Wonder Voyage 2009 Summer Blog

Our rowdy group was up early and ready for some serious demolition. This was the first time any of us had been in a house effected by Katrina, much less gutting one. The boys went in with sledge hammers and took out all the walls, ceiling fans, and kitchen (including the cabinets and stove). The girls were truly touched when the daughter of the homeowner stopped by and they were able to give her some pictures and crystal that we found and were able to salvage. Down the road the other half of our group worked very hard and with much satisfaction we were able to take out 2/3 of plaster from the roof and walls.

After heading home and eating some delicious jambalaya we hopped on the ferry for a scavenger hunt throughout the French Quarter. Group two won the day and we were rewarded with a fast food lunch tomorrow instead of sandwiches. YUM!

On Sunday, June 21st, we attended a worship service at All Souls in the 9th Ward. For us it was an opportunity not only to be with some of the people we serving this week, but it was also a chance to be reminded that the Church is less a building or a particular setting but the community of faith gathered as Christ’s body. We joined our hearts and voices with the parishioners of All Souls as well as other mission groups visiting from elsewhere in the country.

Following Holy Communion we had equally inspiring fellowship with members of the community who cooked and served us lunch. Many of them warmly and openly shared with us their experiences of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. As many thanked us for our service it occurred to me how remarkable the easiness with which they embraced and blessed us. We saw with our own eyes and heard from their personal accounts the great challenges NOLA continues to face and yet what remains from their experience of the day are the abiding love of God and hope in him which their wonderful community shared richly with us.

NOTE: Our blogs from New Orleans this week will be written in the form of letters to Madeline- a team member from St Lukes Dallas who was prohibited at the last minute by health issues from attending the trip.

Dear Madeline,

Well it’s Monday and we are putting ourselves into service 100%. This morning we are working at New Orleans Mission; it’s a homeless shelter that serves men, women, and children. They work as hard as they can to change these guys lives by teaching them skills and instling God’s  love and hope in them.  Awesome,huh?

So this morning half the group is cleaning up the food pantry and the other half is cleaning up the donations room. It makes me think, what  are we doing to donate the first fruits of our labor? Are we giving  away that we want to eat or wear- or are we saying to ourselves, “I hate this I’ll give it away?” If we are all children of the Lord – and  He has no favorites- then we all deserve the best.

God loves us all – and he certainly loves you, Madeline. Sometimes, like the guys at the NOLA Mission, we wonder if He’s paying attention.  But He is- always is.  He loves us and adores us and wants His best for us. It’s up to all of us that know that to show that love to others.  I thi k we are going to be showing a lot of that love this  week. Wish you were here.

Sara and the St. Luke’s Gang

The harsh realities of Katrina that the team from Saint Michaels and All Angels had begun to digest became even more of a reality as they awoke and headed for their first full day of service in the Lower 9th Ward. All Souls Episcopal church, which is currently housed in a vacated Walgreens, is a newly founded congregation in the 9th Ward that has been established strictly as a community outreach.

Throughout the day the team served through cleaning and preparing the sanctuary for Sunday’s service, painting houses in the area, moving 100s of pieces of 12ft sheetrock, and gutting a Reverend’s garage. By the end they were tired but happy with the service they were able to provide.

Before heading back home we made one more stop where the levy broke almost four years ago, drowning this entire section of the city in 8ft of water for over three weeks. As the team witnessed the devastation that is still rampant in this area they were challenged to think about the relics that were lost in this disaster. The invaluable trinkets that served as memories that were washed away, reminding everyone on the team that the memories they are building now will never be forgotten.

Our final day on the Island of Inis Oirr was marked by many wonderful experiences. The pilgrims from Charlotte swam in the Atlantic Ocean, watched a hurling match, attended an Irish school dance, and visited the 10th Century church of Saint Kevin. The day began with a visit to the remarkable Church founded by the patron saint of the Island C. The church has a beautiful story as it is buried every year by the blowing sand from the beach. On June 13th every year the Islanders gather to dig out the church and restore it so that pilgrims from around the world can see this remarkable place of worship. The group from Christ Episcopal were invited to reflect over their lives and find what had become buried and needed to be uncovered in their lives. They where encouraged to dig deep and meet God there beneath the surface of their lives. Below you will find a few stories about the day told by the pilgrims themselves.
 
