TransAmerica - Final Thoughts

All the youth have safely landed in Atlanta (except for Josh and Matt Newlin, who are sleeping in the hotel beds behind me)... the bus has 6 new tires and the trailer has 1 new tire (installed today!)... Kenneth and I, along with several chaperones, are driving back to Marietta - due to arrive Tuesday, sometime around supper. Things seem... quiet.

Reflecting on the past two weeks is complicated. So much has happened, and yet I cringe at all the ideas and plannings (thank you, Suzann!) that should have happened... and yet the weeks were so packed with activity that everyone left exhausted. I sit and wonder, "Were my goals met? Did we achieve what we set out to achieve?" The answer is, of course, "no... and yes... I think".

The original intent of this experimental trip was to expose ourselves to the glory of God through two primary aspects: His Creation, and His Kingdom. I comfortably can say that we achieved these goals. We met people across the nation, both inside and outside the church, creating relationships that will last through eternity. We stood in awe of His imagination and power as we lay in the middle of Arches National Park, staring into a sky filled with stars like spilled sugar. We worshipped in many different places, at different times, with different people...

However, my secondary intent was to help develop the leadership potential within our youth. The success of this endeavor was less than satisfying, for which I take full responsibility. Though I recognize many different limiting factors that prohibitted my development of the goal for leadership development, I also now recognize where opportunities were lost. HOWEVER... should I decide that a second attempt at TransAmerica in 2010 would be beneficial to this ministry, you can be sure that the lessons learned will only sweeten the potential of things to come.

I am struck at several things regarding our youth:
1) Their diversity is amazing - but not limiting. I love that! Each person is so unique in talent and ability, personality and humor, communication and style... yet somehow we have a group that clicks together quite well.
2) Their love of and for each other. The unity is impressive, and the respect for one another continues to grow...
3) Their adaptability to Change. Several times during this trip we had to make changes, steer different directions, try a new approach. Every time we had to deviate, our youth would respond with positive attitude and energy. One of my favorite moments in this ministry occurred just 2 days ago, after we had our 3rd blowout: The rear tire lost its tread, but still maintained the inner tube filled with air. As we travelled down the interstate at a reasonably slow speed, another flap of rubber came loose and began to whack the inside of the wheel-well. From the inside of the bus, the sound made a kind of rythmic "Whump... whump... whump..." Without a word, Chido began to make his own rythymic sounds. Kelechi joined in, and then Matt Newlin began to tap his bongo drum. Hunter picked up his guitar and began to strum while Brian Walker started his own type of African-style humming. The sounds of our youth, to the beat of a frustrating calamity created a type of spontaneous melody that will live with me forever.


I want to express more about this trip... but still need time to digest. To everyone who recently arrived in Atlanta... I love you guys!

-J.D. Partain

TransAmerica - Final Thoughts

TransAmerica - The Final Chapter

Karen here. I guess we saved the best for last. Haha. So I'm supposed to write my final thoughts about the trip...wow. A few words come to mind: incredible, amazing, crazy, hilarious, surprising, awe-inspiring, and EXTREME! It has been one awesome trip. I think we've all struggled, acheived, broken down, and overcome. This trip has been long, but short at the same time. I consider it long in the fact that we've done about a million things in two weeks. However, it's been short because honestly, I'm just not ready to go home. Most of our crew is, but I've enjoyed just about every minute of this experience. From crazy funny inside jokes, to stress-filled pit-stops, and even physically and emotionally draining activities. It's been a life changing adventure. I will always remember the places we've been and the things we've seen (wow, that was such a cliche phrase, but it fits the trip perfectly.) I will cherish the the friendships made and the friendships made stronger. I hope everyone feels this way as well. And, I'm pretty sure they do. I thank everyone who made this trip possible and took the time and effort to put it together. You deserve a big THANK YOU! Thanks for keeping up with us and giving us encouraging words. We love you and can't wait to see your smiling faces!

TransAmerica out! (That's from Katelyn and Hannah of course.)


P.S. T's and O's all the way baby!

TransAmerica Days 8-12

JonDavid (J.D.) here... sitting in a very comfortable-yet-inexpensive hotel, "The C'mon Inn" (I'm not kidding) in Billings, MT. Man, it's good to be back in civilization! For the past four days we have been living in the seclusion of the Canadian Rockies - a little-known camp called, "Camp Impeesa" near Pincher Creek, Alberta. There is absolutely no cell-phone service, no internet, no Starbucks... it's amazing we can even survive ;)




During the past four days, we have climbed Table Top Mountain, seen the Northern Lights, slept under the stars, rock climbed, rode mountain bikes, crawled through tunnels, climbed the canyon walls of Crypt Lake, slid down snow fields, skipped rocks across a glacial lake... It's been amazing, but its also been exhausting...




