Vancouver Oh Yeah!

I ran into some trouble posting through my phone on our Servant Trip to Vancouver. After a brief time back and then a week of vacation, I couldn't wait to post some of the highlights of our trip. Thank you SLC for all of your support in making this possible. It was a really powerful trip for most, if not all, of our youth. Thanks go out as well to our wonderful chaperones - Ed, Robin, Dennis, and Sue. I know Anjali and Jeff Alcock are working on collecting some of the impressions our youth had and will be posting them here as well.

For my part, I was impressed by the whole experience. It was organized well, the worship and devotion time was thoughtful, and the ministry sites were places of real need, offering perspective into the life of one of North America's largest cities. We had opportunities to see some of the most beautiful places in and around Vancouver, and we had even greater opportunity to see beauty in the midst of forgotten people and places. My hats off to the Youthworks staff in Vancouver as well. My special thanks to Angelos, who grew up in a fairly rough part of Vancouver and had all kinds of perspective for us, especially on an individual basis. I know several of our kids are thankful for their conversations with him. Some personal highlights for me were the baptism of Eric Esposito, one of our youth, in the bay just west of Vancouver, and the footwashing and Eucharist on the last night we were there. I also remember hearing some of our youth complain about the kids they served on the first day, only to be saying tearful goodbyes to those same kids on the last day. As usual, I was also very impressed by the maturity of our group as a whole. They certainly made it a delight for me to be a chaperone. Last but most certainly not least...SERIOUS props to Robin Long for being insanely organized and full of fun all at the same time. Next time you see her, say, "Mad props, eh Robin!" Trust me on this one.

Peace,
PJ