VBS Phoenix: Friday

We're back!


Oh, you didn't know I was gone? Our youth group left for an 8-day mission trip to Phoenix, and we arrived home just an hour ago. 

During our stay in Phoenix, several youth group members signed up to journal about the different days of our trip, in order to keep families and church members informed. I signed up for Friday, so I'm going to just plaster that email in here and call it good, seeing how it's well over 1,300 words. I dare say even my most loyal of readers would be unable to read my accounts of the entire trip in one sitting. There's just too much to talk about, not to mention the hundreds and hundreds of photos that were taken...

So this is just a little snippet of our trip: the day we went to the Grand Canyon. I'm sure I'll get around to writing about the rest of the trip, eventually.

Friday. 

It is 4:30am, and our group is climbing out of bed, a little TOO enthusiastically for the small amount of sleep we got.

4:30am is not when we normally wake.  Well, not most of us.  This is the third morning that the roofing crew has awoken at 4:30am.  The rest of us thought they were crazy, but as we stand in the cool, quiet silence outside, we can see why they chose such an early hour to start.  But there’s no roofing to be done today.  That was completed yesterday.  Today we head to the Grand Canyon.

It is 5:20am, and we’ve been driving for half an hour.  The sun is already leering at us behind the foothills that rim Phoenix.  The sun doesn’t sleep for very long down here.  Our two 15-passenger vans are laden with drinks, snacks, and eager youth.  To my knowledge, none of us have seen the Grand Canyon, unless you count the time my parents took me when I was 2 months old.

We are told that the trip will take roughly 4 ½ hours.  We will stay at the canyon for two hours, and then make the 4 ½ hour return trip, in order to get back in time for VBS.  Normally, 2 hours would seem like an abundance of time to examine a crack in earth’s skin, but I’m getting the feeling it’ll hardly be enough.

And I was correct.  2 hours flashed past faster than a date with a cute girl.  The trip to the canyon took 3 hours and 19 minutes, which was a far cry better than the 4 ½ hours we were warned about.  But that extra time gained will be quickly gobbled up by a food stop and heavy traffic.
     “If we get stuck in traffic, we’re toast.”  Says Leon.

We stopped at a Five Guys Burgers & Fries restaurant and ate.  We thought we’d have to eat on the run but the very competent staff whipped out meals out on the double.  There were veritable mountains of French fries on our tables.  Dylan didn’t order any fries, hoping there would be extra.  There were so many fries left over, he couldn’t eat them all.

How can I explain the Grand Canyon?  We’ve been on the return trip for a while and the words still fail me.  It is colossal.  When the free shuttle bus (all Grand Canyon buses are free to ride, and run on Natural Gas) rumbled around a stand of trees and stopped at a bus station, we hopped out and moseyed over to an observation deck.  Somewhere between the bus stop and the observation deck, our breaths decided to leave.  Coincidentally, it was at the same time we caught sight of the Canyon.  I sucked in some oxygen and let out a feeble “whoa”.

The earth dropped away into a vast portrait of plateaus and valleys.  The opposite rim of the canyon facing us gleamed 10 miles away.
     “Does that mean our eyes can see ten miles?” Asked Wendell.
     “Well sure,” I replied cheekily. “We can see 93 million miles when we’re looking at the sun.”

Half of our group was privileged to see a California Condor wheeling around on the thermal currents over the canyon.  It is endangered nearly to extinction, so the ones in the park are monitored and tagged.  With its six-foot wingspan, the condor is the most graceful buzzard I’ve ever seen.  It fought off some fat crows for a prime perch on a cliff edge.  It looked like a chicken picking on some sparrows.

The buses were overcrowded and it was nearly impossible to find room for our tribe of 26 eager tourists. (25 youth group members and a local Phoenixian friend along for the day) Because of this, we split up.  I was in the second group, and we chose to hike the trail instead of waste 15 precious minutes for the next bus.  It ended up being an excellent choice.  There was a slight breeze, a well-paved trail, and a delicious scent of wilderness.

Two hours wasn’t enough time, of course, but it definitely got us excited about visiting again sometime.
     “My appetite has been whetted.” Said Rolanda.
     “Dylan and I are gonna make a Western trip on motorcycles.  Jeremy may come too.  You should join!  We’d take a day to hike the trail down the canyon.” Said Brendon.

I was grateful, though, that we didn’t spend the whole day hiking.  My broken toe was hollering enough as it was.

The trip back was a lot quieter.  I had hoped to sleep on the way up, but certain young girls giggled and laughed and carried on the whole way.
     “What are you doing?! It’s 5:30am!” I asked them.
     “Oh, we’re making up new handshakes.” They replied.
I felt like an old geezer, unable to keep up with these energetic youngsters.  Now it’s 3pm and we’re traveling through beautiful mountains and valleys full of scrub brush and cacti, and those girls are conked out.  So I feel better about myself.  At least my body is smart enough to know when it should be tired and when it should be awake.

We got back to Aim Right and stepped out into the scalding air, already missing the cool temperatures we felt around the Grand Canyon.  Darrell, the head honcho here, confirmed that it was 109 degrees Fahrenheit at 4:30pm.  We later learned that the hottest temp of the day was 111.
     "But there's no humidity blah blah cooler than Texas blah blah" You might say.
     "No. It was hotter than a hot thing." I would reply. My comebacks are not very witty when my brain is all melted.

We prepared for our final night of VBS, which was AWESOME.  You probably thought I was going to say “bittersweet” but I was thrilled.  God had done so many miraculous things throughout the week, but I was ready to wind things down.

Prior to VBS, we split into groups and prayed for each station, asking God to be present and close to the children as they ate snack, made crafts, played group games, learned the Bible story, and memorized a verse.  We also prayed for the worship team and drama team.

I had nine Kindergarteners in my class tonight, which was the most I’ve had all week. I also had two less staff, so the evening was pretty hectic.  Harmony and Dylan were indispensable, and I was grateful for their expert help.

After VBS, the staff lined up to say goodbye to the kids.  The younger ones giggled and gave us high-fives, while the older kids were a little more somber, realizing they would not be seeing us again in the foreseeable future.

The last child left the Aim Right building, and I nearly passed out.  Not from relief, but intense, crippling pain shooting from my pinky toe.  I had broken it back in Iowa but it hadn’t been giving me too much grief.  I was sore and limping after our mountain hike on Saturday, as well as after the Canyon trip, but my toe would always bounce back and behave for VBS.  Now I suddenly realized that Jesus had been withholding the injury from hurting like it was supposed to, until our task was complete.  Isn’t it amazing how God provides what we need, when we need it?  It is also amazing that God allowed mankind to invent ibuprofen.

We’re eating as many leftovers as we possibly can.  For supper there’s quesadillas, pizza, hamburgers, chili-dogs, salad, root-beer floats, and assorted veggies.  Wanda prepared some gluten-free quesadillas and chili-dogs for me and brought them over to my seat while I immersed my foot in a tub of watery ice.  (It wasn’t just ice water, it was colder than that.)  My toe has lost some of its angry red swelling.  My toe has also lost the majority of its feeling, due to being numb.

Wanda was an angel to me the whole trip, and I was extremely grateful for all the extra effort she put into my food.  I cannot thank her and Shaina enough for making the trip so tasty for me.

The cleanup is nearly finished, save for a few odds and ends. The close of our mission trip is a tangible feeling in the air, like the smog that hangs over Phoenix. We have yet to pack our suitcases, but that’s what tomorrow morning is for.

God was real this week, and I was so blessed to be along for the ride.