campfire and a nice sunrise. It was a good start to a busy day. After we finished breakfast we headed off to hike Upper Table Rock Butte. It was a short hike but with a beautiful view and once we reached the top we each took some time to reflect on the glory of God's creation. After our quick lunch in an old covered bridge, we paid a visit to the only fully functioning grain mill west of the Mississippi and then finished our day with a stop at the Oregon vortex.

During our time of reflection on top of Upper Table Rock we took the story of Lewis and Clark with us and the challenges that formed Lewis into the man that he became. Lewis was a man that knew what it meant to sacrifice and it was through the struggles in his young life that he found his love for adventure.

As we spent our time reflecting on our own lives in this place, one of the leaders from St Columbas, Kevin, challenged the group to recognize the difference between indoor and outdoor cathedrals. "Indoor cathedrals" he said "are our gift to God, but outdoor cathedrals are God's gift to us." Adventure gives us the opportunity to discover the greatness that is God's glory in creation and as we continue to discover the glory of God revealed in Oregon we remember what that means for us as individuals. That we are created by God and called to magnify His glory.

After a couple days in San Francisco the team from St Columbas arrived safely in Oregon and got settled at our home in the Rouge River Valley. The team was tired after a long day of driving but once we got settled into the campsite we headed down to the river for a quick swim. The water was cold and fast but we enjoyed the refreshment. We found a snake along the way and had some wild berries, and in the end we walked away recognizing the gift of exploration God was giving us.

This week the youth from St Columbas in DC are going to follow the footsteps of Lewis and Clark and their great adventure into the undiscovered country. We are going to explore what it means to step out of the norm and follow a dream. To take time to find what Gods purpose is for us, and to find the courage to follow whatever that plan is.

Once again, we traverse bumpy, mud-filled roads and shallow river beds to a place of inspiring beauty and solitude. This morning we left Comayagua to drive up into the heart of an equatorial cloud forest. Our team attempted the steep hike with much enthusiasm- and we lunched under the foot of a noisy waterfall. There we forgot our aching legs and for a few moments enjoy the beauty of God´s creation.
 
Later in the evening, we enjoyed the generous hospitality of the community of Rio Negro. Several locals from the area cooked a dinner of traditional Honduran fare (tortillas, platanos, vegetales, y mucho cafe) and later invited us into their homes to rest. Despite the occasional encounter with large insects and the awesome thunderstorm drumming our tin roofs, the team survived the night- and woke to the quiet beauty of the cloud forest. We are refreshed and blessed by the beauty of Honduras and the beauty of the Honduran people.

The team from FBC has had 7 days of intense service, cultural immersion and wild exploration. As they geared down their last day they decided to jam as much in as possible.

Waking at 4 am, we drove to the most active volcano in Costa Rica. We had a great breakfast buffet then headed to a 200 ft. waterfall in the jungle for a brisk swim. The power of the falls kept us in awe. From there it was a quick lunch and then a few hours at Baldi Springs, a fancy spa full of natural hot springs from the volcano. The last evening meal was a Tico buffet then it was a late arrival in the mountain town of Heredia.

Our final evening was spent sharing about the state of the hearts of each team member when they arrived, how God met them on the journey and where they would go from here. The stories were inspiring. We always love our FBC teams and we cannot wait for future adventures with our friends.

Our time together in Colorado has come to an end.  Our Connecticut and Colorado pilgrims have joined together as a team, and have become family.  They have seen some of the most amazing landscapes in God's creation.  They have served the Benet Hill Monastic Community with energy and joy.  They have rowed and splashed in the Arkansas River, walked the Labyrinth path, played and laughed. They have learned to treat each other with respect, care, and compassion.  Most of all, they have been honest with each other and with God. 

As the team divides to go to separate cities, it is difficult to tell which student belongs to which church, because they have joined together so harmoniously.  There is already talk fo a reunion next summer.  Our prayers go with them to Connecticut and Kentucky with the hope that they will continue to move forward on their individual and corporate journeys; and that we will be blessed to share the pilgrim path again with them sometime.

Note: At this writing, the First Superior at the Benet Hill Monastery has been summoned home to be with her Lord.  Our thoughts and prayers are with our sisters and friends at Benet Hill in their time of loss.  It is a time of bittersweetness for them, and we wish them well.

We had a great time Sunday with those we met Saturday night in the village. At 9 am we met all our new friends at the soccer field - families, children, teens and adults! All coming to see what we had in store. Some played soccer, others football, we had crafts and even face painting. At mid-morning Father Lawrence gathered up all the children (50) and shared the gospel story. We had a great time demonstrating the gospel message with cool illustrations. We ended with more games, prizes, a trash pick-up contest, and lots of new friends.

