From Portland, Oregon by way of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What excites me most about heading out on The People’s Tour is my anticipation of seeing people’s reaction to the truth of the North Korea Crisis. Excited for the chance to incite passion and share knowledge; for passion and knowledge are the things needed to sustain change.
My name is Ben Flower and I’m a British dude from Washington State.
My favorite inspirational quote would have to be, “Nothing splendid has ever been achieved, except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance”.
What excites me most about LiNK and the upcoming trip is that ill have the opportunity to see brand new places I’ve never been before and present to people I’ve never met, although these things are also a little intimidating too.
REPPIN’ FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA!
What excites Jessica most about tour is the chance to raise awareness of the North Korea crisis, raise the funds to rescue refugees and to get people involved in the cause!
Favorite Quote: “If there is no love in the world, we will make a new world, and we will give it walls, and we will furnish it with soft, red interiors, from the inside out, and give it a knocker that resonates like a diamond falling to a jeweller’s felt so that we should never hear it. Love me, because love doesn’t exist, and I have tried everything that does.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated
It seems just like yesterday when we were driving out with the Northeast Team on I-40 but it wasn’t that was 11 weeks ago and my, we have made so memories, met so many people, seen many places, and have changed.
11 weeks ago we were driving out of California to our first screening in Clarkville, AK
10 weeks ago we were in Memphis, TN
9 weeks ago we were in Nashville, TN
8 weeks ago we were in Lynchburg, VA
7 weeks ago we were in Raleigh, NC
6 weeks ago we were in Ashville, NC
5 weeks ago we were in Rockhill, SC
4 weeks ago we were in Atlanta, GA
3 weeks ago we were in still in Atlanta, GA
2 weeks ago we were in Pembroke Pines, FL
1 week ago we were in Tallahassee, FL
3 days ago we were in Mobile, AL
2 days ago we were in Huntsville, AL
1 day ago we were in Jackson, MS
Yesterday we’re in New Mexico driving back
This morning we woke up in the Grand Canyon
At this moment we have arrived where we first started.
California!
It seems so surreal that we are heading back to California. After 11 weeks of being on the road. 11 weeks full of driving from place to place, stopping at many gas stations, eating so much junk food, eating yummy southern food, sleeping on floors, sofas, and sometimes beds, meeting up with people we knew on the road, meeting total strangers who later became our friends, trying new things, talking about North Korea and our passions, listening to the radio, hearing “moves like Jagger” by Maroon 5 more than we can count on one hand, singing our hearts out, eating tons of sour patch kids, not showering, sleeping very little, doing crazy fun stuff with people we met at the screening, telling stories, being inspired by people, crying, praying, team meetings, calls, emails, taking pictures, using dirty restrooms in lonely gas stations, drinking coffee and tea like no other, asking/encouraging people to join the Reliance. 11 weeks full of growth and getting to know each other better. 11 weeks of traveling with two other friends sharing with the world about North Korea and the change needed. 11 weeks of doing what we love and for people we love.
If you could describe tour in a few words, what would they be?
Zane: “Life changing”
Paloma “wild and growing”
Jenna “exciting, exhausting, worth it”
We want to see an end to this human rights crisis!
We want to thank every single soul that we met, talked with, and stayed with. You all made every sacrifice worth it. Thank for hearing us out. Thank you for giving us a place to sleep. Thank you for coming to our screening. Thank you for hosting a screening. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for the positive vibes sent our way. Thank you for the laughs and smiles. Thank you for the food. Thank you for letting us use your internet. Thank you for coffee. Thank you for your encouraging words. Thank you for asking questions. Thank you for giving us tea. Thank you being part of our memorable journey. Thank you for talking with us. Thank you for joining the Reliance. Thank you for wanting to get involved. Thank you for caring for NK refugees. Thank you for your soul. It was a pleasure to meet you all. The southeast route, the people we met there, and this experience will forever have a special place in our hearts. Foreva!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Saw the gulf of Mexico
Spotted a couple alligators!
St. Marks light house
And we got to hang out with Alison (and Macy)!! She’s so amazing. Thank you for letting us stay with you. You rock!
while in Atlanta we go to meet up with the IC Deep South roadies! it was definitely love at first sight! haha They are super cool. We shared stories about the road. Had breakfast with them :)
Over the past 3- 4 weeks we have met incredible people.
18 days ago we were in North Carolina.
We loved NC …. it’s so dang gorgeous. We also met up with family members of LiNK’s staff/ intern/ previous nomads :)
We have the wonderful chance to spend the weekend with Megan Rhodes’ parents. We had the chance to spend the night at Cal West Nomad Dani house, your parents are lovely! We got to hang out with Taylor Eldreth family, it was so much fun. Jenna got to try sushi for the first time. We got to hang out with with a previous nomad, William and his family. Oh man, they are so SWEEET and blessed us. We go to spend a sweet weekend RM Leah’s parents in lovely Hickory. They are so lovely. They baked a yummy cake for Paloma for her birthday. It was so much meeting all of them, we got to hear funny stories and see cute baby pictures :) THANK YOU.
We got to see Meghan Wallace! she is a sweet individual. That was fun. She loved us. We cooked food with her and it was delicious.
November 2, it was our last day in NC. It was an inspiring night. We got to spend the night with a family that is all for non-profit work. We got to meet a girl named Taylor who completely blew my mind. She has such a big heart and has partnered with IC. Her family is amazing. Taylor, you and your amazing family rock and definitely were a blessing to us.
South Carolina was fun too! We got to spend some time.. the weekend with a friend of a friend. DINH and JOHN, thankyouthankyouthankyou. Charleston, SC will forever be cherished in our memories because of how much we did that weekend! Dinh graciously along with Claire gave us a tour of Charleston and we got to see cool places like the Notebook house. We also got to experience the Atlantic ocean. It was a sweet view.
Another lovely soul we met in SC, was Keirstan Harris. She cares a lot about bringing awareness abt the human rights crisis going on in North Korea to her students. She made it a possibility to 800 students attending Ashley Ridge HS to be exposed to the crisis. FANTASTIC.
November 7 10:30pm, our first night in Atlanta. Also the night we got to see the beautiful face of our RM Bren-duh which we hadn’t seen for over 6 weeks. That night we also got to spend the night at some cool guy house, Will, he rocks! It runs in the family, I suppose.
We got to do crazy cool things and got to hang out with some of the coolest people on earth. From visiting the World of Coke for free to chilling with Will to bowling with previous nomads that drove miles to see our faces and with our RM to drinking yummy tomato juice to watching Crazy Stupid Love at $2 theater with HB to having a Korean BBQ feast with GTech chapter peeps. You get the point. HOTLANTA, you were so good to us. We met some freakingfantastichumanbeings. We wanna give a shout out to Berry College, UGA, St. Mark United Methodist Church, Georgia Tech, and University of West Georgia!!! you guys rock!
