“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door…You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
– Gandalf
Going on this trip I didn’t really know the why and I definitely didn’t know what was going to happen, let alone how I was going to change. Tolkien was right. It’s a dangerous business going out your door. I don’t know when, but sometime around the beginning and the in-between I came to realize that I could do a lot more with my life than I thought. I had to learn that deeds are not any less valiant just because they go unpraised. That expectations are not anchors but checkpoints along the way. You see, I don’t know why I was chosen for this. But like Frodo, “You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess: not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen, and you must, therefore, use such strength and heart and wits as you have.”
Know this, last year was tough. I had to deal with my past, something I thought I was over. I had to learn how to live with women, which, believe me, is a struggle when you have only ever had brothers. I had to rely on God for purpose when I became apathetic. Most of all I had to begin maturing into the man who God had predestined me to become. But, like always, questions still ring in my head. One of the biggest is, “What’s next?”
Currently, I have enrolled again at the University of Arkansas (Woo Pig) and will be pursuing a degree in Graphic Design. In two days I leave for Camp Ozark for my second summer as a counselor. This is a place near to my heart. Caddo forever. I will also be working a training camp for 11n11 in August, and visiting friends along the way. Besides this, I have other plans but they’re all up in the air. If I’ve learned anything it’s that God’s plan, whatever that is, will be revealed to me in due time, but until that happens I must seek him and pursue the present diligently. I would love to attend grad school, hike the PCT, or squad lead 11n11 expedition in the future. But all I have currently is the now. Which is made up of long runs alone, triathlons, school, family and friends who I have all missed dearly.
Thank you for all of your support. This year has been incredible, but it’s time I sign off.
Sincerely,
Jonny Mocek
P.S. if you want to write me or whatever here is my camp address.
