Friday, June 20th - by Zion Um

(pictures will be added later - when blogger lets me add them. sorry. - Kelly)

The morning was normal like any other day with a shining sun and a warm breakfast of delicious grits, hardy hard boiled eggs, greasy sausages, and some rockin’ bread slices. Of course there were cereal, bagels, milk and yummy things, and more yummy things.

After a grand serving of breakfast, the youth and adults voyaged for an hour and twenty minutes, observing many incredible scenes, such as mountains, deserts, and casinos. It was amazing how different the landscapes were in Pennsylvania and the ones in New Mexico. By the time we arrived in Penasco, many of the adolescence were most likely awaking from a short nap by the sudden difference from paved road to dirt.

There were many hugs and exchanges of addresses and phone numbers between the children that came to the VBS and the youth that helped out, since today would be the very last day we would work there. Unfortunately two of the children weren’t present, but two new kids did join in. They painted beautiful sun catchers and scratched out fishes from the special fish shaped scratch art.

We then left after saying many goodbyes to all the children, probably tiring the poor children out with our yells of “Bye (fill in the blank with child’s name).” David and Lisa finally led us out and we went to go see the earthship their son owned. But because the house was at the top of a very steep mountain, the vans were not seen as suitable vehicles for a hard hike up. So, to solve the problem, most of the youth except for a few girls and Dale, climbed into the very safe, and certainly not dangerous, back of David’s truck.

We arrived, surprised that the house was actually pretty spacious, and had most of the things that would be found in a normal house, except for the rechargeable batteries stored in the back closet. The one thing that was strange was the fact that they had a compost toilet. Other than that fact, they had running water that poured out of faucets like any other house and the most dream-like kitchen that any home-chef could wish for, with wonderful, large, folding pantries with tons of room for food. Also, the closet they had, had a pull out rod that you could lower to get easier access to the clothing that may be hanging a bit too high for a normal height person’s arm. Everything in this house was made for conserving space and being eco-friendly. They even had a lizard door knocker that looked almost just like a lizard, except it was green and was made out of metal.

The son who lived in this house happened to be the author of the book, Sex Drugs and Sunday School, which is a collection of poems that he wrote during his life. Also he plays in the band Ready Aim Fire. He even had a very good book collection in his book case that we marveled after.

We all jumped back into the back of the truck finally after we thoroughly finished inspecting the earthship and it’s every crevice. The ride back was way too short and it was time to get back into the vans for a very long ride back to Santa Fe.

When we got to Santa Fe, the youth were allowed free time to do just about anything they wanted. Go down to the plaza, take a hike, fly a kite, go hug a tree, take a nap, and a variety of other activities. Many of the youth went down to the plaza to do some last minute shopping for the people back home. There was a line of vendors along the side selling things like beautiful jewelry, precious clay figurines, paintings, and many other cool things.

We all met and the people at the plaza walked down to a restaurant, Tomistas, where they had some, well, Mexican food. People ate things from enchiladas, burritos, tacos, chalupas, and thankfully for some of the non-mexican food fans, fried shrimp and ground beef steak. From what was said, it was generally great food, sometimes the best eaten so far on our week’s journey. Shouldn’t forget the sopaipillas with the honey butter too.

With full, and hopefully content stomachs, the group headed back towards the plaza but instead stopped at a Catholic church that had a beautiful stone labyrinth. As the youth and their youth leaders followed the path, we thought about things like where we saw God, when did we see hope or grace, and what we would take from this experience. Then after a serious discussion in the grass, underneath the shade, the youth group headed back for their apartments, but stopped for some more gelatos along the way, enjoying the sweet taste.

The day ended nicely with our final and last devotion of the week, in which we learned many things, and discussed the week. The night fell peacefully, and the day had gone by nicely, except for the short hail storm the adults faced in Taos and the rain the youth had to endure in the plaza. But over all, a good day will be a good day in the end.

