High School Youth Trip
2025 Youth Trip to North Carolina – Final Day
This blog – of our last day – was written by Molly McCue Here we are, the 5th day of our North Carolina disaster relief trip of 2025. Our last day at camp. Though the physical act of service wasn’t on the agenda for today, Sarah has talked with us about how rest is needed…
Read More2025 Youth Trip to North Carolina – Day 4
Today’s 2025 Travel Blog comes from Jen Diebling, the aunt of one of our travelers. As a reminder each teen traveled with a “serving companion”. More on that later. My name is Jen, and I’ve had the tremendous joy of joining the GS travelers. Immediately upon meeting the GS team I was enveloped in love.…
Read More2025 Youth Trip to North Carolina – Day 2-3
Days 2-3: Building Community at Camp & Service Projects By Andrea Frey & Julia Miller As we sit to reflect and write, it is late into the evening on our third full day. The opportunity to travel as a group of adults and teenagers together is full of unexpected joys. We’re filled with gratitude for…
Read More2025 Youth Trip to North Carolina – Day 1
Day 1: Our First Full Day By Charlie Sayre Our first full day began around 5:30 a.m. with our early risers, surprised to see it still pitch-black outside (the sun rises at 6:45 a.m. in Louisville), heading out for their morning runs and walks. While our early risers were out getting their exercise before the…
Read MorePrayer Partners Needed for Our Youth Travelers
Next month 38 High Schoolers and their parents will travel to North Carolina to partner with Lutheran Disaster Relief in their continued work to renew the spaces, stories, and lives of those affected by Hurrican Helene. We anticipate the trip will be challenging, surprising, educational, emotional and full of holy encounters – so we need…
Read More2023 High School Youth Trip – Saturday, August 12 – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Ben Johnson Thursday, August 10, 2023. We awake to an early morning with alarms set to 5:15 to embark on one last adventure and one last moment of stillness…a surreal sunrise at Sarah’s special spot. Some awake eager to get back home; others wishing for just one more day, one more fire pit, one more…
Read More2023 High School Trip Journal Friday, August 11 – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Collective Travel – by Kayley Rineck a short blog session about togetherness (and other things) Last night, after a joy-filled campfire and impromptu talent show, I said to the girls in my cabin, “I think I’ve laughed more this week than any other time in my life.” Traveling with a group offers many challenges, but…
Read More2023 High School Ministry Trip Journal – Wednesday, August 9 – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Today is Wednesday, August 9, 2023. Our day started off early, with a waking time of about 7:00. We were told by our boss, Sarah, to report to breakfast at 07:55. That part was a little rough today. Nonetheless, we all were fed and well by 8:30, just in time to report to Sammie for…
Read More2023 High School Trip Journal Tuesday, August 8 – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
From Berit Enstad: Day 3 Today started off with extremely sore muscles and very happy (mostly rested) souls. After a lovely night around the fire and a long day of walking from the day before, we were able to get some well needed rest. We started off with some breakfast sandwiches before we listened to…
Read More2023 High School Trip Journal | Monday, August 7
August 7th, the day started off with an awakening morning at camp where some people got some great sleep while others had the opposite. But no matter how good or bad people slept we were all ready to blast off the day. We started our morning with breakfast at Outlaw Ranch filled with amazing sausages,…
Read More2023 High School Trip Journal | Sunday, August 6
August 6th started out early with breakfast at the AmericInn and a checkout at 7:30 am. We hopped on the bus and started our trip to Badlands National Park. The bus ride was peaceful with few disruptions and a lot of sleeping. We drove into a new time zone and arrived at the park at…
Read MoreSeeking Reverence
Re-Discovering Stories of the Past This weekend 24 of Good Shepherd’s high school youth, along with four chaperones, are heading to Custer, SD – in the middle of the Black Hills – for a 5-day retreat where they will be able to fully unwind and do some much-needed self-reflection. While the youth at Good Shepherd…
Read MoreThe Dorm Day
Co-written by Nathan Fisher (senior), JJ Jensen-Moyer (junior) and Alex Seaborg (college freshman). The day began as we all expected. After a wake up call that most of us thought was far to early, we struggled our way out of bed and made our way to the Berea cafeteria. We were greeted by news of…
Read MoreMonday, July 25, 2022
By Ashlynn Caldwell | July 25, 2022 Today was another day of exploring Kentucky and meeting communities built around faith, history, and good people. This morning we started with a bus ride from Louisville to visit Camp Nelson near Nicolasvillle, KY. Camp Nelson is a Civil War camp that recruited soldiers, processed and stored supplies…
Read MoreOur First Day…
Started hot. Even in Madison at 7am as we gathered everyone together, it was already very warm. But we were ready, and the energy of those gathering was good. Plus, as Sarah reminded me, acclimating was necessary because it would only get warmer. We met our new bus driver, Jermaine, and were put at ease.…
Read More