Monday.\u00a0 We finally leave the high school around 9:30 a.m. Our principal prays a blessing over us before we go.\u00a0 Very quickly we’re forced to get comfortable with each other and be very close together. A 12-passenger van is not as big as it seems.<\/p>\n
After about\u00a0three hours, we finally cross over the Mississippi River and into Dubuque where our first stop in the foreign land of Iowa is to get a simple lunch.\u00a0 Then it’s time for our first real challenge. We must become a team.\u00a0 We must unite as community.<\/p>\n
Our first great challenge was the Ropes Course at EWALU Bible Camp<\/a> near Strawberry Point.\u00a0 We learned how to trust each other, communicate and be encouraging.\u00a0 We worked together as a team on low-ropes challenges. And we encouraged each other as we climbed up high, took a leap of faith, and flew through the woods on a zip line.<\/p>\n As a new team we went on to Gunder.\u00a0 Our base for the trip was The Gunder Inn, the bed and breakfast owned and operated by my parents, Kevin and Elsie Walsh.<\/p>\n My parents also own and operate The Irish Shanti <\/a>, home of the world-famous one pound Gunderburger<\/a>.<\/p>\n All students tried to eat an entire sandwich and the first one done was one of the skinniest students in the group.<\/p>\n After dinner we played outside.\u00a0 Students enjoyed football on the lawn, playing ghost in the graveyard in the real dark, under the star-lit sky, and a couple of them even\u00a0tried driving a tractor!<\/p>\n Before bed we said our prayers, discussed the highs and lows of our day and painted candle holders to represent who we are and how we were to shine our gifts through our experience.<\/p>\n Day Two: Meeting the Stranger<\/span><\/p>\n Tuesday.\u00a0 After a delicious homemade breakfast served by our hosts, we gathered in a circle for morning prayer and reflection. We heard the word of God proclaimed:<\/p>\n “When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem,<\/em> We contemplated how we could respond if someone were to ask us “Why are you doing this?” upon entering their villages.\u00a0 We thought about what we bring and what “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” could really mean.<\/p>\n We then made a giant diagram and played a game to think about the challenges and experiences of people who live in rural areas.\u00a0 We thought we were ready to go and meet some strangers in villages and try to bring blessings to their lives.<\/p>\n Our first stop was a visit to Valley Community Schools<\/a>, in the middle of the country between the towns of Elgin and Clermont.\u00a0 This is my alma mater.\u00a0 Now the entire school district-\u00a0preschool through grade 12- is in one building. Many of the young children stared at my students. I was impressed with how they helped each other through the awkward experience by reminding each other that many people may have never seen black people there before.<\/p>\n Next, we went to Gilbertson’s\u00a0Park in Elgin for a picnic lunch and a service project.\u00a0 A couple of us helped the Naturalist build a fence, which was a\u00a0thrill.\u00a0 Most of us helped clean mud, sticks and rocks off a paved trail to improve accessability for people with disabilities.\u00a0 It was hard work on a beautiful day.<\/p>\n From there we went to the Shepherd of the Hills Food Shelf in St. Olaf.\u00a0 We had fun working together to stock the pantry’s shelves.<\/p>\n We were amazed to learn that all the food put on the shelves would be gone in about a week.\u00a0 For a county with a small population, that’s pretty fast!<\/p>\n Speaking of food, the next thing we did was learn where some of our food starts.\u00a0 First, we visited a fish hatchery tucked into the woods along the Turkey River.\u00a0 If you look closely at this picture you can see the fish swimming in the water.<\/p>\n Then we went to my aunt and uncle’s dairy farm to help with milking chores. For some of us, this was the highlight of the entire trip.<\/p>\n My uncle helped some students milk cows.<\/p>\n And my aunt helped them feed the calves.<\/p>\n One of the calves had been born the morning that we visited and was named after the youngest person in our group.<\/p>\n We also got to have the experiences of playing in a hay mow and jumping in a corn bin.\u00a0 Before leaving, we learned all about the expensive farm equipment and tried sitting in the machinery.\u00a0 As we were leaving I heard one of my students say that he was never again going to let people bad talk farmers, as they are some of the hardest working people he has ever met.<\/p>\n Afterward, we played basketball in the town park and had pizza and root beer floats before evening reflection and prayer.\u00a0 It was a great day!<\/p>\n Stay tuned to hear about the adventures in the Spirit<\/em> over our next three days!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Spirit of Truth has a lot to teach us when we open our minds and hearts.\u00a0 No matter what our motivations are, God is alive and hard at work. God speaks to us through the stories of our lives and\u00a0through the adventures we live through.\u00a0 As we move, we do the work of trying...","protected":false},"author":4071079,"featured_media":2475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115341],"tags":[10051,5465315,5154,214,1342,401,7816,167321,327258,59348,8329,116,130,30351,400361,3639658,51892,131],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-2474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equity-and-justice-equity-and-justice","tag-bible","tag-blessed-is-he-who-comes-in-the-name-of-the-lord","tag-chicago","tag-christianity","tag-education","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-helping-others","tag-holy-week","tag-iowa","tag-jesus","tag-religion","tag-school","tag-service","tag-service-learning","tag-service-trip","tag-teens","tag-work","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/100_5071.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/100_5071.jpg\" "\\"Iowa")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nto Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives,<\/em>
\nhe sent two of his disciples and said to them,<\/em>
\n“Go into the village opposite you,<\/em>
\nand immediately on entering it,<\/em>
\nyou will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat.<\/em>
\nUntie it and bring it here.<\/em>
\nIf anyone should say to you,<\/em>
\n‘Why are you doing this?’ reply,<\/em>
\n‘The Master has need of it<\/em>
\nand will send it back here at once.'”<\/em>
\nSo they went off<\/em>
\nand found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street,<\/em>
\nand they untied it.<\/em>
\nSome of the bystanders said to them,<\/em>
\n“What are you doing, untying the colt?”<\/em>
\nThey answered them just as Jesus had told them to,<\/em>
\nand they permitted them to do it.<\/em>
\nSo they brought the colt to Jesus<\/em>
\nand put their cloaks over it.<\/em>
\nAnd he sat on it.<\/em>
\nMany people spread their cloaks on the road,<\/em>
\nand others spread leafy branches<\/em>
\nthat they had cut from the fields.<\/em>
\nThose preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:<\/em>
\n“Hosanna!<\/em>
\nBlessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!<\/em>
\nBlessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!<\/em>
\nHosanna in the highest!”\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 – Mark 11:1-10<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nadventures in the Spirit, part 2<\/a><\/blockquote>