Thursday, June 19th - by Jane Lee

Today we left for Vacation Bible School in Penasco like usual. First, the kids at VBS drew and stamped papers and as soon as they were done they listened to Pastor Jim tell the story of the day. Then they went to crafts and made and decorated paper drums. After crafts, they went to story telling. Then they went to games and played with the parachute.

After VBS, we left for Ghost Ranch outside of Abiquiu. While traveling to Abiquiu, the sights were very interesting and amazing. We saw sides of cliffs that have been eroded by wind over the years. The erosion revealed different layers of a variety of colors: reds, yellows, purples and oranges. As soon as we arrived at Ghost Ranch we headed out to hike to Chimney Rock. Many parts of the hike up were steep but luckily there were also some level parts to help us catch our breath. When we got to the top of Chimney Rock we were able to see for miles and miles. We even saw people hiking below us that looked as though they were the size of ants. Cameron and Josh attempted to fly a spider-man kite but failed miserably. There were few high moments for the kite flyers but most of them were low moments. While the majority of the group hiked down to Ghost Ranch a few of us stayed longer to take more pictures.

Eventually we hiked down and the hike down seemed more difficult then the hike up. The steepness of the trail caused many to slip. Our fingers swelled to size of sausages and we were unable to take our rings off. The swelling finally went away about 2 hours later. We ate dinner then left for home. As we approached a gas station we noticed that the gas was only $3.99! We were quite excited and pulled in to fill up and clean our windows.

To end the night we did our nightly devotions with the adults then walked toward the Plaza for a yummy snack of Gelato.

Wednesday, June 18th - by Elyse Lee

Today, Wednesday June 18, 2008 the weather was warm but cool, and gorgeous.
We started off the day with another Vacation Bible School. Today’s theme was “Help”. The crafts and storytelling surrounded the theme of Rainbow Fish. During crafts, the older kids created a “rainbow” fish with tissue paper and aluminum foil. The younger kids did the same with construction paper instead of tissue. They also watched the video of the Rainbow Fish, and learned to share. The number of kids increased to nine, from seven yesterday. More kids were engaging in activities and bonding with the youth and adults. The VBS ended with songs and lunch and was overall a good morning.

Some other members of the church, including Christine, Josh, Pat, Wayne, and Susan made a home visit to Merlinda. Merlinda was a widow who recently lost her husband. The church members talked and spent time with her, and even had a taste of her delicious tortillas. The construction crew placed another window in the building. Others weeded the roads, picked up litter, and an old shed was torn down.

After VBS, the youth traveled to Taos. Along the way, we stopped at a creek and chilled there for a while. We then visited The Rio Grande Gorge, where we experienced the beautiful view. Unfortunately, shortly after we left a man had past away by parachuting off the bridge. When we came to Taos, we walked around the town plaza, and ate ice cream. On the drive back, we visited the Earthships. Earthships are homes that are “off the grid” meaning they are separate from the government with electric power and other supplies. The Earthships are “green-friendly” homes with solar power, water harvest, and solar heating. Tomorrow we have plans to explore an actual home.

While the youth were at Taos, the adults visited a Pueblo. At the end of the day, the youth met back up with the adults in Penasco for dinner, which the church members prepared for us. The day ended with the youth doing separate devotions from the adults, for they were exhausted. Overall, the day was eventful and good.

Tuesday, June 17th - by Ashley Seitz

Today was the first official day of our mission work. We started off our day by getting up bright and early for breakfast at 7am. After breakfast, we all piled into the vans and headed towards our destination of Peñasco. It was about an hour and a half drive to get to the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, where we would be doing our work for the week. Of course, it is never a boring van ride when you are with our youth leaders. We all enjoyed the beautiful scenery and majestic mountains, as well as the fun conversations on the way. Some of us also took naps to rest up for the big day of work, where others listened to music and enjoyed each other’s company.

When we arrived to the church, I was excited as well as nervous for the day to start. I am one of the characters for the beginning skit of the Vacation Bible School. During the skit, Jim Brown and I explained the theme for the day. Today’s theme was caring and was centered around the story of Moses being found in the basket in Egypt. My character’s name is Starfish and I am this actress who is very bubbly and outgoing in the beginning skits. I basically help Jim Brown tell the story and get the kids involved in it.

