I know everyone’s been wondering where I am, if I’m alive, if I’m ever coming back….
I’m alive!
I’ve been backpacking in “the bush” in New Zealand for the past two weeks and apparently, there’s no WiFi out in the middle of no where. I know, I was shocked too. Sigh. 
😉
We’ve been hiking the Hillary Trail near Auckland, New Zealand. Edmond Hillary, who was the first one to scale Mount Everest, hiked in New Zealand when training for Everest. This trail opened the day before we started in honor of him. And what we soon found out: Hillary was not a supporter of switchbacks. He just went straight up the friggin’ mountain! So that’s what we’ve been doing. We climb straight up the mountain most days w
ith our big packs(which have become attached to our bodies, making our hips numb), sleep in our tents(which I’ve come to know as my home), eating hardly anything since we carry all our food(I’ve lost like 5lbs), bathing/showering in rivers(it’s pretty normal already), and getting to know each other. It’s crazy looking back over everything we’ve done already. New Zealand is beautiful from the air and from pictures, but hiking right smack dab in the middle of it, it’s even more stunning. We can go from hiking in the middle of a woodsy forest straight into the jungle of the Amazon. We’ve walked on beaches and roads, and even through what we call The Wetlands of 
Hell. There’ve already been many tears, tons and tons of laughter, good conversations, and great memories with my team. Only week two baby. It feels like it’s been way longer though. You can check out my teammates blogs too: Tanuiska Barbosa, Lyndsay Holly, Beth and Brian Woods, and John Smith.
ith our big packs(which have become attached to our bodies, making our hips numb), sleep in our tents(which I’ve come to know as my home), eating hardly anything since we carry all our food(I’ve lost like 5lbs), bathing/showering in rivers(it’s pretty normal already), and getting to know each other. It’s crazy looking back over everything we’ve done already. New Zealand is beautiful from the air and from pictures, but hiking right smack dab in the middle of it, it’s even more stunning. We can go from hiking in the middle of a woodsy forest straight into the jungle of the Amazon. We’ve walked on beaches and roads, and even through what we call The Wetlands of Hell. There’ve already been many tears, tons and tons of laughter, good conversations, and great memories with my team. Only week two baby. It feels like it’s been way longer though. You can check out my teammates blogs too: Tanuiska Barbosa, Lyndsay Holly, Beth and Brian Woods, and John Smith. God’s been bugging me, to be perfectly honest. He keeps bringing up things in my heart that I thought were gone or thought that I was good with, and He’s like, “I want this…I want that…we’re not done with this…” and I’m like, lay off! Brokenness is rough. And He decided to use month friggin’ one to break me. I love that Man. He knows me too well. I’m in a trusting process with Him, and it’s been hard. But I know there’s beauty in the broken. I see it already and He’s been showing me that I’ve been looking at things the wrong way. He’s changing my way of thinking. It’s good. Really good. Thank you to all who stay updated with me. Keep me in your prayers!
Lighting up the world,
~Eryn