My personal favorite moments included sleeping on the top of Table Top Mountain, watching the celestial sphere above me slowly rotate with the night... and the worship! As many of you know, it is difficult to describe the kind of worship that touches the deepest parts of your soul. We sing out "Lord, listen to our hearts", knowing that we simply do not have the words to express our love, gratitude, awe for our Lord. There is no formula for dynamic worship, but when it comes, you seize it. Such was the case on Tuesday night, as we eventually summited Table Top Mountain, watched the Sun plop below the jagged horizon and began a mixture of star-gazing and devotional singing around a campfire. At one point, just before Josh Shields' devotional, Ali Newlin tapped me on the back and motioned toward the northern skyline, "Hey J.D. - what's that?"








At first glance, it appeared to be the glow of city light against a darkening sky... the only problem being that there wasn't a city near us within 100 miles. As the night grew darker, it became apparent that this was a very rare, unusual sight. Kelechi could barely contain himself (he had mentioned to me much earlier in the trip that he hoped to see the Northen Lights).

The excitement of the moment, coupled with the beauty of God's Creation and our praise in song led to one of the most uplifting, soul-searching times of worship that I will remember for years to come. Check out the pics below....



TransAmerica has been a blessing. It has been an incredible blessing to me personally - I watch each of these young, energetic, spiritually-charged people connect with each other, with Creation, with God, and with the world. I must admit... I have high hopes for our youth: It is my hope that they will remember this adventure and will rally around the unity, the cohesiveness of what they became, what they experienced these past two weeks. It is my hope that they will come together to assist the youth ministry, the church, the Kingdom of God. It is my hope that their imagination and zeal for God's people will cause them to become creative, pro-active, intuitive and sensitive to the need for the love of Jesus in a starving world.


Our youth are capable of so much. I look forward to this upcoming school year, waiting anxiously to see what new adventures, insights, discoveries and feats they will present and conquer.

-J.D. Partain



P.S.
Tomorrow (Saturday, Day 14) will include an 8-hour trip to Denver, where most of the TransAmericans will board a plane back to Atlanta. They will arrive in Atlanta at 10:15 pm, Saturday evening, aboard Delta.

Trans America Day 7

Hey guys,
It's Hannah and Katelyn! We just got finished eating a delicious dinner at the mommy and daddy Partains. Like the rest of the trip has been, today was awesome! Last night we spent the night at Matt's cousin's house and they were so sweet to us. Then we woke up and went to church this morning. They were great and had a potluck for us, we got RASPBERRIES! Everyone has been so nice to us, we love it! Then we had a fun day on the Blackfoot River. We tubed down the river for about 3 hours. It was a little bit cold, and by a little bit, we mean a lot! But it has been a lot of fun because we have gotten to spend a lot of time with the Missoulians. They have been doing lots of fun stuff with us and it has just been such a fun trip.
Oh and thank God that Katelyn is still alive. Last night all of the guys were doing flips and stuff and then they made Katelyn try to do a flip on the trampoline. Anyways, she did and when she tried, she over rotated and her head went between the springs but she was caught. It was scary, but an interesting once in a lifetime thing to see.
But we are having a great time and we hope that y'all are having a great time back at home. We love you!
Love,
Katelyn and Hannah

Trans America Day 6

So yesterday was a crazy amazing day, we left moab community church with all the hope of getting to jackson hole lake to camp and see yellowstone, but then our tire got a tumor and we stopped in the middle of nowhere utah to change the tire. So we waited for about an hour to get the tire fixed and then we were on our way again. Well. about an hour or two later we hear 'bam bump bump bump' turns out that the tire on the inside of the wheel well blew ROFL so we drove down the interstate at about 30 miles per hour trying to find the nearest exit to get another new tire. So we got to somewhere in idaho and stopped at two or three motels trying to find a place for 7 adults and 14 teenagers to stay in. We ended up staying in a super 8 somewhere iun Idaho and now we're about to head out to Missoula Montana where we will meet J.D.'s mom WOOT WOOT please keep us in your prayers (seeing as the bus seems to be very tempermental at the moment) and have an AMAZING day