The rain caused us to cancel our outdoor service. But God had other things in store. We took the afternoon in a cabin atop a mountain and worshiped, prayed for each other and for those we had met in the village. God is moving in power and healing through this team.

On Monday we will work at a local school - we are anticipating a great day.

The breathtaking Rocky Mountains are the backdrop for this week's Colorado pilgrimage. Students from Christ Episcopal in Connecticut and St Raphael's in Kentucky have joined together as one community this week to seek the face of God.

We started our time here in service to the Benedictine sisters from Benet Hill Monastery. Our energetic students were able to clean and mulch the prayer garden path and the Labyrinth at the Benet Pines Retreat Center which serves as our home this week. Wheelbarrows full of pine mulch were hauled through the woods for hours on end; the finished results were amazing.

In our exploration time, we have hiked in the inspiring Garden of the Gods and Florissant National Monument; and our whitewater adventure on the Arkansas River is not to be soon forgotten. All the while we are focusing on the presence of God...in nature, in community, and in the person of Jesus Christ. We pray to hear the voice of God and follow His leading as the week unfolds.

Flying 300 feet above a jungle valley has a way of changing your perspective. Our morning was spent soaring above the jungle on several zip lines hundreds of feet long. Unnerving at first it didn't take long before you felt at ease flying like a bird. Often times we had birds flying below us!

The afternoon would take on a very different feel. Our team from Dallas had a few good soccer players. We were challenged by a great 2nd tier team to a match in their local village. We didn't have a chance but it did not matter. Our guys played with all their hearts and took in this rare opportunity. After a sound 0 - 5 game the players sat together on the field talking until it was dark about faith and trust. After praying with the team all our guys gave brand new cletes to the winners who were stunned. Most of these guys cannot afford equipment yet they have the opportunity to be an A league team.

As we departed, thousands of lightning bugs lit the field reminding us how tiny points of light can bring intense beauty to a dark world.

One thing that you learn quickly in a remote, third world destination is the "cycle of life" people actually live. It begins early around 5 am and ends at 7 PM when the sun sets. So, what does this mean? Our team is waking early and going to bed late to keep the pace of life the villagers are living.

So, the first day we arrived, we walked house to house speaking with and praying for families. This team did great as they walked up and down mountains (literally) to speak with families. We invited them to a day of activities on Sunday. Crafts, soccer, football, frisbee and much more - this team came prepared.. We also planned an evening service to pray for the sick. By the time we arrived back at our meeting point villagers had gathered to spend time with us.

We had a great evening of play and conversation. God showed up and we responded. We are having a great time.

If you ever talk about religion long enough this question inevitably come to the surface: What happens to the people in the middle of the jungle who never hear about Jesus?

Being in the middle of the jungle- cut off from most everything we know- causes us to rethink the question. Now that we are here do we demonstrate the love of Christ to those who are now our neighbor? Do we love our neighbor as we love ourselves? As we worked on our projects we continued to ponder these questions.

This morning we walked to a Corra Honda National Park, a mile from our base. We hiked up the largest mountain around. The first mile was so steep that many of the team hurt to breathe. But the last half of the trail brought us through thick monkey filled jungles and a breathtaking view of the countryside. We could even see the ocean 50 miles away. Most are well aware that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. we thank God for moments filled with wonder.

We made it! It was close - I landed with only minutes to spare thanks to ground traffic at JFK! Upon arrival at Miami, where I was meeting the team from Holy Trinity, I had to make a 20 minute trek in ten minutes. Running - I made it with the help of Mike (WV Staff) who told the ticket agent not to let the plane leave. Out of breath I walked onto the plane to a smiling Father Lawrence and a very happy team.

We arrived in Honduras after a very long day missing only one bag - mine. No problem, we left and made it to the hotel in time to get to know each other, pray, worship, eat and sleep. The next day we packed our bags, supplies, and vans and left for a 3 hour trek up into the mountains. We arrived at EL Sancudo in the early afternoon. We are living at an altitude of 6000 ft, in cabins with no electricity, and using outhouses. All this in our 1st 24 hours!!!

With a schedule rapidly evolving the morning was spent in rapid training for a week in Costa Rica. We visited the communities of Puerto Humo and Rosario where we painted schools, lawn work, redesigned a storage room and fed several needy families in the community.

We are in the north western province of Guanacaste in the middle of the jungle. The towns we are visiting do not have churches and have had no outside help in many years. As in most of Central America, the government initially builds a school but the community must supply any future needs. For a town that is very poor this is not reality. Thus the level and quality of education suffers. The quickest way to touch a community is to aid the school and that is one of the ways we are focusing our time.

