Wonder Voyage 2009 Summer Blog

Here on our last night in Colorado, we contemplated the week. Looking back, I think we generally agree: God met us in a profound way, one that forced us to reevaluate ourselves and the way we think about life. This trip to Colorado has been undeniably blessed through safe travels, good weather, amazing scenery, adventure, and irreplaceable bonds of friendship. Though we may look the same, I don’t think we return to our homes and families as the same people. After an amazing trip such as this one, all things are new.

At 16, he was captured off the coast of Britain and sold as a slave to an Irish chieftain.  The next 6 years of his life he would shepherd both pigs and sheep, and he was never treated as well as either. Saint Patrick after living as a slave returned to Ireland to share Gods love for the pagans of the day. But their eyes were blind; their hearts hard; their ears deaf to the truth.

Croagh Patrick was a spiritual place of prayer and Patrick came to this old familiar mountain, (a place the old ones came to pray for the blessings of the gods and to beg for their mercy for hundreds of years), spending 40 days fasting for Ireland. After those 40 days, Patrick would come down the mountain, filled with boldness to preach the gospel of Christ.  The next 20 years, the entire nation would flood to the savior and within 40 years slavery and human sacrifice would be obliterated.

Today was a day of climbing for the pilgrims from Christ Episcopal. Here are two stories of one of the toughest pilgrim climb’s you can imagine. In the foot steps of Patrick these Pilgrims from Charlotte N.C. amazed themselves.

Mary’s Thoughts

I awoke this morning thinking my climb would be easy, breezy, and I thought surely I’d stay at the front of the pack like I did on the Cliffs of Moher, but boy was I mistaken.  Seamus drove us up to where I caught my first glimpse of the massive peak towering above us. Now it was time to begin our trek to the summit of Croagh Patrick.

We had just begun when I was eating wind, this was not a good sign, but I pushed on despite the cold weather and rocky terrain.  I headed up the back with Captain Kirk, Z-Pitty (Zeta), Alex, Jeff, Chris and Olivia.  We trucked on, then just as we thought the slope could not get any steeper, it did.  We gazed up at a crazy incline, but we kept moving.  Then as our muscles ached more than ever, God unleashed his frozen tears (aka: hail) that pelted down on us.  The wind roared, but help came from above.  Blake, Jack and Zach emerged from the summit down the steepest section of the mountain.  Little did I know Blake and Jack were going to take the trek back up the mountain with us, encouraging us to continue trying.  Without their encouragement, honestly, I may have quit.

Finally we reached the top. The feeling was indescribable. The clouds parted, showing us the beautiful view below.  We turned around to head back down.  I looked to see Jack and Blake running quickly down the mountain. Z-Pitty, Captain Kirk, Elise and I took our sweet time, hoping we wouldn’t fall.  Yet, I did… multiple times.  Lets just say I spent the majority of the time on my fanny in the mud. Although this climb pushed me mentally and physically to the limit, it was well worth it, and one of the best accomplishments ever! Mary Padget.

Blake’s Thoughts
We hopped on the bus with Seamus, who is definitely the coolest bus driver ever, and drove 2 hours to Croagh Patrick.  Me and a couple of guys were extremely pumped to climb this boss of a mountain.  One in particular, Jack—he’s a beast.  He mostly lead our pack with me closely behind.  Of course, Mary Padgett (aka: M-Pizzy), started out strong.  But she slowly fell behind.  About 10 of us lead the pack up the slope.  Although Seamus reassured us that the elderly could climb this mountain, it soon became clear that this would not be easy.  Early on we kept a steady pace all the way up, with a few stops along the way. Although the estimated time to the top was 2 hours, me, Jack, Miller, Justin, Elizabeth (Da Rymple), Claudia and Zach reached the summit first—in one hour.  There we waited for the 40-some other pilgrims to reach the top, encouraging them as they climbed.

