Camp is for the Campers

Camp is seriously the most difficult time I've ever experienced I feel like. It is physically, emotionally, and (if this makes sense) Spiritually draining to me.

The lack of sleep is one of the hardest things. But, also, after living at college and in a more mature environment, it's so very difficult for me to work with the staff here

because I am older than all but 5 (out of 30) and their maturity is seriously leaving something to be desired. I think Kyle and Kolby can display better attitudes and more respect for authority than a lot of my co-workers. That is just really difficult. Also.. "camp is for the campers". We get saturdays off and that is the only time. The rest of our lives revolve around the campers. We are to be completely focused on making camp fun for the campers and a good experience that I feel like my relationship with Christ has to be

placed on the back burner until camp ends. And recharge on Saturdays is really difficult because it's really hard to get to a place where I wouldn't be around people. 

The only solution for getting away from people to recharge and get one-on-one time with God is to skip church in the morning. My only worry is that other people will catch on and start skipping

church to "get away" also and then I wouldn't be getting away because they'd be copying and following me around. People do that.. follow me. Especially the highschool girls. I don't understand it. 

Also..I feel like Bible camp is a wonderful environment for wearing a mask and looking happy happy joy joy with Jesus all the time because camp is for the campers. Campers need to see the good side of a relationship with Christ. We can't be sad or unjoyful or discouraged in front of them. If we were.. they might not find a relationship with Christ attractive. That would be a bummer. Sooooooooooooo I've come to dislike myself. Quite a bit. 

It's not at all like me to wear a mask. I want to be transparent. I want to be honest.  I hate masks. But! Also.. if I was transparent.. I would have to become legit friends with my fellow staff. I can't bring myself to that. I know what ever friendships I develop here for a summer are not going to last really beyond this summer. It's really hard for me to try to maintain a relationship with people I will only know for 7 weeks. That sounds mean. But... after working at friendships for my entire freshman year and thinking they were legit and then spending a summer apart and coming back to them and finding they really weren't legit, I'm not about to invest a whole lot into these summer ones. I like the staff. I like the people. We can be friends. But they won't have a huge part of my heart because I don't trust it in their hands. 

But that leaves me longing for my real friends. For my family. For fellowship with real, transparent, Spiritually mature, level-headed people. I'm done with boy-crazy girls. I'm done with complaining. I'm done with not sleeping. Im done with putting God on the back burner. But... I have to put up with it for 3 more weeks. I just want to go home. I want time with me and Jesus and no one else. 

After a Week.. I am Weak.

So my last blog was a little bit unorganized and really strange because I was really tired and rushed. 
I got 8 hours of sleep last night which was a rare treat! Most of our nights are 6 hours of sleep at best.
It will get worse when campers get here. 


Training is going well. I'm making good friends with the other staff and am given an hour in the morning for quiet time. It's so wonderful!

And the Summer Starts... Now?

Hello friends!!! Or.. family! Or... whoever reads this... idk.. maybe I'm just talking to my computer.
BUT! I have 16 minutes of freetime at this moment in my life (Which is very rare) and thus I wanted to blog. Maybe. This will probably not make a lot of sense. 


You see.. I had a couple glorious weeks of summer at home with my fam... 2 I think.. and now I am at work at a camp in the middle of Iowa.  Exhausted would be an understatement about how I feel. If I put my head down on this keyboard it wouldn't take much more than a minute and a half  for me to be asleep. 


I spent my last week and a half at home going to bed at 2am and waking up at 8 everyday and thus started out my week at camp for staff training pretty sleep deprived. ( I would not suggest this.) 
Day #1 here was not officially staff training and so I had a day of helping with the film crew for the movie parts of the skits we're doing and a few other random busy work stuff. Wednesday was when the real training began. We did get-to-know-you stuff when our fellow staff co-worker people and then an afternoon of going over insurence policy and worker's comp stuff. I was sleep deprived going into this and thus really emotional.. we had to watch a 10 minute security tape of a little boy drowning in a pool. It was real. That was difficult. On top of that we walked the whole 40 somthin acres of camp, had other training stuff and other factors stuff.. when my day ended.. I sat down on a hill and cried for about an hour. 


