This is a taste of what I saw:
The entire day, I kept thinking, "I can't believe I'm getting credit for this."
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The backpacking trip had many purposes; it wasn't just to push us physically. Every day was an opportunity to practice backcountry skills, as well as leadership skills. A huge chunk of the second to last day was spent hiking back to where we spent our first night. This day was grueling, knowing the huge task that lay ahead. We hiked in one day what we had previously hiked in two days. Before leaving Bucura, I knew it was do-able, I just had to mentally prepare. I can see in the next weeks spent here in Romania how the memory of this particular day can, and will be, helpful. On days that I am dreading the task ahead of me, I will remember puting one foot in front of the other, focusing on the task at hand, and it will give me the mental strength I need to keep going.
Our latest rendition of team red trekkers included a seven day hike through the famously unknown Retazat Mountains in east central Romania. The fact these mountains remain unknown adds to the splendor and experience of the trip. I would just like to say the experience was full! And what I mean by this is each day new challenges arose in which our commitment to the community and group could have been compromised, but instead of the group being compromised the group grew together, much the same way a muscle grows back stronger after it has been partially torn, or the way grass comes back thicker after a prairie fire. With the challenges came a loss of self, a necessary good that must accompany such challenges or the group faces complete collapse. This loss of self manifested itself in many ways such as helping those of us who were in need down steep mountain trails, and carrying more than ones load to ease the burden of others, to singing songs to pass the time, and listening to Dana's Resees Peanut Butter Cup Story (Seriously who eats 63 out of 64 in one sitting!?!). There are many other ways people served, using their God giving talents to bring smiles, laughter, and some tears on a trip that was designed to not only challenge mentally but physically. If one cannot call this trip a success than that person needs to revamp their definition or add a new entry into old Webster because in the eyes of all who were a part of this trip, it was grand, a tale of heart and heart ache, a tale of service and sacrifice, and most of all a tale grace and forgiveness! For a true team spirit was formed on this trip and it is the wish of this participant that those who partook in this communion of brotherhood and sisterhood would continue to strive for those same ideals we held dear on the trail and bring them back with us to Lupeni and eventually Northwestern, or wherever God leads us on! Grace and Peace!
Retezat Reflections by Lindsay
Wind breaks over the crest of the mountain, racing effortlessly up the rocky trail I just labored to ascend. I let down my heavy pack and stretch out on the short brown grass. A clear blue sky fills my gaze while craggy mountains encompass the perimeter of my view. I contentedly close my eyes, alone in the stillness.
But I am not alone. Fourteen other individuals lie nearby, absorbing the same view through different eyes. Moments later, we stand together for a picture. Reaching the top of this mountain was both an individual and collective accomplishment. We do together what we cannot do alone, because we are a team.
Within the beautiful stretches of Retezat National Forest, I learned that what I can do alone sharply collides with what I cannot do alone. As an independent individual, this wall of definition was difficult for me to surmount, but necessity gave me no choice. At our final destination of Lake Bucura, food poisoning rendered me nearly powerless. I was internally reeling out of control, and as sickness crumbled my usual proprieties, I was helpless alone.
But again, I was not alone. My team was there. Ilie, Katie, and Davia became more for me than leaders; they became team members who did for me what was impossible for me to do by myself. Community became more for me than an over-used cliché of Christian circles: it became a necessity. When all I could do was lie in my sleeping bag in the Refugio with a puke bucket in front of me, God placed a community of individuals around me to be my support and help. I only had to let them. Though it might appear that we are doing others a service by not depending on their time, energy, or support, I think it actually requires getting over ourselves to need others. As I learned this humility, I realized that I needed to stop feeling bad about how much I couldn’t do and to simply rest in God’s provision for me.
In another time and circumstance, these same team members might have disappointed me or let me down, but regardless of human imperfections, God created us to be in community with each other. In Retezat, the Lord blessed me with an unusual opportunity to depend on my team, and though the lesson was physically miserable, I am grateful for what He taught me.
1 comment:
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
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