The Trip is Over......

Not sure if anyone is going to be checking this blog, now that our trip has ended.

But I thought I would add a note on the day after arriving home of what a great trip it was!

I am so grateful for each of the leaders and youth for what each of them brought to our team and to our adventure together. And thanks to all those who wrote comments on the blog during our trip.

And a final BIG thankyou to our gracious sponsor for the trip- the gift of funds that made the trip possible has now become a priceless gift of formation, learning and service to a small, struggling school in the desert and to a rag-tag gang of adults and youth that were able to drive and dig and build a community together!!

Now, get ready for the stories!!

Cheers, Dan

Safe Arrival in Casper, Wyoming

Hi all,

Typing this after another long day of driving.

We arrived at St. Stephen's in Casper, Wyoming to a gracious welcome and a great evening meal of chili and dessert!


The folks here are most generous and we are also treated to a morning breakfast and will join the parish for 10 am service (our gang is doing the readings, crucifer, prayers and closing song).


Here is a little blurb that I wrote earlier today:





"I type this for the blog as I am burning CD’s of our photos for the slideshow creators- we are driving north on I-25 and are just south of Denver.
We had a great lunch of tuna and chicken pitas and wraps, and of course, Oreos!
Our contact person in Casper, Temple, just phoned us that they are very excited to be hosting us for tonight, feeding us, and to have us worship with them tomorrow at the morning service at St. Stephen’s (Temple has also been following our blog and has written a comment on the site). We have been certainly been overwhelmed with the gracious reception we have received from everyone we have met on this journey. We do sense the prayers, from family and friends at home but also with all the new friends we have met on the way, that have told us that they are praying for us too: these prayers have surrounded us with an almost physically-sensed grace.

Our work supervisor, Mike, at McCurdy School relayed a message to us from one of the other staff that we were the best working team he believes they have had at the school- quite a complement!! Yesterday, Dan, the school superintendent and Mike both said, in presenting our volunteer appreciation certificate, that our team were indeed an exceptional group of young people that have worked extremely hard and that they did not have a single difficult incident with our youth team (it sounds as though that there have been a few issues with summer youth teams before!).
All in all, the youth have all worked, played and travelled hard these past 9 days together. I would be quite happy to take this group anywhere, anytime- we found “our groove” early together and each experience we have together confirms that this trip was somehow divinely meant to be."

Last Day at Espanola and Back in the Vans at 7:00 am for Casper!!

Our group leading the elementary school chapel service on Friday morning at the United Methodist church across from the school. The kids really liked the songs "Trees of the Field" and "We are Marching"....

The grade four class wanted to perform a song for us.


The students have a weaving class.

Alexa burning rubber!

Full out working!

Friday afternoon after completing the last ditch!!

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Alexa says: So today was our last work day and after plenty of digging and raking and ditches and songs about digging and raking and ditches we’ve finished it all up. We ‘re all now sun burnt and blistered but it was worth it and I don’t think there is anything that would have made any of us want to take it back. However, the highlight of the day would have to be driving around in the golf cart.
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Hi there, folks, this is Lee writing.

I have been deeply affected by our experience here. Several of the McCurdy students have expressed both surprise and appreciation that our young folks have “given up” their spring break to dig ditches. I think Luke expressed what we’re all feeling the best when he said, “I don’t feel like I’ve given up anything.” Indeed, the kids seemed to have come alive with the challenge we were given. Knowing that the maintenance of the irrigation ditches is critical to the school hanging on to its water rights made us all that much more determined to make a difference here. The result was an incredible feeling of satisfaction as we threw our last shovelful up and out of the ditch at 4:50 pm this afternoon. We were to only work until three, but there was no stopping us. Mike, our “boss”, had no idea what a terrific job we were capable of doing. He and others have told us that the ditches have never been in this great a shape. This work had to be done now as the flood gates are ready to be opened and only a team like ours were capable of taking on such a task. We are all ecstatic that we were able to do this for the school.

Today we led the chapel service, visited with the weavers and their looms in the art room and received a very sincere thank you, certificate of appreciation and a gift in a touching little ceremony at lunch. The grade four class invited us to their little neck of the woods as they had a song for us. It was beautiful. This sort of thing has been going on all week. The accolades continue to shower down on our twelve young people from Kamloops. They have earned the respect and admiration of everyone here. We have been told on several occasions by McCurdy staff that they have never had a more well behaved and diligent youth workgroup here. The students here at McCurdy have also thanked our kids and people passing by us in cars or on foot have expressed the same. What I’m trying to say is that we’ve made a mark here and McCurdy has made an indelible imprint on us as well. We have witnessed first hand what the love and care of a community can bring to fruition for their children. McCurdy is indeed “a light in the valley.”

