Lake Junaluska, NC Day 1

I'm at Lake Junaluska, NC for the Southeast Jurisdiction Young People in Mission conference. I flew in to Asheville airport yesterday and was shuttled in from there.  On the flight, I got a window seat next to the engine! I think that's the closest I've ever been to an operating gas turbine.

Lake Junaluska is a beautiful place, which is an understatement. Nestled in the mountains covered in lush green trees, this place reminds me of a more mountainous version of home.

I met a lot of great people here already, including a mission intern who, in college, roomed with some of my friends from Washington DC! I'm looking forward to day two!

Dame fe: Wesley Foundation spring break work project to Pilsen, Chicago

I recently returned from a service-learning trip to Pilsen, a relatively poor, Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago, IL.  The goals were to do some maintenance work on Lincoln United Methodist Church (service) and to experience the lives and situations of those in the community (learning).

Many there are affected by immigration issues: maybe the breadwinner of the home is facing deportation; maybe someone is sick and can't get care because they are here illegally.  Seeing the families and hearing the stories gave me a whole new perspective on immigration issues.  Many of these families are very strong, and it's hard to imagine tearing them apart for the sake of borders and boundaries, especially when divorce rate in this country is at least 50%.  At the same time, don't they know what they are getting themselves into by coming here illegally?  If not, is it not irresponsible for them to come here?  Are things so bad in Mexico that it doesn't matter?  So many questions, but boils down to this: what would Jesus do for these folks and what should I do as a Christ follower?

As tough as it was (and is) to wrestle with these issues, it was incredibly rewarding to serve the community and church.  We cleaned up and beautified the church yard, we cleared out an attic which was overflowing with old stuff, and we stripped and repainted the frame of the front door.  A number of us worked with a ESL and GED class which met at the church each morning.  Interacting with the students was wonderful.  Their hard work and dedication was inspiring.  Class ran over every day because they were so eager to learn.  Teaching them (mostly in Spanish) how to make "arbolitos de factores" (factor trees) was a personal highlight!

The work was very self guided.  Pastor "Slim" had two surgeries during our stay, and Pastor Emma was still recovering from heart attacks.  Roberto, the building manager, just found a job that week, so he gave us as much instruction as he could before and after work each day and via telephone.  Gio did pop in fairly frequently, though I don't think he had quite the authority to give us much instruction about what to work on.  As one of the work coordinators, I found it difficult to have a team ready to get to work, but few tasks to work on.  I was glad for everyone's patience and flexibility as we defined and scheduled tasks.  Maybe this is why we were singing "Dame fe, oh Señor, dame fe" throughout the trip!

The food was outstanding.  Everything from tostadas at Jacobita's home, to deep dish pizza at Conney's, to tamales and those amazing rolls filled with cream cheese and jalapeños that Antonio brought for us.  Music was outstanding.  Jamming on drums with Gio, Hector, and Sam while Amish break-danced was epic, as was singing hymns in Spanish at worship on Sunday.
 
The five day trip wrapped up with a whirlwind of activity.  Organizing/sorting/donating/trashing all the junk we pulled out of the attic, finishing the painting, cleaning, packing, and we were out the door with barely minute to catch our breath or to take in the clear, sunny, 60-degree, late February afternoon.

In the beginning

At the behest of my 94 year old Grandma Elsie, I have decided to start journaling a bit about my travels.  She thinks I'll forget someday, but what does she know - she's only 94 :) 

A small town boy, I took my first flight in the summer after my second year of graduate school, which was at the end of my first year at University of Michigan.  I flew with my colleague and mentor, Dr. Jun-Sik Kim who was a postdoc at the time, and has since moved back to his home country of South Korea to serve as a faculty.  We were to present the game plan for our structural health monitoring technique at the kickoff meeting for a newly started project.  We flew to Huntsville, AL - a small city with a huge presence of military and government contractors and home to Redstone Arsenal.

On the day of travel, we arrived at the Detroit Metro Airport with time to spare, so we relaxed and had a bite to eat after getting through security.  All of a sudden, Jun-Sik sprang to his feet and said "We gotta go!"  Our flight was to leave the gate within minutes.  We ran past terminals, through the rainbow tunnel, past more terminals, and soon found out the doors to the flight were shut and we had missed it.  I missed my first flight!  We were able to catch the next one, but Jun-Sik's luggage didn't make it to our final destination of Huntsville, AL.  He had to give his talk to the room full of well dressed engineers and government officials in a t-shirt and jeans!  Luckily, this turned out to be one of the most easy-going audiences, so everything went smoothly and was well received.  The next day, he did recover his luggage and   On the return flight to Detroit, we were at the terminal itself with time to spare!

I've been back to Huntsville a number of time to give my own talks on the project.  I always stayed at the Holiday Inn near the mall, and they started giving me a room on the top floor, which was key access only and had free breakfast in the morning and drinks in the evening.  Don't tell them I'm only  a grad student.

Through my studies, I've traveled lots of other places, including Vergennes, VT; San Diego and Los Angeles, CA; Washington, DC; and Scottsdale, AZ.  As a graduate student, I have the privilege of traveling fairly frequently on the tab of my research sponsor.  Extracurricularly, I've been to Denver, CO; Lynchburg, VA; St. Ingace, MI; and Tampa and Orlando, FL to visit friends and see the sights.  Maybe I'll write some memories from these as I have time.

Amanda H. gave me the name for this blog.  She always liked to ask me, "are you jet setting again this weekend, Dave?"  The answer is often yes!