Trip to the Bahamas!

Guys. It's the final day of this mission trip, and I've just cried for the first time in years.

I felt it would be really interesting being in a leadership position on trip over people my own age and some even older, but nonetheless, I was excited. When we got here, I was anticipating hard construction work and cold showers. And that is what I got. Just with the added benefit of a gorgeous Caribbean Sea just across the street. I was blown away on our drive from the airport. The island of Eleuthera is very skinny, so much so in fact, that at several places on the island, you can see both the Caribbean and the Atlantic Oceans. It's simply astounding. We stay at the Eleuthera Bible Training Center, right across the street from the most beautiful water you'll ever see. Every day, we'd wake up, have a devo, and start working for a few hours. After lunch, it would be time for an adventure. We explored several pristine beaches, deep caves, and a few holes that just so happened to filled with water. I discovered very quickly how much I enjoy snorkeling. I also tried my hand at spear fishing, but never saw anything worth shooting. Our mission hosts, the Doster family, are some really cool people, and make sure there is always something for us to do. For the first few days, our construction project was to be building a garage for the Doster family. It was hard work, but we had fun with it as well. While two groups were doing that, another was painting the building we were staying at, while one more group went to a school called "The School for Exceptional Learners". We would be rotating jobs every week, so every group got tho do everything. the group at the school eventually got the guy who runs the school in talks with Keith Doster, the guy who runs the Eleuthera Bible Training Center, to build a basketball court for the students. So our work project changed. My group's job was painting the second week, but the third week we were assigned the jobs of being teachers to these students. The students at this school are here because for whatever reason, they fell behind what they should know in their grade. A few students have various forms of autism, one girl had a stroke that left her paralyzed and without many of the skills she had gained in her 16 years, and others are there for reasons I never found out. There are eleven of them in total, and only two teachers. There was a main class, where Mr. Holland would teach and a few people in my team would help the students with their assignments, and a second class with only four students. This is where I was. This class was typically taught by Mrs. Petty, who has been teaching for ten years. She was originally the school's custodian, but somehow began teaching the students who were very far behind the rest of the class. However, because she never officially obtained a degree in education, she still only receives a custodian's pay. I had the pleasure of helping Alan and Justin with their math and language skills. The most heartbreaking moment of the month was when it dawned on me that, at about 14 years old, Alan couldn't read. The simple books they were assigned to read, he had memorized just to get through lessons. So, we had to go back to the beginning and learn how to write every letter and what they sounded like. Justin was bright, but only about 8 years old, which explains why he wasn't learning fractions with the big class. All in all, I enjoyed hanging out with them during breaks and playing with them every chance we got. The next week, I was on construction again. The basketball court was very nearly done, and just need to have concrete mixed and poured over it. That week was fun as well, because whenever the students came outside during their breaks, we could play and hang out. Some of them even decided to help us shovel rocks and sand to mix in the concrete. After working through the weekend to finish, we had the next few days free for adventuring to places far away. We went to a bunch of beaches, each more amazing than the last, but I'm sure no one wants to hear about the crystal-clear waters, the rushing waves that almost carried me away while exploring a island just a few hundred yards from the southern tip of Eleuthera, or the tons of fish I aw swimming in the same places I was. Today is the last day, so we decided we should have a ribbon cutting ceremony for the basketball court and say our goodbyes to the students. I was perfectly fine the entire time, but as we watched the kids go out the door to go home, hugging everyone in a line as they went, I began tearing up. A few minutes later, there was a steady stream of tears falling down my face. I couldn't pull myself together for about twenty minutes. I believe the last time I cried was when I realized Mr Matt wouldn't make it. I realized long ago how fickle life can be, as well as the friendships in it, so knowing that I'll never see a particular person again is definitely not enough to make me cry. I can only attest it to the simple fact that I've grown to love these kids in the time I've spent with them. I don't even know half of their last names, but they are 11 of the sweetest kids Ive ever known. I'll definitely miss them a ton, and will be praying for them long after they've forgotten my name and who I am. I have just over 15 hours left in the Bahamas, and part of me wishes I could stay longer. But I'm overall very satisfied with this trip. If you or anyone you know is looking for a fun summer job, the Doster family has interns that stay here and help the teams that come through. You could also be a part of a team and come on a mission trip here! Or anyone feeling generous can donate to help with their projects and services to the island. Contact them from their website here! Thanks for reading!

You can see my pictures here!

The Final Post...