I think we’re all feeling a little funky tonight, our last night here. The kids have all expressed one way or another how much they are looking forward to being with their families again in Kamloops; however, they are leaving behind their new friends, the old pueblos and the stunning mesas and that, I’m sure, is causing some ambivalent feelings.

Well I better sign off and stop hogging the blog. I will just say in closing that I am very proud of our youth, and it is an honour to be travelling in their company. I’d go anywhere with them.

Love and warm regards to all,
Lee

Friday morning and two new blog entries!

Madi says: Yesterday we dug some more ditches and I got a little sunburned again. After work we headed to Bandeliers (or Sparta according to Luke) and walked around for a couple of hours. After that we went to Sante Fe and went for dinner at the rooftop pizzeria. Then we had a little ice cream. On the walk back to the cars and the ride home back to Espanola we had a long discussion about movies. It was a really good day except for a little argument about who put a fishy cracker in Evans water bottle.

From Chloe: Well well well, it’s our last morning/day here and I’m both excited and sad. I’m looking forward to finishing the ditch (hopefully) and to start our long journey home. I’m sad to leave the beautiful weather and have to leave this place behind. Along this whole trip, I have had a great time meeting new people and I feel exceptionally fortunate to have spent here. There are a few spots where we have stopped that I have always wanted to visit. For instance, the Grand Canyon, Route 66 and then yesterday we visited Bandelier. It was amazing!! Since having taken Comparative Civilisation and studying the Aztecs, Incas and Maya, I have acquired interest for civilisations that have disappeared. All in all, this trip has been amazing and I would do it again in a heart beat. No regrets!

Dias numero tres

Ben writes:

Ah, well I seem to be the willing one to write on here. Yesterday was good; we finally finished one of the trenches after many hours of labour. I measured it and it came out to 282 metres long. To put that in perspective, that is 2 192 832 cubic inches of dirt. After that we moved on to the other trench which is filled with tumbleweed and trees etc. so is much harder to clear. After the day’s work, we played some ultimate and some soccer on the field with some locals. Today, after more of the same work, we visited the Bandelier National Monument outside of Santa Fe. It is the ruins of an ancient cliff dwelling community. The alcove house was upward of 140 feet off the ground! To top off the day we went out for pizza and ice cream before returning back to our dormitories.

Lisa writes:

It is so wonderful to know that so many of you are watching our progress and keeping us in your prayers. This has been a wonderful experience for everyone and we are so happy to be able to share this with each other and you all… cannot believe it is almost over. We still could do so much to help out here but alas, all great experiences take us to the next thing in life and that is what makes this trip so amazing!! What we will be able to take from this experience is really too huge for words, even~ We have had so many great opportunities to gain perspective and I am so grateful that we are able to be here!

We are all very tired, though and we are really busy all day! You might notice our time limits if you notice the opportunity that we have today for us to write you here is at 11:00 at night after getting up for breakfast, for 7:00 and going the whole rest of the day. Ben and I somehow (I have no idea where my energy is coming from, right now) are the only ones still awake enough to make this happen… There is so little work time for us to help with and so much that needs to be done and really the teens are so motivated to get these ditches DONE! You should be so proud of what they are doing, here! I AM!! They are working so hard, non stop with the goal in mind the whole time and they will finish the task they were assigned!

For tomorrow, we are blessed with the chance to share in chapel with the elementary group here at the school. The teens have songs they have practiced and we will teach to the kids and sing with them. Then we are off to watch the local weaving techniques class offered here at McCurdy and then, we are back to work for the rest of the day, this is our last day of work, here and then, we have to get ready for the return trip… groceries for food on the road, laundry, cleaning up and resting up~ lots more driving… coffee, anyone??!! Ha! Take care and our love and blessings to you all! Looking forward to hearing from you all again before the end of the trip! Good night. ~L

Quick Update

Hi all those following the blog-
We had a very full day yesterday and today promises to be another full one.
We are working only until lunch today and then travelling to Bandelier National Monument (cliff dwellings) and then to downtown Santa Fe to take in the sites and have dinner together.
We didn't blog last night because we ended the night with a sharing session about our experience at the half-way point that lasted until we couldn't stay awake any longer.
I appreciate the comments about getting more of the youth to comment on the blog- and I am trying! We are often pretty wiped out by the end of the day- so I will try a new way today and see if some can journal on the blog site here during the van ride today.

