Marquette 07 (big cut - activities only)

7/9/07 – Late Sunday Night – 12:40 am
First full day in Michigan, we arrived around 3 or so. Billy and I stayed up until about 5:30 talking about his Bible study, Luke 15, about the prodigal son parable and what it means to be honest and how we have deceived ourselves with the fake church when we think we are really living in the Father’s house.

I woke up around 10-ish and went running, and it was surprisingly hot. I ran on a bike trail that runs along Lake Michigan – to the left was the lake and a harbor and mountains in the background and to the right was downtown Marquette, highlighted by tall buildings and shops. Lake Michigan is literally not more than a half mile away from Mike’s house. I stopped by the shore and prayed for a bit, and realized that when God strips everything away and you have nothing left and are faced with the impossible, pride and self-righteousness can no longer survive. You realize how much you need God in those times and how you couldn’t have earned what you have just by works – that you weren’t as good or self-sufficient as you had thought you were.

I came back and felt grace and took notes on the story of Jericho and Jehosaphat and eventually everyone woke up and we went to the beach to swim while Mike’s parents, along with Lisa and Bonnie, stayed and made breakfast (though it was around one in the afternoon). The water was so intensely cold that we could hardly get in the lake, though the sand was scorching hot on our feet. After breakfast, we returned and actually did some swimming, not to mention people burying and sand sculpting (Cynthia and Addie made a man choking himself and they even used my shoes). We came back for dinner (burgers) and hung out for a bit. We had a leaders meeting and then the whole group assembled for worship and later divided into small groups to talk.

Our team – Chuba Chewbacca Cabra – is Cynthia, Jeff, Bonnie, and myself. From our leaders meeting, we had been given two questions to ask our group that would not only get us talking and familiar, but get us thinking about who we are, where we’re going, and what we’re trying to get from this experience. And it was pretty good, because we all started being honest.

7/11/07 – Late Tuesday Night – a little past 2 am
They would only let those over 16 actually work at the construction site, so everyone besides Ruth, Lydia, Addie, Elaine, Cynthia, Matt, Phong, Jerry, Billy, and I were working at a thrift store called St. Vinny’s, running various jobs like labeling items, moving couches, sorting and handling clothes, etc.

At the construction site, it was mainly us along with our construction supervisor, Norm. The first day we spent on the roofs, laying felt and drawing chalk lines and nailing masses of shingles while another group began building a deck/patio for the front door. It’s cool because they were expecting the roof to take us at least two days, and we finished it in the first day with one group while the other made huge contributions to the completion of the deck.

Today, our second day, I joined the group working on the deck and we finished it all and it was fun running around taking measurements, making cuts, drilling in screws. We also moved the scaffolding around the house so that work could continue on the other side of the house. I think we’ll be going to a different construction site tomorrow to do some dry wall.

Since we have two different groups of volunteers, we’ve been meeting up after the work days at some public pool at Presque Isle for free showers and a killer water slide. After the long day, it actually does turn out to be a huge relief to see each other again and swim around and swap stories about the day’s happenings; for example, Jeff is undefeated against Jojo (three wins) in chugging water (half liters) and he even drank three fourths of a liter faster than Richard drank a half liter. Jeff is a pretty intense eater/drinker.

Yesterday night was amazingly tiring, and after dinner and a leader’s meeting that lasted until nine, I was not only very tired, but for some reason, irked beyond description – like mad without reason. Instead of going to sleep, I ended up at the beach to catch an amazing landscape – blue and purple clouds, the shiny gloss of the water (the sun doesn’t set until around 10:30). In a tired and frustrated condition, we tried to do Bible study at around 11, 11:30 pm. My small group went pretty horribly – we were talking about Ruth’s study about Saul’s disobedience in battle, how doing the “right things” aren’t as important as obeying God’s commands. I’m not sure anybody got much out of it.

At 12, I was talking to Billy outside on the porch about how mad I was that I had hurt my big left toe breaking my work boots in on the roof and couldn’t really run at all and how I was just generally dissatisfied or upset with the way things were going. Anyways, he threw the suggestion that we go running and I couldn’t turn it down. Not more than a mile away of nonstop running, we sat down on the Lake Michigan shore and caught the reflection of skyscraper lights bouncing off of black water, multitudes of stars shining overheads, putting Tulsa to shame. We talked about life and what was on our minds – things about God and girls and dreams and how surreal it is to be in Marquette trying to find God. Things got a lot better after that, because I could see how when things aren’t going my way, I still have plenty of things to rejoice about and the mystery of despair and I could remember how low lows lead to even higher highs. Among other things, I felt great again because God was there.