My next day was not much better. I was on the verge of tears, i felt like, for most of the day. Just tired and stressed and homesick. I had a lot of opportunity to pray in the evening and thus felt better by the end of the day. I think God is the only way I shall survive this summer. (Actually I KNOW this).  
We have meetings every day but sunday that start at 6 45 am and our days end at 9 30pm. I get 6 hours of sleep at best. I am tired. If you read this.. you may pray for me. I would appreciate that. 


My free time has ended. Maybe someday I can write more about the good parts. 

Easter Eggs in Jars of Clay

Last night my brother, Kit, made me go out sharing with him. Him and my other brother Ken got together with 4 other friends to drive to Storm Lake and just share the Gospel with people. 
Now, I've done that kind of sharing many times myself and so you'd think I'd be excited and confident and absolutely passionate about going. 
Mmm...sadly I think my attitude changed while I was at school. My freshman year of college I joined an outreach team with the student ministry in which I was involved. I joined absolutely excited to get out there and go sharing like I've been taught to do... unfortunately.. that wasn't the structure of that outreach team. I soon learned that being on the outreach team meant sitting around a table and talking about ideas of maybe reaching out... but not necessarily going and doing. I allowed that apathetic attitude into my own heart of hearts and it has been quite the disease to battle against since then. (Let that be a warning to you.. don't let other's attitudes of apathy become that of your own.) 
So anyways.. I didn't really *want* to go sharing. I mean.. i knew it was the right thing to do and I knew I would regret not going.. but I just... ugh.. didn't want to go. 


My father had needed my help in the garden and so I was wearing my dirty garden clothes and was all about getting ready to get some dirt under my nails as I planted potatoes. Kit came out and was like "My friends will be here in 5 minutes, go change now." (Bossy...)
So... I complied, got dressed, grabbed some Gospel tracts on my way out and the 7 of us drove to Storm Lake to tell people about the most happiest thing they could ever know. Upon arriving at a park and hopping out into the perfectly calm, warm evening air, one of the guys made the comment, "First praise of the night: it's supposed to be raining right now." Kit responded with, "Yeah... my dad said there was a 90% chance of rain."  So we took it as a sign that God wanted us there. 
We prayed together and split up and, as one of my partners said, went hunting for "victims." 
After walking a bit, myself and my 2 partners came along a young fellow in one of the parks and we struck up a conversation. He believed in God but didn't know how to get to heaven and just was hoping that his good works and going to church and stuff would be good enough for God to let him in. I asked him if there was a way to be absolutely sure he was going to heaven when he did would he want  to know it and his response was, "Heck yes, I would!" Perfect. 
We had a good long talk with him about how works aren't good enough and we aren't good enough but God provided a solution for all that. He didn't make any definite decision right there in front of us, but i have a feeling God is doing a crazy good work in him and he definitely took a step closer to the Kingdom which is an absolute win! 


The evening went well and we had some good stories to share by the end of it. On our walk back to our vehicle, I was talking to my friend Madison who is an absolute stud when it comes to loving Jesus. You wanna talk about passion.. this guy is 16 years old and has been obediently reaching out to people around him, leading his peers in Bible studies, and in absolute humility has been a beacon of light and love to those around him. Anyways, Madison and I were talking about ministry opportunities that were coming up and it went something like this:


M-"You should tell (them) about someone."


F- "oh yeah?"


M-"Yeah, starts with a 'J'.. and it's a man"




F- "Oh!!! I'm in love with a man whose name start's with a 'J'!"


M- "Me too!!!"


F- "Yeah, his name is Jesus."


M- "I'm in love with Jesus too!"


F- "Well he's mine."


M- "no, he's mine!"


F- "Well, I'm His. And so that makes him more mine."


M- "I'm his too, so He's mine too."


F- "*gasp* We could share him!"


M- "No! He can't be divided"


F- "We can't share him?? With others and each other?"


M- "No.. I mean.. *you* can have Him and *I* can have him but we both have ALL of Him because He is infinite and can't be split up. And we can share him with others.. like tell them about Him.. but we can't all just have a little piece of Him." 


F-"Oh!! So like the gift that keeps on giving??"


M- "Yes!!"


F- "So THAT'S why in the Bible God has the story about the widow with the jars of oil! Because she has  a little bit of oil and she keeps pouring it and pouring it to other jars and she fills up the other jars and there aren't enough jars and she still has oil left over. It's an example of Jesus, right?"