Working Day Numero Uno! AKA Camp Green Lake

The mountains behind Espanola taken from a ridge above the valley. It is a lovely place....

Ben writes:

"Hello again,

Today we awoke at the lovely hour of 6. At 7 we ate breaky and and at 8 we began our work. We were assigned the task of digging out irrigation trenches for the school's campus. The trenches go back 400 odd years apparently and they dig them out every spring. The campus has at least half a kilometer of these trenches that are used for flood irrigation. Today we dug around half of them out, up to 18 inches deep. It was tiring work to say the least, but it beat sitting in the vans. The dorms here are fantastic. The temperature is somewhere around 25 degrees which is a relief from the cold kamloops winter. Anyway, I'm gonna go toss a disc with the guys."

Ben

Luke writes:

"I think after today I can relate better to Stanley Yelnats.

Starting at around 8 o'clock (after a 30 second shower, a quick breakfast, and an hour of trying to wake up), we picked up some shovels (sadly there was no short shovel), and set to work digging about half a kilometer of ditches for the school irrigation. We were told to dig to the clay, to remove one years worth of dirt. We were also told the clay would be only 4 inches deep in most parts. For the main ditch, where everyone was working together, that was true, but as soon as the group split into two seperate teams, it go alot harder. On one hand, the group that included Evan, Ali, Joccelyn, Sky, Sara, Lisa, and Trudy had to fight through thick weeds that they first had to weed wack out of the way just to access the ditch. On the otherside, Me, Ben, Duncan, James, Chloe, Madison, Dan, and Lee had to first rake half a foot of leaves off the ditch, then dig at least a foot down to get to the clay. I think when we worked it out, our group lugged about 4.5 million cubic centimetres of dirt out of that ditch over the 5 hours we worked on it.

Unfourtionately, many of us did not get the best sunscreen coverage, so there are more than a few sore necks, not to mention the blisters. Also, neither Alexa or Lisa was feeling that well. Lisa had to sleep in untill lunch, and Alexa just woke up.

Even through all the hardships, we still managed to have a good time and meet new people, as well as have a authentic New Mexican dinner (well, actually a few of us had burgers, but they were "Ranchero Burger's" so they at least sounded Spanish)."

We arrived in Espanola- tired but very happy to get a break from driving!!

Hi everyone,
We arrrived in Espanola about 10:30 pm local time from an early morning start- the back-track north to see the Grand Canyon meant that we would arrive later at McCurdy School than our original plan. The weather is again spectacular and everyone is still in a good mood!
Here is the group last night out for a Mexican dinner in Flagstaff- very yummy stuff.

And some of the gang at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon- it is really breath taking and worth the trip for all of us.

Lee posing by the edge.

Thanks to everyone who has sent emails or has posted here on the blog site- it is great to get encouraging comments and to pass them on.

We are up early tomorrow morning for a 7:00 am breakfast and then starting our first day of work at 8. We are McCurdy's first work team of 2009 and they seem quite pleased to have us- our living space is the old school dorm and is very comfortable and cozy- and we sleep in a real bed tonight!!

I will be getting youth to start posting again- I have tried but everyone has been so tired and reliable wireless internet connections have been patchy at times.

But we have a great connection at the school so prepare for enhanced blog entries coming soon!!!

Dan

Flagstaff and A Delictable Mexican Feast!!

This photo was actually taken yesterday but I thought I would include at least one photo from yesterday (besides all the really blurry shots we got of the Las Vegas strip at night).

This is the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City- we had lunch and a tour of Temple Square.

Now, to photos from today.... The gang with our snazzy shirts at Christ Church, Las Vegas, just after the morning service with the church community. We were made to feel very, very welcome and well loved! I enjoyed being asked to celebrate as one of the priests this morning for both services- a nice team in ministry here.

Notice how nice and warm and sunny it is!!!! My what a handsome bunch.

And we are having a great time too, besides looking so fabulous.

This is a new suspension bridge being built east and south of Las Vegas just next to the Hoover Dam- it will mean that folks like us won't have to wait 2 hours in the line up to cross the dam!!

We arrived in Flagstaff later on Sunday and have a wonderful space here (and a shower-yay) at Church of the Epiphany. The Mexican feast was truly wonderful but waaay too much food (and lots of doggy bags for tomorrow).

It is late and my batteries are running out (not the computer but my internal batteries that power this body!).

Off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow morning, then possibly driving through the Navajo land to New Mexico and arriving at the school.

Night!