Sword

TransAmerica Day 5

Hi everyone! I'm writing to you all the way from Moab, Utah! Today was amazing. First thing this morning JD, my dad(Kenneth), Chido, and myself(Lauren) went to bike slickrock and see how we thought the highschoolers would do. Wow... it was tough. Think miles and miles of huge sandstone hills, cliffs, valleys... I can't even explain how beautiful. By the way, do not be fooled by the beautifulness of it all, it WILL kick your butt. We thought we'd start on the "practice" trail. We never moved past the 2.5 miles of "practice". I was pretty scared and almost puked, but hey, I made it out alive. The funniest part of the day was seeing my dad fly over his handlebars, while telling us that the hill he was going down would throw us over our bars. I laughed so hard I almost cried. So, despite how tired I was when we got back, I decided to sacrifice my naptime to hang out with some of my favorite girls. We headed out to Moab Community Pool. We conquered some fears in that pool. Chido, yes Chido did a front flip off of the high dive! But only after Kevin bribed him by doing a gainer off of the same high dive. It was fantastic. Kelechi had his very first experience jumping off a diving board. And we even got Ali to jump off of the high dive. Great times. Of course we shopped around town a little before heading out to Arches. Everyone on Earth should be required to go to Arches. We chose the path to Delicate Arch and man was it beautiful. I just don't know how anyone can see what we saw today and question whether or not there is a God. Don't worry though, between all the cameras we have plenty of pictures! I can't wait for everyone to see them. Well, we were in a state park so technically we weren't supposed to be there after dark, but since when does JD care? Instead of leaving at dark we climbed up onto a small plateau as the sun was setting. We sang praises to our Magnificent God and had a devo led by Davis Richardson. You have never seen stars like we saw tonight. I was so emotional just laying on my back and looking up at His masterpiece. We also heard a little South Seventh Street (acapella style). The hike back was pretty cool... and dark. All in all it was an amazing day. Definitely a day we will never forget! Can't wait to see you guys again, but still don't want this to end! -Lauren Durden

TransAmerica Day 4

Hello all from somewhere south of Denver,

So today was day four on our cross-country expedition. After checking into the hotel this morning at 4:30! (yes, that's 6:30 in the morning back home), we got a few good hours of sleep before we would resume our journey today. The thing about checking in at 4:30 in the morning is it is completely dark outside... you cannot see a thing. When i woke up this morning and walked out of my room, I was pleased to see a hill (which i formerly would have classified as a mountain) in front of me. Thinking 'hey that's a nice view,' i soon turned the corner of the building, heading for the church bus parked in the rear to see the most magnificent sight I've ever laid eyes upon: the Rocky Mountains. I literally stopped and stared at them for a good 30 seconds. It's amazing to see God's majesty here, it looks like something you'd use as a screensaver.

After loading the bus back, we set out for the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Mosca, Colorado, taking in all the majesty of the surrounding mountains and valleys through the use of our digital cameras and camera-phones. The Sand Dunes was an interesting experience...It looks like a desert/mountain was just placed in the middle of the largest mountain chain in North America. It seems so random. But anyway, the tallest dune was 750 feet vertical, and we made it our personal goals to climb to the top. However we soon realized that this goal was much harder than it seemed. To get to where the dunes actually began to rise was about a mile walk across blistering hot sand and rock. We climbed about three large dunes before many in our group were overcome by the higher elevation and physical exertion...it wasn't pretty, to say the least. We returned to the bus and everyone pretty much got to feeling better.

We'd also like to say hello to all our friends at the sand dune park that we gave pepsis and salutations to, especially Brody, Simone, and Mark (hope the spellings were right) from New Mexico.

(here's the link to the official sand dune website): http://www.nps.gov/grsa/

Man...the air up here is thin.

God Bless,
Davis Richardson and the TransAmerica crew

P.S. (By J.D. Partain)... So I thought I might elaborate on Davis' last sentence regarding the "giving away of Pepsi's" Upon hiking to the summit of the 3rd dune, we had several of our group grow ill due to the unexpected exertion combined with a poor breakfast of pop tarts and 8000-foot altitude air. However, once we returned to the parking lot, I gathered everyone together and discussed several of these mistakes (which were partly my own fault). Interestingly enough, we decided, as a group, to decrease the amount of junk food in our current on-the-road diet, to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables (especially in our breakfast)... But perhaps the most notable resolution was to create a temporary "prohibition" of any and all carbonated drinks (including energy drinks)! I will be the first to admit... I will have a hard time with this. I happen to love my routine Monster energy drink and can't imagine a burger without a cherry Coke. But I am impressed with how intent all of our youth are in this regard.

