I got in the mood for taking some cool, people shots, and I got some AWESOME ones! I was SO happy with the way they turned out.

The following is a list of things that we did, or that happened during our trip.

Sunday, Day 1: We left church at 8:00 a.m., and drove for about 6 hours until we reached Latah, Washington. There, we unpacked, and set up some carports that we use as tents for different outdoor activities. We also set up a volleyball net after dinner, and played a couple of games. The scenery is AMAZING in Latah…rolling green hills of grass and wheat.

Bible Study was held at the Hogan’s house, for us guys. We all went outside, and sat around a bonfire. Ryan Hogan (an AWESOME guy there that I met last year, who JUST got out of Marine boot camp) was there with us, and made the fire the MAN way. He put some sticks and logs on the fire pit (one of the large metal ones), then threw about a pint of diesel fuel on the fire. The fire went about 20 feet into the air! Oh yeah.

There was also a nice sunset, of which I got several cool pictures.

Monday, Day 2: Today was the first day of actual VBA. The theme today was “You are a precious jewel to God”. We had 48 children today, which is very good for Latah. It’s not a very large town, so kids also came from surrounding towns. The way we have things set up, the kids show up at 8:45 a.m., and the VBA starts at 9:00. We have several different rotations…first is large group, where they learn the song and verse of the day, and hear the Bible story for the day. Next came crafts, followed by Bible Study, games, snacks, Heroes of the Faith (basically a story about some famous person that relates to the theme of the day…today’s was on Amy Carmichael, who saw the children in India as God’s precious jewels), then finally, another large group where they review the song and verse, and get to see an awesome skit. The skit is always the best part, because our church has so many people who are great actors. They make them really funny, yet with great points.

Today was also one of our free days after VBA (we have one day free, the next is a work day, next day free, etc.), so we went into Couer de Alene Idaho, and set up a volleyball net at a park, played some volleyball, walked through the town, etc.
We had a Bible Study every night (except for one, where it was so late that we just had to have our guys prayer time by itself. Normally we have a 45 minute Bible Study, and then another 20-30 minutes of Bible Study). It was awesome again.

Tuesday, Day 3: Today was the second day of VBA, and the theme was “You can know what is Right and what is Wrong”. The Heroes story was about “Eric Liddell, who followed his convictions, and wouldn’t run in the Olympics because he believed it to be wrong to participate on Sunday. The kids were amazing the whole week…last year they were a LOT more rowdy, and hard to control, but they were ALMOST as good as gold this year! ESPECIALLY for 7-10 year old boys!!! Today was our work day, so after the VBA, we ate lunch, then went into town to the local rest home, and visited for about 25 minutes with some of the seniors. Me and another guy had an older gentleman who was really nice, but who would repeate EVERYTHING you would say, sometimes with a rather humorous answer. Here’s a sample convo, with actual responses.

Me: Did you ever live on a farm?
Senior: Did I ever live on a farm yes I lived on a farm.
Me: That’s cool! I have a friend who enjoys farming. Did you have cows?
Senior: Did I have cows yes I had cows.
Friend: Did you have any other animals?
Senior: Did I have any other animals pigs.
(he always said the question like a statement, and tacked his answer on the end).
…
Me: Were you ever married?
Senior: Was I ever married yes I was married.
Me: Oh! Who were you married to?
Senior: Who was I married to my grandpa. ( I don’t think this is what he meant…:))
Friend: [trying REALLY hard to stop laughing under his breath] Oh? How many kids did you have?
LOL. We were trying to figure out what in the world the guy was talking about…but I think at that point he didn’t understand us.

After the rest home, we went to do different jobs in groups. Me and a couple of other guys went to the Hogans house, and cut/laid dripline for their farm. We met back at the church at around 6 PM for dinner, then went back to our normal houses we were staying att (all of the guys were staying at the Pfaffs)

Wednesday, Day 4: Today’s theme was “You can be sure you are going to heaven”. This was a great day, as it was the gospel story. The day went well, and I think a lot of the kids got it. (One middle school girl later wrote a tearjerker letter to her leader, telling her how grateful she was that we came, because now she can truly know that she is going to heaven, and that Jesus loves her, etc. It made EVERYONE’S day.).
Today was also a free day, so after lunch, people went to one of three activities. There was boardgames/outdoor games at one house, horseback riding at another, and firearm shooting at the Pfaffs. Guess where I went? Yep…shooting. It was great. I did it last year, and it was just as fun this year. We had several different rifles to choose from: There was a .223 Remington, a 30-06, an OLD flintlock rifle, a Kalashnikov, and a semiautomatic AK-47. The AK-47 was the best, because you could rapid-fire it, and shoot about about 5-6 rounds per second.
For pistols, we had seven .32 caliber sidearms, a flintlock pistol, a 9mm pistol, and a .40 caliber. I shot every weapon mentioned except for the flintlocks, and the 30-06. It was a blast (LITERALLY. ).

Afterwards, we played a HILARIOUS game of volleyball…it was basically a no-scored, ALMOST rule-less game. NOTHING was out of bounds, and the point of the game was basically to keep the ball in play. The ball could go over or under the net, and each team could touch the ball as many times as they wanted, as could a single player. The only rule was that the ball could only bounce once on the ground, otherwise it would have to be restarted. We started keeping track of how many hits we could get without breaking that rule, and we reached our record at 93. It was so funny, because we used a superlarge foam ball, and people kept getting hit in the face (we had about 30 people playing).

Thursday, Day 5: Today’s theme was “Your life has purpose”. The Heroes story was about Svea Flood, a missionary who reached just one boy before she died, but the boy reached an entire tribe. We filled up a bucket with water for game time…and when I saw the water, I almost choked. See the next picture…this is tap water…NOTHING added!

It was also a work day today, so me, my sister, and another guy went to a park and stained the wood on the entire big toy in the park for the town. That was actually pretty fun. Other groups had other jobs.

Friday, Day 6: Today, was the last day of VBA. The theme was “You can make a difference in the world”. The Heroes story was about Rochunga Pudaite, who was a boy who was sent by his father to a school over the mountains to learn to translate the Bible into their language. After VBA, there was a picnic, and many farewells to the kids (some of them tearful). We then packed up all of our things, and left at around 3:00 p.m. On the ride home, we stopped at a gas station, and I found something that made my eyes do this:
A 32oz can of Monster Energy drink! The thing was MASSIVE! I couldn’t let that opportunity slip by without being able to say I did it, so I bought it, and shared it with a couple people in the car. The problem was, we all got on a caffeine high, and we were all laughing almost the ENTIRE car ride. It was a fun car ride back though.
We “rowed” out the window of the car during the trip (for those of you who haven’t seen/done this, it’s where one person on each side of the car rolls down their window, and acts as if they are rowing the car along the street. It’s HILARIOUS to watch other drivers’ expressions. As soon as the car starts getting closer, you row faster, and it looks HILARIOUS. )

Anyway…that brings us to now! I’m back! So if you took the time to read this, you will know what an amazing trip it was. I can never explain how great an impact it had on my life…but it was great. Thank you all for your prayers! I am SO looking forward to our next outreach to Waldport, Oregon, which is next month!!!