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Summer activities are focused on the annual missions trip. Last summer, the group traveled across the country to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they helped CrossPoint Church, a recently-formed missions church plan and carry out their first three-day Vacation Bible School. Below are excerpts from the trip journal (compiled by a different trip participant each day):
June 14, 2007: We left the church at precisely 4:11 p.m. (our goal was 4 p.m.). That was a good start. I believe we've got a good group of mature folks going on this trip...
June 15, 2007: After starting at 6:30 a.m., we saw the St. Louis Arch, then we started an endless journey across Missouri and Kansas into Colorado. One highlight of the day was when Ashley and Lily went to see a six-legged cow at a tourist trap. While there, they also saw an 8,000-pound prairie dog! Wow...
June 16, 2007: Today we drove through the Rockies. It was beautiful and amazing! We stopped at Buffalo Bill's grave, and Will proposed to Ashley. We are all so excited for them...After a long day of driving, we arrived in Salt Lake City at 9 pm. The condo is crazy awesome. While we are tired, we are excited about tomorrow when we finally get to the church.
June 17, 2007: Today, we joined CrossPoint Church for Sunday morning worship. Matt and Brandon joined their worship band, and they really rocked it out! It was amazing. After lunch at Chili's (first non-fast food since the beginning of the trip), we headed for the Wasatch mountains for a brisk and exhausting hike. We were basically out of breath after the first five minutes...
June 18, 2007: Today was our first big day! We headed to the church to get ready for the first night of Vacation Bible School. We had a lot of fun turning the church building into Avalance Ranch...We weren't sure how many kids would come to VBS, but we had a great number! They seemed to have a lot of fun and we did to. Several families said they were very impressed by the program and they would come back. More than half of the kids who came were not part of the Crosspoint Church. Awesome! It will be exciting to see how God works tomorrow...
June 19, 2007: Work, work, work! We arrived at church at 8:30 a.m. ready to start. Before lunch we painted door frames, window frames, and baseboards. Outside, we weeded the flower beds, landscaped the courtyard, used a four-wheel drive to remove enormous stumps from the churchyard, and discovered a buried water line (which thankfully was not connected). After a brief lunch of pizza, chips, and snack cakes, we removed the rest of the bushes from around the church, weeded the back churchyard, collected rocks, and raked numerous wheelbarrow loads of trash and debris. At four p.m., the temperature was 105 degrees. Will somebody please hand me another bottled water!
Although exhausted, after a quick break to freshen up, we returned to CrossPoint to greet children for the second night of Avalanche Ranch. Every child returned from the first night, and several brought friends. Everything went great. After VBS finished, the CrossPoint team introduced us to Leatherby's. Yum. Ice Cream.
June 20, 2007: We were all ready for a day off! From Bridal Veil Falls to the top of Mt. Timpanogas, we saw some of the most beautiful terrain our planet offers. A two-hour ride along an alpine highway brought us to the Sundance Ski Resort, deep in the Wasatch Mountains. We rode a ski lift more than 3,000 feet up the mountain, then hiked to the summit for amazing panoramic views of the Uintas Mountains. The incredible surroundings left us in complete awe of our awesome creator.
One of the most difficult things about any missions trip is saying goodbye to those we have come to love. We enjoyed a successful and energetic conclusion to Vacation Bible School. As I watched the children sing, "Were You There?" my eyes filled with tears. Only God knows what impact these few days will have on their souls.
After a record-setting cleanup, we met for one last prayer time with the Warrens and Ledbetters (members of the pastoral staff at CrossPoint). The Spirit moved! Forty-five minutes later, we hugged them goodbye, and drove away from the small church that will always hold a special place in our hearts.
June 21, 2007: After scurrying around to get packed and to clean the condo, we said goodbye to our beautiful temporary home. We headed to the Great Salt Lake. Like most of the other sights on the trip, most of us had never seen anything (or smelled anything) like it. Despite the flies and stench, the lake was quite a sight. After rinsing the salt off of our shoes, we headed to the Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, where Scott and Randy showed us around. Everything was so beautiful, yet filled with partial truth and deception. It was a sobering end to our visit to Utah.
After our final goodbyes, we headed east into Wyoming. It was just as different and beautiful as all the other places we have seen on the trip. About 200 miles before we reached the Nebraska line, we encountered some of the most beautiful scenery every! The Snowy Range Mountains lived up to their name! We stood in snow up to our waists, threw snow balls, and waded in ice-cold alpine lakes. It was breathtaking in more ways than one. We had to leave before anyone was ready. Exhausted, we didn't get to the hotel unto 11:30 pm. Another amazing, blessed day! Thank you, Lord!
June 22, 2007: Drive, drive, drive. It seems that most of us had designated this day as one of quietness and rest. The trip itself was largely uneventful, except for Lily's unending desire for good coffee, Will's inability to sleep, and the frequent need for bathroom breaks. Eric took the wheel around Grand Island to take us into Kansas City (five states in less than 24 hours).
June 23, 2007: One final, long day of driving from Kansas City to the illustrious Ashland City. It has been a wonderful trip. I am absolutely astonished by what God has done through this team on this trip. Vacation Bible School was an unbelievable success...definitely a God thing! I have been blessed to see some of the most beautiful country on earth, and I am very thankful for the relationships that have been established across these miles. The past 11 days are indescribable, and they will never be forgotten...
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