When everyone made it to the top, Jack and I decided to run down the mountain, making it back in a record breaking 30 minutes.  Of course, this wasn’t my idea, it was Jack’s, because he wanted to finish first. This great adventure was definitely one of the best I’ve ever experienced and would love to do it again.

The struggle of life and the agony in life’s climb can overwhelm us. When the wind blows and the rain falls if we fix our eyes on Jesus all things are possible. Our God is a good God.

One of the questions I am frequenttly asked by friends and strangers 
alike is “how in the world can you stand working with teenagers?!” It 
is not a hard question for me to answer because I think young people 
are amazing. It does make me a bit sad, however, to know that teens 
are so misunderstood. That’s why I rejoice when one of our Wonder 
Voyage teams turns those misconceptions upside down.

Our Alabama pilgrims have done a fantastic job this week of 
demonstrating love, grace, forgiveness, humility, respect, humor, and 
hard work. The elderly folks whom we have served have been delighted with them.

Praise for these students came from one really unexpected source, 
however. We made a trip to a local dollar store to purchase some bingo prizes for our next day’s project. An ominous sign forbidding groups of teenagers from entering was pasted prominently on the door.  Apparently the owner has had many problems with local kids wreaking havoc and generally acting disrespectfully in the store. As we entered, I told the owner all 11 students were with me. He said, “Ok,”  but he really looked leery of the group.

Each student selected an item, placed it on the counter, and quietly 
left the store. As I was paying for the items, the owner told me he 
was giving us a 40 cent discount on every item. He said he was so 
pleased and surprised by the students’ behavior. He asked me to give 
his personal thanks to the students and to tell them they were welcome in his store any time.

The entire Christ Anglican parish should be proud of their young 
people. They are truly changing perceptions, by God’s grace, one day 
at a time.

Hi Shawn,

I went with the 2004 pilgrimage to Ireland with the River of Life Church. About a month ago I went to Italy and France with family, and it wasn’t even close to being the same type of experience I had with WonderVoyage. I was talking to Megan, a fellow WonderVoyager, and we agreed that you and WonderVoyage have successfully ruined us. I believe you told us that we would be when we went on our trip, but I didn’t know how right that you were until I recently left the country.

We saw the sights and took in the culture, but I didn’t fall in love with those countries the way that I fell in love with Ireland and its people. You can’t really know a country until you serve the people of that country. I didn’t get a chance to serve the country and in turn serve the Father so I do not feel connected to France and Italy as I do Ireland.

The point of all this is – thank you for ruining me. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Only other Wonder Voyagers can understand what I mean by that, and I thank you for following God’s calling to lead pilgrimages around the world to experience God in amazing places. It is the best thing that can happen to you! Thanks, again.

Ruined,
Jana McAlexander

When I left home on this Wonder Voyage for our youth group’s first 
pilgrimage, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Our physical destination was 
Dallas, Texas, but the place my heart and mind were taken was so much more.

I had been to Dallas before, having family that lives there. I didn’t 
expect to see and experience more than he “boring old city” that it 
was the last time I was there. The spiritual experience came enough 
when the people we were serving really enjoyed us being here, and one grateful person even sang a blessing over us!

I had never been too fond of the elderly up to this point, but working 
with them for a solid 3 days has brought me new insight. The elderly, 
though seemingly foregin to a teenager, have an immense understanding of how  everything goes in life. They have advice for almost every life situation, and given the time, you should listen to them.

This Wonder Voyage has been a wonderful opportunity for our group to experience the amazingness of Gods presence. I want to thank God for bringing me here for a reason.

My week with Christ Church is regretfully about to come to an end. Today we did a little whitewater rafting on the Arkansas river outside of Canon City. I think what struck me most was not the weather (which was warm and beautiful) nor the water (which made me think twice about renting a wetsuit) nor the excitement (which you can’t help but feel at the mercy of the river).

