Five days after we got back from our Asia tour, we were flying across the world yet again for a project in Africa, but flying to South Africa felt like a short travel day compared to Asia! We spent the night in a hotel in Johannesburg and then had a one-hour flight the next morning to our final destination, Gaborone, Botswana.
Botswana
Out of all the places we’ve traveled, the culture in Botswana is very memorable. Like in most African countries, no one is in a rush, but it’s more than that in Botswana. We quickly learned you can’t approach anyone with a simple question like “where is the bathroom?” without first saying hello and asking how the person, a complete stranger, is doing. If you forget and simply ask your question, your question is ignored and they instead reply, “hello, how are you?” For Americans, this is very hard to get used to, but by the end of our time there, we really began to appreciate what it does. For one, it makes you think outwardly rather than being consumed with your needs, and secondly, it helps you build relationships and value everyone in your path.
Our work in Botswana was documenting a group of 17 college students on their spring break who, rather than taking a cruise to Cancún or something along those lines, decided to spend their break serving on a mission trip in Africa. They were busy too! They put on a Vacation Bible School program for young kids, helped lead a youth group for high schoolers, hosted an evening event for young adults, visited a college campus to engage with students their own age, and did street evangelism sharing the good news of Jesus. It was very cool to see college students passionate about sharing their faith, but it was also exciting to see the full-time ministry they were serving with, which is all through a local Baptist church in Gaborone. In the vibrant church, kids and youth ministries abound and a full-fledged seminary school equips nationals to be pastors and plant churches. Check out the videos below about the ministry efforts in Gaborone as well as the experience of the college students’ mission trip.
The day after we got back from Africa, we were traveling again for filming in Pinehurst, ironically to document a presentation about Africa hosted by a doctor who hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with a bunch of kidney donors to raise awareness about kidney donation. If you’re interested in his experience or kidney donation, watch the presentation here. From Pinehurst, we went to Boone for what is becoming a new tradition for us, attending the Banff Mountain Film Festival with Cassie’s sister’s family and friends. It was an amazing chance for us to sit back and enjoy some incredible filmmaking, rather than filming and producing ourselves, and get some new inspiration.
On a side note, with the recent devastation from Hurricane Helene, we wanted to mention the fact that despite extreme flooding, high winds, mudslides, and sink holes, Cassie’s sister’s family in Boone, NC is safe and did not suffer damages to their home. Their neighborhood’s road was completely taken out by a mudslide (click here to see a photo our niece took of their road, which was published by their local newspaper). Their water was restored after a couple days, but it is contaminated by raw sewage from water main breaks. Even without power, they thankfully have a gas stove so have been able to boil the contaminated water before consumption. Even though her immediate family was incredibly fortunate, so much of their community and the rest of Western North Carolina has experienced devastation like they’ve never seen before, including a cousin who lost their house all together. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Cassie’s sister is volunteering with Samaritan’s Purse, an amazing nonprofit organization that helps meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine all over the world, but happens to be headquartered right there in Boone, NC. Hundreds of community members volunteered with Samaritan’s Purse the first day they opened up their relief efforts, and there is much work to be done. If you would like to support their hurricane relief efforts, click here to donate or volunteer.
Austin, TX
In April, we took a personal trip with friends to experience the solar eclipse in Lago Vista, Texas, just outside of Austin. This was our second solar eclipse in the path of totality, an incredibly beautiful and humbling experience and one in which we will never forget. As we removed our solar glasses and stared straight at the sun for nearly FOUR minutes, we were awestruck at the intricate design of our beautiful planet and how it fits into the entire universe, reflecting the complexity and creativity of our Creator.
Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
We made a day trip into Austin proper as well, taking a picnic-hike to see the skyline, visiting botanical gardens, mural hopping and vegan dining. The grand finale was watching the world’s largest urban bat colony take to the sky just after sunset, thousands at a time silently flying from their home under a bridge.
After a much-needed chunk of time editing back home, we prepared to leave for more than a month for several projects and side trips. We were heading to New England to film in New Bedford, MA, but first we seized the opportunity of being that far north to visit Jordan’s brother and his girlfriend (and their Bassett hound, Millie) in Maine. We all camped for a few days in southern Maine, went on many hiking excursions, explored on our own in Acadia National Park, and did some manual labor to help out in their garden as spring had finally sprung.
