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Spring Break 2012 Roadtrip / U of I UBF, Champaign, IL USA

Spelling iLLiNi  at Great Sands, Colorado, USA
 

University of Illinois (U of I) UBF together with its registered student organization, Deeper Roots in Christ took a roadtrip to Grand Canyon during the Spring break 2012.

Itsaim was to enjoy God’s creation and to interact with several UBF chapters along the way.

We thank God for his grace to bringing us safe from almost 4,000 miles trip in 7 days. To just put into a perspective about driving, we know that  the earth diameter is about 8,000 miles so we drove almost half the distance of the earth’s diameter. No accident and no one got sick. Many commented that it was better than expected.  It was indeed God’s grace for us.

Climbing down Grand Canyon, Arizona

 
Luke 15 Bible Meditation at Great Sands, Colorado. (We lost the van key and found it. We rejoiced it greatly).

We asked  several people to write  and give us feedback so that we can capture learnings and make it better for the future trip.

 Here are contributors:

●     Josephine, Caleb, Moses T wrote from the outsider perspective.

●     Mary, Paul T wrote from the inside perspective.

●     Yaejin handled the finance for the trip.

●     Joe applied the SORF funding.

●     Tiff, Snow, jerry C wrote from the student perspective.

●     Mary Cowen, Grace Lee, Miriam  shared their non student perspective

●     Sam was a road pastor and wrote from the pastoral perspective.

Mary, 1st year U of I  and Miriam, graduated from U of I last year

The day after the trip, Mary and Miriam shared the  PPT report.  To view it, please click  here.

Josephine, 2nd year Northwestern Univ.

I joined the trip last-minute and didn’t know quite what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least. It was wonderful to travel with old childhood friends again. It was comforting to see how each of them were very much themselves from 10 years ago. Too, it was wonderful to see how Champaign UBF and the U Illinois campus has changed and shaped them as men and women, both in faith and professionally. The landscape was breathtaking and the time together with such a fun, loving, and eclectic group was refreshing.

Caleb from Tempe, Az

Coral and I had a great trip, seeing the Canyon again, of course, but also getting to re-connect with friends from U of I and making some new ones.  At first I was worried, being asked to plan the Grand canyon portion of the trip, but the overall attitude everyone had was awesome--determined to have fun, ok if things went awry, and just going with the flow.  Personally, I enjoyed when Peter willingly let Jeremiah throw snowballs at him while standing against the visitor’s center!  We really felt welcome by the whole group.  If anything could be done better, I would say perhaps to reduce overall driving time plan to stay a bit closer to the destination (for example, we had to drive 2+ hours to get to the Canyon on Wednesday).

Yaejin, the first year grad student from U of I

Before Grand Canyon trip I did not believe that Jesus fed 5000 people with 5 barley loaves and two fish. However, this Grand Canyon trip gave me assurance that such miracle can be happened when the people live together in Jesus. As a treasurer, I faced embarrassment whenever I should make budget plan for meals. We had tight budget, while people were tired for a long driving. Since I felt responsibility to save the money as much as possible, I always allotted quite short budget for meals considering that the final bill should exceed the budget plan anyhow. However, surprisingly, every time the final bill was less than the planned budget, every time. I was impressed by the cooperation of the members. Some of members seemed to intentionally spend even less money than they could expend in order to yield their portion to others. As Bible teaches us, with love to each other and thankfulness, we could feel fulfillment during the trip even with such a tight budget. Also, I could see how much it is precious to get support from other ministries. Otherwise we could never dream about 7 days of trip with 120dollars. I hope as we receive lots of support from the other ministries this time, we can also be generous and willing to help other ministries so that all ministries could grow in faith together.

Joseph J, SORF applicant

SORF Fund

I applied for SORF fund, which is allocated for registered student organizations provided by University of Illinois. Normally the competition rate is so high and the school imposes very strict standards on the fund allocation that we were not sure if we could get the fund. However, we thank God for his work that we got about $2500 support from school for this trip.

Grace L, Biblical counselor

I joined the trip out of good heart to help out driving part for one long week. I asked my husband to drive the van for safety. But to my surprise, all young men students showed such leadership, sense of responsibility and servantship. They rather helped me out in driving my car so that I could really enjoy the trip.   Missionary Grace A. Lee and I I have experienced the joy in 3 John 4, "I have no greater joy than to hear  that my children are walking in the truth."  and we felt 10 years younger!!  Thank God! Thank all servants of God who helped us in every way.

Tiffany Shih, senior at U of I

I joined the group in Arizona three days after the trip started. Personally I had very high expectations for Grand Canyon but quickly realized that when traveling with a large group, plans are certain to go awry. It was really encouraging though to see how everyone was able to roll with the punches and enjoy the time we had there. The biggest challenge was moving the group from location to location...getting people packed in the morning, gathering everyone from the rest stops etc. but we were able to all make it safely back to Champaign by God’s grace. The stops along the way back to IL were definitely worth it, even when at times we just wanted to keep driving to make it back to school. We were truly blessed on this trip and I am so thankful for the Lord’s guiding hand as we made the journey. One suggesting perhaps for the next trip would be to pick a location where we are able to explore or stay for more then one night, especially if we make the trip to that specific destination. For example, if the next trip is to Toronto, it would be nice to not drive for X amount of days just to see the city for one day..

Paul Timlin, junior at U of I

This trip was mind blowing. Seeing God’s creation was breathtaking, but the relationships and friendships strengthened through this trip was my favorite part of the trip. From all the laughs shared in “The Whip” to the near death experience of hiking down the Grand Canyon through 2 and a half miles of ice, I will never forget this trip. I loved spending sevens days with my brothers Moses, Sammy, Peter, Jerry and Joseph. Teasing the Lee girls and listening to Miriam’s beautiful singing voice, and also making friends with Tiff, Jing Jing and Snow, are all memories that I will cherish. As Dr. Sam constantly said, God really blessed this trip by giving me the ability to make wake up at 6 in the morning every morning. Praise God and thank you to all of our supporters for making this possible. 

Snow Xue Wang, junior at U of I

I joined the trip from the very beginning. Initially, I was really worried for this amount of people traveling together for such a long period. However, through God’s mercy and grace we stayed as a friendly union and all came back safe and sound! I was amazed by how congenial and approachable everybody was; fascinated by the scenario of Grand Canyon, the Garden of God, and even the sky and things along the highway; and revitalized by the Luke 15 daily Bible devotions. One suggestion for the future is: we could research more ahead about our route so that we could plan to visit more places as the rest. (As how we visited the Great Sand Dune and Saint Louis)  

Jeremiah Cowen, Junior at U of I

To write about all of the amazing experiences from this trip would take a whole book to write, but there are two things I am most thankful for. Driving in a 15-passenger van for quite a few days allowed me to spend quality time with many of those who came along on this trip. I deeply appreciate all of the special conversations I was able to have with my friends. Secondly, going to the Sand Dunes in Colorado was an unforgettable experience. The beauty of the Grand Canyon and all the amazing places we went to opened my eyes to the beauty of the Nation I live in and really gave me the energy and excitement to finish this semester well. I’m so thankful for all those that made this trip possible and recommend the trip to all!

Moses Timlin, UIC Junior

 This trip was nothing short of magnificent. Getting to see God’s majesty through creation and interacting with fellow young Christians was invaluable. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet new people on the trip. The diversity of our both our travels and attendees made for good and lively conversation. Never thought tracking around the Southwest in such a short amount of time would be such fun. Really thankful to have been given the opportunity to attend the with such a bright group of people. Very thankful to God for allowing us this vacation and pleasure.

Mary Cowen, Biblical counselor

It was a great opportunity to see God’s creation. It was very adventurous for us, walking around the rim of the Grand Canyon, for some going down deeper, driving the mountainside, walking/climbing the sand dune. Personally, it  was great for me to see different parts of America:mountains, deserts, rocky ground, forests, the Grand Canyon. I thought about our life journey which includes many different paths like that. It was great to see young people to take leadership, praying, caring and working hard during the trip. I really enjoyed Lk 15 devotion hours,

getting deeper, higher in the love of God. It was great to meet the friends/coworkers in Christ. And I thank God for their hospitality. I am grateful that I could be with all my children and do something adventurous together. . It was good experience for my homestay kids also. I thank God for all the leaders who worked hard and supported this trip.

Sam, campus pastor

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found Lk 15:32

It was a long and long drive. It was tiring but refreshing at the same time.

How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters  drive together in unity.  (based on Psalm 133:1)

Stepahen Kim at Colorado Spring, CO

It was good to see so many different people traveling together (young and old, and different races and different gender)  As we know we are University Bible Fellowship.

I was happy to see that we could  do meditation on LK 15 each day by breaking into several groups and do fellowship in Jesus. The leaders led  groups well.

Thank God for bringing us back safe.  No one got sick and no accidents even though we had  many accident prone young and old people.  Happy to see that many people worked hard to make this thing enjoyable. Happy to find the van key  in the sand and could do skit on running father at the Air Force Academy chapel.

Personally I thank God that my mom traveled with us. She is old but still young at heart.  This time I could enjoy Grand Canyon more. The first time I visited was for my honeymoon. This time  Grace of Jesus got bigger. Grand Canyon got smaller.Of course I was happy to travel with my family and God’s family members. This is indeed God’s grace for us.

Sponsors:

This trip was made possible from  generous contributions  from

●     University of Illinois Student Organization Resource Fund (SORF)

●     Deeper Roots in Christ volunteers

●     Chicago UBF generously allowed  us to use a van

●     Kansas UBF and Colorado Spring UBF hosted for lodging and meals. Their whole hearted welcome and service moved many of us.

●     UIC Deeper Roots in Christ sent two drivers: Peter Cowen and Moses Timlin

●     Northwestern UBF sent us one pretty yet intelligent Northwestern student

●     Ryerson UBF, Canada

●     Mary Cowen Home stay business

In addition, several individuals contributed including

●     Dr. Mark and Anna Yang

●     Grace A Lee

●     Abe Song from Moscow, Russia

●     The Cooks served us as guides at Flagstaff and at Grand Canyon.

●     Dr. Gideon Bahn

●     Young and Curie Lee