M- "Yes!! I've never thought of that! That's awesome!!"


F- "Same with the bread and fishes when Jesus fed the 5,000? They have a little food and they pass it out and pass it out and everyone has enough and they have so much left over after they've given everyone enough to satisfy them." 


M-"Yeah!!! God is so awesome. I've never noticed that before!"


F- "Me either!! The Bible has easter eggs!"


That.. was I think one of the best parts of my evening. I love it when God randomly reveals stuff to us that we never noticed before. Granted.. I'm sure scholars have noticed that already and have written books about it.. but I just LOVE how the Holy Spirit just moved in us and opened our eyes to see stuff that we hadn't noticed before. I mean.. the story of the widow with the jars of oil that never ran out is a really cool story, but I never really understood the significance I don't think. 


Even as I write this, I looked up and there on my shelf sits a clay jar that I was given from arts festival and I have written on the front of it, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 2 Cor. 4:7 

Summer Ponderments

So!!! It's been another bunch of weeks of drafted and saving and not blogging and drafting some more. 
I just thought I'd give a brief update on my life since I will soon be without internet and will disappear off the face of the earth to most people... I shall still exist to a few people. :) 


So... the Brazil thing.. that happened 2 months ago now... the seeds that were planted in me from that are still growing and I'm starting to see some fruit. Perspectives ended and it was the very last day of Perspectives I had a bit of an epiphany moment!  I was reading along in my Bible and came across Matthew 19:29-30 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." 
I think I've read these verses a million times before.. but they jumped off the page. As hesitant as I am about giving up YEARS to live a less than comfortable life... I think I've come to realize that it's worth it and God will reward me with joy for it. 


The only thing is, I did not have joy while i was *in* Brazil and that worries me. I do not wish to commit to many years with out joy. Granted.. the joy has come to me now and I can smile and all that God has done with my time in Brazil.. But I truly hope that when I go overseas and serve Jesus by loving people from other cultures and countries and living situations.. that the joy comes on a little quicker than it did on my last trip. And yes.. I will be going. Some day, some way, to some place some where. That's about all I know about that for now. 


For the time being.. I shall continue working towards a degree that would help me in getting overseas to serve Jesus. I feel like I've been set on being a teacher since 8th grade.... but I'm actually have seconds thoughts about that.. I shall continue towards that.. but we'll see what God has for me by the time i actually graduate. 


It's summer!!! I've been enjoying these last 2 weeks at home with my siblings. We've been finger painting, sidewalk chalking, throwing frisbees, enjoying the freshcut grass, the lilacs, the kitties, watching movies, playing cards and other such fun adventures that are to be had at home. :) 


I've also taken on a wood-working project for a friend. I've never been especially skilled with crafty things..  But my friend came to me the week before finals week and said he wished to have a walking cane and described it a little.. 

take a chunk of wood

work it on the lathe

sand it!

I don't know what I was thinking but.. I decided to take on the project and see how I could do.  

Pick  a chunk of tree.. 

draw a handle on it. 

Band saw!

Cut it out.

I spent quite a lot of time in the basement wood shop getting myself covered in sawdust to make this thing. It was a lot of fun!

Take the pieces and put them together
after you sand them down a little

Put them together and you have a cane!

So it's not done yet.. I still need to engrave it and varnish it off to make it look pretty. But I'm rather proud of it as it is my first major wood project. I've only ever made little wooden things like ornaments and picture frames before and so this was a lot of fun. 

I hope to show off the finished product soon!

Uhmm.. that's about all I have for now. :) 

Brazil- From Poverty to Riches

Well, when I originally set out to blog about my experience in Brazil I had no idea it would take so long. It has now been many many weeks and time seems to continue to slip away from me. I think I shall finish the Brazil posts, even though I feel like it was forever ago.. this last little bit is what took the longest to process.. probably the most difficult kaleidoscope of emotions out of the whole trip. 


Thursday was an interesting day. The day can basically be broken into 3 different parts and each part is quite a bit different from the other. 
So this day started at a small church in a poor part of the city where they really rolled out the red carpet for us. They served us coffee and cake before we headed out into the flavellas or slums. 


It was quite a stark contrast.. being served and then going into to areas so poverty stricken one could only wonder at how the families managed to survive. 

A lady with a few of her kids
They lived in this one room made out of propped up wood,
tarps and old blankets. 