Today was a good day, after that walk with Billy through Marquette so late at night, joking around and talking about getting fired up again and what God was doing in peoples’ lives. This morning was one of my easiest mornings to wake up, despite only 4 or 5 hours of sleep, and when I tried to wake up Jojo by steamrolling him, he sprang up on his sleeping bag, saying “Hecks no!” which actually woke everyone up.

We worked at Habitat and then to the showers and came back for dinner. Our team, Chuba Chewbacca Cabra, had kitchen duty and Billy’s team (Rockstar) went to go to Mike’s family’s church, First United Methodist Church, to get ready to serve dinner the following night to members of the church as well as others as some sort of outreach ministry. The other teams were doing laundry. When all of the teams reconvened, we took the vans out to Presque Isle to jump off waterfalls. My sister jumped off (which is a big deal for her) and I jumped off with Billy, and it was actually a lot of fun and not that cold until I got out of the water (I understand that confidence is more important in this situation rather than actual swimming skill). We came back and Lydia prepped us for her Bible study about Gideon in a leader’s meeting and we started in our small groups around 11:30.

Later, in small group, we were talking about Gideon and things were hard at first and we read nearly two chapters before we even started talking (and two chapters is a lot), but we ended up getting into a pretty good discussion about what strength is to God. Anyways, it was a good conversation. The whole thing lasted until about 1:40, talking about David Blaine and cultural Christians. After this though, things started getting bad.

7/12/07 – Late Wednesday Night – 12:50 am?
I didn’t go to sleep until around 3, and so waking up at 8 was probably my most difficult morning. I wanted to escape from the youth group and just forget about things. I had some preconceived notion, I think, that today would stink, which it pretty much did. The group that worked at Habitat was extended to include Jojo and Richard (less than a year short of the required age) and we were supposed to split up into two groups to mobilize to another house to do drywalling, though no drywalling actually got done. Elaine, Phong, and I stayed at the house to work with our supervisor Norm on the deck while everyone else went to the other house and installed insulation in the walls and did some caulking.

We left at 3:30 straight for the shower in Presque Isle because we had to be at the church to serve dinner by 5. We worked there, serving whoever came in for dinner and washing and loading the plates, doing drink refills, and playing piano and other forms of entertainment, for about three hours. We met some cool people and saw where Mike went to church as a little kid, and Jeff played Franz Lizst and did a magic trick and had everyone amazed. It was loads of fun, and if being a waiter in a real job were like what it was tonight, then the job really would be about the people and not the money.

Things truly are different here. After serving dinner at the church, we headed back to Presque Isle to buy ice cream and meet up with one of Mike’s good friends, before heading to a cliff to jump off into Lake Superior. (Only Vince, Bonnie, and Jojo jumped, and Jojo was still shivering from the cold after more than an hour had passed.)

7/13/07 – Friday midday – 1:37 pm
We were working at Habitat again, finishing up the roof above the deck by sliding huge sheets of wood over the risers and then nailing them down. After this, we drove to another site (Habitat is currently working on three different houses) and did the dry-walling, some form of insulation mounted before the real walls are put into place. Mike and Ruth went to Vinny’s thrift store, where everyone under sixteen and Lisa were working, because they were shooting a commercial and the entire volunteer group was going to get to be in it, though the commercial would only air around the Marquette area.

We went home after YMCA (where we showered since the pool at Presque Isle was closed) and I actually fell asleep and was eventually woken up for dinner, which was some pretty amazing – fish, potato, and a spinach-strawberry-apple salad…and Vernor’s, no doubt. After a while, we played a bit of worship as a whole group and then split into small groups to do my Bible study on Jehosaphat. Though I had prepared the study and written the questions and a thesis, I still didn’t really know what to talk about until we had actually sat down and I was talking.

I talked about how God loves us and wants to be with us and if we love Him and truly want to be with Him, then what was the big deal? We should simply be together, but there’s a battle going on in between us, something like spiritual warfare.. and this is like Jehosaphat being faced with a battle against three different nations and ultimately having to choose whether he would continue to worship God or freak out and decide to battle or act out of their own strength.