Maine
Massachusetts
After a week in Maine, we transitioned to New Bedford and began documenting the story of a new church plant reaching an extremely secular culture, and the work of a team that came from Providence Church in North Carolina to help the local church with construction projects. God is moving mightily through all of these efforts, and you can check out the videos we produced from the trip below.
We went straight from the docks of New Bedford to the war-torn country of Ukraine. Well, not exactly straight because there are no flights flying to Ukraine because of the war. We flew from Boston to Slovakia, met a local pastor who drove us two hours to the border of Ukraine, and then rented a car to drive the rest of the way to our final destination of Lviv.
Slovakia to Ukraine
During the four-hour drive from the Slovakian border, Ukraine didn’t seem very populated. There were gorgeous mountains and lush green landscapes with a few houses here and there that looked to be abandoned. We didn’t see any people, not a single one. Later, we were told that it is a “wilderness area” where men who are seen can be “caught” by the government and immediately sent to the front lines. Arriving in Lviv was like coming out of a forest and finding yourself in a very pretty European city, with ornate architecture, bustling cobblestone streets and bright yellow trolleys zipping around. But under the surface, we began noticing things: churches with stained glass windows boarded up to protect them in case of attacks; the mall’s underground parking garage repurposed as a “temporary shelter” for when air horns go off; minimal lighting inside the mall and a motionless escalator; blackouts at our boutique hotel’s restaurant. We were told the energy cuts were to conserve energy since Russia had damaged 80% of their power plants. Since there are eight hours of power shedding daily, businesses remain open only with the help of generators.
We were in Ukraine to document the ministry of Disciples Church, a local church in Lviv that has hosted more than 6,000 people who have been displaced by the war, fleeing from shooting and bombing in the eastern part of the country to areas like Lviv, further from the front lines. Disciples Church has not only taken people in and provided beds and food, but it has built additions onto the church building to create temporary apartments for families, provided job placement help, and offered trauma counseling not only for adults but also for kids, who they have also been educating and entertaining through various kids programs. They recognize that kids are the ones who suffer the most during times of conflict, missing out on school and social connection with other kids, not to mention the emotional shock that comes with evacuating your home, not knowing if or when you will return. Disciples Church has been standing in the gap, showing the love of Christ to these lovely people experiencing hardship, and it was an honor to get to capture some of it. Check out the video below about just one of those families being helped, and the way in which Providence Church has partnered with the church to bring hope and healing in Ukraine.
After such a heavy project in Ukraine, it was nice that we had scheduled some personal time for side trips to Scotland and Ireland before heading back home. In Scotland, we spent six days in a campervan and drove around the highlands, hiking through some of the most beautiful landscapes we have ever seen (and that is saying a lot!).
Edinburgh, Scotland
The rest of Scotland (including the Isle of Skye)
Ireland
A hop, skip and a jump later, we arrived in Ireland. We decided we’d probably be ready to sleep in real beds at this point, so we rented a car and booked rooms in B&B’s along our planned route for our weeklong adventure. After the stunning scenery in Scotland, Ireland was somewhat understated, but still beautiful. We did more driving than hiking, and instead of cooking our dehydrated meals like in Scotland, we ate vegan meals in warm pubs and listened to music, shoulder to shoulder with the locals. We toured the interactive seven-story Guinness Storehouse in Dublin (with non-alcoholic stouts in the tasting room for Cassie) and the colorful town of Kinsale; we drove the Ring of Kerry and the narrow mountain pass Gap of Dunloe; we hiked along the edge of the iconic Cliffs of Moher and the otherworldly landscape of glacial-era limestone bedrock at The Burren. But our time in Ireland wasn’t strictly tourism, as we planned to visit some of Jordan’s distant cousins who actually still live in the farmhouse on the farm where his great-grandmother grew up. Meeting the Muggivans was comedic. Their thick Irish accents were hard to understand at times, but the hospitality of Tony and Mary was so apparent, from homemade scones and hot tea in their farmhouse to ice cream on a park bench on a hot day overlooking Lough Derg. Many people were swimming at the lake that day, but we took a motorboat ride to Inis Cealtra (Holy Island) where some of Jordan’s Irish relatives are buried. Despite always thinking of himself as being an ocean man, he learned he’s a lake guy too! Jordan discovered a lot about his Irish heritage, and was surprised to also learn more about his Native American grandfather, since he visited the Muggavins many times and was well-loved by Tony.