Dan

Leaving Las Vegas- Viva Las Vegas!!

I am writing this as we approach the Hoover Dam and highway 93 to Flagstaff Arizona from Las Vegas.
I hope to catch up on the blog tonight in Flagstaff.
We had another very loooooooooooooooooong day of driving and arrived in Las Vegas late at 9:30 pm. Of course, that did not stop us from checking out the strip on a Saturday night- interesting folks!!!
We woke up and attended the Sunday service at Christ Church- the lovely southwest architecture church that has hosted us- it has a lovely fountain and open courtyard where several people slept outside under the stars- the weather is very warm- in the 20's and sunny and we are enjoying everything except this slow line of cars approaching the Hoover Dam crossing!!! But our gang is playing a travel game so all is well.
Lisa is driving and I am typing like mad as the Nevada visitor's centre gives me some free internet for only 30 minutes....
will post some great photos tonight.
We are doing very well- the folks in Las Vegas were spectactular and warm and loving- a fellow slipped some money into my hand as we left and it was $500 US!!
Talk to you soon.
Dan

Rockin' in Boise!

As I type this Chloe and Alexa are rocking-out to Guitar Hero at St. Michael's Cathedral in Boise, Idaho. Others are out playing frisbee and the adults are trying to see how soon we can go to bed!!
After we left Oliver this morning, we had a rather undramatic and smooth border crossing (all those notarized letters weren't even looked at!) and then started the loooooooong drive to Boise, Idaho- from 7:00 am until 8:30 pm- but we had a truly great day together- and saw some lovely countryside.
The gang found window paint at our grocery stop at Omak, Washington and painted up our vans with "Honk if you love Canada" and of course "New Mexico or Bust!"....






We stopped at a lovely park near the Oregon border on the Columbia River and had our picnic lunch on a warm afternoon- playing frisbee and goofing around at the playground- a well needed chance to stretch our legs..... We arrived in Boise to a wonderful reception- a youth group from the Boise cathedral and their youth director, Bill, met us and fed us pizza and snacks and made us feel very at home- its a nice facility with showers!!
The youth group that joined us for the overnight are going to Honduras in July for a working experience.

New friends with Samson, the trip mascot.....

Off to Las Vegas early in the morning.

Ben Laidlaw writes:

"Hey! Soooo it has been a few long days of driving. I think 11 hours today. It has been a good time, however, with many games played and cd's listened to. Just sayin' we are having a fantastic time, so do't you folks worry! :)"

We made it to St. Edward's Church, Oliver BC

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Here is our group at the cathedral just before we loaded up- we brought Samson on our adventure (in Luke's hands). We have two vans with eight people in each van.

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Here is the interior of St. Edward's Anglican Church, Oliver, BC. It is a lovely space that has been newly renovated. The rector, Patrick Reid, kindly met us here tonight, got us organized and trusted us with the keys and building (we are responsible....well......). The van rides were our first introduction to the music brought by the group.

After a frisbee game in the dark, the group has settled into drinking tea, playing games and journaling.

Sarah Reith is our first youth blogger- she writes:

"It was an interesting ride to get to Oliver, filled with the sharing of food, trail mix and such, and listening to some different types of music, some to calm at the beginning and some to pump us up when some of us got a little drowsy. (The gravol is my excuse...I might have dozed off awhile..). Laughter was shared by all, with car games and trying to guess middle names (I'm not sure why, but well..) All in all, today was a great start to what is sure to be a wonderful, eye-opening experience. :) "

Our Travel Itinerary (where we will be sleeping!)

Thursday, March 12 Oliver, BC St. Edward Anglican Church, Oliver BC

Friday, March 13 Boise, Idaho St, Michael’s Cathedral, Boise, Idaho

Saturday, March 14 Las Vegas, Nevada Christ Church Cathedral, Las Vegas, Nevada

Sunday, March 15 Flagstaff, Arizona Church of the Epipany, Flagstaff, Arizona

Monday, March 16 Espanola, New Mexico McCurdy School

Tuesday, March 17 Espanola, New Mexico McCurdy School

Wednesday, March18 Espanola, New Mexico McCurdy School

Thursday, March 19 Espanola, New Mexico McCurdy School

Friday, March 20 Espanola, New Mexico McCurdy School

Saturday, March 21 Casper, Wyoming St. Stephen’s, Casper, Wyoming

Sunday, March 22 Missoula, Montana Holy Spirit Parish, Missoula, Montana

Monday, March 23 Home!

Two Days to Go!

Check in here for photos and videos of our journey to New Mexico!!