After the Bible study, everybody loaded up into the vans and we headed over to Marquette Mountain to catch the sunset over the city. It was pretty cold, and we missed the sunset, so we had to settle for the remnants of the sun peaking through the clouds in layers of blue, green, and red, atop city lights. We prayed for an hour or two, and peace prevailed. When we got home, most people either fell asleep or ate a lot. But it was awesome. Downright awesome.

It was horribly difficult to wake up this morning at 8:30, and only a couple of us (Ruth, Billy, Matt, Lydia, Jojo, and me) were going to go finish up some construction work at the Habitat site. We finished putting up the sheets on the roof to cover the deck, nailing everything down, but we didn’t have the chance to do all the roofing because we needed to leave around 11:30 to go to another Habitat house where we would get lunch, meet with the rest of the group, and get taped for TV (channel 6, who knew?) Jerry and Phong had an unhealthy long no-smile staredown contest and Jojo and Jeff raced lunches again, and then all of us went to the office of Habitat for Humanity to say good-byes and receive certificates.

Now we’re just about to leave for the woods – we’ll be camping for three days. Please God.

7/14/07 – Sunday Morning
Saturday, we woke up early, which was again terribly difficult, though we didn’t leave for the campsite until around 11 or 12. I think the campground was about an hour away from the Heyd’s house, followed by a 3 mile hike to our actual campsite. When we got there, it was raining, not hard, but fast, and I think all of us had loaded backpacks, since we were carrying all of our clothes, sleeping bags, tents, and three days worth of food. It was cold and wet, and three miles turned out to be about two and a half hours of walking, with rests thrown in and a quick run by me to go back and get the grill.

Once we got there, contingents were formed specifically to find wood for the campfire, set up the tents, and build two latrines. I was setting up tents – an eight man for the girls and then three smaller ones for the guys, surrounding the girls. To the northwest is the campfire, Mike and Lisa’s tent, and Sam’s hammock, where I am pretty sure he slept last night. The girls have one tent and the guys are split up with Matt, Yang, and Leo in one, Billy, Richard, Jojo, Jerry, and Vincent in a six man, and Jeff, Phong, and me in the last one to bring back the group from last year. We’re using Jeff’s tent this year instead of Jojo’s, and one night has already gone by, so I can truly say things are different from the flooding that happened in New Mexico. A lot of space, and we didn’t get rained out, though all of us woke up facing the sun. All of us went to sleep freezing cold and woke up scorching hot. Our tent name is Tent Pwmage aka Dry, because we were joking around how we have a Wii and a flat screen TV and tennis courts with our own Roger Federer and bowling alleys and a bubble bath. We ate a lunch/dinner made of hot dogs and brats and pasties (properly pronounced like past-tees), and after a little hangout and the wargame, we had Smores.

The wargame was a re-enactment of the battle of Jericho, and it was Team Rockstar against the tree other teams along with Sam. Rockstar had to try to touch a huge pile of rocks, pretty much the heart of the city, simultaneously, meaning everyone had to be there. So I was one of the bad guys (Jericho), tackling people to the ground, more or less, and trying to pin them so they couldn’t escape. There was a border – the city walls – drawn from an outline of trees; if someone from Jericho stepped outside of this border, they were taken out of the game for a minute. For the first part, we were able to hold Rockstar off, pretty easily. But Mike started changing rules. Billy earned Joshua status –anyone he touched was frozen for ten seconds. We later lost the ability to communicate and so we couldn’t scream out what we were seeing and then we became afraid and had to walk around on our knees.

Sam spoke at Bible study that night, with everyone circled around the campfire trying to catch the heat.

Tonight might be a breaking point. I wait for breakthrough and revolution. For things to be different in an instance, inexplicably and impossibly changed.

7/15/07 – Monday Night – 10:49 pm
We packed up and left the campgrounds, hiking the 2.84 miles back at a fast pace. Went to Presque Isle for the showers, then a buffet steakhouse called Bonanza. And things are good again. God is near. I can pray and be confident He’s right there listening, waiting. And Billy and I just smile and high five because we know we’re onto something great. God used us today.

7/17/07 – Tuesday Night – 1:18 am
Today was our last real day, since we’re leaving tomorrow morning for two days of travel with an overnight stay in St. Louis.

