Tuesday, January 13, 2015

BCM Winter Break 2015 Atlanta Mission Trip

A bit unexpectedly, I decided to join Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Virginia Tech on their 2015 Winter Break mission trip to Atlanta, Georgia. This trip will be the the 12th or 13th time BCM@VT has taken a mission trip to Atlanta, and, as a result, we have very strong connections to various ministries in this area. In addition to myself, there are five other guys and one girl on this trip: Rob, Haley, Dakota, Bradley, Adam, and Brandon.

We have just completed day two of our trip, and below is a recap of just a few of the things that have happened on the trip so far.


We fueled up and left Blacksburg around 9:00 AM on Sunday morning, and had a relatively uneventful trip to Atlanta which involved quite a bit of "cow calling."


We arrived in Atlanta just in time for Passion City Church's 5:15 PM service. Despite Brandon's kind invitation, Louie Giglio chose not to join us at Steak 'n Shake after the service.

Passion City Church
At Steak 'n Shake, we had dinner with a woman named Susan, her husband, and their son. She had met previous BCM@VT Atlanta mission teams at Steak 'n Shake, and it has become a bit of a tradition for both our teams and her to meet after the Passion City service. She shared some incredibly encouraging words about what God has been and is doing in her life and in their family with us.

Along with all of the other luggage we brought to Atlanta, we were carrying this painting, which has been lovingly dubbed "Judging Jesus" by previous Atlanta teams ("JJ" for short). We were tasked with returning him safely after he was *ahem* removed from the church we are staying at at the end of the Thanksgiving break mission trip.



Once everyone had moved their stuff into Crossroads church, where we are staying, Brandon, Adam, and I went shopping for the week's supply of groceries. We had a few adventures, as the Walmart we went to was a bit different than anything we were used to. We parked in a parking garage below the actual store, and then had a bit of trouble finding a buggy. We were also quite entertained by the escalator built especially for shopping carts.





Monday morning, we started our first day of ministry. We began with a "worship circle" in Atlanta's Centennial Park. We had some interest from passersby, including one man who sat  on a nearby bench and listened for a while.

Worship circle in Centennial Park.
After we were finished with the worship circle, we had lunch in the CNN center. In the middle of lunch, an older gentleman approached us, asking us if we were all Virginia Tech students. He then proceeded to relay the following information, which Brandon has captured for posterity.




After lunch, we started work at a center that assists kids who are living on the streets of Atlanta. For most of the afternoon, we did our best to meet a few of the practical needs of the center. The large majority of our team began to sort the clothing donations that you see to the left which had piled up in a closet while Brandon and I worked on the computers that the kids who come to the center have access to. It had been a while since these machines had received some tender loving care, and I was grateful to be able to use a few of the skills that God has given me to help meet a practical need.

Taking a break from sorting clothes before the kids arrived, we decided to take a ride on the brand new Atlanta Streetcar system, because the fare is free the first 90 days. Near the end of our ride, we met the public relations liaison for the streetcar system, who Instagramed a photo of our group riding the streetcar. He was even kind enough to tag @BCMVT!


If there's one thing the Lord has already been teaching me, it's His sovereignty and control over every situation in our lives. We have heard so many testimonies of things that some people would try to write off as coincidence and experienced some of these ourselves already on this trip. I can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us in the coming three days.

Check back for updates, and follow our tweets with the hashtag #PTLinATL.
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Monday, March 17, 2014

BCM Spring Break 2014 Colorado Mission Trip Wrap-up

After roughly 3,000 miles of flying, 450 miles of driving, 150 miles of bus riding, and even a couple of miles or so of hiking/walking, our team has returned safely from our journey to Colorado.

Matt's idea for a group picture.
Friday morning, we got up, ate breakfast, cleaned our rooms throughly, and prepared to leave Sky Corral Lodge. Before we left, we attempted to take a group picture, but, apparently, Matt is terrible at taking a selfie and getting everyone else in the frame. We finally asked Jim to take a picture of our entire group.

