My Next Journey (sans Amtrak)

I've been back a full work-week and it seriously feels like the whole trip was a dream.  But it happened and I have so many pictures to treasure as a result.  This picture is probably one of my favorites:

I know it may come as a shocker, but I love photography!  I love it for so many reasons and have always wanted to pursue it professionally.  But for years I struggled with conflicting thoughts about what I wanted to do and what I thought I should do...it was me against the world.  And no matter how hard I tried to be happy, the world kept chipping away at my confidence and I eventually just went with the flow of life and fell into the trap...until of course, God came and swept me off my feet with His grace and love.  And since then, I've learned that I don't have to go against the world, because He already did...and He won.

Continuing on, I have found that God has a way of aligning our talents/passions with His will.  And even though I've struggled in the past and lost sight of God, He has still managed to pull me back into His will.

This trip was just the cherry on top.  I've felt lead in certain directions before, but never have I ever wanted to pursue something like I want to pursue photography.  I love being able to capture intangible things--like joy, love, and happiness all through a single picture.

Now that I back and in routine again, I am more ready than ever to truly embark on the next journey God has laid out in front of me...and thankfully this one doesn't involve Amtrak ;)  My goal is this spring to build up my portfolio and client list so that by summer I can be established and ready for the long haul!

If you are interested in learning more about my new endeavor, please visit my Facebook page!

the aftermath

Well.  I'm back in Winona.  It's a bittersweet thing to say the least.  I don't miss the whiplash of getting on and off the train every-other day...but I seemed to have left some of my heart in Seattle, I guess I'll just have to go back someday [soon?] and find it!

As you probably have guessed by now, I completely and utterly fell in love with Seattle.  I felt at home there.  I loved walking down the city streets.  I loved the noise of the life around me.  I loved the lights.  I loved the coffee.  I loved the rain.  But Seattle is a broken place...and there were so many homeless people.  Through serving at Bread of Life, my eyes were opened.  I cannot put it into words what my heart feels.  Meeting both Bernard, a graduate of the program, and Jeffery, a soon-to-be-graduate, I saw what real and real hope looks like.  I remember talking to Jeffery, and though he didn't tell me about his past, he told me about his love for Christ.  He will be graduating from the program in May and I would honestly love to go back and watch his graduation ceremony and volunteer some more.

To say that this trip changed my life is an understatement.  I not only got to know my teammates better, but myself as well.  God showed me so much about my heart and I cannot wait to see where He continues to lead me in this life.

I love thinking about the future...and not just because I picture myself living in Seattle :)  But I also like to think about all of the things I could do in life.  Although I have served in many ways before, this trip allowed me to try my hand at artist documentation (I think that is a more 'artsty' way to describe taking photos).  I carried my camera at my hip for ten days straight (figuratively speaking).  And when I wasn't using my Canon, I was using my iPhone to Instagram, Tweet, blog, and Facebook.  It was a blast and has opened up my mind to what the future may hold for me, someday.

Until someday, I am going to live where I am.  In Minnesota.  1,802.3 miles away from Seattle.  Because I know that God has things under control and that there is hope for Seattle.  God is there.  He is there in the hearts of men like Jeffery and Bernard.  He is there at Eastridge Church.  He is there.

But that doesn't mean I still don't miss Seattle.  Good thing I took lots of pictures!

You're probably curious...

...as to why I didn't post yesterday. Well, we were on the train...all day. Well, we loaded up at about noon in Cut Bank and were on the train until our arrival in Fargo at 5am this morning.

While most of us slept on the train, we were excited to be able to sleep a few more hours at the church in Fargo. We've learned that the best sleep is when you aren't on a moving train.

At 8:45am we were all wide-eyed and bushy-tailed! Well, us girls were. Eathon (aka Ethan), met all six of us girls for breakfast which prompted the question, where's Christopher? Apparently, Eathon did not find it beneficial to wake him up...needless to say he was still upstairs sleeping. And needless to say I told Eathon to go get him.

