As I sit on the porch overlooking the beach, I find it almost humorous that I was 14,000 feet higher up two days ago. For those of you that don't know, for the past 8 days I have been in Wyoming backpacking with a group called Life of Adventure with 40 other people. Calling it an adventure would be an understatement. If only I knew what to say and where to begin; however, I will do my best.
We had to drive 6 hours from Salt Lake City where we all flew in to our first campsite. There was a small shower as we were driving in, but as we got closer, there was a double rainbow overshadowing the Elk Refuge. (the ironic thing was no one saw one elk...) I believe that rainbows are quite possibly the most beautiful and mysterious phenomenon. When we arrived at the campsite, there was a cloud that looked as if God was very gently blowing the corners of it.
There was also a beautiful sight once we got to the campground. Our tents faced the Tetons; the sun was setting and the clouds and mountain were both silhouetted and there was a small sliver of sunset between the cloud and the mountain. The next day, we took a hike around Jenny Lake. It was a beautiful 6-mile hike and half way through we stopped at a waterfall. There was a rock bed we all spread out on and were able to eat lunch and spend time alone with God.
After that we continued hiking around the lake. It was a successful trip except when I fell while crossing the river. Thankfully, there was no permanent damage done. The next two days, we ventured into the little town of Jackson Hole. It was such a cute little town with a park in the center. We spent two days in that town, the first we were able to have a 'free' day and just go around town. It was that day that, much to my dismay, dislocated and jammed my left pinkie finger. I was participating in an intense game of Ninja and my friend accidentally missed my wrist and hit the exact wrong place on my finger and jammed it; however, I did not feel it at the current time because I was giving 110% to the task at hand and in the zone. I am now suffering the consequences. The second day in Jackson Hole we went around evangelizing to people in the parks. My heart was very much burdened for the people in Jackson, many of them view nature as their god. It was so encouraging though, because one girl we talked to said, "I just don't know how you can't look around at the mountains and the beauty and not know there's a God." I found that very true throughout the entire week, the beauty of God was taken to a whole new level in my mind. After the two days in Jackson Hole, we went to another campground and were able to shower for the first time in 4 days. It was a wonderful experience. Below is a picture of me and my tent-mates before our shower. These are three absolutely wonderful girls - known as the "tenties". It originated from the term roomies but since we were staying in rooms not tents, tenties formed from it, and it stuck. So below are the tenties (from left to right) Me, Teigan Mitcham, Macey Simms, and Emma Smiley. As you can see, showers were much needed.
While we were on one of our day hikes, I collected a bouquet of flowers from the trail. Once we got back to our original location, I began to pass it around. It quickly received the name "The Love" and the love was passed around from person to person. I was in one of the all guys vans (because my plane landed late and they stuck me in the only open seat) and so I began passing it around the van. They then stuck it under the windshield wipers and it stayed there for the rest of the week. I loved my van - they were so wonderful...most of the time.
We went to a lake the day after Jackson Hole that had a large rock in the middle of it we could jump off of. The only catch was we had to swim out to the middle and the water was in the negatives. However, most of us withstood the cold and swam out to the rock. After all, our bodies got numb after a short while in the water. That lake brings back bittersweet memories though because it was that day that my camera broke. I did not do anything to cause the break, it just decided to stop working. So for the rest of the week, I had no pictures of my own. Therefore none of the pictures after this one are my own.
After two days in the second campground, we went to the back country. It was a 6 mile hike up about 11,000 ft and once we got there, we set our tents on a large rock bed. Our second day in the back country, we took a 9 mile day hike up to the Grand - the largest peak of the Tetons. It was quite possibly the most difficult physical activity I have ever done in my life. There were many times on the hike up I wanted to turn around. However, Sonya, the leader my friends and I were walking with said that the hike was much like our walk with God. We don't always know where He's taking us and sometimes it's so difficult, but the view is worth it. And anything in life that's worth it is going to take fighting for and hard work, but that's why it's worth it. She could not have been more true. Once we got to the top, the view was indescribable and pictures could not capture it. There was a lake with ice cubes, and mountains and valleys all around. There was snow and rock and grass and flowers. Everything. It was absolutely breathtaking.
After we finished taking in The Grand, we hiked back down to camp. We stopped midway at a lake because one of the guys was baptized by our leader, Jeremy Absher. It was a beautiful image to see and just showed God's indescribable beauty.
That night, most of us slept outside. I got sleep in between Teigan and Rey - one of the college sumer project leaders. I got to hear both of their testimonies, and let me just say they both have absolutely beautiful hearts and I am truly blessed to have gotten to know them. They are both wonderful people and make me laugh and are such solid believers. They're great. Sleeping under the stars reminded me so much of Kenya which was such a surreal feeling. I loved it, it was such natural beauty and it felt as if there was nothing between me and God. The next day, we hiked 6 miles back to the base. I hiked in my Chacos on the way down which left quite an interesting "tan" line.
That night, we stayed at a KOA (a not-really campground) and got to shower which was simply divine. Many of us got no sleep that night. My small group went out to Denny's and recapped the week until 3AM then came back and shared our last few hours together with everyone. I managed to get one hour of sleep, then woke up at 6AM to leave and catch my flight.
God taught me so much about Himself but the main thing I took away was His truth. I saw His truth displayed through the beauty of His creation, but it was also a central point talked about throughout the week. One of the main ideas we talked about was the lies we, personally, believe. I had never really thought about my one central lie, but on the trip I realized it. One night, Jeremy was praying and he said "may truth pour over our lies". That is something I am praying for, that God would pour truth into my life. On the hike down from the back country, we were told to walk in silence and reflect on the week and what God had taught us. For some reason, God kept bringing the verse from Amazing Grace that goes, "the Lord has promised good to me". That goes along with my lie, that God is going to bring GOOD to me, because He loves me. We can't realize the power of the cross until we realize the weight of our sins. God's love was shown to me in a new way. It was such an incredible experience, one I will never forget and I am so thankful God gave me eyes to see his beauty.
