Wonder Voyage 2009 Summer Blog

Its been almost a full week since we returned from our pilgrimage to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and the transition back into normal life couldn’t feel more odd. To suddenly go from a place that felt calm, relaxing, and safe to a fast-paced environment filled with responsibilities, stresses, and an inability to keep up feels like diving headfirst into freezing cold water. Reality has suddenly sunk in that our pilgrims no longer have their leaders to look to for answers and support. They must now go off into the real world and make their own choices.

Fortunately, Jessica, Donald, Rachel, Eva, and Jakob, with the help of their leaders Kathleen and Wendy, and Shawn Small from Wonder Voyage, have been given the skills they need to live fulfilling, meaningful, and spiritual lives in Christ. This past week, each of them has had a unique one-on-one experience with God and have opened themselves up to hear His message. As we were given the opportunity to let go of the things that hold us back while in Cape Breton, we must learn to do so while living in the real world. This trip has allowed us to discover feelings and emotions we may not have otherwise. To then share those feelings with people we see maybe once a week at church has also allowed us to build closer, more intimate relationships with our peers, and feel each other’s love and support. It would be an understatement to say that this trip has affected our lives. It has changed each of us as individuals and shaken the core of who we are as people. Shawn has given us the tools to make our lives what we want them to be, and has assured us that whatever problems we may have on our shoulders, God is here to lift them. We thank Shawn and Wonder Voyage for all that they’ve done for us, and we lend our support to future groups of young people who plan on going off in the world to meet God face-to-face.

Today was our free day.  We headed into Baddeck for lunch and some shopping.  Along the way we stopped at some local galleries, where we found some great local treasures to bring home with us.  Lunch was at Tom’s Pizza, a restaurant the group had been hoping to try for several days.  After sharing a delicious pizza, we split up and enjoyed the small town charm of Baddeck, shopping and talking to locals.  Before leaving town, we stopped at the local co-op market, where the group shopped for tomorrow night’s stone soup dinner. 

As we have travelled around Cape Breton this week, we have shared the reason for our visit with many of the local people.  I have been struck by the enthusiasm and warmth shown to us by the people  we have shared with. One of pilgrims loves heart shaped rocks and had seen some stationary that she wanted.   We found it at a local art gallery and we explained to the gallery owner why we had come to Cape Breton and why we had come to her gallery.   She was so excited to hear about our trip and instantly told our pilgrim to go out and take a heart shaped rock from her private rock garden.    Her generosity truly touched me. 

I have been moved by the kindness of the people on Cape Breton.  They have helped us feel so welcome and we are grateful for all that has been done for us.  It is the feeling of kindness that has become the theme of the week for me.  As one of the adults on this trip, it has been moving to see how powerful the kindness of our teenage pilgrims toward each other and toward me and my colleague can be.  They are truly an amazing group of young people.  As Shawn has guided us in our spiritual journey, I pray that this is the beginning of great things for this wonderful group.

Day five found the pilgrims on  journey with Pleasant Bay as the destination.  We managed to find two Anglican churches. Although we missed service at the first on our path, we arrived just in time at the second for prayer service to St. Andrew’s in Neil’s Harbor. The congregation was so receptive and welcomed us with open arms to join them. The interior of the church was nothing like we’d ever seen, although we couldn’t quite put our finger on it. Shawn then shared with us that often churches built in fishing villages are constructed by ship-builders, so that they look just like an upside down ship! By coincidence, St. Andrew’s was in the same “boat” as St. Mark’s. They have recently hired a new rector who is to begin on September first.

After service, we had a quick lunch at a wonderful restaurant overlooking the sea called the Chowder House, and headed out to “Fiddling Whale Tours”.  The water was quite choppy on our way out to where the whales were last spotted, which was both terrifying and fun, I think the term Six Flags and Sea World was used often.  We returned to land 2+ hours later having missed the whales, but enjoying the gift of Stan, our captain and fiddler.

When reflecting later, Shawn reminded us that the whale watch was not unlike God. We cannot put Him in a box and say “okay, I need to see you *now*!” For us, knowing the whales were there just below the surface would have to be enough, just as knowing that God is there, even if we don’t ever get to ”see” Him.

(Rachel hit some button on the computer that made the print REALLY BIG and we can’t figure out how to change it.  But Rachel has a big personailty so we felt it was appropriate to keep the BIG PRINT!)

Our J2A Group went on a car ride around Cape Breton to the Highland Village, a recreation of Scottish life on the island over the last 200 years. At the village, we learned about the old Scottish culture from the 1800’s and how the natives came over from Scottland. After our drive back home, we started a camp fire and sat around the fire pit making smores and talking about what was in our metaphorical “backpacks.”

I really liked talking aroud the camp fire. We got to get to know ourselves and each other alot better. Many of us hadn’t shared what was burdening us in a very long time and it was very ?. Making smores was also a very tasty treat! The camp fire was important to our pilgrimage because it gave us time to talk about what has been burdening us throughout our busy lives. Releasing all this negative baggage is going to give us a chance to focus on finding a relationship with God and ourselves and start this new school year with a fresh, new perspective.

