Update + Phoenix Invite

So turns out, when you live life in quarantine, there isn't much to post about:)

Still here, still alive. Finals are finished (yay!!) and I'm looking forward to starting my internship. I was scheduled to start June 1, but it's been pushed back to June 15 because of the corona virus. So....yeah. I'm definitely looking for something to do over the next three weeks.

So rather than blog about my exciting quarantine life, I thought I'd throwback to January when I went to Phoenix invite.

It took some convincing, but I got Eric on board and we decided to go. His grandparents winter in Phoenix, so we stayed with them and Neil picked us up from the airport.

We flew out of a tiny little airport near St. Louis (Belleville - seriously, I could've ran around the entire building in less than five minutes). Our flight left right before a huge storm blew in, so we got out just in time.

We arrived mid-afternoon at Mesa-Gateway airport and headed to Eric's grandparents. After enjoying some snacks and a restful afternoon, we headed to the elder's house for supper, speaker, and singing.

Singing around the fire

Saturday morning we met at the church and went to the Midwest Food Bank to work. In between pasting labels on plastic bags, we had some good conversations and made new friends. 

From there, we headed to a park to eat lunch. Seriously, when you've left the dead of winter back home, sitting outside in the sun was AMAZING. 

Then it was back on the road and we headed out into the desert to do some hiking. Note that hiking in Arizona is kind of the best thing ever because you don't sweat. We hiked for a good portion of the afternoon, and it's really nice not to be drenched in sweat.

Gorgeous desert hills 

We headed back to the fellowship hall for supper and our evening speaker. Bro. Rick Kaisner from Chicago was with us for the weekend and spoke on the theme of God's Creativity. The first night was more focused on God's amazing creation/creativity, and the second night focused on how we as His creation are to be creative. It was an interesting concept that I hadn't really considered before. 

Sunday was church. I had never been to Phoenix church before and it was a neat experience. In the afternoon, several brothers and sisters from the church had a panel discussion with the young group about creativity. It was a unique way to discuss the topic and very interesting! 

The crew from Washington that went:) 

Kind of a bad picture in terms of lighting, but...

After church, Eric and I spent the afternoon playing pickle ball with his grandparents and swimming at their condo pool. At one point during the pickle ball, John Lehman joined me, Eric, and Neil in a game of pickle ball. It was so much fun - he is hilarious and poked fun at our team the whole time. 

In the evening, we went back to church for supper. They brought the tables and chairs outside in the parking lot and we enjoyed a beautiful Arizona evening and catered tacos (which were amazing). 

After supper, we went to someone's house for a final singing/goodbyes. Then it was back to Eric's grandparents. Jan E. came over for games and snacks. Needless to say, it was quite an enjoyable evening. 

I think this is my favorite picture from the trip. 

The next day, we left merrily for the airport at 4:30 am. And arrived back home, safe and sound, to the Midwest arctic circle known as Illinois:) 

Anyway, it was a great trip:) 

In Christ,

Kyle