This evening, I feel absolutely in love with Jesus. Words cannot express it. I was awoken by Pastor Danny's salvation message yesterday and the Night of Worship last night. I have a hunger for God's Word now. I read Galatians today, and I encourage all of you to read it as well.
I worked today, and I went to Del Tech to sign up for classes. I have been so happy and smiling to everyone and I feel very confident! I want to tell the Kainos family that I love you all. Steve, Chelsea, and Jon, I admire you so much. It can be hard to say this in person, so this is how I feel.
Friends and strangers, I hope that all of you will accept Jesus as your Savior. None of us are promised tomorrow. Understand that if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, believe that He died for your sins, and accept Him as your Savior, you will spend eternity with Him in Paradise. He will wipe away all tears from your eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. This is in the book of Revelation. This is the Truth. "Come, whoever is thirsty; accept the water of life as a gift, whoever wants it." I want to spend eternity with all of my friends. I do not want anyone to be left out.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Local man rides bike across America
On June 4, Shawn Yoder embarked on a bike ride across America with his cousins Bruce and Evie Yoder. Their three-month long adventure took them from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Ore.
Shawn, 25, of Cannon, is a graduate of Greenwood Mennonite School who has a degree in biblical studies from Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa, Ga. He works for Sam Yoder & Son in Greenwood. “We wanted to do something fun,” he said of the motivation for the trip. “Bruce’s and Evie’s cousins had done a similar trip a couple of years before.”
To kick off the trip, their fathers, Curtis and Ronnie Yoder, drove them up to Portland, Maine. They left Portland, having done little training beforehand. “The first part of the trip was hard,” said Shawn. “It wasn’t until a month into it that I felt like I was in good shape.” At the start of the trip they traveled 50-60 miles per day, but later on in the trip they went 70-80 miles per day. On one particular day they traveled 167 miles, because it was a barren area without any good campsites.
They carried cycling maps with them and combined some different bike routes. Most days started at around 7 a.m. and they rode until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. They spent their nights at campgrounds, where they cooked food. Breakfast usually consisted of oatmeal and granola bars at the campsite. For lunch they would pull over and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then, they ate dinner at the next campsite. They usually bought food for dinner at the local grocery store. They ate a lot of bananas, nectarines, rice and beans, veggie wraps, sandwiches, tuna wraps, and ice cream cones.
From Maine, they went to Buffalo, N.Y., and Niagara Falls. As they made their way across the country, they visited Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park, which Shawn said was the highlight of the trip. In Anacortes, Wash., they finally saw the Pacific Ocean.
“I ran in the water,” said Shawn. The cyclists put their front tires in the water and took a picture. Their trip wasn’t yet finished, however. From there, they went down to Portland, Ore.
“We hung out in the city for a while,” said Shawn. “Portland is good, especially if you’re a cyclist.” It was in Portland that a family took them into their home. Then, some relatives from Salem, Ore., came and picked them up and took them to Salem. The entire journey concluded after a train ride home from Portland to Washington, D.C. Altogether, the trip totaled 5,000 miles, and they crossed 15 states and one Canadian province. By the end, Shawn and Bruce had shaggy beards.
They read a lot of books during the trip. Shawn mostly read novels, including some classics. One book that Shawn read, The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, was a tedious read, he said.
The trip wasn’t without its fair share of problems. “Some days it rained and poured and was miserably cold,” said Shawn. “Riding in the rain wasn’t much fun.” Also, the Midwest was very hot and windy, and they stopped riding around noon during those days. The Appalachian Mountains were very steep. Evie’s bike had a lot of broken spokes, and the riders had a lot of flat tires.
For Shawn, the good outweighed the bad. “I liked being able to get away from everything and just relax,” he said. “Everything was beautiful in its own way. You do gain a great appreciation for nature.” He enjoyed being on a bike rather than being in a car, because “you’re out in it. You just feel more connected to everything.” Shawn said that it was nice to be able to talk to people. “People would come up all the time and talk to us. Everybody was really friendly with us.”
“When I think about this trip I don't think of it as a difficult physical task,” Shawn said. “After the first month or so of getting in shape it really wasn't too bad and I really think almost anyone could physically do it. But more so I think of it as a great privilege to be able to have the time and be in the position to be able to go on an adventure like this. It really was an amazing summer, one that I'm sure I will always look back on as one of the best things I ever did.”
