Matt and I were blessed to have an amazing opportunity to join the High School Ministry at our church on a wilderness trip. We had so much fun rock climbing, repelling, hiking and white water rafting. At night we discussed our hope and trust in God, as well as obedience and the joy we find in God. We also had an amazing time worshiping around a camp fire...imagine being surrounded by mountains and stars next to a beautiful river and singing praises to the Creator of all, it was incredibly moving. We learned so much from the students. Our top 5 favorite things of the trip...
1) Being blessed by a high school student sharing their faith and how the Holy Spirit has helped them to overcome sin. This was such an incredible moment for us to see someone so young to to have no fear and share their testimony in front of their peers. It was beautiful.
2) Getting to know the students. We loved them! They were some of the funniest people we have ever met. We enjoyed getting to know them and see how much confidence they have in themselves and God. One of our favorite moments was sitting around the camp fire while some of the students made up songs about the trip. It was hilarious! Each person was so unique and special in their own way, we were so blessed just to be able to hang out with them.
3) Sleeping outside in God's creation. We have never seen so many stars! The first night I woke up about 2am and went outside the tent to see a billion stars, more beautiful than words can describe...I decided to wake people up to experience the beauty, not everyone was excited as I was to view the stars at 2am. On the third night everyone went down to the river after worship to enjoy the beauty of the stars. I was the most excited about the stars and the only one that missed a shooting star.
4) All of the activities that Matt and I have never done and were able to experience together. We hiked for 6 hours, which definitely pushed everyone to the limit. We climbed from 9K feet to 11,600 feet, except for Matt and a student who decided to show everyone up and climb another 400 feet for fun. You can see their view point in the picture of the lake. White water rafting was a blast and I had great company with a fun bunch of girls. Also, rock climbing and repelling was incredible and scary! Matt climbed 60 feet in 42 seconds, which was the quickest time...pretty great considering he has never rock climbed.
5) Matt and I getting to share such a powerful experience. Being able to watch how each other has grown closer to Christ and sharing that joy with students. To leave the daily grind and see each other in a different environment was so wonderful, we thank God for our marriage.
