Wonder Voyage 2009 Summer Blog

The team  from St. Andrews arrived today with a palpable sense of expectation and excitement. We briefly explored the Garden of the Gods (a popular and impressive sight, to be sure) when we came upon the real highlight of the evening: a bear!

Before any parents send me an email of concern or send for one of their kids, we saw the bear from a distance from the safety of our large and imposing fifteen-passenger van. As we spoke about the upcoming week and our expectations (and the bear), I could tell that St. Andrews is ready and excited for this upcoming week. It’s going to be a good one.

Today we caught the ferry to the smallest Aran Island of Inisheer. Our hostel is right on the coast with an amazing view. After settling in and a quick orientation, we headed off for a little exploration time. First stop was the Plassey, a shipwreck from 1960 that now sits on the shore of the island. Some of us then went and visited O’Briens castle while the others either got tired and headed back to the hostel.

After a bit of rest, we headed up to the only restaurant on the island for a great dinner. After dinner, some went back to the hostel, and others went to watch Galway play in the playoffs in a sport called Hurling, which I won’t try to explain but you should Google it. It was a lot of fun to sit in with the locals and cheer on Galway to victory (even though I wasn’t real sure what I was cheering at). Tomorrow we get to sleep in a bit, which we are all looking forward to.

This day was amazing because we went Castle Raiding! We went to the west but first we visited Aughnanure Castle. It  was really interesting to learn about how many ways defending knights could  kill their enemies before they could invade the castle.

After lunch we went to go see Kylemore Abby. We drove through  loads of hills with lots of sheep and rams that were everywhere. When we finally got there everyone went their own way. Some saw the neo-gothic church and it’s amazing architecture. Others saw these huge trees extending over the lake which some of us climbed. Still others climbed up the hill following the waterfall which was beautiful and wet. The way back seemed to be shorter and everyone slept except but a few of us. We talked about life all the way home.

Home sweet home and our last night here (for a couple days anyway), it was really nice to have dinner and after our nightly prayers go to sleep. We love it all here its so green! Love everyone back home!!!

Today each of us had a great day at Galway!  We visited two churches, one from the 1400’s and then a big cathedral built in the 1900’s.  We then visited a café/ministry called An Tobar Nua, had some dessert and then learned a little about the café ministry.

When dinner came around we had shepherds pie, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes and fried potatoes as well as tea and coffee.  I tried to get some salt for my potato and I didn’t know that the lid was undone and I poured a hug pile of salt on my potato and Bryan said, “you won’t have any trouble with the flavor now.”

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After dinner, we went down to the street to sing in the festival.  We were all really nervous and some didn’t want to do it but we came together and pulled it off.  Jason and Eamon (our Wonder Voyage guides) said we did a good job and even had a few people stop to listen as they were passing by.  After we sang, we walked down shop street some more to watch some of the festival and see other street performers. 

Our amazing St Thomas pilgrims spent their final two days in the city 
of New Orleans continuing to serve with enthusiasm, energy, and 
excellence. A day at Fairhaven Chidren’s Home never fails to inspire 
with its incredible story of faith, and the group responded to the 
inspiration with a mammoth effort. From the kitchen scrubbing to the 
massive trash fire, our Floridians were able to be God’s provision for 
accomplishing the multitude of the day’s tasks.

The next day included some exploration and shopping time in the 
historic French Quarter, but only after the students spent the morning 
blessing a local public school teacher by painting her classroom in 
preparation for the upcoming school year. She explained that because 
her school went undamaged after Hurricane Katrina, they still have the same stuff that has been there over 50 years. The damaged schools got an unforeseen benefit: all new everything.

During our final gathering time, some common sentiments were expressed about the eye openers of the past week: one person’s effort can make a difference, the efforts of a whole community even moreso, and through faith in God’s plan and providence we can be couriers of hope to those in our hurting world. It has been an eye-opening week for all of us individually as well as corporately. May God continue to grow us and use us to make the world a more grace-filled place.

St Michaels proved themselves throughout the last few days over and
over; with their willingness to serve and their energy and their taste
for adventure. This was a new experience for them, full of challenges
which this little group welcomed by the end of the week. They reminded
me of why I do this: we encountered God in a new way, one that left us
different and better.

Thus ends the San Antonio blogs…

Most teams take things pretty easy the last day of the trip. Our team could have spent the day shopping or swimming or sightseeing. Instead, however, St Michaels served. We arrived in the morning after driving past numerous homeless people. Our objective today was to serve them at the charity of St Vincent DePaul. We prepped food, cleaned, hauled trash, unloaded trucks and finally served food to a little over two hundred needy people. It was five hours of our day well-spent, and the kids showed that same energy that they had from the first day I met them. This team has blessed everyone they’ve come into contact with and today was no exception.

We spent the majority or our day at Mission Road Development Center, a place that houses and cares for disabled kids and adults whose families can’t care for them. Our day was spent playing with the kids: showing Christ’s love by simply being there. It was a sobering realization for the St. Michaels kids to discover that many of the patients there were their age. MRDC is literally the last place for those kids- few have real families in the traditional sense and few will be able to lead anything resembling a normal life. We thank God for the blessings we have: our homes and families, and the ability to serve him in this unique way.