Thank you for all of your support and prayers over the mission trip. We just got back (all of us!) to San Francisco, exhausted and joyful. We are eager to sleep in our own beds, eat significantly less sugar, and share our experiences with you, our beloved community.
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Day Eight—Cia
Monday was our last full day in Eureka. At 10:30 we arrived at Food For People and set to work bagging produce for senior and children's programs in Humboldt County. The bags contained (variously) potatoes, oranges, apples, beets, squash, carrots, lettuce, and artichokes. We brought our speaker and had a blast singing along to the music, playing basketball with rotten fruit and the trash, and figuring out the quickest and most efficient way to bag. We ended up making over 750 bags, with an efficiency that our contact at the food bank (Julie) praised as being equal to the regular employees. We finished our work at 3:30 (with an hour lunch break at 12:30) and then drove to Ferndale, where we wandered around the historic town, got ice cream, and bought souvenirs in the quaint shops. Finally, we drove to the housing (stopping on the way for dinner at Joe's Green Barn). Once we were home we came together in our closing circle, where we reflected on the day, the trip as a whole, and the deep connections we had developed with each other over the course of the week.
This was an incredible trip. Though perhaps less grand than last year's trip to Kenya, it was not less important, and the work we did was equally meaningful. Though, as Jude said, we only made small drops in the bucket, our contribution was still felt in a real, human way. Because of our work the employees at Food For People get an extra weekend off, the parishioners at St. Francis have a beautiful garden, and many families have bags of food for the week to the month. On a personal level we are better acquainted with the problems of our own state, and are empowered to better solve them.
We also got know the natural beauty of our state. California is incredible. From towering Redwoods, to the majesty of the Trinity, to the rocky, misty shores along the coast, we are so fortunate to get an up close look and feel for wild wonder of the west coast. Being in the city, we are isolated from this nature, yet out here it is right up in your face, outside your door, crawling in your shower. It has a noticeable effect on the people living here. They have a different air about them than city folks. The children we met in particular seemed more mature, calmer, more at ease with themselves.
These mission trips are such a wonderful blessing. We are so lucky to get to go these beautiful places, do the service needed there, form connections with new places and (especially) with each other. In the space of a week we built a home and a family together, one I will miss intensely. This is my last mission trip, and I am so grateful I got to spend it in Eureka with Gloria, Knox, Caroline, Jude, Henry, Riley, and Mike.
This was an incredible trip. Though perhaps less grand than last year's trip to Kenya, it was not less important, and the work we did was equally meaningful. Though, as Jude said, we only made small drops in the bucket, our contribution was still felt in a real, human way. Because of our work the employees at Food For People get an extra weekend off, the parishioners at St. Francis have a beautiful garden, and many families have bags of food for the week to the month. On a personal level we are better acquainted with the problems of our own state, and are empowered to better solve them.
We also got know the natural beauty of our state. California is incredible. From towering Redwoods, to the majesty of the Trinity, to the rocky, misty shores along the coast, we are so fortunate to get an up close look and feel for wild wonder of the west coast. Being in the city, we are isolated from this nature, yet out here it is right up in your face, outside your door, crawling in your shower. It has a noticeable effect on the people living here. They have a different air about them than city folks. The children we met in particular seemed more mature, calmer, more at ease with themselves.
These mission trips are such a wonderful blessing. We are so lucky to get to go these beautiful places, do the service needed there, form connections with new places and (especially) with each other. In the space of a week we built a home and a family together, one I will miss intensely. This is my last mission trip, and I am so grateful I got to spend it in Eureka with Gloria, Knox, Caroline, Jude, Henry, Riley, and Mike.
Day Seven--Caroline & Knox
On Sunday it was Jude's birthday, so we woke him up with a round of happy birthday, and thoroughly startled Henry, who was still asleep and yelled. Then, we went to Christ Church Eureka. It was a very nice and cute church with pretty stain glass windows and cool architecture. We had a nice service, which was fairly familiar, but much longer. After church they had "coffee hour" which had coffee but also actual lunch, and lots of baked goods. They also had paintings of the 12 disciples, but if the 12 disciples were 50's Hollywood actors. The picture of Judas was especially strange. Then we left, and went to get bagels because even though there was a lot of food, we were still hungry. After we got bagels we decided to go for a hike in the redwoods, and it was very calm and pretty. Once we had gotten back from the hike, we split into two groups; one to distract Jude and get groceries, and one group to to make a surprise cake for Jude. We ate dinner, then surprised Jude with his cake and sang happy birthday to him. After a long but fun day, we went to bed.
