Now that you've read it
Since I'm assuming you've read it I'll just get started
So last year was really awesome and i had high expectations
When i was told we would be going south for our Winter Ex I wasn't too happy.
Miami. Yea. High crime rate. High murder, rape, drug, and trafficking area.
We were told there would be no accessible showers the whole week. Great.
International city.
Those were my thoughts before hand
I will be using a 24 hour clock
So first day
Monday:
0550: Three different alarms go off. I had my first night of true insomnia. I sat in bed for hours waiting for my alarms to come. I get out of bed and get ready and throw my stuff in the car
0700: Arrive in parking lot and load my stuff on the bus. Chill with friends
0800: Everyone has arrived. We pray for safe travel and open hearts in the trip. We depart
1200: Lunch. KFC because there was nothing better
1800: Belts holding down the engine on the bus break. Broken down on side of road
2000: Relief bus comes and takes us to the church we'll be staying at
2100: Arrive at the church. Guys will sleep in one room and the girls in another. Just a movable wall inbetween. Building is all tile and no beds. Dinner: Lasagna, Salad, and Garlic bread
2200: Worship service and prayer. Girls restroom had an extra. The men worked on making a shower for the women in an extra area as part of the women's restroom. The mens' room had no such extra room. Men rigged up a shower outside that consisted of a tarp as a shower curtain and a spicket with water hose as the shower head. So guys showered outside with just a tarp as a curtain. Tarp did not cover 360º so people could see in if they wanted.
2300: Lights out
Tuesday:
0600: Woke up. Brushed teeth. Washed my hair in the sink because I didn't feel like taking a really cold shower. Sort of refreshing.
0700: Breakfast. Meal was cereal
0800: Loaded the bus to head to Miami to visit the Miami Rescue Mission which is an outreach/shelter for the homeless and needy. Saw a couple of Lamborghini's and Ferrari's on the way
0900: Arrive at Miami Rescue Mission and sort clothes and mop until 1300
1300: Lunch that was packed earlier in the morning. Just a sandwich and a granola bar with an orange. Cooks at Miami Rescue Mission had some chocolate cake, dunkin donuts, and Sobe's they needed to get rid of
1430: Depart from Miami Rescue mission
1500: Arrive in downtown Miami and head to the park where the 3rd largest New Years' celebration on the planet was held just a week earlier. Worshiped, prayed, and read the Bible in public.
Wednesday:
0700: Wake up. Took a tarp shower. Water was so cold I couldn't breathe. Fastest shower ever.
0800: Breakfast. Meal was cereal
0900: Headed to the house the pastor resides in to do yard work for him
1300: Return to church for lunch. Meal was burgers. Then Rest and Recreation
1500: Briefing on the trek. (info to come)
1700: Kids from the church's youth group show up. We hang out with them and play ninesquare with them (intense 4 square but nine squares)
1800: Dinner with the youth. Meal was hot dogs
1900: Worshipped and prayed with the youth. This was the most awesome part for me. The worship was great and I really stepped out of my comfort zone. I felt like God kept wanting me to pray for this certain kid, and I kept finding some excuse to not do it. Then I would practice what I would pray for if I did go up to him. Then I realized that too many times had I seen someone walk away or leave before I had the chance to pray for them. In the self conflict something in me forced me to move and go up to him. "Can I pray for you? I'm Zach" "Uh... sure... I'm Stephen" It was a really awesome time because up until that point he hadn't really engaged. After we were done praying, he thanked me and I could tell it really made a difference in his attitude at the time. I think the big part though was just the fact that I did something on spur of the moment before I could talk myself out of it
2200: Kid named Connor runs into the room saying "Mr. A! There's a coconut tree outside of the church! Can we get some down?" Mr A: "You've got 10 minutes to get down 4 coconuts. You can't climb it either. So us 30 guys tried for 6 minutes just throwing basketballs to knock them down. That produced one. Lack of time called for more desperate measures. One guy stood at the base of the tree holding onto it. I climbed up his shoulders and held on. My best friend climbed up my shoulders and he got down three coconuts. It was pretty intense. Sad part? No one had a camera at the time =/
2300: Lights out
Thursday:
0445: Woke up. Took a tarp shower. Now really awake from cold water
0600: Breakfast. Meal was cereal and a half a banana
0700: Gear is all loaded on the bus and we head out to Biscayne National Park to catch a boat charter. Missed the exit twice. Lost time.
0800: Arrive at the National Park and load up two boats full of the high schools' gear.
0930: Boat finally arrives at the Island known as Elliot Key (Part of the Florida Keys) Fireline makes unloading gear light work
1000: Walk 1/2 mile from dock to the other side of the key where we set up camp
1010: Start setting up tents and collecting firewood
1100: Camp is all set up. Start filling up my 2 Liter camelback, 1 liter water bottle, and three extra Zephyrhills water bottles. Use a Gatorade mix in the 1 Liter
11:30 Set out on 14 mile hike on just rocks. Took my team a total of 6 hours and 39 minutes (and 17 seconds) to complete. Team Foxtrot was lost so they came in after dark hours later
2100: Everyone is finally safe again huddled around a fire. Made Tin Foil Dinners for dinner
2200: Lights out.
2300: Raccoons invade the campsite but only a couple people heard them. No one cared.
This section of the journal was continued a week after arriving back so I won't do times. Mostly because I can't remember everything
Friday:
We woke up at 0700 ish and got two poptarts and four slices of bacon. We all did a beach cleanup project where we just picked up a bunch of washed up trash. Including an old pagan offering (dead bird stuffed with dollar bills and beans) Smelled really bad. After that we ate lunch, broke camp, and left the island. On our way back to the church we stopped by a milkshake place. Best milkshake ever! We got back to the church and prepared for a food distribution. Ate dinner, which was Chili. Won a jalepeño eating contest. Chilled with the guys till bed time at about 11.
Saturday:
Woke up at 0600 and had more cereal for breakfast. At 0700 we did the food distribution. I carried bags out to cars for women and people who couldn't carry all the food. Spoke a lot of spanish with the people biggrin At 0900 we left the church and headed back home. Long busride... at 1200 stopped for lunch. Chick Fil A was bliss. Got back home at about 1830. Great trip biggrin
PICTURE TIME biggrin
Boring busrides + Etch a Sketch + Me =
Miami Cityscape
View of the Atlantic from a Florida Key Coast
Coconut from our 3 man human ladder biggrin
Miami Heat basketball stadium
Me:
Just one of the nice cars:
