I know my last few blog posts have been impersonal, just giving little snip-its into what I've been doing.
This one is going to be a bit different.
I'm not going to write much. The video below speaks clearly about how I've been feeling towards God and what He has been doing in me lately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvejp8_8DSQ
Apologies if you don't enjoy or understand that kind of poetry reading, but I thoroughly enjoy it and it really speaks to me.
Today I spent all day in college. Literally, all day. I arrived at quarter to nine and arrived back home at a quarter to ten.
Lectures are centered around Psalms this week and today focused on the practical aspect of poetry and imagery and parallelism and symbolism. (and there were a lot of "ands" in that last sentence).
MEETINGS! MEETINGS! MEETINGS! This is the theme of my life at the moment.
After lectures, I had a lunch meeting with my church placement group talking about what we wanted to do for Sunday. WE have a span of about fifteen minutes before worship where we will be getting the people together and focused on God. Sounds pretty easy to me, but we had a discussion about that.
Then another meeting! Half one was our applied practice part of the week. This time we read the whole of the Gospel Mark out loud in preparation for Lent.
We finished around three and I was running late for another meeting. This one was more to do with how I was doing academically and if I needed any help with assignments and what not. Of course that one ran late and I was running late for my next consecutive meeting...
This one was DRAMA REHEARSAL. On Friday, the whole year group has to present a play of the entire Old Testament. I am playing the part of Bathsheba, but with a different twist. We are doing it as a monologue from Bathsheba's perspective and then Bathsheba and David are going to sing a duet, which is actually David's Psalm of Repentance. Should be pretty good, but we just have a lot to do before Friday!
Before my NEXT meeting at half seven, my communal assignment group worked on props for the play. We made some pizzas in the KBC kitchen, snacked on some flapjacks, and made some cardboard swords. We chatted about things God was doing in us, listened to some good music, and laughed together. Fun times.
Seven thirty came unfortunately. That sounds absolutely horrid of me to say, but if i were to speak honestly, at this moment, I was shot. This was another lecture, but one about "Art and Imagery". We had to be creative at one point and that was really difficult for me. I'm not the "artsy, creative" type person. I prefer to stick with words and not so much images.. We did get cake and tea after wards though!
Grace! Grace for tomorrow. Grace for this week. Grace for myself. Grace for others.
This is my prayer.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Where Art Thou?
This was read in West Church today and I thought it was interesting!
Enjoy!
Obituary of Common Sense!
Today, we mourn the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense.
Common Sense lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the Millennium. No one really knows how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools; hospitals, homes, factories and offices, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness.
For decades, petty rules, silly laws and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense. He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to know when to come in from rain, the early bird gets the worm and life isn't always fair.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge, not the kids), and it's okay to come in second.
A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including feminism, body piercing, whole language and new math.
But his health declined when he became infected with the "if-it-only-helps-one-person-it's-worth-it" virus. In recent decades, his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal legislation.
He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers and enlightened auditors. His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero tolerance policies; when reports were heard of six year old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; when a teen was suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch; when a teacher was fired for reprimanding an unruly student. It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but couldn't inform the parent when a female student is pregnant or wants an abortion.
Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional sports.
As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments, regarding questionable regulations for asbestos, low-flow toilets, smart guns, the nurturing of Prohibition Laws and mandatory air bags.
Finally, when told that the homeowners association restricted exterior furniture only to that which enhanced property values, he breathed his last.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son Reason. His three stepbrothers survive him: Rights, Tolerance and Whiner.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
Author Unknown
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Fun Times:
Here are a few pictures I took and edited this week:
This is on the way to the Sycamore house. I've been there about three times and I never noticed this door! The hedge surrounding it is probably ten feet high and its really long, but I was shocked when I noticed it because I had passed by it every other time. I thought it was cool anyway though...
This guys was balancing on a rope and playing the violen. At one point he was walkign up and down the rope. Uber impressive!
Flowers and a wedding dress! Bex brought me her wedding dress today to use for an assignment we're doing and she brought me flowers too! It was a wonderful surpise that makes me smile. :)
My Letter to God
This morning for devotions, we were told to write God a letter and to write to Him like we would anyone else. Here is my letter:
Hey God,
Hey God,
Its's me again. i just wanted to say thanks for getting me through yesterday. I couldn't have made it through without knowing you were walking beside me.
I love you. I don't say it often enough or loud enough, but I do. I want to feel closer to you everyday. Closer and closer.
Would you please heal Lucy? And help her to feel you very near to her in this time.
What do you think about me getting a tattoo?
I love you. I don't say it often enough or loud enough, but I do. I want to feel closer to you everyday. Closer and closer.
Would you please heal Lucy? And help her to feel you very near to her in this time.
What do you think about me getting a tattoo?
Then, on the other side of the paper, we were to write what we think would be God's response. Here is God's response:
Hey you,
Hey you,
you're welcome. I'm always near you wanting to help you when you're struggling. I do it because i love you.
I know you love me, but you do need to remind yourself more often. I want to feel closer and closer to you, but that requires you to be vulnerable and trusting of me. How badly do you want it? Badly enough to let down all your defenses and let me in?
I have Lucy in my hands and I'm walking with her in the midst of this struggle. Keep praying for her, but know i have it under control.
I think you'd look good with a tattoo.
I know you love me, but you do need to remind yourself more often. I want to feel closer and closer to you, but that requires you to be vulnerable and trusting of me. How badly do you want it? Badly enough to let down all your defenses and let me in?
I have Lucy in my hands and I'm walking with her in the midst of this struggle. Keep praying for her, but know i have it under control.
I think you'd look good with a tattoo.
That last part I might have been a little biased about. ;) Don't worry..no tattoos yet.
This was a really great way to start off the morning and it spoke to me alot. Its a good way to write down some things you might be struggling with, to get them from your head onto paper, and for God to speak clearly to you through your own writing.
When I read "God's response" that I had written, I realized I hadn't been the one really writing. Those were God's words to me and for those situations.
Try it!
This was a really great way to start off the morning and it spoke to me alot. Its a good way to write down some things you might be struggling with, to get them from your head onto paper, and for God to speak clearly to you through your own writing.
When I read "God's response" that I had written, I realized I hadn't been the one really writing. Those were God's words to me and for those situations.
Try it!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
In the thick of it..
Apologies! Apologies!
I apologize for my total lack of communication with everyone!
But, like my title says, since Wales its been GO GO GO!
Besides the busyness of life, I don't have much exciting news to tell ya'll.. I'll just kind of show you what my week looks like..
OH!! GEEMAKNEE! I dont' know how i could've forgotten, but some of you might know that while i was waiting for my visa, there was also another girl from Ukraine, Veronika, who was also waiting for hers. Tuesday we heard the great news that she finally got it and she arrived yesterday evening! It's great to finally have her with us!! It's wonderful to have a complete year group, but unfortunately, we haven't all had the chance to be in lectures together yet. Some are out due to sickness and/or work...
I think most of everyone is all caught up on rest since Wales. I thought I was, but my body is telling me otherwise. Tuesday maybe, I fell asleep on the couch at 7:00 P.M., woke up at 7:30, looked at the clock and went directly upstairs to fall asleep again. I didn't wake up the next morning until 7:00 A.M!! A whole twelve hours of sleep!! Its UNHEARD OF!
Lets see..
I've finally been assigned a Third Place group. A Third Place group is our way of getting out and doing things for the community. A group of us usually four or five go out into the community on Thursday afternoons/evenings to do some thing or other. Last Thursday I wasn't in a group yet, but I heard that there was a group going down to the Social Club, located in the middle of Pinnocks Way where I live, to have Kids Club. So, I asked if I could join for the evening. I had a name tag and everything! We had about six or seven kids show up and we played games with them, challenged them to cracker eating contests, colored with them, and shared with them the story of the Good Samaritan. I played Wop It with some of the kids and really enjoyed myself!
I have a feeling I'm making the name of that game up, but it had something to do with sticks and a ball, kind of resembling hockey, but not hockey. OH, and I lost the cracker eating contest, but these crackers were horrible!! They were so dry! PLUS, being the big kid, I had to eat four and the two little girls only had to eat two each! COMPLETELY unfair ;)
But, I'm finally assigned to a Third Place group and it is located at Tumbling Bay, an old people's home? I'm sure thats not the best way to say it...what else would it be called? It wasn't a nursing home, but more like an apartment building filled with the elderly.
I'm going to be really honest right now, please don't judge me. For years, I've been afraid of old people. I'm going to blame it on a scary incident I had with my dad's grandma years and years ago when we were living in Mexico, but, nonetheless, I wanted to go to Tumbling Bay with an open mind and an open heart..
I LOVED the old ladies! We had tea out of beautiful fancy china and we had wonderful biscuits and hilarious conversations! They love UNO and next week we are going to play other games with them.
Every other Wednesdays we have Emmaus Groups. I'm not sure if i've mentioned them before, but they are basically homegroups. We all eat together then go over a book. Right now my group is reading "Down to Earth Spirituality" which I need to get started on for next week.......
I know I'm skipping around a lot, but it's late and I'm just writing the first thing that comes to mind.
The last few Fridays we haven't had classes, but a number of us have walked in anyway to spend some time in the library working on our assignments due that next Monday. Simon, our principal, said "Wow..look at that! The library full on a Friday afternoon.", praising us for our efforts. Once he left the room, one of the gents said, "Doesn't he realize we're actually the bad kids. Everyone else would have their assignments done and we're just starting it." So, tomorrow, I"ll be at the library. I'm one of those 'bad kids'.
Lectures this past week were brought to us by Mark and Nesta Mumphurd (Mumford? I have no idea how to spell their last name) from Derby. It was three days about Leadership. VERY GOOD and very practical. The last lecture was basically just us asking practical questions about what to do in certain situations of leadership. They are such a sweet couple too and they just showed a strongly connected partnership as they sort of tag teamed in their lectures to us.
Today we had lectures, well, more like "mission prep" for our trip to North Africa in May. We ran through the reasons for us going, why we are going where we're going, and what we are going to be doing there. It's all very secretive, mainly because the place where we will be going, public evangelism isn't permitted, so we have to be somewhat secret about where and why we're going... I was threatened to be beaten with a stick by one of the staff if I shared too much information about it, so please, no questions!
Funny stories as of late:
I went on the bus the other day and it was really full, so I ended up standing in between two poles. I was balancing my self by holding onto the pole in front and my bum was leaning on teh pole behind, which happened to have the "stop" button for the bus driver to stop. TWICE when the bus had bounced over a bump in the road, my bum had hit the "stop" button and the bus driver stopped. Both times I knew it was me who accidentally stopped the entire bus, but said nothing to no one, and at both stops no one got off! Uber embarrassing...
Thats actually the only funny story i can think of at the moment..
It's been too busy to stop and take pictures of much of anything, not that i've been seeing anything too different. My days have consisted of waking up, walking to college, staying there until one or five, it varies, and walking home. Everything is still fun i think!
OH! I went to Basingstoke for my church placement on sunday finally! That was lovely! The Basingstoke church is split up into four (?) different churches. West is split up into two different parts and we are in one of the parts. But i think during our term we will be visiting each of the churches and once a month all four churches meet together. The pastors of the West church are actually American, Earl and Rebecca. They are young and seem like a lot of fun. Earl preached on Sunday about the Armor of God. In my church placement group its me, rachel, chris, and henry. And we each have job and some time soon we will be leading whole meetings. YIKES!! but..a good yikes.. a good stretching yikes....
I'm trying to think of some more exciting news, but I'm running out of things to say. My apologies..
I hope you enjoyed this little update..
Love!
I apologize for my total lack of communication with everyone!
But, like my title says, since Wales its been GO GO GO!
Besides the busyness of life, I don't have much exciting news to tell ya'll.. I'll just kind of show you what my week looks like..
OH!! GEEMAKNEE! I dont' know how i could've forgotten, but some of you might know that while i was waiting for my visa, there was also another girl from Ukraine, Veronika, who was also waiting for hers. Tuesday we heard the great news that she finally got it and she arrived yesterday evening! It's great to finally have her with us!! It's wonderful to have a complete year group, but unfortunately, we haven't all had the chance to be in lectures together yet. Some are out due to sickness and/or work...
I think most of everyone is all caught up on rest since Wales. I thought I was, but my body is telling me otherwise. Tuesday maybe, I fell asleep on the couch at 7:00 P.M., woke up at 7:30, looked at the clock and went directly upstairs to fall asleep again. I didn't wake up the next morning until 7:00 A.M!! A whole twelve hours of sleep!! Its UNHEARD OF!
Lets see..
I've finally been assigned a Third Place group. A Third Place group is our way of getting out and doing things for the community. A group of us usually four or five go out into the community on Thursday afternoons/evenings to do some thing or other. Last Thursday I wasn't in a group yet, but I heard that there was a group going down to the Social Club, located in the middle of Pinnocks Way where I live, to have Kids Club. So, I asked if I could join for the evening. I had a name tag and everything! We had about six or seven kids show up and we played games with them, challenged them to cracker eating contests, colored with them, and shared with them the story of the Good Samaritan. I played Wop It with some of the kids and really enjoyed myself!
I have a feeling I'm making the name of that game up, but it had something to do with sticks and a ball, kind of resembling hockey, but not hockey. OH, and I lost the cracker eating contest, but these crackers were horrible!! They were so dry! PLUS, being the big kid, I had to eat four and the two little girls only had to eat two each! COMPLETELY unfair ;)
But, I'm finally assigned to a Third Place group and it is located at Tumbling Bay, an old people's home? I'm sure thats not the best way to say it...what else would it be called? It wasn't a nursing home, but more like an apartment building filled with the elderly.
I'm going to be really honest right now, please don't judge me. For years, I've been afraid of old people. I'm going to blame it on a scary incident I had with my dad's grandma years and years ago when we were living in Mexico, but, nonetheless, I wanted to go to Tumbling Bay with an open mind and an open heart..
I LOVED the old ladies! We had tea out of beautiful fancy china and we had wonderful biscuits and hilarious conversations! They love UNO and next week we are going to play other games with them.
Every other Wednesdays we have Emmaus Groups. I'm not sure if i've mentioned them before, but they are basically homegroups. We all eat together then go over a book. Right now my group is reading "Down to Earth Spirituality" which I need to get started on for next week.......
I know I'm skipping around a lot, but it's late and I'm just writing the first thing that comes to mind.
The last few Fridays we haven't had classes, but a number of us have walked in anyway to spend some time in the library working on our assignments due that next Monday. Simon, our principal, said "Wow..look at that! The library full on a Friday afternoon.", praising us for our efforts. Once he left the room, one of the gents said, "Doesn't he realize we're actually the bad kids. Everyone else would have their assignments done and we're just starting it." So, tomorrow, I"ll be at the library. I'm one of those 'bad kids'.
Lectures this past week were brought to us by Mark and Nesta Mumphurd (Mumford? I have no idea how to spell their last name) from Derby. It was three days about Leadership. VERY GOOD and very practical. The last lecture was basically just us asking practical questions about what to do in certain situations of leadership. They are such a sweet couple too and they just showed a strongly connected partnership as they sort of tag teamed in their lectures to us.
Today we had lectures, well, more like "mission prep" for our trip to North Africa in May. We ran through the reasons for us going, why we are going where we're going, and what we are going to be doing there. It's all very secretive, mainly because the place where we will be going, public evangelism isn't permitted, so we have to be somewhat secret about where and why we're going... I was threatened to be beaten with a stick by one of the staff if I shared too much information about it, so please, no questions!
Funny stories as of late:
I went on the bus the other day and it was really full, so I ended up standing in between two poles. I was balancing my self by holding onto the pole in front and my bum was leaning on teh pole behind, which happened to have the "stop" button for the bus driver to stop. TWICE when the bus had bounced over a bump in the road, my bum had hit the "stop" button and the bus driver stopped. Both times I knew it was me who accidentally stopped the entire bus, but said nothing to no one, and at both stops no one got off! Uber embarrassing...
Thats actually the only funny story i can think of at the moment..
It's been too busy to stop and take pictures of much of anything, not that i've been seeing anything too different. My days have consisted of waking up, walking to college, staying there until one or five, it varies, and walking home. Everything is still fun i think!
OH! I went to Basingstoke for my church placement on sunday finally! That was lovely! The Basingstoke church is split up into four (?) different churches. West is split up into two different parts and we are in one of the parts. But i think during our term we will be visiting each of the churches and once a month all four churches meet together. The pastors of the West church are actually American, Earl and Rebecca. They are young and seem like a lot of fun. Earl preached on Sunday about the Armor of God. In my church placement group its me, rachel, chris, and henry. And we each have job and some time soon we will be leading whole meetings. YIKES!! but..a good yikes.. a good stretching yikes....
I'm trying to think of some more exciting news, but I'm running out of things to say. My apologies..
I hope you enjoyed this little update..
Love!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Reflection
Hi all!
I feel like I've left everyone high and dry, but I haven't!
First things first, I made it back from Wales alive. Phew..glad I got that off my chest. This past weekend will be extremely hard to explain in a blog, but I'll do my best. This blog post won't have any pictures or videos. It will be mainly me just trying to give you a run through of what happened during the weekend, but after I post this, I'll post second one immediately showing pictures and videos so you can get a visual too!
On Thursday evening we arrived in Wales. We were all ushered into a room where we were given a quick brief of what the weekend held in store. The basic jist of the weekend was we had to do five major tasks to receive "generator parts" which we would use to build a generator that would give us some "code" which we would in turn use to open some safe where we would find some prize. The five main tasks were the following:
1) Present a presentation (Everyone)
2) Rock Climbing (Team B)
3) Rock Climbing and Abseiling (Team C)
4) Mountain Expedition (Team B&C)
5) VIP Meal/ Moroccan theme (Team A)
We had to raise money to do all these things; we had to rent cars and drivers; we had to navigate our drivers through Wales; we couldn't ask the Red Rock leaders anything or we got penalized. Red Rock was the name of the organization that put this on for us.
To get money we had to do "voluntary tasks". Some were more fun then others. I ate a whole can of cold baked beans along with five of the guys to earn some money. I don't think I'll be enjoying baked beans anytime soon. Not all the "voluntary tasks" had to be done by everyone. Some were just whoever wanted to do it, others were an entire team, and some included every single person.
I apologize for my skipping around so much. This whole weekend is really hard to just explain in a blog, so please bear with me and hopefully it makes sense in the end.
Concerning the different teams mentioned above (A,B, and C), everyone got to choose what team they wanted to be on. I chose team C. Mountain climbing and abseiling.
Okay, so back to Thursday evening. Three of the guys from our year group were appointed the leaders, Andy, Pete, and David. They downloaded us with information about what was expected. Everyone picked their groups, then broke off into three or four smaller groups to discuss the presentation. The presentation had to be presented that evening, explaining how we were going to go about getting money, buying food, what everything would cost, what times everything would be, and present it to the Red Rock Leaders later that evening. If the RRL approved of the presentation, we could be done for the evening and do some voluntary tasks to make some money before we went to bed, and that could be that. If they didn't approve of it, we would have to present it again.
What do you think happened?
Yep! We had to do it twice. The first time we didn't have enough details about prices of food items and climbing gear and such.
That night we made it to bed around 2:30 A.M. Well, some of us. Little did I know that that would be my last night in a comfy bed for the next sixty hours...
The next morning we woke up at 6:30 and breakfast was at 7. We were out by 7:30 and we cleaned up the kitchen. We discussed what the day would hold and at 8:00 we had a half an hour of complete silence. This was one of the voluntary tasks. Everyone had to sit together and be completely silent for half an hour.
Whilst sitting silently, I used the time to write in my journal about the previous night and I'll write what I wrote then...
Presentations at midnight; again at half two in the morning. Falling asleep to the sound of rain pinging on the skylight;being shut in a closet with twenty other people in the dark for three minutes (voluntary task...AND it was a tiny closet);cheering while watching the guys do sit-ups and push-ups (voluntary task); and eating a can of cold generic baked beans. These are the things I've so far endured.
Things i have to look forward to today: climbing a mountain in the rain, abseiling down a cliff in the rain, sleeping outside, probably in the rain.
Luckily, in my handy-dandy, heavy duty hiking rucksack, i have water-proof trousers and jacket set, a really attract set might i add....NOT! I do have water-proof trousers and a jacket, but they are by no means attractive, but I'd rather be dry!
At the moment: We are all doing another task to earn money to buy hiking gear. that task is to sit together and not make any noise for thirty minutes. i was enjoying a competitive game of ping-pong, but apparently "silence" means no pinging or ponging. also, i keep swallowing back those baked beans, they insist on slowing making their way back up.
Yummy right?!
8:20 : Nearly done!
I just got silently told to help clean the kitchen
you forget how useful words are until you can't use them...
I wish i had my camera to snap a picture of what everyone else is doing at the moment. the majority are sleeping, some are staring into space; others are journal-ing; a couple are even passing the time by playing a game of hangman. finally others know their weakness and have taken extra precautions by gagging themselves with scarves!
:) geez , I love these people!
That was my journal entry for those thirty minutes of silence.
How innocent I was.. and how clean too! That would be the last time I wouldn't have sand in my hair, dirt under my nails, or mud all over my skin.
That same day Team C went to Overton to rock climb and to abseil. Every group had nine or more team members and to receive the "generator part" every team member had to attempt to rock climb and to abseil. In my head i had a wonderful image of what rock climbing was going to be like and it was nothing like that. It was so much more intense and like proper rock climbing then I had anticipated. Just wait for the pictures and videos. WE also had a time limit. We had to do it by 4:00 PM. Seems like a lot of time, but driving to Overton was included in the time as well. I really enjoyed the rock climbing. I was the third person to go and the first person to make it to the top! Out of the nine team members, only three of us made it to the top.
Abseiling was a different story. I'm not usually afraid of heights, but this was a bit intimidating. I had to make sure I asked the lady how much weight this rope could hold and all the important questions like that. BUT, and my mom is going to love this, I did manage to multi-task whilst abseiling. I took a video on the way down...... ha.. just way to see it.
Everyone but one team member attempted abseiling. Around 4:15 we were starting our trek back to the two Land Rovers our team was split up into. The Moroccan themed VIP meal was being served at 6:00 PM and we had to be there on time. For every minute someone was late for dinner they were penalized 50 Welsh pounds, per person. Needless to say, our Land Rovers got separated, one got lost, and we were late by at least half an hour. Not good...
On a better note, the food made by Team A was absolutely delicious. We had a traditional Moroccan meal which we ate with our hands. But before we ate, team members came around with a bowl and a bar or soap so we could all wash our hands. We then all ate from one big plate in the middle. Then afterward we had Moroccan mint tea. Simply delightful.
Sometime after dinner, Teams B and C gathered all their hiking gear piled it in the Land Rovers.
That night we were going to sleep in a cave. Thats right, a cave.
Minor interruption: All weekend the days seemed entirely too long. You would remember something you did that morning and you'd think, "It was just this morning I did that?"
And..at this point, my memory of the weekend is all running together, so I'm really just trying to capture the main points of the whole experience.
Alright, it was probably around 9:00 PM that Teams B and C set off to start their caving experience. We drove for about two hours and parked the Land Rovers around 11:00 PM. We all got our hiking gear. By the way, it was pitch black and pouring. The heavens had opened and the rains were relentless. We trudged through mud, balanced along grassy slopes and drop-offs, and used our knees to climb up the rock face to get into the cave.
Again, I had this nice little image in my head of a perfectly cut out circle in the rock, evenly leveled, warm and protecting. I was wrong. Dead wrong.
I was one of the first ones into the entrance of the cave and I suddenly realized we weren't going to fit all twenty people into this cave. I looked around a bit and my eyes fell on this hole. "Surely not", I said to myself. Again, I was mistaken. This hole was probably 2.5-3 feet in width and about 9-10 feet long. You had to lay on your back during some of the tunnel-shimmy down into the wider part of the cave, just so you didn't get hit in the head or face with some rock that was jutting out. The hardest part was getting yourself AND your hiking bag AND your sleeping bag down there. It probably took about an hour to get everyone into the cave. It was a real struggle for some who were really claustrophobic, but it was amazing to see people encourage and walk hand in hand with those who really had to lean on God for strength to make it through the next five minutes.
It was 2:30 when everyone was in the cave and setting their sleeping bags up. I figured with twenty people in a cave and being somewhat protected from the door that we would remain really warm in the cave, but that was not the case at all. The cave was wet, frigid, and loud! Every two minutes, no exaggeration here, there was a loud ruckus sound that would boom and echo through the cave corridors. And every time it would happen, freezing bursts of air would fly through the cave, piercing every already-shivering body to the core. I slept next to Lucy and we tried to cuddle to keep warm, but there was just no use. We got up in the morning tired for even trying to sleep and our bodies aching from shivering. I'm pretty sure I zoned out for a total of twenty minutes that night. Everyone was up by six and all trying to wrestle their wet sleeping bags back into those tiny bags they come in.
I thought I would dread going back up that tiny hole towards freedom, but all I wanted was out of that dreadful cave. It was definitely harder going back up then coming down, but I was determined to get out of there. During that night in the cave I was so angry toward the sea, almost begging it to just relent for five minutes, but the moment I made it out of the cave that morning and was faced with the majesty of God's amazing creation, all anger and frustration turned into awe and admiration.
We walked down the mountain and went back up the same way we had come down the night before in the dark and the relentless rain. I had almost preferred the dark to the daylight, because seeing it in the daylight scared me enough. We had to walk back through the mud and finally back to the Land Rovers. Sweet, sweet Land Rovers.