We had a great breakfast here in Fargo, complete with cookies! Well, oatmeal raisin...but cookies nonetheless. Today there is an XA leadership training session for NDSU's next school year. It is seriously as big as a full WSU XA service. Also, it's borderline awkward because I recognize some face from SALT and FSC...not to mention Dave Leedahl's twin brother, Nate greeted us this morning which caused me to take a double take.

But after breakfast they put us to work on the kitchen. We cleaned out cabinets, washed the stove, and helped organize. As always, many hands made light work and we were done before they expected.

After a lunch break, we moved on to the next task which was cleaning a closet...and this was more than a closet. It was basically a storage room with seasonal items, food, and cleaning supplies. So we divided ourselves into sub groups and "crushed it."

Our group has been surprisingly really funny and have had many "quoteables" as I've coined them. I'll share some of them later :)

We took a cookie break and then we were off to help work on some quilts. The term quilt is used lightly here because we didn't actually quilt them. We made the type you tie with yarn. Hard to explain without describing the fleece type blankets. Anywho.

After working on quilts (because we didn't actually finish any) we departed the church and headed out to a friends apartment. We got to hang out, play Quelf and Apples to Apples, and watch a movie. It was fun to be able to just hang out. We didn't have to work or anything. Just laugh.

Our group has been awesome. I know that sometimes that can be the biggest challenge with team trips, but our team has worked fantastic this past week. I have no doubt that we will continue to have this bond and remember all these fun memories for years to come.

Our last train ride is scheduled to leave at 2:15am Sunday morning...but we'll see. This morning it didn't get here till 5, but we're hopeful!

Thanks for checking in again! I think I'll keep blogging here for a while still. I know that God has called me to a greater mission in life through this trip. But more about THAT in the future :)

Have a good night!
Kim

Back in Montana!

We experienced a miracle yesterday...the train was early! We were aboard our train to depart Seattle around 4:30pm I guess. We were there early and were able to be one of the first to load our car. After we found our spots, more people trickled on. And after a short wait, we were off!

My heart is definitely not all with me today, I'd say I left a large piece of it in Seattle. I just kept thinking about all the people we served and change that is happening in the city. God is there and people are being reached. But I still can't wait to go back.

After slowly watching the city fade behind me, I put my music on and had some quality quiet time with God. Our train ride was going to be a long one so I got settled in and fell asleep.

I must have been tired because I was knocked out! I did pop two Dramamine but I think I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I was just as surprised as everyone else when I didn't wake up until 7 am. That was probably a solid 13 HOURS of sleep!

Chris, Ethan, and I went to the dining car for breakfast and let me say this...it was expensive! I don't plan on eating there again, but at least I can say I've eaten train food. Funny moment though: Ethan ordered grits with his eggs. I don't know what he thought they were...but his reaction was pretty funny.

We were arrived in Cut Bank around 11am. The station is unmanned, meaning no one works there. So, this only person there was our ride. Jason brought us over to the church for lunch.

After lunch we were put to work sanding and priming the walls. The church is in the process of redoing their kitchen and after today, they are a little closer to a new kitchen!

Chris and Holly were in their element when they were given a special assignment: to demolish a bathtub. It was a lot harder than it sounds. The church just bought the house next door and its old, so was the tub...they just don't make tubs that way anymore! It's cool, they bought the house because they are in a constant battle of losing their youth center that is a few blocks away, so essentially they purchased this house (which is directly across from the high school) for if/when that time comes. But for now they plan on renting it out...until they are able to hire a youth pastor and they need a place to live :)

Needless to say it didn't take long for us to finish up! We then found out that tonight we are again stating with host families--the boys with one family and the girls with another.

Oh fer cuteness! The family we are with have three children and we feel so at home here in Cut Bank.

Their youngest son is such a funny boy, he is the jokester of the bunch. Today his older sister wasn't be the nicest and he got pretty worked up. He spoke pretty fast and said, "she ruined my life!" After having a little chat with his dad, he pulled up the. Bible app on his dads phone and showed it to his sister saying, "see, it says in the Bible that you have to be nice to people!" I almost melted. It was the cutest thing ever.

