Saturday, April 25, 2009

240 Miles In....

Well - it's been a little while since hearing from Sonshine about her trail adventures!  Now it's time for the long awaited update! :)

Since last hearing from Sonshine - she seems to have had the opportunity to meet with various ministries on the trail and the people involved.  One of the new people she met with were Stephanie Strong who, along with Keith Ivey, lead up the North Georgia Resort Ministry (check it out at www.gmrm.org).  They were actually working with the Appalachian Trail Servants at Neel's Gap to help with feeding the hikers for 21 days.  It seems a little discouraging to hear that many hikers, while open to the services they are offering for free food, are not open to hearing about the Word.  In many cases, hikers have said to her that they will go so far as to refuse the help if they know that Christianity is involved.  Keep praying that the hearts of people will be open to God and His love!


From here she moved on - looking forward to reaching the Blueberry Patch hostel that was mentioned in the last post.  Unfortunately again, many hikers seem unwilling to take advantage of the services these stewards of Christ are offering because they do not want to be preached at.  It is discouraging to hear that people are so opposed to hearing about the Word or even accepting help from others just because they are Christians!


Eventually Sonshine made it to the Blueberry Patch Hostel which is run on donations by Gary and Linnie Poteat.  The hostel is actually their garage converted into a bunkhouse that can hold ~10 people.  They have several animals at the hostel - all with Biblical names which is pretty neat.  They have 2 donkeys they use as their main witnessing tool because of the cross that the donkeys have on their back.  While she was there, Gary took a few of them to town where she had the opportunity to connect with the world again using the Internet and eating at an all-you-can-eat restaurant.  Once she got back to the hostel, a few of them talked and planned the next few days of hiking together.  To her surprise, a hiker name Bones arrived at the hostel.  Bones had previously stated he wouldn't stay there because it was a Christian run place.  Sonshine asks for prayer for Bones and his salvation and for God to break his chains of addiction.  


Now hiking on...she's made it through Georgia and has entered North Carolina territory! :)  The NC entry is a little daunting and instead of a switchback trail - it went straight up about 2000 feet!  Talk about a hike! :-P  That night she actually spent at a motel in town.  Here she met a woman who is unfortunately getting a divorce after 63 years of marriage.  Sonshine asks for prayer for her as she is lonely and been through a life of abuse.  Sonshine was able to witness to her and share Christ's love with her.  She is currently looking for a home church to become a part of but is first planning on moving to FL.  


While in town she met with Craig and Suzy Miles who were offering breakfast at their church for hikers through the AT Servants organization.  They actually took Sonshine out for lunch where she was able to share with them the ministry that had brought her to AT and they further shared the ministry of ATservants.  Here she also met two other missionary hikers, Circuit Rider and Sherlock.  It is actually their 8th time hiking the trail!  You can check our their website at www.heartbeatat.com.  They are from Michigan and their church sends them to AT every year and were able to offer Sonshine some encouragement.  Here she also was led to pick up a book, Jesus Among Other Gods - The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message by Ravi Zacharias.  Here's the amazing part...later after lunch she met with a man, Larry, who was checking into the same motel and planning on staying in town for 6 months prospecting for gold.  Turns out - Larry was a Southern Baptist Minister who had converted to Muslim!  While talking with Larry, he tried to persuade her to believe they were both serving the same God and then Sonshine knew why she had picked up the book!  She offered the book to Larry and Sonshine is now praying that God will lead him to read it and would show Himself real to Larry!


The next 2 days of hiking Sonshine encountered severe thunderstorms, fog, freezing night, and crazy winds! Finally - one day they were blessed with their first sunny and dry day!  Prayer request - Sonshine's right ankle has been "acting up" - she had broken it back in 1991 but she still has some problems with it occasionally.  She asks that we pray for her physical strength.  


And here I see the first drawn "smile :) " in Sonshine's journal...she was able to attend Life Fellowship Baptist Church!  She was most blessed being able to worship with other believers!  Another praise is that Sonshine has met a hiking partner from Alabama!  They have been hiking together and will continue until Bama leaves the trail in VA.  God is Good....All The Time! :)


Keep praying for Sonshine as she continues hiking and meeting new people on the trail.  Don't forgot to check back for updates! :)


Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks....

