Day 7 (06/22/12)

Boy, what a breeze! We only had to ride 10.3 miles today, and we did it in 40 minutes. However, the short ride was not without excitement, complete with two flat tires and the pastor flying over his handlebars (yikes!). Another unique experience today was riding in a motorized vehicle, something he haven’t done all week. Mr. Miller, the engineer on the Amtrak train that we’ll take home, provided us with a 15 passenger van to drive to a nearby friend’s house and swim. We’re all feeling a bit tired (understatement of the century), and we’re feeling ready for that train ride home 🙂 Very few of us have even touched a razor this week, so we all look a little shaggy (hope you’re not reading this, Mom). 🙂 Tomorrow we plan on doing some evangelism in Albany, and maybe a little sight-seeing. We are currently staying at Heritage Baptist Church in Cohoes. But now that the formalities are over, it’s time to turn to our…(drum roll, please) COOL STORIES!!!

The Last of the Mohawks (almost): Riding a bike is always a dangerous thing for anyone, unless you’re a Mohawk Indian, because then you have experience from riding bareback on horses. But one Indian had a little trouble today. Pastor Folk (:) yes, he claims to be part Mohawk) was riding behind someone who made an abrupt stop and, thinking he was out on a horse, squeezed the FRONT brakes instead of the rear brakes. His bike stopped perfectly, but his body had other plans as it literally flew over the handlebars. He emerged unhurt (that old Indian toughness, you see) and was able to continue riding, but our belief in his ancestry has been severely damaged… 😉

The Ferrari Story: While on the road, we saw a Ferrari parked in a gas station. Not the most intriguing story of the day, but a rare occurrence nonetheless.

Chicken Fights and Chicken Nights: In the pool at Brad Barkowski’s uncle’s house, we had chicken fights. Allow me to explain: One man sits on the shoulders of another and fights an opponent in the same position. The first person to be knocked into the water loses. Several teams had brief dynasties, the most notable being; Nate Stephens and Caleb Lang, Brad Barkowski and Jesse Glushefski, and Pastor Folk and Jonathan Quatro. Overall, no one drowned, so the chicken fights were successful and fun. Strangely enough, we had chicken for dinner tonight… 🙂

After dinner we had a prayer meeting and Bible time, which was very good. We all shared from our hearts, and the Spirit of God was definitely present. We also call Mr. Sierk to wish him a happy birthday, and we purposefully sang the song off-key 🙂 He got a kick out of that! A special shout-out to Mr. Miller for helping us make arrangements to get home he truly is a selfless man and a giver. Well, tomorrow is the last day! Arrivederci!
-Jonathan Quatro, Blog Editor and Team Navigator
P.S. Please pray for me, as I had an asthma attack last night and am still getting my breath.