Blog post by Avien

Before coming on this trip, I sat down and thought to myself "do I really want to go to Montana". As we touched down in Montana I looked around and saw nothing but mountains and dirt. My mood completely changed. From the airport we boarded a little bus and headed straight for Browning, the town that we are  staying in. After a tiring two hour bus ride to the bunkhouse we got our bags and settled in. Mr. McVey then told us we were going to be having a meeting with Brother Dale. My first reaction was "there is no way I'm going to be able to sit in this meeting after a long exhausting flight!" We headed over to the brothers residence for dinner and then he spoke to us about what the whole purpose of the trip was. After we finished the meeting, we hung out for a little and immediately rushed into bunks to get ready for a day that was arguably the worst day of the trip.

The next morning came and I was suffering from jet lag and I was the last one to wake up. Everyone  ate breakfast, got dressed and headed straight for the bus. When we arrived to the school Mr. McVey took a look at me and saw the angst look on my face, and said to me "you'll be fine Avien". I didn't bother to respond or look at him, I just kept my head down and wished 4:30 to come. After walking into the school and getting settled in, I walked over to the gymnasium where a bunch of the kids would be playing basketball. I entered the gym looked around and said to myself "wow what a tiny gym I guess I should probably make the best of what I have". I quickly hopped on a team with one of the kids, and off we went with our pick up game.  Knowing the type of person I am, I got bored quickly and walked over to the side where a couple of my fellow classmates were hanging out. Sitting on the side chatting with my friend Ian, he decided to make a bet with me, that was probably going to make me the most loved kid out of everyone on the mission trip. The bet was whether I could dunk the ball or not. I grabbed a ball and told everyone to clear the way. "Bam" I flushed it coming down from the rim all I could hear was a bunch of little kids screaming my name, boy did I feel like a celebrity! We then stood in line to greet each other and off our way we went to our classrooms. After sitting down in the classroom for a couple of hours, I didn't think any of these kids were going to amount to anything in their lives. What a long day it was. The day had finally finished, we got on the bus and were on our way back home. On the way home I immediately started to explain to everyone about how disruptive these kids were and not knowing if I was going to be able to finish this trip in one piece. We got back to the bunkhouse, I was so annoyed and tired I didn't want to deal with anyone. But everyone wanted to go explore so I just decided to tag along. We went to the historical buffalo jumps. As we were climbing up the mountains a mysterious man stopped up and told us to come back down because we were on private property. Walking down I totally thought to myself and said "wow this guy is a total jerk". When we finally got to him he decided to give us a tour of the mountain tops where the buffalo jumps took place. Walking up the mountain he introduced himself to us, his name was Marvin. In a quick response we all introduced ourselves to him. We finally got to the top of the mountain and my whole entire mood changed. I was so astounded by the view, my first reaction was to strike a pose and snap pictures. Boy did we have a blast up there from that moment on I thought, maybe Montana isn't so bad after all. When we were finished with the buffalo jumps I rushed back home with the group and into the shower I went and settled for the night. After dinner we sat around the table and wrote in our journals. I then again discussed about how horrible my first day was. We finished up our journals and off to bed we went.

The next morning I felt much better about the day, but only because it was a shorter day. When we got to school and got settled all the kids seemed much better than the first day. We did some activities and I got to help some kids out with their work. Right then and there I made a couple new buddies that were going to change my experience of the whole entire trip. While working with the kids I created such a great bond with them, even the kids that I didn't get a chance to work with in the other classes still loved having me around to play games and make jokes with. When it was time for us to leave I quickly grabbed my things and headed for the bus. The group and I were headed to  Glacier National Park. The park was such a great experience it was something so different but yet so beautiful. I had never seen anything like it before. We were given a tour by one of the rangers and she did such a great job explaining the history about the park and where it leads to. After the hike we then drove a couple more miles to a new destination where we would see a black bear. Everyone was so astounded to the point they were even taking selfies with the bear. When the day was finally over, my whole perspective of Montana and the mission trip changed. I was so excited about the day I had that I even asked Mr. McVey to talk to Mr. Kavanagh and see if he would consider letting us extend the trip. As of  right now this trip is something that I wouldn't trade any other experience in my high school career for.

Avien Peah