My team has just gotten back from spending the last two days camping with the amazing family that we've been living with for the past three weeks in Saki, Ukraine. When we decided to do this, I was all for it, even though the only real camping experience I've ever had was at training camp, but even then we had showers and toilets. I was excited to have this experience with our new friends, but nothing could have prepared me for what I had gotten myself into. First of all, I would just like to point out that my idea of camping is sleeping outside for a night with S'mores. Second of all, you will notice that I made no mention of strenuous physical activity anywhere in that description. However our Ukrainian family has a very different idea of camping than I do.
The first thing that happened when we got to our campground was we put down our stuff and then we were driven to the base of a small mountain. No one told us about this hike before we left and it was a total surprise.
This is the before picture…
I am obviously not the type of person who has any experience hiking up mountains, but you learn quickly when you're afraid for your life and one wrong step could mean you plummet to the ground never to be seen again…
Ok, so that might be slightly dramatic, but that was the scenario happening inside my head when they told us what we were going to be doing. It was about 2 1/2 hours of climbing and hiking and I was excited, nervous, angry, embarrassed, frustrated, terrified, and proud. When we started out, I was genuinely excited! I mean, I’ve never climbed a mountain before, and how cool is it to have the first one be in Ukraine?! But that excitement quickly turned into frustration and embarrassment when I realized that there was no way I could do this on my own. I needed help, which is sometimes difficult for me to ask for or accept. There were about 15 of us hiking and if it weren’t for three very amazing, caring, and protective men from our host family I, as well as some of my teammates, would definitely not still be alive, and that’s not an exaggeration in the slightest.
The view from the top…
Tolya, Daniel, and Anton are probably three of the craziest, funniest, and all around great people I’ve met in my entire life, let alone on the Race. These three guys went ahead of us, behind us, and with us all the while encouraging us through the entire hike. They offered us helping hands when we needed them, pointed out hand and foot holds for us when we couldn’t find them, carried our water bottles when we needed both hands to balance, and helped us up when we fell down. In short, they took care of us. They protected us. I have never felt more loved, safe, or cared about in my entire life and we’ve only known these guys for three weeks. I want to sincerely thank them all from the bottom of my heart for giving up the joy of their hike to watch out for all of us.
This is Tolya, one of the awesome guys who helped us all during the hike.
After several falls, lots of dirt surfing, buckets of sweat, a few well hidden tears, and a small thunder storm, all of us made it back to camp safely.
The after picture…
This experience made me think of how God has been working in my life over the past 5 months. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into with the Race just like I thought I knew what “camping” meant, but really I had no clue. God sometimes places mountains in my life that I don’t even see coming and am convinced I can never conquer, but He pushes me to climb them. He never gives me one that I can’t conquer, even though I may not be able to do it alone. He always provides me with people to lend me a helping hand or to show me the best hand or foot holds. Some mountains may take longer than others, but He’s always ahead making a path, behind making sure I don’t stumble, and right beside me to encourage my climb.