Well, it’s about that time. I know we were all expecting it to be so far away, but it’s finally here. The final blog post. In a week, Link Year will over. It’s a very sad fact, but looking back it’s been a great year. Last night at the Q&A with Donyes, he said something about how much I’ve grown this year. Its been an incredible amount, and I doubt he even knows the extent of it. I was even browsing through my Facebook history (and obviously deleted stuff) and was astonished at some of the things I’ve said and done. I’ve been told various times over the year that I seemed different, and I can finally see it. Different in a good way, though, because I am so much closer to the Lord as a result. Although Link Year is coming to an end, I have a ton to be excited about! I am going to get the opportunity to come back next year as a protégé! I’ll have the opportunity to mentor the students of next year while also being mentored myself. I’ll be so ready to take on whatever the world has for me. Anyway, our speaker this week has been Jonathan Pokluda, the leader of the Porch, a youth ministry under Watermark in Dallas. He’s a really great speaker, and a worthy speaker of our last week of class. He spoke at the final Fort of the Year as well. Quite an ending. He spoke on ways to ruin your life in your 20’s, and several pitfalls people fall into in their lives. I am trying to write a blog entry worthy of being the final one, but I have no idea how to do that. This year I’ve learned how to have legitimate friendships and relate to people, how to start a conversation with anyone, and how to live a life that’s honorable to Christ, yet I can’t end a blog correctly. Oh well, maybe I’ll learn how to do it if I continue blogging next year. We’ll see. For the last time, until next time…

Today was a very good day.

Really excited right now! But more on right now later. Last TGIF we got to take kayaks across the lake to get ice cream, and we were accompanied by Joe White himself! I decided to walk down the the street with Link Laurel and talk to some friends of hers. They were some kids selling t-shirts for their rehab program. We talked to them for a while and even lost track of the time. When we decided to get back to the others, we discovered they had left! Once we got back to the dock we saw a few people left, who were looking for us. It was all around a pretty fun experience. This weekend, a bunch of people went on a trip to California, so classes were kind of small this week. Our speaker was Austin Ochs this week. Some of the main things he spoke on were being courageous leaders, being good stewards of what we are given, and that we never truly own anything, it is always given to us. At the end, he gave us all money to go out and do with it as we please, but we were encouraged to use it to serve someone and email him, telling him what we did. I got an entire hundred dollars, while the lowest amount given was twenty. I feel a ton of pressure, because someone last year found a guy who practiced golf every day on a course that he couldn’t afford to actually play on. The student paid for the guy to play a whole round  and played with him. Definitely inspiring, but also raises the bar. If you have any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them! Until next time, folks! 

Excitement Is Rushing Through My Veins Right Now!

This week has been an absolute blast! Last Friday for TGIF we went to Ride the Ducks, a ride around Branson in an amphibious truck! It was pretty cool riding around and suddenly splashing into the water of the lake. Can’t remember the name right now. I’ve also worked this weekend at Hollister and actually enjoyed it. I’ve become closer to my co-workers, which has definitely made it much more bearable. The weather has probably been a huge factor in making this week so wonderful as well. It’s been bright and sunny, until it rained on us for 20 minutes today. This week’s speaker was Rich Ferrera .He runs a gap year program similar to Link Year, but up in the mountains of California. The thing I enjoyed most about his talks was definitely how much he knew about first century Jewish culture. Knowing things like that is hugely beneficial to understanding the Bible better and even brings some of Jesus’ parables to life. This has been a weird week, because the speaker came on Monday and Tuesday. We had small groups and accountability Wednesday, and today we have been working. I’ve been shoveling mulch for seven hours total today, so that’s fun. But really it was great, I got the chance to get to know one of my classmates who I’ve hardly talked to at all this year. Moments like that are definitive of the Link Year experience. We were shoveling for a few hours this morning, then a storm passed over us and it rained hard. Only for a bit though (see above). This week, I’ve been realizing how much I took the Hope Center and the things they did for me for granted. I plan on letting them know how grateful I am soon… I also had my protégé interview today. Within two weeks, I’ll know whether or not I’m going to get to live in wonderful Branson for another year! That’s all I have for you guys this week, enjoy it, share it with friends, and praise Jesus for literally everything!!!!!

Productive? Nope.

This week has been good, but certainly not the best. I had productivity goals that I haven’t been making and that’s frustrating me slightly. I even took a nap today, one that set me so far behind in my work. Naps are not good for being productive. I’ve broken my Lentin fast and been on the internet several times. Not a great week. On the other hand, our speaker this week was Joe White’s son, Brady White. He’s pretty funny, and Donyes likes him apparently, so he was sure to be a great speaker. He spoke on several things this week, certainly not the least of which was how much emphasis our society puts on feelings. In relationships, if we no longer feel love towards our partner we divorce or break up with them. On a related note, we were created to love God and one another in the way God loves us. Αγαπε, or “agape” (I have a Greek keyboard now (I know some Greek now)) is the divine, selfless love we were created for, and we put much more emphasis on ερος, or eros, the sexual love. This causes the feelings of emptiness people get from one night stands or putting their identity in a significant other. I haven’t even talked about Logos! We got this super expensive bible software at highly discounted prices (~$2,000 off and 50% discounts after that!!) and all we have to do is take a class over using it. It was an awesome deal. With Logos, you get a ton of different books, both teaching books and textbook-type deals. You can cross reference them side by side, read related verses in separate tabs, and even see the original Greek and Hebrew words used so that you can truly understand what God meant originally. I recommend it to anyone with a few thousand just lying around. I got my job back at Hollister as well! Not super excited about it, but I now have an income and can finish paying for Ireland, so that was definitely a plus for this week. My friendships here are going amazingly, these guys are the best. Okay, the random updates are over. Until next week, party peeps!

