A nice warm house, a home cooked meal, and a warm shower, these are the things that we dream about on the river. Everyday is an adventure on the river, and when we have a home to stay in it is such a blessing.
Today, we arrived in Dubuque, Iowa, and are staying at Dick and Leon Burgeson's home. It was so good to shower, especially because we all were beginning to smell like the river. We look forward to the beds that we have to sleep on tonight.
This week, we have had wonderful campsites. The weather has held up, we've only had some rain. There were some highlights to the week. First of all, on Monday, we slept on a sandy beach in La Crosse, MN. While we were there it was raining the whole time, which was kind of depressing. However, while we were there a guy stopped in his car and came up to us and gave us a bag of tabacco and 29 cents and said "I would give you more, but that's all I got." I know what you're thinking, don't worry, I didn't smoke any of the tabacco (Tim-who's on contract and got in trouble last year for smoking hooka in Turkey). This was really encouraging, just to see some love poured out on us during this time.
Another highlight of the week was Justin's mishap. Following the link to hear the story.
Our last highlight that we'll share with you is another Wisconsin story. Wisconsin has not been very good to us on this trip (satan camps in Wisconsin). We were floating along Prarie du Chen at the end of Thursday and we were looking for a place to camp. As we went by it appeared to be an old ghost town. There were only two guys on the whole pier along the city. So Justin asked the first where we could camp. The man responded by shouting gibberish and pointing down the river. Justin was severly confused, so he just let the river take him away. Justin asked the other man the same question, and this one responded "Anywhere, you can camp anywhere." This allaby would not have worked if a policeman would have asked us why we were camping in the train station. Overall, Prarie du Chen was the most eerie city we've been through.
We are out of Wisconsin now and we've moved onto Illinois! We'll be in Savannah, IL this weekend speaking at a church there. Thank you for your prayers and comments, we truly appreciate them as they encourage us on our journey.
Tim
"Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice role on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing steam."-Amos 5:23-24
7/9 ARRIVED in New Orleans! 1704 Miles paddled downstream to fight the upstream battle against the injustice of human trafficking.
7/9 ARRIVED in New Orleans! 1704 Miles paddled downstream to fight the upstream battle against the injustice of human trafficking.
Down the River with the Upstream Team
The Big Picture
THE PROBLEM
Everyday we go about our
lives either unaware of social injustice in our world or lacking in compassion
for them. There exists in our world a multitude of injustices, not the least
which, is human sex trafficking. The facts are:
- Human trafficking is the world’s third largest criminal enterprise, after drugs and weapons.
- Worldwide, there are nearly two million
children in the commercial sex trade.
- There are an estimated 600,000 to
800,000 children, women and men trafficked across international borders
annually.
- Approximately 80 percent of human
trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors.
- Sex trafficking is an engine of the
global AIDS epidemic.
Throughout the
world oppressors choose to indulge their selfish and brutal urges and dominate
the defenseless. The world is not going to simply change on its own.
THE PLAN
As a trio, we are kayaking down the Mississippi River, starting in
The International Justice Mission (IJM) is an organization that rescues
victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression. They are
extremely active in the fight against sex trafficking. Their strategy is
four-fold:
- Victim Relief- Rescuing sex trafficking victims
- Perpetrator Accountability- Prosecuting those responsible
- Victim Aftercare- Facilitating the
recovery of victims and providing alternate means of income.
- Structural Prevention- Promoting functioning public justice
systems.
We have chosen to partner with IJM because we believe and support the
work they do in the battle against sex trafficking.
SUPPORT
There are several ways to support our cause by giving to the
International Justice Mission:
- Online donations can be made to the IJM website.
Be sure to write "Upstream
- Checks can be made out to "CBU" and sent to: ATTN: ISP - Box #1146 California Baptist University, 8432 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, CA 92504 Write "Upstream Battle" in the Comment Line of the check
CONTACT
If you have any questions, comments or ideas, please email us at: anupstreambattle@gmail.com
Friday, May 23, 2008
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3 comments:
Thanks so much for the update, Tim. Great stories!
~Ethan's mom
yay illinois
Hey guys,
Hope you are safe and warm. We really enjoyed your visit at Common Ground Fellowship this weekend. We are tracking you from the big metropolis of Savanna Il. Our church associations are watching for you too, We are all praying for you,Take care and call your mom's! Your church family at Common Ground Fellowship
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