Shawn has advice for anyone planning a similar trip. “Don’t worry so much beforehand,” he said. “Don’t plan it out too far ahead of time. Just do it.” He recommends getting a touring bike, and carrying a couple of extra bike tubes, a patch kit, and spare tires. Shawn rode on a Novara Randonee touring bike, which is made by REI. It has 27 speeds.
Shawn is getting married soon to Kaylene Myers of Oil City, Pa. Evie lives in Harrisonburg, Va. Bruce is working for Air Serv International as a humanitarian aid pilot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To learn more about the trip, and look at the photo album, visit the blog at www.pedal-to-portland.blogspot.com/.
Shawn, 25, of Cannon, is a graduate of Greenwood Mennonite School who has a degree in biblical studies from Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa, Ga. He works for Sam Yoder & Son in Greenwood. “We wanted to do something fun,” he said of the motivation for the trip. “Bruce’s and Evie’s cousins had done a similar trip a couple of years before.”
To kick off the trip, their fathers, Curtis and Ronnie Yoder, drove them up to Portland, Maine. They left Portland, having done little training beforehand. “The first part of the trip was hard,” said Shawn. “It wasn’t until a month into it that I felt like I was in good shape.” At the start of the trip they traveled 50-60 miles per day, but later on in the trip they went 70-80 miles per day. On one particular day they traveled 167 miles, because it was a barren area without any good campsites.
They carried cycling maps with them and combined some different bike routes. Most days started at around 7 a.m. and they rode until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. They spent their nights at campgrounds, where they cooked food. Breakfast usually consisted of oatmeal and granola bars at the campsite. For lunch they would pull over and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then, they ate dinner at the next campsite. They usually bought food for dinner at the local grocery store. They ate a lot of bananas, nectarines, rice and beans, veggie wraps, sandwiches, tuna wraps, and ice cream cones.
From Maine, they went to Buffalo, N.Y., and Niagara Falls. As they made their way across the country, they visited Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park, which Shawn said was the highlight of the trip. In Anacortes, Wash., they finally saw the Pacific Ocean.
“I ran in the water,” said Shawn. The cyclists put their front tires in the water and took a picture. Their trip wasn’t yet finished, however. From there, they went down to Portland, Ore.
“We hung out in the city for a while,” said Shawn. “Portland is good, especially if you’re a cyclist.” It was in Portland that a family took them into their home. Then, some relatives from Salem, Ore., came and picked them up and took them to Salem. The entire journey concluded after a train ride home from Portland to Washington, D.C. Altogether, the trip totaled 5,000 miles, and they crossed 15 states and one Canadian province. By the end, Shawn and Bruce had shaggy beards.
They read a lot of books during the trip. Shawn mostly read novels, including some classics. One book that Shawn read, The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, was a tedious read, he said.
The trip wasn’t without its fair share of problems. “Some days it rained and poured and was miserably cold,” said Shawn. “Riding in the rain wasn’t much fun.” Also, the Midwest was very hot and windy, and they stopped riding around noon during those days. The Appalachian Mountains were very steep. Evie’s bike had a lot of broken spokes, and the riders had a lot of flat tires.
For Shawn, the good outweighed the bad. “I liked being able to get away from everything and just relax,” he said. “Everything was beautiful in its own way. You do gain a great appreciation for nature.” He enjoyed being on a bike rather than being in a car, because “you’re out in it. You just feel more connected to everything.” Shawn said that it was nice to be able to talk to people. “People would come up all the time and talk to us. Everybody was really friendly with us.”
“When I think about this trip I don't think of it as a difficult physical task,” Shawn said. “After the first month or so of getting in shape it really wasn't too bad and I really think almost anyone could physically do it. But more so I think of it as a great privilege to be able to have the time and be in the position to be able to go on an adventure like this. It really was an amazing summer, one that I'm sure I will always look back on as one of the best things I ever did.”
Shawn has advice for anyone planning a similar trip. “Don’t worry so much beforehand,” he said. “Don’t plan it out too far ahead of time. Just do it.” He recommends getting a touring bike, and carrying a couple of extra bike tubes, a patch kit, and spare tires. Shawn rode on a Novara Randonee touring bike, which is made by REI. It has 27 speeds.
Shawn is getting married soon to Kaylene Myers of Oil City, Pa. Evie lives in Harrisonburg, Va. Bruce is working for Air Serv International as a humanitarian aid pilot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To learn more about the trip, and look at the photo album, visit the blog at www.pedal-to-portland.blogspot.com/.
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