Which led to the next question: "So what do we do with all the soft drinks we currently have on the bus?" Someone blurted out "Let's give them away to everyone in the parking lot!" And the next thing I knew, everyone was emptying the trailer and the bus of every can of soda, running up to perfect strangers, families, offering them a nice cold beverage. Conversations were created and strange parking-lot-friendships sprang up out of nowhere. It was an amazing time. And yet... there is so much more to still come!

Thanks for all your support and comments! We'll do our best to keep this blog current... it is difficult at times to find an Internet connection, so give us a little patience! Thanks and God bless...

-J.D. Partain (youth minister of BHYM)

TransAmerica Day 3

Greetings from Salida, Colorado! Yesterday was great. We started our trek leaving the Heifer Project in Perryville, Arkansas. It was the longest driving day of our trip. 14 HOURS, a couple of rest stops and lots of bus fun later we arrived at our destination with a very interesting stop on the way. We stopped here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch

Cadillac Ranch had been the backdrop for movies, music videos, and American culture in general. That night we all got the opportunity to leave our mark on this American landmark.

After leaving Amarillo, Texas, and a run-in with a Texas higway patrol (who happened to be a member of the Church of Christ) we stuck to the road until we got to our destination, Walsenburg, Colorado.

After a good nights sleep and some well, deserved showers we hit the open road the next morning.

TransAmerica Day 2

First I want to simply echo Tripp Durden's comments: THANK YOU, PLEASANT VALLEY CHURCH OF CHRIST!!! The wonderful people at PVCC in Little Rock, AR started our journey with such a spirit of benevolence. Great food, great company, great basketball and a great facility to sleep for the night.... thank you so much for your kindness. God bless you guys!!

Monday, July 13 began with a torrential downpour. Knowing that we would most likely be sleeping outside at the Heifer Project, I cringed at the picture in my imagination of 21 muddy, poorly-fed TransAmericans. Our destination for Monday was the Heifer Project. None of our youth knew what to expect, and aside from the few pieces of lieterature that I read in preparation, neither did I. The Heifer Project is a world-wide, non-profit organization dedicated to "putting an end to world hunger". They use an interesting combination of teaching tools, including real-life culture simulations - which we had the pleasure to experience. After an incredible lunch of home-grown vegetables and meatloaf, we received several hours of orientation and education. Shortly after 5pm we were divided into village groups and placed in actual simulated culturally-appropriate "villages". We were given a sparse amount of food and had to determine the best means to trade with other villages to ensure a better evening meal. Through this process, we learned the reality of world hunger, the complications associated with this problem, and the potential for people (like ourselves) to help.

(As usual, I am out of time... so I pass this entry on to Kelechi)...

God bless everyone!
-J.D. Partain (youth minister at BHYM)

transamerica day 1

semi early this morning, 20 ppl showed up to the church to get on our bus and start THE trip. we had been waiting on for months, between applications, and hopes of getting the acception, we had pretty much gone insane with anticipation.
The morning started with us all piling on the bus, and listening to JD give us announcements. little did we know that our first big suprise was on the way. JD went through the normal routine, and then said "who misses matt newlin?" he was answered by the entire buses hands shooting into the air. so we get on the subject, and JD says " maybe if i squeeze my eyes real tight and wish will be here". at that moment the suit cases in the back of the bus started to move and fall from where we had stacked them, and Matt Newlins head bursts from the middle of the pile to a chorus of cheers. from that point forward the bus ride was a breeze, we listened to a ton of music, including Michael Jackson, the Postal Service, Iron and Wine, and countless others. we had a devotional on the bus that mrs. suzann smith prepared, it talked about how in the book of joshua the children of isreal constructed a monmument from twelve stones so that people would know what god had done there. We were given the challenge to collect stones, and so that we would remember what god had done on this trip. Around 630 we arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Pleasant Valley Church of Christ, to say the least these people were amazing, we walked in to smiling faces and a hot home cooked meal of chicken alfredo, cheesy bread sticks, salad and an ice cream casserole. it was described by Kelechi Rmeonye as " yum-o". tonight we are staying in their church, and we have full access to their youth wing, not to mention the showers, basketball gym, and washing machines. God has truly blessed our group with this church.
Tomorrow we head to Perryville Arkansas, to participate in the Heifer project, which JD, true to his word wont tell us about. we all have high hopes for this trip, and so far they have been fulfilled. keep us in your prayers, and expect big things in the upcoming blogs.
thank you
tripp durden on the behalf of the TransAmerica Crew