This kid was all about the hugs

It was so humbling to me to see how stark little these families were. I mean.. I've heard of the poor. I've seen people in America who were "poor".. but these people literally had nothing. They lived in dirt and their whole family would sleep on one single dirty, worn out mattress. When the storms and floods would come, their houses fell down. One lady we met was an old frail grandmother who was all skin and bones. She lived in a small house that had two rooms, one bed, and a sink maybe.. (I'm not sure if I remember seeing this) But anyways.. she lived there with her 6 grandchildren. At one time there had been 20 people living in that small space. The neat thing about her, though, was that she was a believer and she smiled and had joy. She even made the comment "It's not so bad to be poor as long as you have Jesus." When she said that I felt sick. Because I wasn't thinking about how blessed she was to have Jesus, I was thinking how sad it was that she didn't have stuff. But I *knew* that what she said was absolutely true and I hated that it affected me so much. I hated that I hadn't been thinking about the positive side of her situation the first time. 

Taking all of those experiences and pondering them in my heart, I found myself in culture shock again. We were taken back to the church where we were served a i-dont-know-how-many-coursed meal. (Perhaps 7) Poverty.. to riches. I felt almost sea sick like I was being yanked back and forth. And I thought *THAT* was a good yank. No.. after the slums and the poor little church we were taken to the market to spend all of our lovely American moneys on trinkets and presents that would later sit on our desks and shelves, collect dust, get old.. blah blah blah. I hated that too. I hated that it was *so* easy for us to step out of the poorest situation we've ever encountered and then spend our money on worthless things that made NO impact on eternity.

The Market was 5 glorious stories of.. stuff.

 It was so difficult for me that I often found myself picking things up and putting them back. While I did get some things.. It wasn't a "go crazy in the marketplace" day like I thought it would be. What I really wanted to do was process the slums and the poverty and the filth. I wanted to cry over the children who live in those places and are made to be prostitutes and drug dealers at young ages for money. I wanted to think about the mothers who had to raise their children and provide for them at the same time. But I could not because I was in the market and I was supposed to be thinking about things to buy for my amigos back in the US.  

From there.. we went to the beach. What every tourist wants to do, right? I was actually kind of sad that the sun had gone down by the time we got to the beach. I've always imagined that if I stood on a beach and gazed out at the ocean and saw how big it was, that I would do nothing else but fall to my knees and worship God. I've always LOVED those pictures you see of a tiny person lifting their hands in worship to God while waves crash on a really big beach. I would have loved to see the sunset on the beach. All these things were little disappointments that I did not feel as all too disappointing since I was so detached from it all anyways. Nothing seemed real to me. 

After a few minutes in the ocean where there was more seaweed than water, we headed to the restaurant where we were to have dinner on the beach. 

We ate under a grass-roofed tent

Brazilian soda

Shrimp

Fresh lobster

 They served us the finest, freshest lobster and fish I had ever tasted. It just seemed so odd to me that we could eat like royalty and such while we *knew* there were kids that didn't know were their supper was coming from. I think this made me feel even more detached from the exotic beach experience. To be perfectly honest.. It was hard for me to be all excited about it. I know that since I was there and experiencing it in all its glory.. I should have been more thankful for it and enjoyed it more. But I had SO many conflicting emotions and feelings about everything. 
It was at this point that I fully realized that I was not anyway attached to my team. I loved them. But I did  not feel like I belonged to them and I did not wish to be so. 


That night after we returned to our house we had a bit of a debriefing session while sitting on the floor of our house. One of my teammates made the comment, "How much faith do you have to have to trust God and be poor." Another gutting feeling. Right when he said that I had this thought run through my mind, "If you were to go to India and live there for 2 years.. you would be poor. You would live like that everyday, with out water, with out electricity and every comfort you wish for now." I really fought crying. I was not about to be so vulnerable or transparent with my team though and so I kept all my thoughts inside. I think that moment was the most difficult part to swallow out of the whole trip. 


Realizing that while God may be calling me to live a life of poverty and discomfort.. I, for the first time in my life, felt like I could not do it because I loved my comfortable life too much. I hated that. I hated that I would be so selfish that I would say 'no' to something God may be calling me to. I have never feared missions before.. but I honestly was afraid that God would call me to that. To live an uncomfortable, dirty, poor life filled with snakes, spiders, bugs, sickness, isolation from my family and friends and abandonment of everything that I hold dear. 


