Wilderness Encounter Hawaii 2011 Aloha from Kaua'i! The month of January, for me, has been spent living, eating, and breathing community with 19 other people on the spectacular island of Kaua'i (one of the Hawaiian islands). Here's a snapshot of my trip, roosters and all! For starters (or those wondering why I was in Hawaii at all) let me fill you in: Each year, Messiah College runs a 3-credit January Term course called "Wilderness Encounter". It is a 21-day course, run in both Hawaii and Texas, swapping locations every other year. This year I had the privilege to be an instructor on the Hawaii-bound trip (more specifically, to the island of Kaua'i). The course is designed around the theme of encounters - encountering God, self, others and creation. Moreover, all of these encounters are unpacked and explored while living in the context of wilderness with 8 other students and 2 instructors. How much more powerful these themes are displayed when living them, day in and day out, in a setting where you can't get away from each other! Our trip began right on the heels of the new year, starting with a whirlwind few days of preparing, introductions, packing and traveling. Once we reached our destination (not without a quick stop at In-N-Out Burgers in CA!), we split into two smaller groups (for permitting reasons) and headed in different directions for the first leg of our journey. My group of 8 students began on the north shore of Kaua'i at the county park of Haena. We (my co-leader Dave and I) started off teaching the basics: choosing which food to eat for dinner, how to go about cooking it, how to efficiently pack a pack, where to go to the bathroom, etc. In general, demonstrating to them what a typical (if there is such a thing!) day of backpacking looked and felt like. A day hike to Hanakapiai Beach was on the agenda for the next day, which gave everyone a taste of the famous Kalalau Trail. And boy, what a start to the trail it was! The Kalalau Trail proved to be a thrill and quite the scenic splendor. From its ledges we could see whales breaching in the distance and watch mountain goats scramble up and down like nobody's business. We asked them for some tips on sure footwork, but instead just got a volley of rocks set free-falling down towards us. Needless to say, we decided to stay clear of them. Along the way, we began talking about what we wanted to get out of the trip - our goals, expectations, needs from the group. After much discussion, we landed on this statement: "Let's try community." So for the next three weeks, we committed to trying community with one another. Moving from the beach and sea caves of Kalalau to the Pihea Trail in Koke'e State Forest, we continued to challenge each other to be real. To voice our needs and our frustrations, to let God be God in all circumstances, to deal with our waste properly so that we could experience the fullness of the depth of relationship that God had for us. The rains found us in our camp in Kawaikoi and came sideways for a few days, testing our patience. During that time, students were placed on solo to practice the discipline of solitude and silence, things our society often distracts us from doing regularly. The following morning brought the sunshine and clear skies - what a delight to wake up to! It seemed to me that the sun kept shining clear into the evening as we gathered the students back together, heard their stories, ate some amazing pizzas and sang worship songs as the stars came out. How could I ever doubt that God is real and present, especially when I get to experience His heart for His people in moments like that? As part of the experience, students have a leg of the trip without instructors known as finals. The 24 hours leading up to their finals was rough - together we spent several hours standing in a small corner of a girls' bathroom trying to dodge the torrents of rain coming from the skies. Lots of laughs somehow came out of that though and the storm blew itself out a day earlier than expected, much to our delight! The conversation following supper that evening was when we heard hearts speaking up. They were laying the foundation for deeper relationships with each other and we were leaving them to pursue that depth for the next 2 1/2 days. Dropping them at Waimea Canyon trailhead the next morning, we prayed together with them and watched as they hiked down. The rest of the trip? Well, we shifted the party from the trail to the frontcountry. We rejoined our students for a service project when they returned (pulling invasive ginger from along a trail), along with a 120-mile run (collectively, between the 20 of us) and a day of cleaning equipment. After showers, we hit up the beach, condos, the shops, a time of worship together, and of course - the most famous place of the trip - Duke's! Returning to the east coast was not easy, but what becomes of all those truths learned if we do not return to share them with others? Though the transition is not always the smoothest, it is often in the returning where we grow the most. It is in the learning to live in the day to day that the community we experienced there becomes even more meaningful. Just yesterday I received a message from one of the students, asking how he can continue processing the experience and translate it to his life, in the here and now of college. That translation piece - the figuring out - is exactly why I feel God has allowed me to do ministry in the context of the wilderness. I yearn for those connections to be made, for Christ to be present in an ever-real way in students' lives. So thank you for your prayers - on behalf of our team; it is because of your requests on our behalf that we were able to encounter God. That the students had encounters with God, themselves, others and creation that will impact them for a lifetime. So mahalo, a thousand times, my friends!
0 Comments
|
Archives
April 2012
Categories
All
|