Today we've been pondering the tough question: what is commitment and how commited am I to God. As all is being stripped away that question becomes increasingly relevent.

English lessons and a soccer field were on the agenda today. Half of the team headed to the local high school in Corralilo to teach English through conversation exchanges. This turned into a great opportunity as many of the students in the school asked about the team members faith journey. The second half of the group went into a small community that has little hope of change and started to build a fence for the local soccer field which is the primary source of community activity.

The work is tough but extremly fuflilling. We know that this is a great honor- a way to serve others and worship our God not just with our lips but with our actions. But a question burned in the hearts of the team today. Why did we come? This group raised many funds to get here but if it is nothing but a service project, cultural exchange, or an adventure then the money could be used for better things.

Tonight during a time of worship most of the team members stood intimitently and prayed aloud in a time of transparent confession and intercession asking God to make this trip a journey that transforms lives and maybe even change the direction of some peoples lives. Do we dare believe?

Somedays just don't go the way you planned. Our team of 31, from Fellowship Bible of Dallas, found out the hard way. Arriving at the airport before the crack of dawn, the team was super excited about their upcoming journey to Costa Rica. They boarded the plane, stapped in and waited for take-off. But instead they found out their plane needed repair. They got off this flight, walked to a new gate and finally departed. But they missed their connection in Miami and had to wait for 5 hours.

They finally arrived in Costa Rica at 8 pm. Then it was a 3.5 hour ride from San Jose in the mountains to Nicoya in Guanacaste. At 2 am we arrived at our camp in the middle of the rainforest. The next day we awoke to all the water and electricity shut off.

How did the team react? Amazingly easy. They were thrilled to be in Costa Rica and with each other. They were stinky, tired, hungry and full of joy. The essentials in their lives were truly important. Yet most of us would have freaked out if only one of those things happend. It's nice to see these young people with true peace.

The end of any good pilgrimage is marked with a time of celebration. After our morning trip to Nuevo Progresso to visit the market and select a few trinkets and gifts as a reminder of our time in Mexico, we gathered at the orphanage for a great fiesta. The team from FBC, as well as all the orphans, enjoyed a traditional Mexican meal followed by a bonfire and our closing goodbyes. Saying our goodbyes and reflecting over the time spent here at the orphanage was like opening a door, stepping across a threshold, and returning through it from the other side. We leave an old life behind, experience a life transition up-close, and receive its thorny wisdom, and then head home with hopes of following through on all that we have learned.

Pilgrims, says theologian Richard Niebuhr, “are persons in motion passing through territories not their own, seeking… completion of clarity; a goal to which only the spirits compass points the way.” Our journey to Mexico was symbolic of an inner journey for which we long. The students from FBC now hold the gift of story in their hearts. As the days pass, and the months turn into years; these stories will always remain, bringing hope clarity, and life-transformation. The students pledged upon their return to live at home in such as way that Christ’s love in them would transcend to the marginalized in their sphere of influence.

The days start early here at Casa Hogar Benito Juarez, because early morning is the best time for the manual work we are doing as the heat that comes mid-day can be quite overpowering. The team from FBC is small in stature, but they work like giants. Many of the students have said that they realize that they can do more than they thought they could.

Throughout the day, whether it is tackling the service projects or engaging with the orphans in the VBS time, the students responded to our challenge to find an orphan and discover their personal story. What color are their eyes? When did they become an orphan? How did they arrive here at the orphanage? What does it mean to have God be your father? The process of this discovery can be quite difficult because of the language barriers as well as the reality that few of us truly know how to engage others in a way that will enable us to see the world through their eyes. When we can connect with others at this depth, we begin to truly discover what it means to love others and remove the barriers that remain between us and our mandate “whatever you do to the least of these, you have done it unto Me.”

With Jesus as our model this team is beginning to understand what it means to walk in someone else’s shoes. Some of the students commented today that what we are trying to do here is similar to what Jesus did when He left heaven and grew in stature, becoming familiar with our sufferings. Despite the heat, intense mosquito bites, and the mouse we caught today where the girls are sleeping, the students are learning what it really means to live as an orphan here at Casa Hogar Benito Juarez.

Day one at Casa Hogar Benito Juarez had the FBC youth busy. Breaking concrete, digging trenches, hanging sheetrock, teaching Vacation Bible School and playing with the kids. It was a hard day, but a good day. The heat, the lack of air conditioning, the necessity for water, and the shock of being in a foreign culture added up to a lesson for the youth on the subject of sacrifice. The interesting lesson, however, actually came through the story of one of the staff here at Casa Hogar Benito Juarez.

