The Latest

In the last few days, it has felt as though days of the week have been melded into one. I no longer have any concept of the day of the week. Thankfully I have a pre-planned schedule that tells me where I need to be and when. My days are full and I find myself no longer getting a nap in during the afternoon (something that was a very regular thing back home).

One day last week, we headed out to Cultus Lake for the day. It was a refreshing time getting to know each other better, enjoying the outdoors (most of last week involved a ton of sitting around listening to lectures), eating good food and having a lot of fun.

my friends Brad & Carla

It turns out that there are a number of people here who love to play volleyball. Over the course of the last week, we have spent many hours playing volleyball in a circle (we have yet to find actual courts to play on). This has been known to occupy us for quite some time - rain or shine. We made good use of the open space at Cultus and enjoyed several rounds of Elimination.

Just a few days ago we embarked on an epic adventure of sorts. I will do my best to paint a picture of this trip, but my words will not do the experience justice. Saturday morning brought with it rain and cool temperatures. Despite the weather, we ventured out of the city where we could do some canoeing and hiking. Prior to leaving we were told that we would canoe approximately 45 min one way, hike for about an hour and then canoe back for another 45 min. That didn't sound so bad. However, add in some stronger winds, an upstream current and a low tide and disaster strikes.
I was in a canoe with my friends Carla and Heidi. The 3 of us are definitely in shape and very competitive. We were psyched about our team and we were positive we were not only going to put the boys' canoes to shame, but we were going to win. We were down right cocky. We were the first group with our canoes in the water and we started paddling with all of our might. We were pumped.

It didn't take us long before the winds got hold of us and we found ourselves going around in circles in the middle of the lake. By the point, all of the other groups were in the water and miraculously going straight in the direction we were supposed to be going in. Eventually, after substantial effort, we made our way into the river area where we were told was sheltered and easy to canoe. Awesome.
Within a few minutes of us being in the river, we ran into trouble. Like I mentioned above, the tide was low, which made paddling difficult as the water was extremely shallow. We bottomed out numerous times in the middle of the river. At this point, we were starting to get frustrated as all the other teams seemed to be doing just fine. We had no clue what our problem was. Due to the mounting frustration in our canoe, Heidi succumbed to finally getting out of the canoe to pull us. Eventually, all 3 of us ended up outside of the canoe, pushing and pulling the canoe with all of our might - in the rain, fully clothed.
After 2 1/2 hours of canoeing, we finally arrived to where everyone else had docked their canoes so that we could continue on to our hike. Heidi, Carla and I were soaked from head to toe and beyond cold. Everything below our knees were numb. I decided to take my socks off to go hiking because I didn't want to squishy feeling in my shoes while I walked, so I went barefoot in my runners. Walking 2 km each way with no socks on results in blisters on both my feet and a lot of discomfort. Note to self, where socks, no matter how wet they may be.

At the end of the 2km hike we found ourselves at a spectacular waterfall where we could just sit and catch our
breath. Eventually we had to get moving again so that we could get a head start back in the canoes. We definitely started out a good 10min before every other group, but it didn't take long before all the other teams passed us. It took us about 2 hrs or so to get back to the docks.

Throughout the course of those 6 hours I have never laughed that hard in a long time. Memories were definitely created with these girls and it was beautiful. The whole experience was extremely humbling in the end as we realized that we in fact sucked at canoeing when we thought we were all that starting out. Funny how that works sometimes. I felt very affirmed in my previous thoughts that I am a city girl through and through.

Unfortunately there are no pictures to document this trip, which was a good thing because it turned out all that we had brought along ended up completely soaked by the time this little excursion was completed. I know some other people who managed to stay substantially dryer than we, had their cameras along, so perhaps I might be able to snag a couple photos down the road. If I do, I will be sure to pass those along.

This week ahead holds more learning as we soak in what it means to hear and discern the voice of God. I'm excited for this week. Thursday afternoon I begin a 48 hr silent retreat where I can put the practices and postures that I have learned in the week to good use. I'm curious and excited to see what God has to say to me and how he will choose to speak. Stay tuned...