Matching Ink

by Mitch Salanty and Hunter Bellows

4/8/2020 11:00:00 AM

“Let’s get matching tattoos!”

The quote that rang through the halls of Witmer on just the second week of our time together at Messiah College. This was the beginning of a college experience that brought us together as teammates, best friends, and brothers in Christ. You may have seen us in the weight room on rollerblades, the Union dances with children’s sunglasses, playing a round of campus golf, or walking around the library inside of the beanbags. You may think you know us, but maybe not our story.

Hunter: "Coming to Messiah, I had some uncertainty regarding what it looked like to live a Kingdom lifestyle and represent the Father every day. Lacrosse was a major part of my life (probably too major if I’m being honest) and I was unsure of who I really was. I often found my identity in the relationship I was in at the time and how well I performed on the lacrosse field. When I met Mitch, we quickly jumped into a friendship that could best be described as…eventful. Mitch invited me into a slayers group with upperclassmen that poured into me more than anyone ever had. Despite the impact from the slayers group, I was still in a place of limbo with my relationship with Jesus throughout my freshman year. That summer after freshman year, many of the things I found my identity in were not around. My relationship with my girlfriend had ended, the lacrosse season was over, and none of my friends from college were around. I called Mitch explaining the struggles I was going through, telling him that I felt I was unsatisfied and in a place of doubt. Mitch immediately responded with “we should live in Yosemite and do ministry.” While that Yosemite trip didn’t happen right away, that conversation started the planning process of a trip we would take the summer after sophomore year."

Mitch: "Heading into college, I was really looking forward to getting to school. I knew there was something different about the team at Messiah and the school as a whole. I didn’t have any close friends in high school who were also believers, and I really wanted to be with a group of brothers who loved the Lord. My experience at Messiah was instantly rich. Early in my freshman year I was invited to a slayers group by Luke Hall, a junior at the time. At our slayers group, I became close with Danny Thompson, our Spiritual Daddy, as well as Hunter, and the other guys (you know who you are). The end of my freshman year marked a new chapter in my life, I finally had learned my identity as a Son, which changed everything for me. By that time I felt really immersed into these new relationships with my new brothers, especially Hunt. Once his relationship ended with his girlfriend, we grew closer and closer, and it gave him the liberty to live out one my biggest dream with me, spending a summer living in Yosemite National Park while representing Jesus in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

We experienced very different summers after freshman year, but remained close. Despite having minimal sailing experience, Mitch managed a sailing camp on Lake Michigan, north of Chicago and Hunter worked at his dad’s boat club outside of Richmond, building a hamster cage on the side. Our summer that year was capped off by an experience that neither of us will soon forget, an AROMA trip to Panama. The majority of our team went to Panama with Rio Missions before the start of the fall semester. This trip was an incredible time of adventure and the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. We hiked through the jungle after a bus never came to pick us up, saw teammates healed of injuries, nearly got struck by lightning on a beach, worshipped with an amazing community, and learned that one of our teammates was miraculously fluent at Spanish (shout out Logan Pagano).

This brotherhood and bond that we share is a small representation of the entirety of the Messiah men’s lacrosse team. We are a team of unconventional men that have love for each other.

Sophomore year came and went. We could fill a book with the memories of that year, but for the sake of sharing other experiences, we’ll fast forward to that next summer in Yosemite. After a brief stop in Indiana for ministry training, we were off to central California. We were awestruck by the beauty of the scenery and immediately felt right at home in our summer jobs as room keepers. We found that the best way to represent Jesus to those around us was to simply be in the same places as the other employees and join in the activities of their every day life. Some of these activities included rock climbing, hiking, slack lining, road tripping, and just hanging and biking around the valley. We loved getting to know different people, through constant fellowship, Sunday morning services, and the every day work moments, including cleaning hotel rooms.

We found that our fellow employees would try to trip us up and put us into uncomfortable situations because they weren’t so sure of us and what we stood for. That didn’t bother us so much, we remained true to ourselves and sought to represent Jesus wherever we were. From that, organic conversations arose about the gospel and our story which also gave us the platform to pray with some of the people that we were living and working with. Jesus’ promise from John 15:4 was clearly evident to us, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Remaining close to the Lord and pursuing Him constantly gave us moments of breakthrough, and we pray that God continues to grow the seeds that we planted there.

During our trip, Mitch had an encounter with a neighbor who was experiencing great pain and suffering due to a friend getting diagnosed with cancer. They were able to share a moment together and pray for healing for that friend on a warm summer night in the valley. Hunter experienced a coworker rekindle a fire for Jesus after pushing back against the church for years and years. The summer didn’t come without challenges. There were injuries, leadership drama among the ministry, and a wildfire that cut our time short, but it was clear to us that Jesus was glorified through it all.

This glimpse into a couple of our stories is just a small piece of the countless stories and friendships that have been developed as a result of the men’s lacrosse program. This brotherhood and bond that we share is a small representation of the entirety of the Messiah men’s lacrosse team. We are a team of unconventional men that have love for each other. Naturally, all of us come here with the expectation to create lasting memories. This of course ends up looking different than any of us would have imagined, but we don’t think any of us would change it for the world. This is where God placed us for this relatively brief, but vital time. We have nothing but gratitude for the rich experience the Lord has blessed us with through Messiah.

As for the tattoos…we may or may not have gotten that ink…