Instead I thought about all the little things that made our day amazing; Melanie swimming against the current of the river in order to retrieve Jessie’s shoe, Adam cleaning up around the living room and kitchen at our retreat, Martha driving tirelessly on dirt roads and through curving mountain passes to take us to our destinations- I could go on. What stuck out to me most, however, was the little acts of service towards each other in the community we’ve formed. This little group is truly a community- an honest and loving one- and I will miss these small moments throughout the day that speak volumes of God’s love.

Getting on the bus one last time at 7am the team from St Michaels and All Angels departed Comayagua for Tegucigalpa to catch their flight home. For the most part the impact of their time in Honduras probably seemed like a whirlwind dream, but after getting through security and starting to transition back into their lives in America this team could not help but be perpetually effected by what they experienced in the past week.

From adventures under a waterfall, to climbing bell-towers, exploring churches, serving the community, and learning about Christ, St Michaels and All Angels left Honduras forever changed by the work Christ was doing in them and through them in the past week.

The last full day in Honduras for the team from St Michaels and All Angels meant one more day to serve and learn. The morning was spent splitting the group between a local primary school called Eben-Ezer and the only school for special needs children in the Comayagua, Casa Ayuda. The 300+ students at Eben-Ezer enjoyed the rice pudding and entertainment the team served, while the students at Casa Ayuda spent time taking pictures and coloring. It was a hard goodbye.

In the afternoon the team spent their free time looking for relics as they explored the local city markets and shops hoping to find something to remember their time in Honduras. Over our celebration meal and pass the candle event in the evening the team relived their journey, sharing how serving in Honduras has changed their lives forever.

Times together in the presence of our God are so sacred. Today was such a time for the pilgrims from Charlotte N.C.  Listening to one another and to God can be a Sacrament. Today the team truly found one another and in doing so they each grasped a greater glimpse of God. Kirk, a fellow pilgim, and adult chaperon from Christ Episcopal wrote the excerpt below.
 
We started our day with a good visit to Clonmacnoise which was a monastic community started be St Ciaran. The scope of this community and its impact on early Christianity in Ireland is huge. We all learned a great deal, however we experienced such an amazing 3-hour wrap up time at the end of the day we felt we should talk about that instead. The evening closing circle began well with everyone sharing what they had written in their journals. In our journals we had placed a list of Bible verses that corresponded with feelings we might be experiencing. Do you feel lost, alone, afraid, sad, etc? We began to express what we where feeling in relation to where we where at the time. People opened up like never before. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn.” People shared what was going on in their lives, and opened up their hearts to one another and expressed their love, respect, and support for one another. Lee said it best “Hearts where open and tears where shed.” Anne was ready to break into a chorus of, “surely the presence of the lord is in this place.” Lauren said she thought she knew everyone, but found that she didn’t know everyone as well as she thought.
 
One final word about the Stone Soup exercise that we spoke about in a previous blog post, we finished with a fantastic meal of grilled Kabobs and Chris Weiss tomato pie. Each group of 3 teams used this exercise to learn cooperation and community. The growth has been tremendous and we look forward to hiking Croagh Patrick tomorrow.

Okay- the title of the is entry is admittedly dramatic, but true. After a morning was full of hard work, giving back to the wonderful staff at EZ Yoke, we headed for Bishop’s Castle. The massive stone structure lies within the heart of the Rocky Mountains and it is, frankly, one of the strangest sights that I’ve seen in all my travels. The castle stands a couple hundred feet above the ground, a jumbled matrix of cemented rocks and decorative and functional ironwork- complete with tall parapets and the beginnings of a moat.

The main tower contained a spiral staircase made of iron, which led to the very top of the structure. We explored the grounds for a few minutes and it quickly became apparent that we “had to” climb the tallest tower. The whole adventure quickly became a physical way of confronting our fears. Though we were never in any danger as we made our way to the spire, the wind would rip through the ironwork, whistling around us and tugging at our clothes. The effect was terrifying, but we climbed and climbed, reaching the top of the impressive tower. As the team members each reached the topmost point (we could only go up one at a time for the last few feet) we knew that the journey was worth the fear and our confrontation with it forced us to rely upon God and each other in a truly profound way.