If we are going to spend a week together (not to mention 4,000 miles away from home), we decided we really needed to get to know each other more! That's how the idea of "weekly meetings" came to be. At our first meeting, our first get-to-know-you activity was... finding something everyone had in common! We split into groups of about 6, and we had to find something that we all had in common - other than gender, the fact that we are all going to Alaska, and the fact that we all attend the same church. This may APPEAR easy to you readers behind the screen, but between my group (from ages 16 to 48), we struggled. We were on the struggle bus. Front seat, actually.
In the end, we discovered that we have all rollerbladed at some point in our lives. The second group found out that everyone liked "SOME shade of blue, even if it wasn't their favorite color." Another group found out that everyone was wearing shoes.
If those answers don't make you want to follow our journey, I don't know what does.
The next team building activity was tower building! We got six straws and six paper clips, and we had to build the tallest, free-standing tower we could. My team was really into it, and a few minutes before our time was up, I remembered that I needed to take pictures! You may spot the multiple occasions I was accused of cheating pictured below...
In case you're curious, here's a photo of the winning tower!
Every week, we are growing closer.
Growing closer to God.
Growing closer to each other.
Growing closer to Alaska.
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
-Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)
Please pray that we can all love God above anything else, and secondly, love each other and everyone we come in contact with (both in Alaska and at home) like Christ loved us.