Very Productive Week!

This week has been quite a fun one. Link Year is a fantastic place and I learn so much each week. First off, last Friday, we went rock wall climbing! Don’t worry, it was in an indoor gym. I found out I’m not the worst climber in the world, but my forearms don’t much endurance. I made it up the easy and medium difficulty walls without much problem, but by the time I thought I was ready to try the harder walls, my arms were cramping and I couldn’t even do a full pull-up. I even waited another hour to try and get rested up and go for it again, but I still couldn’t do it, I was exhausted. It was fun though, and the Chik-fil-a definitely helped heal my sore arms. I had a productive weekend and accomplished all my goals for the week, so that was fun. Right now, I feel like I’m rambling slightly more than usual. I may be a bit out of practice with this blog thing. Over the week, we’ve had different speakers from the staff of the  Kanakuk Institute, the older people who we share a campus with. Joey Tisdale talked to us mostly about college and how to be lights wherever we go, no matter what we choose to do. Chad Hampsh acme on Wednesday, but I forgot my journal in my room, so no notes were taken that day. I remember playing an altered version of the morality game where we were asked to split based on whether or not we loved Jesus with our whole hearts, felt confident about sharing the Gospel, and believed wholeheartedly that Jesus is who He said He is. We also discussed the validity of the Bible and relationship/dating stuff. Dating is, to me, a pointless tradition that only encourages premarital sex, but he made some valid restrictions to actual dating that could work, I guess. One of the lesser-known things that make Link Year such a fantastic program is the thinking it makes you do on your own. My view of dating was formed here, but not because of anything a speaker said to us in class. I came to my conclusion after discussing with protégés and reflecting on my life and experiences. Anyway, back to the week. Today we had Keith Chancey, the president of the Kanakuk Institute, and he walked us through Paul’s journey after becoming a follower of Christ. I once tried reading through the book of Acts, but couldn’t get very far. I may try again soon, the talk was interesting. If you wanted more updates on the week, I’ve been working out a bit harder than before, have enjoyed the warm weather days and sat by the dock on a few occasions, and have made sure to build community and hang out with people daily, rather than sit on my computer or read in my room all day. I’ve got a masquerade ball starting now, that I’ve gotta leave and get ready for. In case you missed it, I’m in the place a semi-formal party is starting dressed in basketball shorts. I now have to leave the party, get ready for it, and come back. Later, party people!

Hello There Lads and Lassies!

Hey there strangers! SO much has happened in the past month! I’ve gone to Ireland and had a blast over there, hung out with my dad and brother, and came back and had a blast with my Linky friends. Ireland was fantastic, I built friendships on stellar levels while gazing out at that beautiful countryside every day. Just writing that and remembering how amazing the trip was makes me miss it terribly. I am so incredibly blessed to be able say I was in those places with those uber amazing people. We saw the place the R.M.S. Titanic was built. It was actually three separate places. Dangerously deep places. We also saw Tollymore Forest. Probably the second most fun day there. I was with Heather, Selby, Caroline, and Victoria. We climbed trees, told scary stories in the denser areas, and even jumped rivers. It was so awesome. On the last day we were there we got to climb a mountain! It started out in an insanely beautiful forest, full of streams and rocks and junk. I didn’t stop a ton to pay attention to it because we had been told we weren’t going to make it to the top because of time and I was determined. Later, once we passed the wooded area of the mountain we saw a sort of valley between the two peaks. It was pretty much what you’d expect to see when in an Irish valley. There were even sheep grazing near us! I filled my water bottle with the surprisingly clear stream water as we neared the top. The last leg got really steep and was really tiring. We ended up not making it to the top, a fact that disappointed me immensely. So that was Ireland highlights. Besides the amazing friends. Did I mention them? They’re pretty amazing. I also got pretty into poetry over there and wrote about ten poems, some for others and some for the poetry nights. Being back at Link Year has been a whole experience in itself. Having everyone back in the same place has certainly been nothing less than incredible. I’ve also enjoyed the speaker this week. His name is Joshua Straub, and he’s definitely in my top three of this year. I unfortunately don’t have my journal with at the moment, and this is due very soon, so I can’t share his wisdom with you guys. Maybe next time! Later!