what goes up must come down.

I am happy to report that I survived another week in the Austrian alps, well actually I guess it has been two weeks since I have blogged! Wow! How time flies!! I can't believe it's almost August!!!

Last week we went on a tour that was filled with glaciers and lots of snow. It was crazy! We had to tie ourselves together with ropes and harnesses to cross the glacier in case there were crevasses that we couldn't see that we could potentially fall into. It was an indescribable experience! But we were very happy each night because we stayed in hutts (aka lodges) the whole time, meaning breakfast and dinner were provided so we only had to pack lunches and we didn't have to carry tents. This week we were not so fortunate....

This past week was intense and in tents. =) Our first day we hiked around 7 hours and tented next to an alpine lake that we all took a dip in before having a lecture, dinner and hitting the sack. My pack quickly earned the name Patricia, who I like to nickname fatty patty because she is SOOO much heavier with the stove, extra food and tent in her.

Day 2 I found myself climbing an alp basically straight up (over this week this has become rather common), to then climb straight down the other side and climb straight up the next alp behind it. Because we never know where we are going and only know our next destination it can be a bit frustrating at times. But always rewarding at the end of the day with your big appetite and sore muscles. After we hiked up and down a couple of times we went through a mine and crossed through an alp to the other side... that was pretty amazing. (Patricia even joined me on that one!)

Day 3 we hiked several hours up and down and were given the opportunity to climb the highest alp in the SouthEast of the Alps (does that even make sense??)... It was tough, and I quickly became the cheerleader for a group of 5 of us girls and I am proud to say that all 5 of us made it up including Jeannie, a middle aged mom of 4 who is here at Upward Bound! It was a very rewarding experience.

Yesterday alone we climbed about 1000 meters up and 2000 meters down. My knees kill today and I better have some kind of muscle tone to show for it. ;) We hiked for 10 hours yesterday and were abandoned during devotions over lunch by all of our leaders and were distributed a note giving vague directions on how to get home and were told to be home by 6:30 for dinner. All in all I think we hiked for 10 hours yesterday and I am exhausted. That may explain why this blog is kinda blah and not very clear.

We have today off (WOOHOO!!!!) and head out again tomorrow for another tour of fun. This truly has been a stretching experience in every aspect. I think one of my favorite experiences thus far was during a lecture time this past week, Hans Peiter, the director of Taurnhof, showed up one night where we were camping and gave a lecture on prayer... it was so practical and has really changed my prayer life. Basically he talked about how Christianity is all about coming to Christ and then abiding in Christ. So every morning he invites Jesus to spend the day with him and then he always tries to think of himself as we and not me because Christ is always with us... so when we say I can't do it, we're really saying we can't do it (and so forth) meaning we don't believe in the power of Christ. This new take on prayer has been very encouraging for me this week and has made my experience in the mountains even somewhat enjoyable. ;) j/k this week has been amazing... even with Patty on my back, I have been able to make some really neat friends and have seen the sound of music live and in person. I am not complaining and look forward to all that this week has in store.

I am a little nervous because each day another student from our group is chosen to be LOD, Leader of the Day, and is completely responsible for the group (compass, map, breaks, wake up call etc.) and my day is coming all too soon! eek! But we all get along really well, so when I lead us 30 minutes out of the way up hill they shouldn't get too mad. ;) Let's hope not! Then again it's not just me, it would be we who did it! haha. That's my excuse.

Thank you for all of your prayers and email updates.... it's so good to hear from home.