At this point, I'm a little hazy on exact times, but I know the day is Saturday. We have one final expedition to do. The Mountain expedition. Basically, both Teams B and C were dropped off and different points. Team A was dropped off at a base point. Team A was to set up tents and make dinner for the other teams. Team B and C were to find the place of accommodation Team A had set up.
I know Team C had to go back to the Mountain climbing and abseiling mountain to let the final team member abseil because if they didn't then we wouldn't have gotten the "generator part". That took up a big chunk of time during our day that could've been used toward the other expedition. Finally though, at 4:00 P.M., Team C starts our mountain expedition. We trudged for 4.5 hours. I really wish there were words to express the kind of tiredness, and body aches, and exhaustion, and discouragement, and fear that had been shared by all, but you would have just had to be there. We walked up hill the entire time except the last hour maybe. We walked in the dark and fog for 3.5 hours of it all.
I apologize for painting a dark, dismal picture of that evening, but it was really hard for everyone physically and emotionally. We sang though. Singing just makes things more bearable. And we prayed...man, did we pray.
When we made it to base though, we were welcomed with food and praises, a nice combination. Everyone was proud of us and they said they had just been praying for us non-stop all day. We were warmed up with some tea. Everyone gathered in the upper room of some bunker hall to hear from the three leaders. They all gave a quick run through of the day and a few others had some praise reports about other people.
The leaders really wanted to remind us though that even though we had finished the expedition, the work wasn't over. The weekend didn't end until the next day at 10:00 A.M., so we didn't need to have a "we've done it" mentality. We spent a few more minutes going through the schedule for the last day.
It was probably around midnight that we made it back to the tents and settled in to get some shut eye. I figured that a tent would be much better sleeping in then the cave, but it was just as horrible. We had a wake up call at 3:00 in the morning, so we could make it back to the Red Rock facilities at 5:00, but I had been begging for morning to come since I'd crawled into my sleeping bag. I had shaken and shivered for the last three hours and my body was just utterly exhausted. The cold from the earth had just seeped through and had reached my very bones.
Nonetheless, that will probably be the only time in the rest of my existence that I will be happy to be getting up at three in the morning! We rolled up sleeping backs and took down tents and everyone was on their way by four o'clock. Once that car started moving, I was out like a light. It was the best two hours sleep since I could remember. We got to base, had breakfast, and had to immediately start on cleaning stuff up to be done by debrief at 10:00 A.M. After breakfast we washed all the Land Rovers, inside and out, hosed down all the tents, washed all the bivvy bags, and tried to make as much money as we could before time was up.
Debrief was too much to write about. It basically just went through everything that had happened within the last weekend and why the Red Rock people had made us go through it. They explained what everything was trying to teach us and how it relates back to God.
The entire Wales experience goes so much deeper then everything I have written above, because God was so involved and just expressed Himself to us as a group and to me individually.
It really would just be too difficult for me to write it all out and be able to make it coherent.
To put it plainly, God was amazing this weekend. He showed Himself to be the God in kitchen, the God on the mountaintop (literally), the God in the rainstorm, the God in the cave, the God in the roaring sea, the God in the freezing tents.
I apologize for the length of time it took me to get back to all of you.
I hope i did an adequate job giving you a glimpse of what happened in Wales. My next blog will be pictures and videos..
Enjoy!
I feel like I've left everyone high and dry, but I haven't!
First things first, I made it back from Wales alive. Phew..glad I got that off my chest. This past weekend will be extremely hard to explain in a blog, but I'll do my best. This blog post won't have any pictures or videos. It will be mainly me just trying to give you a run through of what happened during the weekend, but after I post this, I'll post second one immediately showing pictures and videos so you can get a visual too!
On Thursday evening we arrived in Wales. We were all ushered into a room where we were given a quick brief of what the weekend held in store. The basic jist of the weekend was we had to do five major tasks to receive "generator parts" which we would use to build a generator that would give us some "code" which we would in turn use to open some safe where we would find some prize. The five main tasks were the following:
1) Present a presentation (Everyone)
2) Rock Climbing (Team B)
3) Rock Climbing and Abseiling (Team C)
4) Mountain Expedition (Team B&C)
5) VIP Meal/ Moroccan theme (Team A)
We had to raise money to do all these things; we had to rent cars and drivers; we had to navigate our drivers through Wales; we couldn't ask the Red Rock leaders anything or we got penalized. Red Rock was the name of the organization that put this on for us.
To get money we had to do "voluntary tasks". Some were more fun then others. I ate a whole can of cold baked beans along with five of the guys to earn some money. I don't think I'll be enjoying baked beans anytime soon. Not all the "voluntary tasks" had to be done by everyone. Some were just whoever wanted to do it, others were an entire team, and some included every single person.
I apologize for my skipping around so much. This whole weekend is really hard to just explain in a blog, so please bear with me and hopefully it makes sense in the end.
Concerning the different teams mentioned above (A,B, and C), everyone got to choose what team they wanted to be on. I chose team C. Mountain climbing and abseiling.
