So right now we are on the bus. Most of us are sleeping. We have about a 9 hour trip ahead of us today! It's been a great trip so far. I want to tell you a little about our day yesterday.
So we woke up bright and early, got our swimming suits on and loaded up the bus to head to Noah's Ark Rafting. We got there and waited around for a little while for our guides to give us some instructions. Pretty soon we got our wet suits on and our safety talk and then loaded up our rafts to get ready for our adventure. Noah's Ark is a wonderful ministry. They do everything with excellence and all for the glory of God! All of their staff is hired on character before their experience with rafting. Then they are trained in rafting skills. Our guide was named John McGreevy. We just called him McGreevy. He is a biological science major who is in between undergrad and grad school. The whole trip he was telling us all about the trees and rocks and animals. He opened our eyes to God's wonderful creation. He had such a love for what he did. We got to talking (before the water got crazy) and he told us that he has been studying non-violence and reading some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches and letters. He was telling us about all that he was learning. This caught my attention because just recently I had taken a class at Friends called Theology of Forgiveness. We talked a lot about non-violence and the cycle that creates and keeps creating violence. I was able to give him some suggestions of some books to read. (The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu, and Exclusion and Embrace by Mirslov Volf) Seriously, check out these books they are some of the best books I have read. Each raft guide had a different story and they all shared about their ministry while we were rafting. Jesus and the Arkansas River and crazy rapids... that makes for one amazing experience!
Later that night we ended up in Delta, CO. The church welcomed us with open arms. They were truly wonderful. They were so inviting and they had a genuine love for God in their hearts. During our worship service while the youth praise band was leading we had some technical difficulties and lost sound for a while. They were singing Grace Like Rain. It was a powerful moment. It reminded us that God does not need big speakers and lights to move. He moves in spite of our shortfalls. We thought we got it all figured out and then sure enough in the middle of our first song, All My Fountains the music went out. Pause.
Funny Story: Earlier that day after rafting when our guides found out that we were a musical team they had us sing them a song. The song we chose to sing was All My Fountains. A capella. We had practice. If there ever was a God moment. This was it. We were ready for it!
Some of the sound guys clapped to help them keep a beat and they went right on singing. They didn't miss a step. It was a little familiar to them!
The musical was more powerful than ever. The people were so touched and we had a ministry time at the end an many came and kneeled at the altar. There was an urgency of action. To live out our faith. I felt it too. In deep ways. I still haven't made it through watching the whole thing without crying. It touches to very deep parts of my story that are still being written. All of our stories are still being written. There is no amount of words that I can use to describe to you how much I see God moving in these young people. They are the future of our church.
Love them.
Cherish them.
Disciple them.
Listen to them.
Teach them.
Learn from them.
Help write their stories.
Point them to Jesus.
We are so thankful for all of your support! We couldn't do this without your prayers. And a shout out to all the families that hosted us last night, thank you so much. You are the hands and feet of Jesus.
Well I think it's about time for a nap.
Grace and Peace,
Haley
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