After the skit was over we started out the day of Vacation Bible School. Not as many kids came to the church as we anticipated, mostly because one of the other local churches decided to have their Vacation Bible School the same week as the Emmanuel church. Nevertheless, we still had an energetic and interesting group of kids. Most of them were younger, ranging from 4 years old to about 7years old. There were also a few older kids that helped take some responsibility of the younger kids. Since we didn’t have that big of a group of kids, we didn’t rotate the stations by grade, but instead kept the kids in one big group. The day went fairly smoothly for it being the first day. We started off the day with Story time with Natasha King and Susan Mountz. The next station they went to was Craft time with Karen Williams. There they got to make a baby Moses in a basket along with a fun craft with sea animals, to tie in the ocean theme for the week. The next activity was snack time where the kids enjoyed some cookies and juice. The youth got involved with both of these activities, but what teenager would pass some food and fun with the kids.

Since the entire youth group got involved with the kids, game time was especially fun. After everyone finished their snacks, the group moved onto games with Chad Thralls, Chandler Steffan, and Brandon Lee. When you saw those three were running games, you knew it was going to be a fun time. The first game was limbo, which was a fun start to get everyone involved. Of course the youngest kids were the best at limbo, but it was very entertaining to see the older youth from youth group try and not touch the limbo stick. The next game, you had to keep a beach ball in the air by hitting it. That was a lot of fun as well. The most fun game had to be a classic favorite- duck duck goose. It was a lot of fun with the kids and the youth group getting involved in it. Chad even got really into that game, considering he tripped because he was running so fast. When games were over, the kids went to their last station before lunch time. The last station was music, where I along with Lois Gayman and Nina Brown lead it. We taught the kids two Spanish songs and two fun warm-up songs. All of the kids got really involved in the songs; even the adults joined in. When music concluded it was lunch time, which meant the Vacation Bible School was coming to a close. It was sad to see all of the kids leave and go home, but it just meant that you would see them again the next morning at Vacation Bible School.

While Vacation Bible School was being held, we also had a construction crew working on renovating the church. This crew consisted of mostly adults but also included some youth. They got a lot done in just one day. They worked outside, weeding some of the flowers and even got a window into the one part of the church. After our work was finished for the day we all piled into the vans and headed to Santuario de Chimayo. On the way we stopped for a picture by a scenic view stop on the highway and that view was absolutely breath taking. When we arrived to Santuario de Chimayo, we got to walk inside the church. Inside the church we weren’t allowed to take any pictures, but I honestly don’t think a picture would do the beauty of the church justice. It was so beautiful with all of the candles and stained glass windows. When you went through the one doorway of the side of the church there was this hole in the ground with holy dirt in it. It is said that this dirt can heal you if you eat it or put it on your skin. In another room of the church there were pictures of all of the people that it healed and there were even crutches from people who got healed from the dirt. Of course after the tour of the church we went into the gift shop to browse around. There were a lot of Catholic souvenirs and books about the Santuario de Chimayo in the shop. Before we left, the entire group enjoyed some popsicles and the company of a local dog that decided to join us in the shade.

When we left Santuario de Chimayo we headed to the Trujillo Weavers Shop to watch some weavers weave some blankets and shop. There were many interesting items in the shop that were all hand made; including jewelry and dream catchers. After we spent about an hour or so in the shop we piled into our vans, once again, to head to dinner. We traveled back to Chimayo to go to the Santuario de Chimayo restaurant. Nina and Jim Brown’s grand-daughter and family joined for dinner with us. We all had a wonderful time, eating great food and enjoying each other’s company. When the night had to come to an end, we piled back into our vans and headed back to the Ghost Ranch Retreat Center for devotions. Devotions started off with Kelly meeting with us youth to talk about our day. Then we sang Happy Birthday to Dale, who is turning 18 today. If you didn’t catch that, I did say 18. It’s a joke among the group, pretty much saying that Dale acts just like us youth, even though he is an adult. We then enjoyed some birthday cake before finishing up devotions. I must take a note to the fact that Chad put on Natasha’s hoop earrings and sang to Dale on the walkie-talkie earlier today, and I must say Chad was an amazing singer! We ended the night with our devotion groups before heading off to bed to get some rest from a very eventful day.

