It’s the eve of Kent State University’s Spring Break! I’m excited to help lead our church’s first-ever Spring Break trip to Youngstown. At the same time, this new direction has gotten me thinking about all the different Spring Break experiences I’ve had over the years.
Traveling with the church for Spring Break was not a big part of H2O Bowling Green culture back in the late-1990s and early 2000s (at least not so far as I can remember). Then, when we lived in Europe, it was pure coincidence that the Great Commission Europe Missionary Retreat happened to fall on our around the same time of the year. Still, it seems like there’s almost always been some kind of schedule disruption around the time of Elliot’s birthday (March 29th). Here’s a summary of various “Spring Break” destinations over the last 26 years:
- 1997: Fort Myers, Florida with Jason, Chad, and Jonas
- 2003: GCE Missionary Retreat in Hungary
- 2004: GCE Missionary Retreat in Hungary
- 2005: GCE Missionary Retreat in Hungary
- 2006: GCE Missionary Retreat in Hungary
- 2007: GCE Missionary Retreat in Slovenia
- 2008: GCE Missionary Retreat in Slovenia
- 2009: GCE Missionary Retreat in Slovenia (plus a side trip to Croatia)
- 2010: GCE Missionary Retreat in Slovenia (plus a side trip to Croatia)
- 2011: GCE Missionary Retreat in Greece
- 2012: GCE Missionary Retreat in Greece
- 2013: H2O Team to the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Groningen)
- 2014: H2O Team to Columbiana County
- 2015: Indiana Dunes and Chicago with Elliot (Sabbatical + Elliot’s 13th Birthday)
- 2016: H2O Team to Columbiana County
- 2017: H2O Team to Orlando, Florida
- 2018: H2O Retreat to the Great Smoky Mountains
- 2019: Ministry Team Development in Richland County
- 2020: H2O Team to Stockholm, Sweden (cancled by COVID)
- 2021: H2O Local Spring Break Experience in Kent (plus an H2O Retreat to the Great Smoky Mountains in May)
- 2022: H2O Retreat to the Great Smoky Mountains
- 2023: H2O Team to Youngstown
Crazy list, huh?!? And the sheer quantity of trips I’ve taken just seems incredible to me… Anyway: I thought it was interesting to notice the regional breakdowns for these Spring Break experiences.
- Hungary: 4
- Slovenia: 4
- The Great Smoky Mountains: 3
- Greece: 2
- Columbiana County: 2
- Florida: 2
- The Netherlands: 1
- Indiana Dunes / Chicago: 1
- Richland County: 1
- Kent: 1
- Youngstown: 1
Depending on how one counts 2021, I’ve been on 22 or 23 different Spring Break trips! So, I’m curious to see what God will do with this upcoming trip to Youngstown…