#6 West Virginia and #5 Greek Life Arc Project Surf Trip
These two go together (kind of) and are possibly the two most exciting things of my top ten. I consider myself lucky and blessed and trusted entirely too much to have had these experiences. A little bit before this time last year Hope College’s chaplain asked my friend Jay and I if we would be interested in taking a bunch of Fraternity guys on a mission trip to Florida. It was a mission trip but I feel guilty calling it that because it more so had the feeling of vacation. Every morning we woke up early and headed to Jacksonville where we fixed up a day center kids from local schools hung out at after school and all day during the summer. We painted, shoveled, laid cement, raked, painted some more, moved and constructed with the efficiency of 21 young men. They came up with more work for us to do after we completed everything they wanted us to on the first day. Every afternoon we’d pack up, grab a quick lunch and head to the beach to give surfing our best try. At the end of the week we hosted a day long surf camp for the kids from the day center and then celebrated with them pizza party style in a nearby park.
Then this fall Jay and I got another call, seeing if we’d be interested in taking another group of Greeks to West Virginia on a whitewater rafting trip. Jay and I, being the willing individuals we are, eagerly agreed. It was another amazing trip but quicker this time. We only had four days to drive down, hike for a day, go white water rafting the next day and then drive back.
The trips are amazing. It’s just a bunch of guys from separate Fraternities who don’t really know each other hanging out, eating, hiking, serving, surfing, trying not to die on a river and trying new things together. The whole point of the trips is to create unity and community among these guys. It’s been fun to see it work. It’s easy for the people to critique each other, downplay the good they have to offer and fight, but it’s much harder to create. These trips have created something good among the Greek at Hope. I’m real glad to have been able to be a part of it all.
The trips were a great part of 2012… Now I’m excited as surf trip 2013 is in the works and we’ll be back in Florida in a few short months.
Surf Trip!
Fall Break!
I AM PART 