Our night began when we were invited to go dance at the local school. We soon arrived to the building and were swarmed by 140 Irish students that seemed as if they had never seen Americans before. Suddenly, the traditional Irish tunes started to play. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into; therefore we decided to sit in the back of the room. It was the guys turn to ask the girls if they would dance with them, and so out of the blue guys surrounded us in their early teens. At first I was frightful of trying these new styles of dance out because I, like many others, did not want to make a fool of myself. We got out on the dance floor and before everyone knew it, we were dancing as if it was bookwork. I was amazed at all of the student’s ability to pay attention and not be distracted by our presence. The music would always get faster and the dances would become harder and more intricate each go-round. Every couple of dances the students would take a break and sing a traditional Irish song. The dances were like a comparison of promenade and cotillion in America.  It was by far the best night on the trip! We got to know the students and also were able to pick up a couple of new dances to bring home and share with our family and friends. Having the opportunity to experience a new culture and associate ourselves with students like us was an adventure in itself.   -Rachel R and Kristen T

The national sport for Ireland is hurling and it has been present throughout our trip. Basically, it is played like lacrosse but with no pads and a sort of enlarged field with an odd shaped hockey stick. It is safe to say that it is one of the gnarliest sports. On Thursday the group went to go watch Galway practice for their championship game against Kilkenny. Even though the weather was not what we may have liked, it was exciting to watch. Attending a Galway practice is a pretty big deal because people are usually not allowed to disturb the team while they are practicing. At the end of the practice they gave us a hurler stick and ball, which the entire team signed, and a Galway flag. On Saturday afternoon, a group of friends and I spent the late afternoon at the pub on the Aran Island watching the game. We were enthralled with the atmosphere of the locals cheering on their favorite team and sipping on their favorite brews. It was an amazing sight and you can easily begin to appreciate the physically demanding sport. It was a very close game, but in the end the reigning champions, Kilkenny, came out with the victory. Hurling is a sport of skill, endurance and toughness. It is a violent and exhilarating sport that the group has enjoyed throughout the trip. -Miller         
 
Last night was a very special one. Lauren told us to dress warmly and to bring a sleeping bag and the rock from earlier that day that represented our burdens. Without any knowledge of where we were going or what we were doing (as usual) we set out together at about ten o’clock at night. As the sky began to darken, we reached the Church of St. Kevin, which we had visited earlier that day. However, it had been transformed since then. Colored candles flickered in all of the nooks and crannies of the stones and in the evening light the whole place seemed to glow. It was very apparent that God’s presence was all around us. We sat down, snuggled into our sleeping bags, and began to sing our praise songs from memory. Then, we proceeded to go around and discuss the burdens in our lives (which were represented by the rocks). We also talked about what we would like to leave behind in Ireland and how we want to be different when we return to Charlotte. But the most beautiful part of this was that we also comforted each other and praised each other’s strengths. We also took communion at the altar of this ancient church.  Next, Lauren led us out of the church on a silent walk in complete darkness to the pier. Here, we stood in a circle and sang the Irish Blessing. After reading a Bible verse about burdens, Lauren instructed us to reach into her bag and grab a rock, regardless of whom it belonged to, and throw it into the sea. By doing this we were metaphorically leaving our burdens in Ireland. This marked the end of the evening and we returned to the hostel for one last night’s sleep in the Aran Islands. –Sara S  

Tomorrow we return to Galway for our final day before flying home. Once in Galway we will spend some time on the beach with a wonderful story teller sharing folk tales with the pilgrims from Christ Episcopal.  