Our group: Matt, Patrick, Kim, Joe, Greg, and I.
Piggyback rides.
After we had finished taking pictures, we loaded our six team members and luggage (plus Jim) into the “Mommy Missile” (a small minivan) and drove into Fort Collins for lunch. We had a delicious lunch at BeauJo’s (a Colorado style pizza restaurant) with Jim, Luke, Jon, Mallory, Riley, Kelly and Rani (all staff members at Sky Corral). After lunch, we met our shuttle, rode to the Denver airport, and went through security. At this point, our group officially split, with both Greg and Patrick catching direct flights to Washington DC.

The gingers!
Joe is overjoyed to be sitting next to Matt.
Overjoyed for sure.
Matt, Joe, Kim, and I went to the gate to catch our flight to Chicago O’Hare where we were to board a connecting flight to Roanoke. However, there was a slight problem. Our flight ended up being delayed for over an hour as the ground crew tried to fix a climate control issue with the plane. Unfortunately, this delay caused us to miss our connection to Roanoke. When we arrived at O’Hare, we spoke with the United representative who told us that the airline would not be able to fly us into Roanoke until Monday. They offered us hotel vouchers, and told us that they could fly us into Greensboro the next day instead. We ended up staying the night in a Wyndham near the airport. We each got our own room, and we used our meal vouchers ($7 apiece) to order calzones at midnight for dinner/breakfast.
The next morning, we got up, checked out of the hotel, and rode the shuttle to the airport. Security in Chicago went much quicker than in Denver. Thankfully, there were no more delays, and our plane left a scheduled. We four took up the entirety of the first row in the plane, and had plenty of leg room for the first time on our entire trip.
When we arrived in Greensboro, Nic was there to pick us up and drive us back to Blacksburg. After a quick stop at Plateau Plaza Bojangles for dinner, our team split one last time as I picked up my car and we drove the last fifty miles to Blacksburg separately. Our trip was then officially over.
Taking off from O'Hare.
We had a great week of fellowship, service, and growth in the Rocky mountains, and I believe God taught me a few things while we were there. One morning, I was reading from 2 Chronicles 34. In verse 27, the Lord tells King Josiah that He will delay His punishment of the Israelites for their sin because “your [Josiah’s] heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God…” That was my prayer this past week: that my heart would be humble and responsive. There were two things in particular that stuck out to me.

First, the Lord impressed upon me the importance of thankfulness. At times this week, the work was tough and tiring, but the Lord reminded me to be thankful that I have the strength and mobility to serve in this way. It also struck me while we were on our hike on Thursday afternoon that some people do not get the opportunity to enjoy God’s creation in this way, and, since I am able to, I should be thankful for that opportunity.

The second was the importance of prayer in the ministry of Sky Corral to the surrounding community. There were several times throughout the trip where the staff explained to us that sometimes the only way to minister to the people in their community is through prayer. Because of the culture of that area, they often pray for long periods of time that the Lord would change a person’s heart before they are open to hearing the gospel.

With that being said, if you would like to join me in praying for Sky Corral and their ministry in Colorado, here are a few suggestions. Please pray for the staff at the ranch, that they would have wisdom and discernment as they watch for the best time to reach out to people in their community. Pray for Luke as he works at the local fire station and looks for opportunities to share his faith with those around him. Pray for Stove Prairie Community Church and their outreach to the surrounding area. Finally, pray that the Lord would soften the hearts of the people in the community so that they would be willing to receive the gospel.
The valley.
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Saturday, March 15, 2014

Unexpected Delays: BCM Colorado Mission Trip

After a mechanical problem delayed our flight out of Denver, causing us to miss our connection to Roanoke, part of our BCM Colorado mission team (Matt, Joe, Kim, and I) ended up spending the night in a hotel near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Since @United couldn’t fly us into Roanoke until Monday, we will (hopefully) be leaving ORD around 1:00 PM today, and flying to Greensboro, NC. From there, we plan on driving back to Blacksburg.

