Showing up and Showing off

9 Squadmates
2 days
10+ hours of hiking with our packs
13.2 miles
35,998 steps
228 flights climbed
Elevation 3,796 meters
Volcan ACATENANGO
God showed up and showed off BIG TIME.

These are just a few of the ways that we/I were blessed during our adventure

-I was able to wear my contacts to fully appreciate the views on the hike- after a rough day with scratchy eyes

-Clear weather from the moment we got out of the van until we got to the base camp AND got settled there- it’s rainy season and the weather was not common for this time of year- The first leg of the hike was 6.5 hours of mostly incline

-We all made it through SIX AND A HALF HOURS OF HIKING. Guys, this was no joke, it was incline probably 95% of the time and a half of that was steep incline. Also we had our packs. My shoulders have never been more mad at me in my life. This was only the first leg.

-Started raining once we got settled at camp- relaxing and made for a cool experience watching the volcano erupt in the midst of the storm

-I GOT TO WATCH A VOLCANO ERUPT FROM RIGHT BESIDE THE OPENING

-Our guides served us dinner in our tents so we didn’t have to go get our food in the rain

-Because of the rain we had game time-team bonding with 8 people in a 3 person tent. So. Fun.

-All night we got to listen to an active volcano erupt essentially right next to us!

-Stopped raining before we woke up and in time to go to the summit. It’s too dangerous in the rain so we were blessed with the opportunity to get to the top

-Completely clear view all morning while we were waiting to leave for the summit. We saw crazy explosions of lava in the night sky and lights from all of the surrounding towns (please note by morning I mean 3:00am)

-The Lord gave us a really cool moment: While Taylor W, Ryan and I were watching the volcano, Taylor said “let us see one of the big explosions we heard all night” and AT THAT MOMENT it exploded bigger than any of us had ever seen. It was incredible.

-We all got safely to the summit after a STEEP 1.5 hour hike up the volcano zone. In the dark. With poor traction from my shoes. In volcanic sand that made us slip. And rock climbing for the last bit to make it to the top.

-Cold but bearable for how long we were up there. Praise for my buff, and all the heavy layers I dragged up in my pack. #Noragrets.

-Safely made it back to base camp after basically sand surfing down the side of the volcano

-It was cloudy the WHOLE time back down-which showed us how blessed we were to have the views that we did on the way up.

The Lord was totally in this weekend and it was one of my favorites. We were blessed from start to finish and the whole experience was beyond incredible.
Check out the pics of the crazy awesome view we were privileged to see. Doesn’t do it justice but it’s worth a shot.

Dad, I’m good (: