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Here are some shots of the group in transit. We flew from K.C. to Denver, then from Denver on to Portland, OR, where we rented five vans and drove about three hours north and east to the reservation.
We stopped by beautiful Multnomah Falls, a 611-foot waterfall in Oregon, on the way to the reservation on Saturday, July 1. Most everybody hiked to the top.
First thing in the morning, we headed for the work sites. Painting, plumbing, carpentry, roofing, and a lot of sweating. We worked on four different homes during the week we were there, and met some fantastic people. These pictures aren't us looking (or feeling) our best, necessarily, but it was a good kind of hurt.
Our afternoons were spent in White Swan, Washington, a town of about 3,500 on the reservation. We set up our VBS on a concrete slab behind some homes in a neighborhood called Totus Park. The week started slow due to the July 4th holiday, but the kids came. We're pretty sure we had even more fun than they did.
On our day off, we piled into the vans and headed out for Mount Ranier. Conventional wisdom in the area goes like so, "If you're wondering if it's Mount Ranier, it's not." When we got to the base of it, we understood. So much glory in one place.
Traveling back to the reservation from Ranier, our group of vans was caught in a rockslide. We ran into a significant rain/hail storm shortly after we headed back. Several people remember commenting on the "waterfalls" coming down off the high rock walls that had been carved into the side of the mountain to make room for the road. In less time than it took to realize that the water was really run-off from the storm with no place else to go, the mountain started to crumble down around us. The head van (a Sacred Road vehicle with several Oak Hills people in it) was hit the hardest - 15 or so direct hits with rocks the size of basketballs. It's truly not an exaggeration at all to say that it could have been very serious. Thanks to all who prayed - it worked!
In no particular order, here are some various shots of people taken during the week.
Likewise, some miscellaneous places.
Some stuff that didn't fit anywhere else.
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