Please pray that there would be no more delays, and that we would be able to get home safely and quickly. Pray that our attitudes would continue to glorify Christ, despite these delays in getting home.

Look at this picture and then read the below tweet to see if you can determine Kim's meaning.
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Friday, March 14, 2014

Final Workday: BCM Colorado Mission Trip

Sky Corral from above.
Today was our last day working at Sky Corral Lodge here in Colorado. It was not a particularly eventful day, compared to some of the others that we have had here. We worked some this morning and then were given the afternoon off to enjoy the beautiful weather.
Joe, Kim, Matt, and Patrick.
Part of the finished ridge.
This morning, we worked on trucking out all of the wood on the ridge that we have cut, bucked, and split this week. We made several trips with a large trailer, filling it with wood, and then taking it down to the barn to dump. Sometimes this was easy, like with the piles of firewood that we had created beside the splitter. Other times this was difficult, like with the many large logs we had stacked at the top of the ridge line as we were felling trees. These logs had to be moved down to the bottom of the hill over rocky terrain so that they could be loaded. In between the trailer loads, we also found a little bit of time to have some fun.

Kim taking aim at Patrick.
Matt pitching to Joe.
After lunch, we spent the majority of the afternoon relaxing. Matt, Kim, and I went on a hike in the mountains surrounding Sky Corral. We hiked up to a meadow situated at the top of a ridge. We also used one of the GPS units from the lodge to look for a geocache that was supposed to be hidden on the property. After an unsuccessful search, we followed the GPS back to the lodge "as the crow flies." We also spent some time this afternoon playing Spades, and just hanging out.

Greg is not impressed.
One thing that struck me as we hiked today was how blessed I am to have the health and mobility to be able to come out here and serve Sky Corral, and even just to be able to take a hike. Please pray for our safety tomorrow as we fly back home. Pray that we would make all of our connections without any problem, and that we would be witnesses to whoever we encounter. Pray for Sky Corral specifically that they would be able to book reservations through the entirety of the summer.
The end of day.
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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Dropping Trees: BCM Colorado Mission Trip

Here’s another update from VT BCM’s Spring Break 2014 mission trip to Sky Corral in Colorado.

Joe and Matt working on the splitter.

Today, we began by moving all the furniture in the rec hall to the opposite side of the room so that we could finish vacuuming and shampooing the carpet in there. After that, Matt, Joe, and Jim (Sky Corral staff member) worked on fixing the log splitter that broke earlier in the week. Apparently, having this part go bad is a known issue on this particular splitter, so we were able to find the replacement part without too much trouble. Getting the part onto the splitter, however, was a different story entirely.


Sharpening the chainsaws.


While the others were fixing the splitter, Jim’s son Luke gave those of us without much experience a crash course on running a chainsaw. Luke is a firefighter here in Colorado, and teaches classes at the fire department on chainsaw operation. One of the first things we learned how to do was to sharpen the teeth in the chain with a file. Each tooth has to be sharpened individually and the goal is to have a flat but angled leading edge on each tooth.


After the splitter was ready to go, we went and ate lunch, and then spent most of the rest of our day working on clearing the ridge behind the lodge building. For those of you wondering, I did get the chance to operate a chainsaw, and even dropped a few trees on my own. (Don’t tell my mother that I’m using a chainsaw!).

Sunset.
Please pray for our team strength and endurance as we complete our last full day of work tomorrow. We plan to continue working on the ridge, as well as sending a few people to do some light construction at the local fire station so that they can obtain their CO (Certificate of Occupancy). Pray that the Lord would protect us and give us safety as we work (especially as we operate equipment), and that our work would glorify Him.
We were told that the closest hospital is over an hour away.
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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Snow Day: BCM Colorado Mission Trip

Hello, all. Here is an update on @BCMVT’s #SpringBreak 2014 Colorado mission trip.
Sky Corral Lodge
Patrick getting ready to run the chainsaw.
We began this morning by continuing more of the work that we started yesterday. We loaded a large majority of the firewood that we have cut thus far into a trailer so that it could be taken to someone who was in need. After that, we split into three groups (each with a chainsaw operator), and continued bucking downed trees - piling up the logs that could be used as firewood, and putting the rest of the debris into slash piles. Today was a cold day, but our team made sure to wear several layers, and, as a result, was able to stay warm.