Happy Birthday Dale!

Sunday, June 15th - by Kate Novak

Today marks our first full day in New Mexico. We began the day waking up in Albuquerque; my room mates and I celebrated the beginning of the day by lying in bed and watching the movie Annapolis. After watching this marvelous film (starring James deFranco), Jane Lee and I traveled downstairs to experience the free continental breakfast, in all of our pajama glory, which Comfort Inn provided for us. My roommates and I went back to sleep shortly after returning from the magnificent waffle-filled breakfast, but we were forced into preparing ourselves for the day by the impeding needs of the cleaning lady to prepare our room for the next customers.

Our next adventure was waiting for the rental vans, all seven of them, to arrive at the motel. When they did arrive, the youth became excited at the sight of a minivan that was an excellent shade of blue—we became disappointed as soon as we realized that this particular van was being given to the adults to use; however, our youth have come to know and love our motley crew of vans, especially Chad’s significantly smaller-engine-sized white vehicle.

Our group was joined during our day in Albuquerque by the fantastic Megan Rose! The youth went to Frontier, a common hangout for the college crowd of the town, for lunch. We experienced the hectic and hurried lines of people and the demanding cashiers. The restaurant was filled with excellent pieces of art, featuring a wall-sized painting of John Wayne that Chad greatly favored to all the other pieces. It was at this point that we all traveled to Santa Fe to REALLY begin our mission trip.

Saturday, June 14th - by Natasha King

Today we left for Santa Fe. Some of us met at Market Square and some met at a location in York at 1:30 pm. Before climbing into our designated cars, we had a group prayer, sang Happy Birthday to Jim Brown, and said good bye. We then headed to the BWI airport. Once we got there, around 3:30ish, we checked our luggage and headed through security check. We then headed for our designated gate and quickly found out we weren’t the only ones wearing green shirts. We then headed for the food. Then we waited and waited and waited because our flight was delayed. So we occupied ourselves with a variety of games ranging from cards, big booty, and fighting ninjas. Some of us even managed to catch even a few minuets of sleep. Finally our airplane arrived and we boarded around 9:30ish. Our Flight then landed in Minneapolis. We then quickly exited the airplane and rushed to get to the next airplane that was waiting for us. The plane then took off and we were on our way. After a long plane ride we arrived in the Albuquerque airport tired and ready for sleep. We then found a little motel to stay the night in.

Monday, June 16th - by Josh Campbell

Imagine having to live in a home where your only way in was up a ladder, with a single room, and you could not stand up straight in it. Well today we had a chance to see what that was like.

To start our day we went to Bandelier National Monument. We took a trail up through the mountain and got to see the original pueblos and kivas from the Native Americans. It was neat to think of how they had to live in these homes, which most only had one or two rooms. It was quite the eye opener.

After our time at Bandelier we headed to another park called Tsankawi. When we arrived our group split up, one going on the hike through Tsankawi, and others going to a museum in Los Alamos. I went on the hike. The path that we were following was the actual trail that was made by the natives. But this trail was not just up and down. We had to climb rocks and go through some small closings just to follow it. When we started we went straight up the mountain and we got to see some pretty amazing views. The way down was exciting. The trail took us through the sides of cliffs which were filled with, what we think of as caves but were actually homes. These were much smaller then the ones we had seen at Bandelier. Also along the way we spotted carvings in the wall which we could tell were not made by recent people. The had all kinds of shapes, symbols and even what looked to be like native people dancing and even ones that were playing an instrument. This day to me was very cool because instead of seeing these type of scenery on TV, I really got to be there to see it in person, which made it feel even more informative.