Canoeing was fun. I partnered with Vincent, and we were actually pretty good together. We talked a bit and it was fun and we got the chance to relax. Afterwards, we went to that pool at Presque Isle for showers; right before we started playing Sharks and Minnows, Jeff cut up the skin on his big toe on the cement – a lot of blood. He didn’t have a blister or anything, so the fact that he cut up his toe so badly was remarkable. He told me a couple hours ago that he thinks it was because God was trying to teach him something, and that his busted big toe had led him to learn his lesson.

We went back to the Heyd’s for pizza and later left for Sugarloaf, some mountain/nature trail kind of site. Hiked to the top of the mountain, which didn’t take very long, and caught the sunset over other mountains. Mike had us read the first three chapters of Revelations, trying to get us to recognize which of the seven churches of Asia we were most like.

It’s a little past 3:30 in the morning. I gotta stay awake for about another hour and a half if I want to be able to run and catch the sunrise and then jump into the beach. Must stay awake…

7/19/07 – Thursday Night – 1:01 am
We were gone at around 7:45 in the morning, pulled into this motel in St. Louis around 8:20, the day mostly uneventful. I fell asleep around four this morning, but made Jeff, Richard, and Elaine promise to wake me up at five so I could go run. I felt like I hadn’t gotten any sleep, but I woke up enough to change into a swimsuit and put on my wet running shoes (wet from the canoe trip) and just took off. Ran in the middle of the roads since traffic was pretty nonexistent. Watched Lake Michigan and colors slowly entering the scene. Got to Presque Isle where we shower and eat ice cream (Uperman is classic, not to mention Mackinac Island Fudge…I just found out that’s a real island, too) and even saw a deer maybe fifteen feet in front of me in my pursuit to find the lighthouse. Came back, about a five mile run at a pretty decent pace, and caught up with Richard, Elaine, and Jeff at the beach, still waiting for the sunrise.

I walked into Lake Michigan, the whole view breathtaking. And the more steps I took into the freezing water, I saw I was joining the picture, and I caught a glimpse of what it feels like to be part of something so big, that it can consume you completely. Though tired, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the view. And I couldn’t help believing that God was like this. He went through all of these amazing steps so we could get to this place and behold the majesty of creation. So we could simply stand in awe of His work, even in the past two weeks.

We left soon after we returned from the beach. A few hours ago, we pulled into Super 8 or something like that and enjoyed a Waffle House dinner (complete with jukebox). That night, we had our last real meeting together. Mike thanked the small group leaders and even passed out Fisher Space Pens, the bullet ones with crosses. Billy was honored with a gold clip because he truly stepped up and, against Mike’s judgment, chose to stay behind with me and risk demerits that last night camping, the result of which was a cast out demon and a worship session the following morning, consequently changing at least five lives. We then took team photos and prayed and it was mostly over.

Team Hippo was meeting, so everyone else figured we could get together and hang out and talk about things so we could feel a little better and get things off of our minds. We talked about what it would mean to return home, the struggles we would face, how the battle was really just starting and we couldn’t forget these past two weeks and what God had done for us, though we would have to move on.

The next morning, we caught breakfast and lunch on the road, back home around 6:40, everything uneventful. And…I hate being home. I really am ruined for anything less, and I don’t want to fall away from God. I don’t want to tolerate or compromise or spend my days watching TV doing nothing with my life, wasting away. I need God. I feel the urgency, the sentiments that Billy and Jerry expressed and exposed. We really can’t afford to fall out of it. God has done so much, and now that the battle really is starting, we need to fight. We need to change the world instead of being changed. And what this takes – is God’s grace, and as much as we can do to not forget that we are sinners saved by this grace.

7/23/07 – Conclusion
I’m not supposed to tell anybody out what happened in my youth group, but the very first night we met, Jeff talked about a dream he had the night before we left. He dreamed he had just gotten back from this mission trip and that he couldn’t remember any of it – that these past two weeks had been just like any other two weeks. He realized that he needed for this trip to be so much more than normal, everyday life. And so we prayed it would be something more, something that God had everything to do with. And you know what? It was. These two weeks really did happen. These two weeks really did change us, and I don’t recognize our youth group anymore. I just walk around and smile because we’re not our own. We’re God’s.