Antonio, his wife Rosa, and their two children have lived at the orphanage as the “parents” on the boys’ floor for the past nine months. Antonio was an orphan here for about six or seven years when he was a boy. When Antonio left the orphanage he started his own life and became a parts salesman for oil-drills and eventually a specialized mechanic on them. In Mexico, Antonio had made it. He overcame the circumstances life had given him and had managed to find success in the world’s eyes. He married Rosa, who he met at work, bought a house and settled in until about two years ago when one of his brothers tragically died. Antonio explained that at that time he was not living the way the Lord had called him to and that he had missed opportunities to talk to his brother about faith due to his own lack of it at the time. After some wrestling with God Antonio told the Lord that he wanted some way that he could serve Him. He and his wife Rosa were not interested in working at the orphanage, or with the idea of leaving their jobs, but after six months of prayer they came to the understanding that Casa Hogar Benito Juarez was where God had called them to serve. So, at the age of 25, after leaving their well-paid jobs, steady income, and an almost paid for home, Antonio and Rosa moved into a house full of orphan boys with their two small children. It was a sacrifice, but as I watched Rosa prepare our dinner I could see the joy in her face. When I asked Antonio what she thought about living in the orphanage now he replied “She says I can leave but she is staying.”

Just like Antonio and Rosa, our team from FBC is learning what it truly means to respond to Jesus words to “come follow me.” It may cost us something but He promises that He will make us. In the day that we live in where few people really know who they are, that is a great reward for saying yes to Jesus.

As we crossed the bridge linking McAllen and Reynosa, the Jr High students from Fellowship Bible Church in Dallas, TX were relieved to finally be reaching their destination at Casa Hogar Benito Juarez Orphanage after a long day of travel.

We stopped for a moment while on our way through this rural area of Mexico to allow the group to digest their surroundings and to familiarize themselves with the culture. Many of the students noticed the micro-apartments, as they are called, which have sprung up all along border towns such as Reynosa because of the influx of factories and the need for factory workers. These houses consist of 1 bedroom, a dining room and a bathroom/kitchen, and typically house entire families who work at the surrounding factories. Seeing these conditions made most of the students immediately become thankful for what they had, but one student made a point that leads us to the theme for our week. She mentioned that despite the conditions these families live in, it was obvious from the communities we drove through that it was families and relationships that mattered most to these people, and even though it seemed as though they had less, they were still content and had a great sense of joy in their lives.

The challenge for the FBC youth this week is to understand what it means to serve “even the least of these,” and as we pulled into Casa Hogar Benito Juarez we challenged the youth to begin to understand the differences between sympathy and empathy. The orphans here are well loved and God has provided them with many blessings in life, despite the fact that their living conditions are not the same as the youth from FBC. The challenge is to understand how God has called us to love each other despite differences and to understand what it means to actually see others with His eyes.

Our final days in the Tetons were spent in exploration and adventure. Our hike around Jenny Lake to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls gave us an entirely new perspective on the area. From the Point, we could see much of the Valley that we have been traveling through over the last several days.

On Sunday morning we celebrated the Eucharist at the Chapel of the Transfiguration. The mountains provided a backdrop more beautiful than any stained glass ever could. The priest introduced our team to the rest of the congregants, and many of the members of St John's came up and thanked us for the work we had done at the parish earlier in the week. After lunch in Jackson, we proceeded to go on a fast and furious whitewater adventure. The view from the Snake River provided an altogether different perspective, and the rapids provided some cool, drenching fun. We celebrated our final night together, as well as two birthdays, with a huge meal of handmade pizza, and then returned to camp for our final encounter time. We have talked a lot this week about our identities; as we wrapped the night up, the students were challenged to write down the best quality of each of their teammates. We then discussed those qualities that surprised us, and those we felt we were truly living out. It was a special time of affirmation and encouragement.

We pray for the team's safe return to Salem. We also pray that they will continue to grow in their faith and community. They particpated in everything this week with passion and determination; our hope is that they continue their journey together with the same enthusiasm.

Our team was hardworking, focused on the tasks at hand and very adventerous. The reward at the end of the week was to take the team for some time of rest and reflection at the beach in Montego Bay.

Leaving the children's home was hard and the ride from the mountains long. But once we hit the bay and found our way to a beautiful beach with golden sand and green / blue water - our weariness melted away. We talked about how the ocean felt like a warm bath, very relaxing. During our time at the beach we were able to talk, process the weeks events, pray for the children and challenge each other to "good works" beyond the trip. Some even indicated a desire to sponser a child. No matter what happens we all agreed that our pilgramage does not end in Jamaica but continues upon our return home.

What a team and adventure - one I will never forget. Already planning for next years Wonder Voyage.