It was an odd mixture of guilt and fear. I felt even worse that I could not be transparent and honest with my teammates. I felt like I was being dishonest in not sharing with them how I felt about the trip. I felt bad for not falling in love with Brazil like they had. I felt bad for looking forward to going home. I chose not to be the debbie downer of the trip and so I kept it all to myself. If you know me.. this is actually very difficult thing to do. I have never been one to keep to myself or not talk. I was so thankful when Jeff dismissed the meeting because all I wanted to do was be away from people. I knew that I would feel so much better if I let myself cry but I remember only letting one single tear escape as I fell asleep in my hammock listening to my teammates laugh and make jokes in the next room. 


Every morning we were to wake up at 6:30 to start our day in time. On Friday, I think I woke up around 4:30 or 5. I was too emotionally exhausted to sleep. I grabbed my Bible and prayer journal and found myself outside on the steps of our house searching for some sort of encouragement. I tried to journal some.. but I was so dry and feeling detached I could not. I found myself just sitting and staring at the trees and wondering "why am I here?" Then I felt bad. I had heard Paige say that the last thing they want people who visit the Lar to do is ask why they came. I *knew* God had a purpose for everything, but i did not feel like I belonged in Brazil. After some time I heard the wake up alarm go off in the house and so I went back in to ready for the day. To my surprise, I was greeted at the front door by my roommate who had woken other people up when she had seen that I was not in my hammock. It was so odd to me that she would worry, but it was incredibly refreshing to know that while I did not feel any attachment to my team, people still cared about me.  
Later that day I found time to talk to my pastor Jeff a little bit about how I felt with being distant from the team and such. He made the comment that while I'm so reserved, i actually have really deep things to say if I actually talk. That was weird to me.. I'm never reserved. I'm crazy wild and spontaneous and bubbly and talkative and outgoing... and I wasn't me on the Brazil trip. I missed that. I missed being bubbly and happy and crazy. 


That wasn't cool. Mission trips and service projects are supposed to make me *more* bubbly and happy and excited about life. I'm happy and bubbly because I have Jesus and he makes me happy and bubbly and excited about life. Serving Jesus is like putting fuel on the fire. It intensifies all of my personality. So what was wrong? What was I doing wrong? Why why why did I feel like God was not with me in Brazil? I'm *still* processing that. BUT! It has definitely stirred in me a fear of going some where with out God.


  The rest of the trip/ flights back were, for the most part, uneventful. I was happy to be back in the US. I was happy to turn on my phone and communicate with my family and friends again. 


Sunday night after i got back I went to my Perspectives class. The speaker talked about how he was called into the jungle to share the Gospel with people who had never ever heard of Jesus. He lived with snakes and bugs and no electricity and basically described all my feelings. He talked about how much he disliked living an uncomfortable life but how worth it it was to him to see that tribe come to Jesus. He said lots of things that seemed like he was pounding nails in my heart. Once again I was faced with the idea that perhaps God is calling me to live a life of discomforts. While I am scared to death that thats what I would be called to.. I am even more scared that I would say 'no' and go the other way. I don't want to be a Jonah. I *KNOW* that following God means reckless abandon of all things we hold dear. 
I *KNOW* that when God calls we should respond in obedience. It frightens me that I would consider saying 'no' to God. I never imagined that *I* of all people would consider copping out on God. 


I still feel sick about it everyday. What if I say 'yes'? I could be called away from family and friends and have to live with bugs and snakes and smells.. 
What if I say 'no'? What if I said 'no' to my God? To my savior.. my *Father*... How could I even *think* about it? Yet I do. I am afraid to say 'yes' and I am afraid to say 'no'. I know that I *shouldn't* say 'no'. But I want to.. sometimes. Sometimes I feel all about saying 'yes' and jumping into overseas missions with out a second thought.. but sometimes I have second thoughts. 


I feel guilty for having second thoughts. 

Brazil- A Mountain-top Experience

Psalm 121:1-3

  I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
   where does my help come from? 

 My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

 He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber

Wednesday. The middle day of the week that is considered the peak of the mountain or the top of the hill because the rest of the week is all down hill. Ironically enough, Wednesday was the day that we climbed a mountain. 