Matt, Joe, and Patrick.


Around midday today (while we were eating lunch), a snowstorm rolled into the area surrounding Sky Corral. The storm dumped enough snow to cover the ground, be a hinderance, and keep us from going back outside to work. We did not get the four inches that are required before we could burn the slash piles, but we most likely would not have been able to burn anyways, since the wind speeds today were high.





Kim and Greg.
This afternoon, we completed a variety of mostly indoor chores. We moved furniture in the rec hall and began to shampoo the carpet in that building. We also moved a heavy ice cream chest from the rec hall to the barn. We also helped Mallory clean a few of the guest bedrooms.

We ate diner fairly early (red beans and rice), and enjoyed some time hanging out as a team. Joe, Patrick, and Kim went for a short hike while Matt, Greg, and I played a couple of rounds of pool.

Please pray for our team as we work for two more days here. Pray that we would have the strength to do the work that we need to, and that we would have a joyful attitude in doing so. Also, pray that the Lord would direct our plans regarding who we will be helping on those days.

The view from above.
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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Clear-Cutting: BCM Colorado Mission Trip

Hey guys, I just wanted to give you all a quick update on the Colorado mission trip.


Today, we spent the large majority of our time clear-cutting part of a ridge on the Sky Corral property that had been burned by the High Park fire in the summer of 2012. The High Park wildfire burned more than 80,000 acres, and was the third most destructive fire in Colorado history, in terms of the number of houses that were burned. The flooding that followed also wiped out many of the roads in the area.

Clear-cutting the burned/dead trees on the ridge.
Greg and Joe surveying the area.
The way we worked today, Joe, Patrick, and Jim (one of the Sky Corral staff members) ran the chainsaws, felling dead trees and bucking them (cutting them into manageable pieces *read* “small enough to be carried”). Matt, Greg, Kim, and I worked on creating “slash piles” of excess branches and debris that would later be burned. We also carried the logs that had been bucked to the wood pile, where Joe cut them into firewood sized chunks, and Kim used the hydraulic log splitter to split them into firewood. Near the end of the day, the log splitter stopped working! Kim made it very clear that this was in no way her fault. Apparently, one of the critical pieces that transfers force between the engine and the hydraulic piston decided to give way. Jim’s son Luke is now in the process of trying to find a replacement part so that we can can get the splitter running again.

"Do you want to build a snowman?" One guess as to which of our team members created this.

Patrick "exhausted" after a day of work.
Today’s work was harder than Saturday’s due to the wet, muddy ground produced by the snow melt. The temperatures have been in the 60’s the past couple of days, and the snow that was on the ground here when we arrived now only exists under shade trees and in large piles. However, the forecast does call for more snow during the day tomorrow… anywhere from three inches to one foot of accumulation is possible. That should make things interesting.





Matt and his helpful footrest.
This evening, we had a delicious dinner (made all the more savory by our work-induced appetites), prepared by Sky Corral staff members Jon and Mallory. We also had a good time of testimony as a group, and played a couple of rounds of Spades before heading off to bed at an early hour - since all of us were worn out. Tomorrow, depending on how much snow we get, we hope to burn the slash piles that we created today. Colorado regulations require that four inches of snow be on the ground before you are allowed to burn a brush pile. They probably have a really good reason for that, but I’m not really sure what it would be off the top of my head.

If you are praying for our team, please continue to pray for us as we eat, work, and live together. Pray for the continuation of the sweet spirit of fellowship that has formed. Pray that we would be able to get the rest we need, and that we would have the energy to do our work to the best of our abilities in order to bring honor to God.
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