Senior Camping Trip

The Senior camping trip was a wonderful experience. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on where I was. After an incredibly stressful and emotionally-straining week, I tried my hardest to remain hopeful and excited for the weekend. I decided to have that attitude throughout and although it was not easy, venting with my friends about the difficulties I had kept quiet about, had proved helpful. Before that though, the night was difficult. Negative thoughts flooded my mind and with that came a huge migraine. I decided to challenge myself and wake up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning to go hiking. Thus began a series of mental and physical challenges I decided to endure. I dabbled in archery, went through three rounds of paintball shooting (including a civil war style shoot-out) and attempted to rock climb. The first time I was not able to get all the way to the top. It was discouraging mainly because getting to the top of the rock wall was the only way to zip line. That was the primary reason I was excited to go to the trip. I began to think of the wall metaphorically as my life. I felt like at the end of my long and difficult week, that God was trying to tell me something and the key was in that wall. It was frustrating not knowing what it was, but I trusted in Him and was patient. With the encouragement of Mr. C I tried to climb it again. This time I had friends, peers, the HPIAM staff, and even strangers guiding me and cheering me on. My legs were shaky like gelatin but I continued. My hands blistered and my arms felt week but I pushed myself up at every step. When I got to the top my eyes watered and my mouth was absolutely dry. But I had done it. As I went through the zip line and felt I was flying, it was like a weight was lifted off of me. The experience had humbled me and served as a gentle reminder that with the support of great people, anything is possible. We had a beautiful campfire later on that night where I heard about people’s hopes and dreams and it was very inspiring. Later on that night a couple of friends and I stood up until one in the morning talking about the beauty of God, how he moves through us differently and how he is always present. Overall the experience was very enriching and the amazing free buffet didn’t hurt. I feel so lucky to have been able to be part of this. It was truly a blessing.