CAMPING and LIFE

Typed: March 6, 2011

This afternoon we returned from "Hidden Valley" Queensland.  It was an interesting time of camping and lectures.  I am exhausted and smelly.  

First day there I got heat stroke.  Then, it pretty much proceeded to rain for almost the whole 2 weeks.  My tent was flooded.  We readjusted, set up tarps, then had another hard rain and flooded again.  Finally moved our tent out of the swamp our campsite became and it still got wet but not nearly as much.  I also got a cold due to being wet all the time.  So, it was fairly miserable in a lot of ways but also really good.  Most of the time it was just our DTS and the Not For Sale DTS, so about 60 of us total.  No phones, no internet, no cars, noooooo anything so we got to spend a lot of time together and in nature (despite the rain, we played).

Lectures our first week there were the most intense so far.  It was on Lordship (making sure God is the first thing in our life in every area).  Our speaker was this hyper Kiwi man, Mark Parker. And when I say hyper..... I mean really hyper. He would end most of his sentences with "SHUT UP!  You're not the center of the world!"  He was hilarious, but also a very powerful speaker.  I'm still processing through a lot of it.  Recognizing how much crap is in our lives that keep us from fulling living for God and to the potential we are called to.  God revealed a lot in my life.... especially pride.  (Learning that pride isn't just thinking you are better than others, but involves a whole lot of other aspects).  

I cannot get over how pretty Australia is.  Yesterday we hiked to these ridiculous falls and rivers in a gorge.  And when I say hiked, it was an adventure..... don't let Aussies tell you it's just an easy walk over a hill.  We had to swim across 4 rivers and creeks, climb rocky hills, and then came to miles of these large rocks with waterfalls and pools everywhere.  We climbed over so much stuff, swam another river after hiking across rocky ridges.  I couldn't take my camera due to the conditions (it would have gotten destroyed).  It was the most beautiful scene.  I am cut up and sore but it was really fun.  We did a talent show last night.  It was hilarious!  It was pretty much everyone doing skits making fun of everyone else.  The best talent was when Aleski (a tall, 18 year old, really stereotypical Canadian guy) got up and told us he found verses in the Bible that really spoke to him and he was going to do interpretive music with it.  He started reading some laws in the Old Testament like "do not boil a baby goat in it's mother's milk" and he played a recorder really obnoxiously after each law. I laughed so hard I almost stopped breathing.  He was super serious the whole time.   

Anyway, it was quiet the adventure.  I think my feet are forever stained with mud.... mud, mud, mud everywhere, and my clothes are all damp and smelly.  But, it was good.  I'm going to enjoy regular showers while I can.