After having some time to shower, relax, and chat, we were all refreshed and ready for dinner. Tonight we headed over to Jason's house for pizza and pool! Some of the local youth joined us too. It was a great time!

I'm not really sure 13 hours of sleep was a good as it sounds because by 10pm I was wiped!

But there was still more fun to be had...star tipping! Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled being that I was ready for bed, but I went along with the group for the fun. Quote of the night came from one of the local boys, "is the moon supposed to be green? it's changing colors man!" I have to admit though, it was pretty funny to watch :)

But, there comes a time when one must crash and that time is now. So, I must bid you all farewell till tomorrow :)

Kim

waiting to head out #sadface

We just finished serving at Bread of Life and have now split up into two groups (with Chris and I each leading one and Ethan accompanying my group).  Our train is scheduled to leave at 4:40 and at this moment in time is actually on time...#saywhat?  The Bread of Life building is actually just a few blocks away from the station so for our mini-group adventures we made a few conditions:

1. Don't travel more than 5 blocks (or so away)
2. You are responsible for your own luggage
3. Meet back together at our parting point at 3:45

My group (Cassady, Ethan, and Megan) are currently sitting at Cafe Umbra (I think?)  I was planning on getting coffee, but decided to get some cappuccino gelato, yummy!  It is actually pretty warm out side, a nice 46 degrees and sunny (haha!).  We are having a hard time hiding our tourist status because:

1. We are each lugging around a huge duffle and backpack
2. Our bags match...#tacky
3. None of us are wearing jackets

Most people around us are wearing big jackets...which I guess makes sense because the rain keeps coming and going in a sprinkling manner.  But what would Seattle be without a little rain?

I guess you are all probably wondering about our service at Bread of Life?

Well, it was awesome.  We got there early this morning after a long[er than I thought] jaunt on a public transit bus.  Luckily we had a nice guy (whose name I don't know) help us get to the right spot.  Don't worry, we knew him...his wife was one of our contacts at the church we stayed at :)  But once there we got to work cleaning up the thin, foam beds that they lay out in the dining room a night, cleaning chairs, and setting up for lunch.  We were served the same lunch that was being served, rice and beans, salad, and ham.  It was pretty good!  It was also nice to know that what we were serving was actually the guests (as they are properly called as apposed to 'homeless') was good.

We were so good and fast and awesome this morning that we were able to make a quick Starbucks run :)

Lunch service began at 12:15pm.  We each grabbed trays of food, two at a time, and walked them from the kitchen to the dining room to personally serve each guest.  Some of the guests were very reserved and quiet while others were curious about us.  It was definitely an experience that I will never forget.  Knowing that every person we served today is without a place to call home, a place to rest, a place to call their own, breaks my heart.  But the mission of Bread of Life gives me hope that this city is changing.

We got to meet Bernard, a graduate of their program.  It is a free program that is open to any man interested (I'm not sure if they help women too or now, I forgot to ask).  The program is Christ-based and helps men, like Bernard, get back on track.  I'm sure their website: breadoflifemission.org had more information if you are interested.

Bernard shared his story with us in the time that we had before we served.

Wow.  God is good!  He is a graduate of the program and is currently employed by Bread of Life as a front desk worker.  I'm not sure on the pay, but he does live in the building in the housing that they provide.  In four months his employment will terminate and he will then get another job, but will still live there until he is able to get his own apartment.  I don't know what it is, but this mission just makes my heart so happy.  There were a number of other men that worked there and that were in the program.  Jeffery, who is a member, helped with the meal today and will graduate on May 15th this year.  The joy that he had about his new life and faith literally breaks my heart...in a good way.

I could honestly go on and on about Bread of Life and my time there.  But, I'm kind of in a rush because we have to get back together as a group to head out to the train station.  So for now, this will have to do!  I may/might post again from the train, but we'll have to see!