The lively group from St Michael’s and All Angels arrived this evening in Algiers after an unexpected tour of New Orleans while getting a bit lost. They were greeted with an unfamiliar game of cabbage ball, a warm meal, and a walk to the river.

Another unexpected suprise awaited them. A blues band was playing in the park by the river, as some celebration was taking place. It was amazing for the group to relax after a ten hour bus ride with the classic southern blues tunes, a good meal, and the sunset behind the French Quarter that is just on the other side of the river.

After many introductions and laughs and darkness was falling, we walked them a little ways down river past the party. As it was time for more serious introduction to the trip, they went through an encounter called Harsh Realities which attempts to help them empathize with the people of New Orleans and relate it to their lives. The response was intense silence and encouragement as the group returned to the house and prepared for the hard work to come, and the connections with the people they now wanted to make.

When we bring a group like the community from Christ Episcopal to a distant land like Ireland, we try to help the pilgrims experience the culture in the land. The question then becomes, how will these cultural collisions effect us, or more directly how will these collisions affect the Pilgrims on their journey? Traveling to the sleepy Aran island can be like stepping back in time to a slower more deliberate life. Today our pilgrims from Charlotte N.C. began to discover how another culture and daily rhythm can impact their lives. I asked Catherin D to share her reflections on the day.

“This morning was an early one because we had to leave for the Aran Islands, three small islands off the coast of Galway is our destination for the next couple of days. We woke up around 7 and road with Seamus, our faithful bus driver who dropped us off at the Ferry along with a couple of packets of motion sickness pills. Elise was one of the worst on the boat, her fear of sea sickness along with the idea that “staring at the horizon line” got her through it.Life on the islands can begin to introduce the self reflection one needs to begin examining the life we are living and begin to imagine what it could look like if we are willing to change.

 Once we arrived on the tiny island of Inis Oirr we walked the 200 yards to the small hostel located on the coast with an AMAZING view of the water. Squeezed in between a Bed and Breakfast and a Pub (shocking), was our new home for the next two nights. Roommates were assigned and then the group headed off for another adventure. Not knowing where we were headed we walked down a road surrounded by cow pastures and stone walls…. When we came to a fork in the road the decision was made to take a left. Down the road that we just happened to pick was a slab of concrete overlooking the ocean surrounded by huge boulders. During this time we separated, found our own personal rocks and wrote in our journals. After some down time, we headed to a huge SHIPWRECK.  Plassey, the name of the ship that now sits about 40 feet above sea level was a cargo ship that unfortunately, was swept up by the Atlantic and thrown onto the land during a huge Storm. The analogy of a shipwreck both in the literal sense and the spiritual and emotional sense gave us something to think about as we walked around the rusted boat remains.

After the exploration, Team one (the winning team that I was in who cooked some MAD chili) took a quaint little horse buggy ride around the island. One stop along the way of our buggy tour was at the Holy Well. The drinkable well water was holy to the Irish and if you saw the eel in the water it was said, you were sent straight to heaven. Olivia and Scott, being curious decided that it would be a great idea to make friends with the donkey that was watching us. Scott saved a life at this moment when he gracefully hit the donkey away just as it was trying to bite Olivia’s hand off. Only a small scratch in her hand remains.   

Now let me tell you, the population of this island is hovering at a cool 250 and our gigantic group makes it skyrocket to the big 300. The lives lived by the native Irish are a VERY simple one. Only one grocery store and souvenir shop are available on the island although there are 3 pubs surrounding the island. Tonight we used those pubs, two to be exact but only coke was consumed along with beef lasagna and “Chips” aka Fries. After our delicious dinner at Tigh Ruairi, we headed down the hill to the second pub where we once again drank cokes and the occasional red bull while we listened and danced to traditional Irish music. After our music stop, some of us headed down to the coolest playground ever! This playground contained a zip line, type rope, and huge spinning climbing cage so when I say it’s the coolest ever, I’m telling the truth. Today was another great day that ended in a stubbed toe for me. Cant wait for tomorrow!