The church service was very long. The hike was quite nice and I had a good conversation about books. I am not Jude and was not aware of the cake plans until we got back from grocery shopping and ice cream. Overall it was a good, calm day.
Day Six—Cia & Gloria
On Saturday, our group woke up extra early to drive to the start of our rafting trip. I asked Mike to go straight to phase 3 for waking me up, which means that he came into my room really quietly and whacked me incredibly hard with a pillow, which immediately woke me up. On the way to the Trinity River, we did a lot of singing and the ride passed very quickly. When we arrived, everyone lathered up in sunscreen and the majority of the group pulled their wetsuits on because the water was freezing (the air was hot though, so the temperature balanced out fairly well). The two guides gave everyone an overview of how to paddle and how to get through the rapids and water safety and then we set off. We were split up into two boats and my boat's guide was a 14 year old, which was really interesting to me because I didn't know that you could even be a rafting guide at 14 years old. However he had lots of experience. My raft had a hard time rowing because our two people in the front had a hard time paddling at the same time but we made it work and got through all of the rapids safely. When we finished our rafting adventure, we all piled into the car and drove back to our house and picked up some fish tacos on the way. After such an exhausting day, all of us were incredibly tired and went to bed early.
This was an incredibly fun day. Rafting is a combination of excitement, stress, anticipation, and lazy floating. We'd have long stretches of easy river, during which we'd swim, play games spinning the boat, or pull the raft over to jump off rocks along the bank. Then, all of a sudden, our guide would tell us to rush to our station and paddle for our lives as we approached a new rapid. Some more notable instances include almost hitting a rock because we weren't paddling hard enough, Henry getting stuck on the wrong side of a rapid while swimming, and me lingering for 5 minutes on top of a tall rock working up the courage to jump off (Caroline saved me by holding my hand and jumping with me).
One thing that impressed me almost as much as the river herself was our guide. His name was Clayton. His father, Aaron, owned the company, and Clayton was spending his summer working on the river with him. Clayton was the best 14 year old I've ever met. I didn't think it was possible to have a young teenager so competent, personable, professional, friendly, and funny. Not only did he expertly guided the us along the river, he also chatted, joked, and interacted with us with more social awareness than many adults. He did the menial tasks (like lunch and raft prep) with his father, never complaining or showing signs of resentment. I do not know if it was the natural majesty of the river, the semi-rural area he lives in, the way his parents raised him, or just his natural personality that gave him this grace and maturity, but whatever the secret is, I'm sure many parents would kill to know it.
This was an incredibly fun day. Rafting is a combination of excitement, stress, anticipation, and lazy floating. We'd have long stretches of easy river, during which we'd swim, play games spinning the boat, or pull the raft over to jump off rocks along the bank. Then, all of a sudden, our guide would tell us to rush to our station and paddle for our lives as we approached a new rapid. Some more notable instances include almost hitting a rock because we weren't paddling hard enough, Henry getting stuck on the wrong side of a rapid while swimming, and me lingering for 5 minutes on top of a tall rock working up the courage to jump off (Caroline saved me by holding my hand and jumping with me).
One thing that impressed me almost as much as the river herself was our guide. His name was Clayton. His father, Aaron, owned the company, and Clayton was spending his summer working on the river with him. Clayton was the best 14 year old I've ever met. I didn't think it was possible to have a young teenager so competent, personable, professional, friendly, and funny. Not only did he expertly guided the us along the river, he also chatted, joked, and interacted with us with more social awareness than many adults. He did the menial tasks (like lunch and raft prep) with his father, never complaining or showing signs of resentment. I do not know if it was the natural majesty of the river, the semi-rural area he lives in, the way his parents raised him, or just his natural personality that gave him this grace and maturity, but whatever the secret is, I'm sure many parents would kill to know it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)