Although I admit there wasn't some life-changing revelation or significant change in heart, it was still a very enjoyable and humbling experience and worth a blog post.
Simply recollecting the memories chronologically..
We were meant to leave the church site not too long after 10:00 am, but we left pretty much two hours after that because we had a trailer to deal with and tons of food and equipment. It was helpful that twenty of us were in the morning group to help move things - tasks are really done faster when you can have a large group of people working together.
I will be honest and say that the ride there was a bit awkward for me. I had requested to sit near the front of the van because of my motion sickness and that placed me between two guys I didn't know very well. I had talked with each one not too extensively previously, but it was pretty much silent for most of the trip. One of them continued to make the effort to reach out to me though, and I appreciated that so I did the same to him. We actually had a nice conversation about how we felt God was working in our lives regarding our academic careers (and actual future careers).
Let me tell you that it was ridiculously hot - I honestly wish I could have just walked around naked with my hair tied up because we were just sweating merely by standing - when we arrived at the campsite. It was quite beautiful, though. The trees looked pretty nice (most of them, anyways), and we were right by a river with a swing that was really fun to jump from.
Unfortunately for me, mother nature decided to hand me her monthly gift a few hours after settling down at the camp. However, I did come prepared... and went swimming the first and second day anyways.
OH Yes - the one thing that you must remember while reading all of this is that there was no running water. That means no showers, no sinks, no wells. All 40-ish of us went three days with no showers, and only had chemical toilets (a.k.a. port-a-potties) to do our business in. It was disgusting, but we had to suck it up because you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. We were prepared ahead of time to bring out own water because we knew this area was especially affected by the drought - so we had brought over 70+ gallons of water for drinking, washing dishes, and other purposes to keep ourselves clean. It was honestly barely enough - during lunch on the last day, there was only one gallon of water and it was a bit scary to see so many thirsty people with such an insufficient amount of water. Fortunately, that day (today) was the day that we left the campsite and went to Casa de Fruta and got lots of nice refreshments.
The river was really interesting. The current was very weak, so at certain areas it was definitely filthy. Plus with the lack of running water, swimming in the river was pretty much our time to cleanse ourselves... as filthy as it was, but it was honestly better than nothing. And with the heat being almost unbearable for a lot of us, the river was such a blessing to have and just cool down in. Even just being able to wade in the water for those who didn't have swimsuits helped cool us down enormously.
I also want to mention that without the bathrooms open, we also didn't have mirrors to look at ourselves. I had a compact mirror, and if we honestly wanted to see how our hair looked we could have gone up to one of the vans and looked in the mirror or something. But most of us didn't see our own faces for the weekend. I know that this doesn't sound like anything important - but seeing myself in a mirror again when we stopped at Casa de Fruta on our way home was kind of strange. I'll admit that I definitely care a lot about how I look, but not having to stress out about it for a weekend was definitely freeing (even though a lot of the time I was thinking "I bet I look like crap").
Also the night sky looked pretty awesome. I didn't see too much of it - I regretfully didn't look up as much as I should have the first night (actually I took part in something else pretty cool the first night, too). I saw a nice amount of stars the second night before it got too cloudy. Although the night sky wasn't as majestic-looking as it looks in Yosemite, which was just two hours away from us, it was still pretty amazing compared to the Bay Area sky. I know that the night sky is just a dark blanket with white, twinkling dots all over the place - but being able to see the sky and stars out at night is just simply indescribable.
My favourite parts of the camp was definitely in all the deep, intellectual conversations we had in sharing our own stories and also sharing things about our faith - and ultimately getting to know so many people on a deeper level - those moments definitely brought much joy to me and excited the introvert in me.
I also liked the discussion questions we had for all of our four sessions. The camp discussions were all based from the book of James (I want to say because of this one girl's sharing this past week, but it could honestly just be a coincidence). I really liked how open and vulnerable everyone was in sharing very deep parts of their lives, how God has worked in their lives, and how they have grown through those experiences and have grown in the faith (and are continuing to grow in their faith). I don't remember too much the main topics of each of the discussions - but the ones I remember the most are about suffering, pride, and serving others. I like these discussions because honestly, they help me to become a more compassionate and understanding person. They help to remind me that we are all trying to figure out this life together, with the guidance and companionship of God, and that we have all been through and/or going through some kind of suffering. These discussions are also good reminders that there really are people that genuinely care and want to get to the crux of all matters. Also, that no one is perfect, we shouldn't think so highly of ourselves, and that the biggest duty as a Christian is to love, forgive, and accept others as Christ has done so for us.
The park ranger also came up to our group and asked us to pray for one of the park rangers because he had broken his neck or back while trying to put out a fire. So we prayed for him, as a tent group and as the a whole camp group. It was interesting what the park ranger said, though - she said that she knew we were a Christian group and that God listens to us when we pray, so she requested that we pray for this fellow park ranger. I mean, it's not that God doesn't listen if the park ranger were to pray alone, but this reminded me of that verse in James - "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective". I'm not saying that that particular park ranger wasn't seeking after righteousness - I don't know her stance in faith or anything - but I'm certain that prayer is powerful and effective from a person who is seeking righteousness and who wants their own will to align with God's will. Additionally, prayer is much, much more powerful in numbers - so I have great faith that the park ranger will be healed.
It was just so nice to be in such an environment with playful and funny yet very spiritually and mentally mature people. If I could be honest, I was almost thinking of leaving this group because I felt that they weren't and sometimes still aren't very welcoming towards newcomers who don't put themselves out there first. But I began to remind myself that as lovely as these group of people are, they're not perfect - and my worth is not found in trying to belong to them, it is found in God, and having such a community is a place to supplement my relationship with God and my faith in him.
I'll just be praying that as we head back to our routine lives and meet up again at church in a few days, that we won't forget this experience and continue to not have our guards up all the time and being willing to reach out to people we don't know very well, as awkward as they may be.
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