Okay, so back to Thursday evening. Three of the guys from our year group were appointed the leaders, Andy, Pete, and David. They downloaded us with information about what was expected. Everyone picked their groups, then broke off into three or four smaller groups to discuss the presentation. The presentation had to be presented that evening, explaining how we were going to go about getting money, buying food, what everything would cost, what times everything would be, and present it to the Red Rock Leaders later that evening. If the RRL approved of the presentation, we could be done for the evening and do some voluntary tasks to make some money before we went to bed, and that could be that. If they didn't approve of it, we would have to present it again.
What do you think happened?
Yep! We had to do it twice. The first time we didn't have enough details about prices of food items and climbing gear and such.
That night we made it to bed around 2:30 A.M. Well, some of us. Little did I know that that would be my last night in a comfy bed for the next sixty hours...
The next morning we woke up at 6:30 and breakfast was at 7. We were out by 7:30 and we cleaned up the kitchen. We discussed what the day would hold and at 8:00 we had a half an hour of complete silence. This was one of the voluntary tasks. Everyone had to sit together and be completely silent for half an hour.
Whilst sitting silently, I used the time to write in my journal about the previous night and I'll write what I wrote then...
Presentations at midnight; again at half two in the morning. Falling asleep to the sound of rain pinging on the skylight;being shut in a closet with twenty other people in the dark for three minutes (voluntary task...AND it was a tiny closet);cheering while watching the guys do sit-ups and push-ups (voluntary task); and eating a can of cold generic baked beans. These are the things I've so far endured.
Things i have to look forward to today: climbing a mountain in the rain, abseiling down a cliff in the rain, sleeping outside, probably in the rain.
Luckily, in my handy-dandy, heavy duty hiking rucksack, i have water-proof trousers and jacket set, a really attract set might i add....NOT! I do have water-proof trousers and a jacket, but they are by no means attractive, but I'd rather be dry!
At the moment: We are all doing another task to earn money to buy hiking gear. that task is to sit together and not make any noise for thirty minutes. i was enjoying a competitive game of ping-pong, but apparently "silence" means no pinging or ponging. also, i keep swallowing back those baked beans, they insist on slowing making their way back up.
Yummy right?!
8:20 : Nearly done!
I just got silently told to help clean the kitchen
you forget how useful words are until you can't use them...
I wish i had my camera to snap a picture of what everyone else is doing at the moment. the majority are sleeping, some are staring into space; others are journal-ing; a couple are even passing the time by playing a game of hangman. finally others know their weakness and have taken extra precautions by gagging themselves with scarves!
:) geez , I love these people!
That was my journal entry for those thirty minutes of silence.
How innocent I was.. and how clean too! That would be the last time I wouldn't have sand in my hair, dirt under my nails, or mud all over my skin.
That same day Team C went to Overton to rock climb and to abseil. Every group had nine or more team members and to receive the "generator part" every team member had to attempt to rock climb and to abseil. In my head i had a wonderful image of what rock climbing was going to be like and it was nothing like that. It was so much more intense and like proper rock climbing then I had anticipated. Just wait for the pictures and videos. WE also had a time limit. We had to do it by 4:00 PM. Seems like a lot of time, but driving to Overton was included in the time as well. I really enjoyed the rock climbing. I was the third person to go and the first person to make it to the top! Out of the nine team members, only three of us made it to the top.
Abseiling was a different story. I'm not usually afraid of heights, but this was a bit intimidating. I had to make sure I asked the lady how much weight this rope could hold and all the important questions like that. BUT, and my mom is going to love this, I did manage to multi-task whilst abseiling. I took a video on the way down...... ha.. just way to see it.
Everyone but one team member attempted abseiling. Around 4:15 we were starting our trek back to the two Land Rovers our team was split up into. The Moroccan themed VIP meal was being served at 6:00 PM and we had to be there on time. For every minute someone was late for dinner they were penalized 50 Welsh pounds, per person. Needless to say, our Land Rovers got separated, one got lost, and we were late by at least half an hour. Not good...
On a better note, the food made by Team A was absolutely delicious. We had a traditional Moroccan meal which we ate with our hands. But before we ate, team members came around with a bowl and a bar or soap so we could all wash our hands. We then all ate from one big plate in the middle. Then afterward we had Moroccan mint tea. Simply delightful.
Sometime after dinner, Teams B and C gathered all their hiking gear piled it in the Land Rovers.
That night we were going to sleep in a cave. Thats right, a cave.
Minor interruption: All weekend the days seemed entirely too long. You would remember something you did that morning and you'd think, "It was just this morning I did that?"
And..at this point, my memory of the weekend is all running together, so I'm really just trying to capture the main points of the whole experience.
Alright, it was probably around 9:00 PM that Teams B and C set off to start their caving experience. We drove for about two hours and parked the Land Rovers around 11:00 PM. We all got our hiking gear. By the way, it was pitch black and pouring. The heavens had opened and the rains were relentless. We trudged through mud, balanced along grassy slopes and drop-offs, and used our knees to climb up the rock face to get into the cave.
Again, I had this nice little image in my head of a perfectly cut out circle in the rock, evenly leveled, warm and protecting. I was wrong. Dead wrong.
