Hello Goodbye

               It’s sad to say, but summer is over already. I can’t believe how fast it went by. My work at Sequoia National Park and the ministry with A Christian Ministry in the National Parks is already over, and classes begin on Wednesday here at Cedarville University in Ohio. I’ve titled this post Hello Goodbye because I’ve said a lot of both that past couple weeks (and also because it’s the title of a Beatles song). But before I get to the hellos and goodbyes, let me catch up on the last three or so weeks I spent in Sequoia National Park.

A Reflection on the rest of the Summer

                So remember that time I told you about when I broke a guitar string and went down the mountain to get new ones? Not half an hour after I got back to Lodgepole I was tuning the guitar and I broke a different string. My mom ended up getting new strings and sending them up the mountain for me, but that wasn’t until almost a week later. I had planned on playing guitar with Christian (another guy from the team) that Sunday, but I guess God had other plans. I believe that Sunday was also when it rained during the service, so we didn’t end up playing guitar anyway. Remarkably, however, we had three people show up to the service; a couple that was camping nearby and Heidi, a co-worker/manager who came to several of our services. In the last few weeks of the summer that was about our average attendance in the services; 3-5 people. It was a little discouraging sometimes, but at least we had people at every service; and as long as they got something out of the service, that’s all that matters.

                The ministry in general was a great experience, and a very unique one. Who else gets to spend a whole summer living in a beautiful national forest, meet people from all around the world, and lead worship services in the middle of God’s beautiful creation? This is definitely something I would consider doing again. Possibly next summer but we’ll see. I have no idea yet what I’m doing after graduation.

              

                 One possibility I have for after graduation is coming back to work at Sequoia National Park. I’m not sure if ACMNP would let me do the ministry in the same park two years in a row, and I’m not sure I want to, but I really enjoyed working in Sequoia and I enjoyed meeting and making new friends there. As I mentioned in my last post, I had many interactions with foreigners this summer; both customers and co-workers. There was one time a couple Russians came and visited Anna, an employee from Russia. One of them was an excellent guitar player. He played AC/DC’s “TNT” extremely well and sang it with almost no Russian accent at all. Also, both of them got really into Mafia when we played a few game of that. Apparently the game of Mafia is pretty big in Russia.

              

                 Also, two or three weeks before I left, we had four new Chinese employees come. They quickly bonded with the two employees that were already here from Taiwan. The room they frequently hung out in became known as “Chinatown.” When they moved in, the two guys from Taiwan who had learned to speak English very well the past in the past few weeks suddenly reverted to their “old ways” and began speaking in Chinese again. The same thing when the two guys from Russia came (except that they spoke Russian, not Chinese). But I can understand that; it must be nice to speak your native language after being surrounded by English all the time. Then of course, so many of the new employees we got were foreigners, so when new employees from America came, the other Americans and I made an instant connection. But most of the foreigners could speak English fairly well; at least well enough to engage with customers and participate in games of Mafia.

                However, we did more than just play card games in the mountains. We went on several hikes (many of which I described in the last post), had some movie nights, and hung out by the campfire at night once every couple nights or so (it was especially fun introducing foreign co-workers to s’mores). One memorable hike I went on the weekend before I left was the Watchtower. I had previously been to Tokopah Falls, which is about a 2 mile hike very close to the Lodgepole campground. The Watchtower is in the same spot, just much, much higher. I believe it took Heidi and I around two hours to get to the top, but it was well worth the wait. It was pretty steep right at the end of the trail, but once we reached the peak, the view jumped out at us and took our breath away. I didn’t bring a camera, and even if I did, no picture would have been able to capture the view. I’ve seen movies and shows that feature the edge of a cliff, but I’d never before been to a place like that. I’m not sure how high it was, so I tested it by dropping a rock off the edge; it took at least four to five seconds before I heard the faint sound of rock hitting rock. The cliff face was in a sort-of a U-shape, and we were able to go to both edges and look down. It was frightening thinking that one wrong step could lead to certain death.

Standing on the edge of Watchtower. Photo credit: Heidi

                After sunbathing/resting on the top of Watchtower for a bit, we then hiked about another mile to Heather Lake. Much of the hike was a path that seemed to hug the side of a cliff. Some of the path reminded me of the winding stair on Frodo and Sam’s way into Mordor. Also on the way there were two trees bent over each other, forming a doorway. There were no other trees around them, which made this natural doorway seem even more magical. I will decline to say whether or not it led to Narnia.

Once we got to Heather Lake, we wandered around a bit, but didn’t stay long. It was beautiful there, but there were just a lot of other people there swimming and hanging out, so we went back. We had originally intended on going on another 2-3 miles to Pear Lake, but we were both pretty tired already, and neither of us had brought anything to swim in at either lake. Anyway, I had to finish preparing for my message the next morning.

