Wilderness Trip Spring 2011

From 16 to 1

“Communities need tensions if they are to grow and deepen. Tensions come from conflicts.. a tension or difficulty can signal the approach of a new grace of God. But it has to be looked at wisely and humanly.” -Jean Vanier

What do you get when you put 16 Christians in the cold, dirty, rainy, wet, wild wilderness for five days with heavy backpacks and little direction as to what is going on?

Do you think that everything would turn out splendid? Peachy keen? Perfectly perfect? That we would just naturally care for each other, no matter the conditions?

In five days God turned a group of selfish individuals into a UNIFIED family. On February 14, 16 HSE 1 students embarked on a five day trip to the wilderness. We let go of our world back in San Diego- full of clocks, electronics, mirrors, showers, deodorant, and makeup- and traded it for the simple life in the wilderness and for all that God would show us in this place. Some of the reasons for my classmates and I decided to join the school were: to study the bible, to grow closer to God, to learn how to become a servant leader, to minister to others, etc to name a few. So when you get 16 people who love the Lord, but barely know each other, embark on this trip, you’d think and hope that they’d be eager to love and serve one another right? WRONG. We were so far from that at the beginning of the trip! Little did we know that we had so, SO much to learn about UNITY, LOVE, and SERVANT LEADERSHIP.

To demonstrate the transformation that we experienced on this trip, I would like to tell you about the first day of the trip. On that first day, we carried heavy packs, were tired, were impatient with one another, were frustrated, would not walk together, made our own food, didn’t offer to prepare food or clean dishes, complained in our hearts and with our lips, served ourselves, and were just plain selfish. (I would like to point out that by saying “we” I am not trying to say that everyone is guilty of these things but that we all experienced at least one of these aspects during the first day.)

So what changed us? I believe that God and His word convicted us! During the trip our leaders did teachings from Ephesians. We learned about UNITY IN THE BODY through these in-depth teachings and by seeing it lived out by our leaders as models and examples of obedience to God’s word.

My memory verse for this trip was Ephesians 4:1-6. I believe this verse reminded my classmates and myself to do the obvious (be humble, gentle, and patient) but also to see each other as ONE FAMILY UNITED IN CHRIST. “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. There is ONE body and ONE Spirit, just as you were called to ONE hope when you were called; ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism; ONE God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

I can’t begin to explain the changes that I saw in my HSE 1 classmates over the next few days of wilderness. Encouraging words were spoken! The complaining stopped! People were eager to help someone else, whether that meant carrying someone else’s ginormous backpack, or tying someone’s shoelace, or serving and sharing food, or setting up someone’s tent. I saw cheerful givers all around me, who were serving others before themselves, and who, despite the difficult times of the trip, sang praises to our Lord Jesus Christ! It was so beautiful. So so beautiful to be part of a community UNITED in Christ!

We are so glad to experience a trip like this together. I hope and pray that what we learned and practiced during this wilderness trip, especially the UNITY and LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER equips us to minister effectively when we go to the UK! “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

~Nathalie, HSE 1