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

1 comment:

Jill Dykstra said...

Praise God, I will definitely be praying for Sonshine! I just got back from NC hiking a little bit off Blue Ridge and AT and fell in love once again with the mountains and came back home to FL convinced that I would make it a missions trip in 2010 to complete the Appalachian trail, awesome to hear someone's out there doing it for the benefit of others. God is smiling down right now :)Just remember where your strength comes from...May God bless you in your travels, keep you safe, fed and prepare the hearts of the many you will encounter and reach out to.

Jill