Jake’s Voyage

Today was the big backpacking trip up the river to see the waterfalls. It was a ton of fun, and actually extremely strenuous; this was not an easy hike by any stretch of the imagination. Surely it was worth all of our efforts though, since what we saw was incredibly gorgeous and breathtaking. One of the things that I found especially cool about it is that very few people would ever get to see this place that we ended up at. After hours of hiking and stopping a bit in order to eat our bagged lunches, we found large pool of water surrounded by immense cliffs on all sides with a massive crushing waterfall running through. Some of us tried to swim up to it, but were unable to get closer than about ten feet away because of the incredibly powerful current. This place was an absolute sanctuary to the guide that took us there, and we could surely see why.

More than anywhere we’ve been thus far, I could tell that God was at work there. It was the ideal place to escape from the monotony and difficulty of everyday life. The journey there, to me, represented our day-to-day struggles. It was easy to fall down on the slippery rocks and much harder to have the willpower to get up and push on. When we arrived at our final destination, I found it impossible to think of anything other than the natural beauty of the place and that some kind of Creator must be at work to make it happen. For me, it was more than just a hike. I think that it is natural to question your faith, as I often do. But this experience and this scene gave me further solid proof that God exists. I will think of this place during troubled times when I’m questioning my faith.

Eva’s Experience

Last night we attended our first ceilidhe (pronounced KAY-LEE).  It truely was an amazing experience for all of us.  The night consited of fiddlers and highland pipes both accompanied by the piano.  We had the chance to learn about the musical heritage of Cape Breton.  The featured musician was an excellent fiddle player.  It was amazing to all of us how he, and the piano player, had played their instruments without any sheet music.  In fact, every musician there didn’t use sheet music!  Talk about memory!  After the break we listened to a couple play there fiddles together.  They were fantastic and very insync.  The woman had wrote her own song which she played at her brother’s wedding.  Just thinking about how the bride must of felt walking down the aisle to her sister-in-law’s song, was a real eye opener!

My favorite part had to be at the end.  I noticed people looking behind them during one of the tunes.  As curious as I am, I looked back and noticed a woman dancing!!  Now being a dancer myself I went back and asked if she could teach me something.  I was so excited because she taught me how to do a basic reel.  She taught me slowly and by my third or fourth try we were both insync dancing in the back hallway.  I don’t think I could ever forget that moment.  I’m only a ballerina and a hip-hop dancer, but being able to learn how to do a Cape Breton reel was such a great experience.  This journey has really helped me open my eyes to a new culture and i can bring back something meaningful.

Today was our first full day at Cabot Shores in Cape Breton. We were all very tired from the jetlag, not to mention that we had a very long day from traveling. This morning we had breakfast at the retreat center and discovered that Jake really likes toast! We had the opportunity to meet some of the other visitiors (and their dogs) and found that a hammock had been set up (which I put good use to later).

After we ate, we went back to the house to embark on a hike through the woods. Among our discoveries, we found a scrapped Monarch car (with bulletholes in the back!), a tree with large growths on either side (we now call it “the butt tree”) and an enormous cliff, which we got to climb down to the ocean. We walked along the shoreline and collected stones to bring back to the house. For lunch, we went to a quirky little restaurant called the Clucking Chicken, which interestingly had a wraparound shelf covered in ceramic chickens! The food was great. Finally, the group went swimming on the beach near the retreat center while I relaxed on the hammock.

During lunch, we talked about why many of us felt so relaxed here. You’d be surprised how easy it is to just release your stresses and really let go. We realized that what was perfect about this location was that it was out of the way. Its very quiet, there’s no people to distract you, and you really get enough room to breathe and think and become one with your surroundings. As we explored the area today, I found myself feeling very aware and at peace with myself. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it.

As we embark on our week-long pilgrimage, I’m hoping that we will all become not just aware of Christ, but also aware of our true selves. By the end of this journey, I am sure that each of us will have a better understanding of who we are as people, what we want out of our lives, and what we need to fulfill our lives. Shawn mentioned how journaling really helped him to do this, and I am excited to see what discoveries we will make both as a group and as individuals as we document this trip.

We arrived yesterday in Cape Breton. We traveled from MA to Cape Breton taking a very small plane from the airport in MA, it only had one seat on each side of the rows! When we got to the airport in Montreal, we had to walk a long way to our baggage, then we waited for our plane. This was a bigger and nicer airplane and we were relieved.

When we arrived in Halifax we got 2 cars and started our adventure to Cape Breton. We stopped at a diner at the gas station called IRVING. Back on the drive we hit some thick traffic. Wendy dared us to get out of the car and dance.  Rachel and I took the dare even with all the Canadians staring at us. After three more hours of driving we went on a five minute ferry ride and looked for where we were staying, Cabot Shores. The place is nice and so is Shawn, our Wonder Voyage guide.

During this trip I want to explore something new. We all want to explore something new by doing something different and great on the pilgrimage. We are all going to have our ups and downs but I  think we will all come out of this as better people. We will find who we truly are  and the voyaage will help us find who we really are in God.