I was one of the first ones into the entrance of the cave and I suddenly realized we weren't going to fit all twenty people into this cave. I looked around a bit and my eyes fell on this hole. "Surely not", I said to myself. Again, I was mistaken. This hole was probably 2.5-3 feet in width and about 9-10 feet long. You had to lay on your back during some of the tunnel-shimmy down into the wider part of the cave, just so you didn't get hit in the head or face with some rock that was jutting out. The hardest part was getting yourself AND your hiking bag AND your sleeping bag down there. It probably took about an hour to get everyone into the cave. It was a real struggle for some who were really claustrophobic, but it was amazing to see people encourage and walk hand in hand with those who really had to lean on God for strength to make it through the next five minutes.
It was 2:30 when everyone was in the cave and setting their sleeping bags up. I figured with twenty people in a cave and being somewhat protected from the door that we would remain really warm in the cave, but that was not the case at all. The cave was wet, frigid, and loud! Every two minutes, no exaggeration here, there was a loud ruckus sound that would boom and echo through the cave corridors. And every time it would happen, freezing bursts of air would fly through the cave, piercing every already-shivering body to the core. I slept next to Lucy and we tried to cuddle to keep warm, but there was just no use. We got up in the morning tired for even trying to sleep and our bodies aching from shivering. I'm pretty sure I zoned out for a total of twenty minutes that night. Everyone was up by six and all trying to wrestle their wet sleeping bags back into those tiny bags they come in.
I thought I would dread going back up that tiny hole towards freedom, but all I wanted was out of that dreadful cave. It was definitely harder going back up then coming down, but I was determined to get out of there. During that night in the cave I was so angry toward the sea, almost begging it to just relent for five minutes, but the moment I made it out of the cave that morning and was faced with the majesty of God's amazing creation, all anger and frustration turned into awe and admiration.
We walked down the mountain and went back up the same way we had come down the night before in the dark and the relentless rain. I had almost preferred the dark to the daylight, because seeing it in the daylight scared me enough. We had to walk back through the mud and finally back to the Land Rovers. Sweet, sweet Land Rovers.
At this point, I'm a little hazy on exact times, but I know the day is Saturday. We have one final expedition to do. The Mountain expedition. Basically, both Teams B and C were dropped off and different points. Team A was dropped off at a base point. Team A was to set up tents and make dinner for the other teams. Team B and C were to find the place of accommodation Team A had set up.
I know Team C had to go back to the Mountain climbing and abseiling mountain to let the final team member abseil because if they didn't then we wouldn't have gotten the "generator part". That took up a big chunk of time during our day that could've been used toward the other expedition. Finally though, at 4:00 P.M., Team C starts our mountain expedition. We trudged for 4.5 hours. I really wish there were words to express the kind of tiredness, and body aches, and exhaustion, and discouragement, and fear that had been shared by all, but you would have just had to be there. We walked up hill the entire time except the last hour maybe. We walked in the dark and fog for 3.5 hours of it all.
I apologize for painting a dark, dismal picture of that evening, but it was really hard for everyone physically and emotionally. We sang though. Singing just makes things more bearable. And we prayed...man, did we pray.
When we made it to base though, we were welcomed with food and praises, a nice combination. Everyone was proud of us and they said they had just been praying for us non-stop all day. We were warmed up with some tea. Everyone gathered in the upper room of some bunker hall to hear from the three leaders. They all gave a quick run through of the day and a few others had some praise reports about other people.
The leaders really wanted to remind us though that even though we had finished the expedition, the work wasn't over. The weekend didn't end until the next day at 10:00 A.M., so we didn't need to have a "we've done it" mentality. We spent a few more minutes going through the schedule for the last day.
It was probably around midnight that we made it back to the tents and settled in to get some shut eye. I figured that a tent would be much better sleeping in then the cave, but it was just as horrible. We had a wake up call at 3:00 in the morning, so we could make it back to the Red Rock facilities at 5:00, but I had been begging for morning to come since I'd crawled into my sleeping bag. I had shaken and shivered for the last three hours and my body was just utterly exhausted. The cold from the earth had just seeped through and had reached my very bones.
Nonetheless, that will probably be the only time in the rest of my existence that I will be happy to be getting up at three in the morning! We rolled up sleeping backs and took down tents and everyone was on their way by four o'clock. Once that car started moving, I was out like a light. It was the best two hours sleep since I could remember. We got to base, had breakfast, and had to immediately start on cleaning stuff up to be done by debrief at 10:00 A.M. After breakfast we washed all the Land Rovers, inside and out, hosed down all the tents, washed all the bivvy bags, and tried to make as much money as we could before time was up.
Debrief was too much to write about. It basically just went through everything that had happened within the last weekend and why the Red Rock people had made us go through it. They explained what everything was trying to teach us and how it relates back to God.
The entire Wales experience goes so much deeper then everything I have written above, because God was so involved and just expressed Himself to us as a group and to me individually.
It really would just be too difficult for me to write it all out and be able to make it coherent.
To put it plainly, God was amazing this weekend. He showed Himself to be the God in kitchen, the God on the mountaintop (literally), the God in the rainstorm, the God in the cave, the God in the roaring sea, the God in the freezing tents.
I apologize for the length of time it took me to get back to all of you.
I hope i did an adequate job giving you a glimpse of what happened in Wales. My next blog will be pictures and videos..
Enjoy!
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