Bike mission completed

The new pastor for the Plains/Paradise United Methodist Church, Thomas Hall, has already made a strong example on the local community when it comes to residents getting physical.

The new pastor for the Plains/Paradise United Methodist Church, Thomas Hall, has already made a strong example on the local community when it comes to residents getting physical. All it took to encourage others to hop on their bikes was to complete his own 2,100-mile biking journey from Montana to the U.S./Mexico border.

Hall, who began his journey to raise money for Hope Village, which is located near Johannesburg in South Africa, started his journey in the beginning of June and returned Friday, July 16 to a special reception. Members of the United Methodist Congregation gathered that Sunday to greet their new pastor, decorating the church's lawn and interior with bikes, old and new, of all kinds from tricycles to tandem bikes.

"It was really unbelievable. I came in on Sunday morning for church and they had this rusty old bike with a tire missing that looked like it had been around the world and a sign that said ‘welcome back bentbiker pastor,'" laughed Hall. "It was wonderful and when I left the service nearly everyone had brought a bike." Bentbiker is the name Hall uses on his blog where he documented his journey at www.bentbikerblogger.blogspot.com.

The church interior was decorated with balloons and some residents were even dressed in biking gear, head to toe lycra and spandex.

Hall came from Philadelphia to begin his post as pastor in Plains. Before settling into his new home, Hall embarked on his journey south.

Hall's journey to the Mexico border was a way to raise money for Hope Village. The money raised goes towards building houses for children orphaned by the HIV-AIDS pandemic with an ultimate goal of creating a sustainable economy in that area. Through his efforts, approximately $8,000 was raised for the village.

"We're not better or worse, we're just different and we're just starting with basic education. When you don't have a father or mother figure to raise you, then you grow up with a lot of gaps in your education, and that's how a lot of these people are," said Hall commenting on the ten million orphans in Africa. The goal of Hope Village is to create an economic system in which the kids learn basic skills and the parents have power because they can start making some money with the resources and education provided to them. Hall said they want to start training nurses in Hope Village to help teach villagers basic hygiene and care.

Hall said they aren't just putting fish at someone's doorstep, but actually teaching the people in the village how to fish.

The journey to the border was not an easy one as he biked anywhere between 70 to 100 miles per day, occasionally battling 35 mph wind gusts coming from the south. Between Hall, his bike and supplies, he was carting around 290 pounds. On the first leg of his journey, he set up for the nights outside, sleeping under a tarp as he traded his tent in early for fuel.

After three dog attacks and too-close for comfort lightning strikes, Hall started calling on churches and ministries in towns he rode through to try and sleep indoors for the night.

"I stayed in junior high classrooms, slept on pews and slept all over churches," said Hall.

Although the days would get long and lonely, as Hall would sometimes spend ten hours biking in complete solitude, thinking of how many people were counting on his project kept him pedaling.

"I could blog and at the other end of the blog people were praying and supporting me because of what I was doing. I had over 300 comments on the blog saying ‘you can do this,' ‘we're with you,' ‘that was awesome' so I would remember," said Hall as to how he kept moving on day after day.

He found a plethora of support along the way and would have random passersby hand him donations to support Hope Village and his project, making each mile he biked worthwhile.

The trip, said Hall, was 100 percent a success as every penny raised makes progress in South Africa.

Although the trip was a success, Hall never did make it to his final destination at the border in Del Rio.

Hall made it as far as he could to Odessa, Texas, but torrential rains and flooding had officials evacuating people from Del Rio, blocking Hall from his destination.

"I was having to do 70-mile detours just to go a few miles and I was discouraged away from the border," said Hall. "I got about 2,000 miles and should have packed scuba gear because the roads were completely gone and ten-foot holes sucked in crops and trees. I've never been in a situation like that, it was pretty wild."

The end of his journey was a difficult one, but a ray of light in the form of a man, who Hall describes as "an angel who came out of nowhere" helped him to finish his journey.

It was day 38, and Hall spent three hours getting pelted by an unseemly amount of rain.

He was only 30-miles from his new destination in Odessa, but he was down to only two bottles of water and the rain was slowing him down and making the final leg of his journey a difficult one.

Out of nowhere, a Spanish man, who worked as an oil-rig specialist asked Hall if he needed water.

Hall ended up putting his bike on the back of the man's muddy pickup and getting a ride the rest of the way.

"What a great character. ‘I did the Lord's work today,' he told me. So that's how I ended my trip, with this great, little angel," said Hall.

Hall finally made it back to his new home in Plains with a welcome reception from local residents, who hopped on their bikes to greet their new pastor.