Sonshine's blogger

Saturday, April 4, 2009

It begins...the first days...

Hello to all Sonshine followers. :)

I recently received our favorite hiker's first few journal entries. :)  It's amazing all the things that can happen in such a short period of time.  To start off...her first few days of hiking have been a challenge with the weather being full of rain and hiking up some strenuous mountains!  But our hiker endures and is pressing forward!   Here's a summary of what she wrote:

Sonshine's first night at Stover Creek Shelter was in the company of 7 other hikers ranging from Israel to Michigan, New Hampshire to Roanoke, VA.  It was a great time to get to know each other and stumble through finding water sources, locating bathrooms and decoding how bear cables work. ;)  After a fitful night of sleep, she was on the trail by 0930 the following morning.  The weather for the day was dominated by rain.  Apparently many hikers are finding that their rain gear and pack covers are not exactly water proof!  But praise God - her equipment is holding up well!  Most of the people she's passed on the trail are heading north as she is.  But there is the occasional family who are hiking for the day.  Everyone has been most friendly and eager to share their story...why they are on the trail and where they are headed.  

The second shelter she stayed at had considerably more people - a total of 30 between those in the shelter and those sleeping in their own tents...many of whom she had seen/met on the trail during the day.  Some of the groups are friends or family who are helping another hiker start off by hiking with them for the first week or two.  Most of them will be heading home while the main hiker will continue on.  At this shelter - she met a group who were complete strangers that decided to hike the trail together through a thru-hiker website!  What a way to get to know someone *real* quick! :)  She also met a group of 3 guys from Finland who are hiking the AT for a animal rights fundraising group and have already raised $15k for the cause!  

The nights seem to be perfect opportunities for her to spend lots of time in prayer over the trip.  Praying for other hikers and thanking God for His many promises!  It's good to hear Sonshine is remaining positive and praying everything with thanksgiving. ;) 

The next day of hiking was the most challenging so far...hiking up two mountains that were "ok."  Followed by Sassafrass Mtn...which took her 2 hrs to get up and over it! But after such a rough day - she spent her first night in a hostel.  God wanted her to rest well after such a hard day! :)  It's owned by a husband and wife, Josh and Leigh, who themselves have thru-hiked AT back in 2000.  They make themselves available to the hikers and offer shuttles to and from the trail, Walmart, grocery stores, outfitting stores, airports, etc.  Their hostel is a beautiful log cabin with a few rooms, bathrooms, laundry facilities, kitchen, computer (w/ internet!), tv's and games.  There were 22 people at the hostel that night and she spent the night on an air mattress but was happy to be able to use facilities!! :)  They even offered a hot breakfast full of fresh honey collected on the premises and eggs from their own chickens!   One person she met there was from Michigan and he was hiking the AT as a fundraiser for a non-profit he started to bring fresh water to Guatemala.  He went to Guatemala to take the first filter systems over a few months ago and has been raising funds since.   Incredible!  

Finally - Sonshine picked up her first mail drop!!  She sends her thanks to the Wibles! :)  While at the post office - she got to meet with some people who let her know about other ministries on AT!  The first she heard about is Appalachian Trail Servants who are serving meals for 21 days in Neels Gap to hikers.  She met with a pastor of AT Servants and got to hear about the challenge he felt from God to serve the hikers.  Also - she heard about a hostel called Blueberry Patch that is run by a Christian couple.  She is most eager to stop by when she gets there! :)

(** The following not specified by Sonshine but deduced from her entries **)
Prayer Requests:
* For the people she meets along the trail and the opportunity to share God's love.
* Sleeping - she's had a rough time sleeping at nights...sleeping for 10-15 minutes at a time and being awake for 20-30 minutes.
* Physical strength and endurance! :)
* Good weather

Praises:
* All the people she's met so far and hearing about their stories and reasons for hiking AT.
* Hearing about the other ministries on AT.
* Having good rain gear. :)
* Experiencing God in His greatest creations. 

Also:  I looked to see what I could find on the ministries she heard about.  I couldn't find any websites on Blueberry Patch.  But if you want to know more about AT Servants...check out their website at www.atservants.org.  

Keep checking back for more updates!
~ Sonshine's blogger