I actually didn't know that we were going to be climbing a mountain. Perhaps this was because of my disconnected feeling to things that I did not catch it. Paige had told us a few times that we would be going on a hike and I don't think I cared much beyond that. (Hmm.. apathy.. 

tis a dangerous thing to have on a missions trip..) Anyways.. Hike day came and I was much looking forward to the adventure of it all. We met up with some of the older boys of the Lar that lived at a location in the town and we took a bus to the starting point of our great hike.

 

You can't really see the top here because it's in the clouds.

When I saw the mountain I realized why Paige had stressed the need for there to be 2 bottles of water for every person.  It was kind of a beast. Apart from the fact that I do not regularly climb mountains and do not think myself to be made for climbing mountains.. I am quite a bit of an asthmatic as well. Even just sleeping in the hammocks at the Lar was enough to tighten my lungs so that yawning in the morning was impossible with out a lot of pain. Thankfully I had thought ahead enough to bring my inhaler and other medications to Brazil with me. I have not had need for my inhaler during the day time for a long long time.. sometimes in the morning to open my lungs up again. but I generally don't carry it.  On this day, for some odd reason I put my inhaler in my backpack last minute. 1/4 the way up the mountain I realized I was fairly dependent on that little tiny pressurized canister. I hated it. While a lot of people were having the time of their life climbing that mountain, navigating the steep rocks and wet clay.. I was not. 


It was more humiliating than anything else. I hated that my lungs were shutting off and I just couldn't stay at the front of the group like I was supposed to. Thankfully.. I wasn't the only one who had to take it a little slower than the rest of the group. But even going at it a slower pace with a few others.. I kept on thinking "why God? Why did you give me these lungs? Why can't I just keep up with everyone else?" 
I felt like everyone else made climbing mountains look like the easiest most natural thing in the world to them. I hated that to. I just wanted to get to the top of the mountain so that I could be done with it. It was rather difficult to enjoy the lush green plants and beautiful flowers growing on the side of the mountain.  

The half way point.

Climbing

God did some beautiful things on this mountain.

I did not really enjoy the climbing of the mountain. I enjoyed the resting parts of it. And the more we climbed, the more I enjoyed not climbing. 
While climbing, sometimes my foot would slip, or I would stumble. Sometimes it was difficult to find a foothold in the wet clay from the earlier rain. I kept thinking of the Psalms where David would talk about almost slipping or needing a strong foothold.  I've heard a lot of mountain analogies in church and Bible studies and other such places but.. I live in Iowa. The flattest part of Iowa. I grew up where you can stand on a roof and see 3 or 4 towns in a 20 mile radius. Flat flat flat. I was finally understanding what David was meaning when he said that he needed God to keep his feet from slipping. I was finally understanding the significance of the mountains we face in our own lives. Mountains are not easy to climb. Mountains can be dangerous.. if you fall when you're climbing a mountain.. may God have mercy you.. and pity the man who falls and has no one to pick him up. 


Anyways.. those 2 bottles of water were like drops of heaven while making the climb. In fact.. I think I ended up drinking closer to 8 or 9 bottles while going up the thing. I have never in my life consumed so much water in one morning.... but it seemed to help the dizziness.  Annnnyways.. after a little more than 2 hours of climb climb climbing the mountain and being tired and sweaty and gross we reached the almost top. It wasn't THEE top.. but it was up there. And there at the top was a beautiful lake and a place of rest.  

The Lake at the top where we swam and rested and ate lunch.

We had a devotional time at the top. 

After that time of rest and renewal of energy, we went continued up to the very top of the mountain to the highest point in the state where we could see the city and the ocean and.. just everything. 

sitting on a rock at the top of the mountain. 

The team at the top. 

And it was all down hill from there.  It was great being at the top. Breath taking and amazing... and it was even more exciting because it takes a lot less energy getting down a mountain then up one. But! It's easy to slip when coming down the mountain. Coming down we had to be careful to pick our path so that we did not roll an ankle or fall head long onto the rocks.  

To be honest.. i was glad when the mountain was over and I was glad when wednesday was over. I was on day closer to going home and I had gotten past the most strenuous part of the trip. Looking back now, though, I can see a lot of Biblical analogies. Everything about the mountain can be taken as a lesson in everyday life.