Thanks for checking in!  Remember, I am on Instagram too!

Kim

I never want to leave

I don't know how, but we were able to make it to Seattle by 1:30 this afternoon (the 19th).  Remember yesterday and how our train was delayed 7 HOURS...well, when we arrived we were only three hours later than scheduled.  God definitely had this all orchestrated in His timing.

But yes, we loaded up at 4:30am on the 19th and were on the train until about 9am; that brought us from Whitefish (MT) to Spokane (WA).  From Spokane, we were quickly transferred to a coach bus that drove us the remainder of the trip to Seattle.  The short delay in our arrival was actually a blessing.  By arriving a few hours later than planned, the church we were connecting with was able to send us a van to pick us up at the depot instead of us trying to work our way there through public transportation.  God's fingerprints are all over this.

We were all pretty knocked out from Whitefish to Spokane...I think I maybe slept three or four hours, minus one hour that was lost when we switched from mountain time to pacific time.  I woke up when we were traveling through Idaho and was immediately captivated by the morning sunrise:

While on the train this morning, I had the time to call home and that was much needed.  It was great to have the opportunity to talk to my mom and dad.  We talked for about 45 minutes which was a pretty fantastic way to start my day :)

Once in Spokane, it was a fairly simple process to get from out train car to the bus.  We loaded up and were told it would be about 5 hours to Seattle.  I believe we left about 9am and we arrived in Seattle at 1:30pm.  The drive there was...interesting.  The first two hours, Megan and I watched the Lorax on my laptop.  That was my third time watching that movie this trip.  During the movie I would occassionally look out the window to see some pretty flat-ish farm land--I was not expecting Washington state to be farmland!  But towards the end of the trek it became more mountainous:

Sorry, I am really tired today.  Like I said, I got maybe a few hours sleep at most :(  So I really want to finish this post up fast!

After we got in Seattle, we were able to connect with Chad for the local church we are staying at tonight.  He picked us up in a big van and brought us back to the church where we were fed some nice snacks and got ready for our Seattle adventures!

We drove around Seattle and got to see some attractions from afar like the Space Needle (it is really expensive to visit and honestly much more attractive from a distance anyway), the Starbucks headquarters, even...a Krispie Kreams donuts shop!  I remember when we had those in Wisco...but now I haven't seen one in a very long time.  We didn't stop for donuts but that was alright by me!

Once we found parking downtown we headed in the direction of the market.  It was so much more than I thought it would be--it's actually a market #whowouldhavethought?  There was everything from fish to veggies to jewelry to Chinese.  We were all in a tourist mode so we basically walked through it and took lots of pictures!

I was excited to have the opportunity to wear my Love the the Max shirt as you can tell from the picture.  Even though it was raining (surprise, surprise) and I wore my jacket for the walking adventure.

We even went to the first Starbucks that is located by the market.  Amy and I took pictures outside the store but there was a random car parked in front of it that kind of ruins my pictures.  Unfortunately due to the long ling, we decided to get some coffee from one of the other 35 Starbucks in the few blocks that we traveled.  Seriously, there was literally almost one on every block #ridiculous

Some highlights of my downtown Seattle experience include:

• my new, souvenir Starbucks/Seattle themed mug
• discovering my new favorite Starbucks drink (something-mocha with carmel and toffee nut)
• seeing all the 'hipsters'
• the market
• and walking the streets of downtown

We got a little peak at the building we will be serving at tomorrow.  We have to be up and at the bus stop at 7:30 tomorrow morning, so...I'm going to bed now.  For those of you who are able to view my Facebook profile, I will be uploading more pictures soon.  But everyone can see my Instagram feed that is updated as it is happening!

But as the title suggests, I have fallen in love with this city.  The style.  The view.  The attractions.  The coffee.  The lifestyle.  The food.  Everything.  I don't want to leave.  This could be a problem ;)

Kim

It's Been a Long Day...

