Dear St. James' Parents,
First of all, thank you so very much for all of the support and encouragement you have shown thus far in planning this pilgrimage. The kids have been very excited throughout this whole process, and we are looking forward to all of our final fundraising events, and of course, the trip itself.
Throughout the school year, many of our Sunday school lessons will work to prepare them for the journey they will undertake. We are integrating lessons from Wonder Voyage's pilgrimage curriculum entitled "Preparing our Hearts for Pilgrimage" into our regular Journey to Adulthood meetings. The goal of this journey, as you may have already heard if you have attended any of the meetings we have had over the last couple of years, is not simply to have a good, fun experience. The goal of this trip is to embark on a voyage of transformation that will be a culmination of all their spiritual formation here at St. James', and to prepare them to take their experiences out into the world. We hope that our preparations will ensure that we meet this goal. Therefore, the only requirement we have for travelers of this trip is that they be in senior high (9-12 grade), and they participate in our Sunday school class as often as possible.
Today, I want to reshare with you all of the information that we have about our trip, and how to sign up. We will leave June 17th to travel to the airport (most likely Memphis), and we will overnight at a local Episcopal church. We will depart the US on June 18 and return on June 26. As we get closer to our travel date, we will be working with our on-site pilgrimage guide to work out our exact itinerary. In the document attached below, you can find the other major details that we have about the pilgrimage. As we get our itinerary ironed out, I will share all of that information with you as well. Please know that I understand you may be a little nervous about sending your teen on such an extended trip, but I promise you we will care for them all as if they are our own--because we truly feel that way about them! All of the chaperones traveling with us have traveled with this youth group for many trips. We have gotten this down to a science!
Please review the trip details here: Parent Overview-Oct 2026 Email
How to secure your youth's spot:
-
Fill out the traveler waiver Wonder Voyage Travel Waiver
- Send your first payment by cash or check to the church office no later than Thursday, October 30.
If your child is interested in traveling with us, but needs scholarship assistance, please let me know as soon as possible, so we can work out their scholarship needs. We want everyone to have the opportunity to travel!
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Laura
lking@stjjax.org
601-720-1210
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