The next day, Sunday, was the last ACMNP worship service this summer for Jenny, Christian, and I. Since it was the last time I would speak, I wanted the message to reflect Paul’s final instructions and farewells in the endings of his letters. In preparation, I studied the last chapter of each of his letters and made lists of his final instructions and farewells/benedictions. To be honest, I was never completely sure what the main point of the message was, I just felt like addressing the congregation (of three people) the same way that Paul did. Paul was a very personable person, and he always made sure to address people by name in his messages. I didn’t address people by name in my message, but I guess one point I tried to get across was that we should continue to keep up with people the way Paul did. We need to remember to build up and encourage the people we know. This means people you’ve just met, people you see all the time, and people you haven’t talked to in years. I like to think I did a lot of preparation for the message, but I don’t think it went too well. There was one section I completely left off by accident. In the message I meant to explain a bit about why the ACMNP team was in the mountains. I wanted to mention that as a cashier at the Lodgepole Snackbar I had the unique opportunity to represent America to the countless foreigners that visit. Their interaction with me informed their view of Americans in general. In the same way, part of the reason we were there is to give people a better view of Christians than they may have had in the past. We were there to minister to the people. That’s one of the big things they taught us at the conference. The ministry is to lead worship services Sunday mornings, but another huge part is just being a shining light for Christ in the National Parks.

That night, we had the first annual Lodgepole talent show. It was a very informal event that we held around the campfire. Mostly it was just people playing guitar and singing, but it was quite fun. My talent was playing “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men on guitar while Jenny and I sang along. I also played “Let it Go” on guitar while Penny (short for Peng-something) from Taiwan and Nicholas from Colombia sang along in off-key falsetto voices. It was beautiful. I worked the next two days then left Tuesday afternoon to go back home.

Goodbyes

                It was sad saying by to the employees and ACMNP team members I had gotten to know over the summer. I befriended a few of the foreign employees on Facebook, but I don’t recognize some of the names because I can’t read Chinese or Russian. And if any of you Sequoia co-workers or ACMNP team members are reading this: I’ll try to keep in touch, but this semester might kill me. Feel free to message me anytime you want. I’d love a break from writing all the papers.

                I got home Tuesday and spend the whole day hanging out with family. That day was the only day since Christmas break that all six of us were home. My dad and brother left early the next morning for the airport. My brother returning to school and my father going with him then eventually going on to New Jersey to visit family. One joke my family had when I was there was that most of them had seen Guardians of the Galaxy before me. Generally I see new Marvel movies opening weekend, but I wasn’t able to this time because I was in the mountains. I ended up seeing it the next day. My favorite character is Groot. I nearly cried at one point near the end which I will not reveal for spoilers sake.

Groot, played by Vin Diesel, from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

                I finished packing the next day and had enough spare room when I was done to pack some of Joseph’s things that he wasn’t able to fit; just another way in which my twin brother and I are not alike. I left the next morning and I arrived at Cedarville at 1:45 AM (due to a delayed flight).

Hellos

                I’m now back at Cedarville. It was cool, and also kind of weird being back and seeing everyone again. I’ve previously described Cedarville as my second home and second family, but I feel like it might take a couple weeks to get back to that spot. Since my arrival all I’ve really done so far is unpack, buy all my textbooks, submit the ACMNP final report, hang out with people, and watch Avatar: The Last Airbender with my new roommate, Steven. I’ve also really been wanting to go to guitar center sometime and get myself a guitar. I feel like this is some kind of drug. I need to get my guitar fix before I lose the callouses on my fingers and lose all the muscle memory for how to play chords. Of course, we do have a lot of guitars in the unit, but I want one of my own, not one I have to borrow from someone. I’m afraid, however, that once school starts tomorrow, I won’t have as much time to practice. I want to get a good start to the school year. I don’t want this semester and next semester to be like previous semester, where the first half is easy and the second half kills me. I want to even out the work load, get ahead, and finish well.

                I’m not doing Men’s Glee this school year because I want to devote more time to my classes. The funny thing, however, is that this year I am a Discipleship Group leader, which means I’ll have more responsibilities, and a little less time to do homework. But it will be a great experience, and probably won’t take that much time away from homework. I was in discipleship groups the past two years, and I really enjoyed the fellowship and discussions I had. This year, I’ll be leading a group through the book Galatians for You by Timothy Keller. I don’t know too much about the book because I have yet to read it (I just got it today), but I have read Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and I really liked that. Each week I’ll attend a study on this book with other leaders, then later that week I’ll lead my own group in the same discussion. I could really use some prayer for this as this is the first time I’ve ever led a discipleship group. But it will be a great experience. I look forward to seeing what God has to teach me through this study this year.

                The classes I’m taking this semester should be fun, but a ton of both writing and reading. This should be expected, however, since I am an English major. One class I’m taking is World Mythology, which I’ve just discovered is not what I thought it would be. Instead of learning about mythical legends and creatures and such, this is more a study of other belief systems and their myths, and how they relate to our own Western myths and beliefs. One thing that worries me about this class is that it’s online. I’ve had bad experiences with online classes in the past, so I’m a bit nervous. This is a class I’ll need a lot of prayer for. I’m also taking Advanced Composition and The English Language. I don’t know too much about these classes, but they are both taught by Dr. Calhoun, one of my favorite professors here. One class that should be interesting is Graphic Novel. The required texts for this class are about 8 different (for lack of a better word) comic books. And finally I am also taking Theology II, which is the last required course for the required Bible minor at Cedarville. Altogether, this is 15 credits, which doesn’t seem too bad, but it could be. Anyway, if this semester doesn’t kill me, next semester will.