We woke up this morning in Montana!  It is so pretty here!  Last night we were picked by a local Pastor  who brought us back to the church for us to check in for the night...we arrived here around 11pm and went to bed not long after.

In just a few short hours, we were up to work.  Today we did some small projects around the church like take down the winter stage decorations, paint the preschool room, and clean up the back yard.  Needless to say, we ran through that list quickly and were doing things that weren't even on the agenda!  Considering we are still here now at 11:34pm on Monday night (because the Amtrak is late, again!) we were even able to put the preschool room back together with all of the furniture and decor!

We took a break at 2pm to head out to Glacier National Park :)  We were joined by the pastor's two young daughters.  They were such a joy to have on the trip with us--they made is so fun!  Everything they said was so cute, for example:

6-year old: (to her sister who is licking the bus window): Don't lick the window!
4-year old: I'm cleaning it!
6-year old: Kids.

When we got there it was beautiful!  Actually, the whole ride there was gorgeous!  We were all pretty stereotypical tourist in the bus snapping pictures on our phones and cameras.  Our first stop, was in Apgar...well, actually this sign:

There was a cute gift shop that was open where we stopped in to look around.  The peak tourist season for this area is June/July/August so at this time, everything (and I mean pretty much everything) was closed for the season.  We were lucky the roads were open because if winter conditions are bad enough, they will close some down.

I got a few things at this stop (but they're all surprises so don't even ask!).  We then got back on the bus and traveled a few miles down the road to the most beautiful lodge.  And it was closed.  But that didn't take away any of its beauty!

It was so much fun!  We were basically the only people there because it's the off season there.  Random story: a bird fell out of a tree right by Ethan's foot!  He then proceeded to try to teach it to fly #sofunny

We took a brief pit-stop at a Burger King where Amy and I (and Molly too) all got us some coffee.  Considering this was just after we learned that our train was going to be later than scheduled (at this time, we learned that our train would be in Whitefish at 2am instead of 9pm #frustrating), this was my happiness:

#happyhappyhappy

So we were going with the flow, planning on using our extra time in Whitefish to relax a bit.  Some of the students have online homework to work on so the wi-fi here is a huge blessing for them!  I however, decided to look at my camera pictures.  I'm learning a lot about my camera and I really can't wait to get to Seattle to take some more sweet pictures!

Speaking of getting to Seattle...

With our extra time, Pastor Eric took us into town to a SUPER SWEET fitness facility in town for showers.  It was so cool there!  The ladies locker room had *gasp* HAIRDRYERS!  We literally gawked over them and were so excited to be able to dry our hair!  #thelittlethings

Once all cleaned up, we headed back to the church.  During that short drive, I called Amtrak to check the status of our train because by this point, it wasn't even giving us information on the Amtrak app that some of us have on our phones.  And I almost cried when the lady told me our train wouldn't be in Whitefish until 4 IN THE MORNING!  #saywhat

Our train is over seven hours late.  It's not fun.  And what makes this more interesting is that our train ride will only take us now to Spokane, WA.  This is supposedly going to save them time and help them get back on schedule.  We will have to then get on a bus and ride the remaining 5 hours to Seattle.

Luckily, tomorrow (the 19th) is our site-seeing day, so that will just be cut short...unless, our train leaving Seattle is late and we get more time #thatwouldbenice

Sorry for the excessive #hashtags
I've been on Instagram a lot the past few days and it is just a poor habit that I'm am developing :)

So yeah #awkwardsilence

Pastor Eric has been SO AWESOME.  He has been beyond helpful during this stressful time.  He even offered to let us stay an extra day if needed.  But, with all of our schedule in place, we are trying to stick to it as much as possible.

I suppose I shall say goodnight now.  It's just past midnight and if I have to be on a train in four hours...it might be in everyone's best interest if "mom" get's some sleep.  One more random story, I'm the "mom" on this trip...camera, big purse, and all.  I even had to threaten Ethan to count to three because he was trying to cross a cold stream at Glacier today by hopping on the rocks #notasmartideabuddy

Thanks for checking in again!
Kim