Further up....and further in....

If you're a fan of CS Lewis, hopefully you'll catch the reference from the title of this post.  But that's what the group has been doing over the past few days, moving further up and futher into the wilderness.  

This involves learning how to safely cross streams/rivers if there aren't natural log bridges to cross.  Below, the group is practicing a safe crossing technique.


It also means that they are leaving the areas where they are able to fish, so students are taking full advantage of their opportunities! (see the cover photo)

Here are a few more entries from students:

From June 18th-

"I’m really beginning to enjoy this trip.  I’m not sure if it’s possible to display such growth so quickly, but I’m starting to acknowledge what I’m learning.  I don’t have the ability to control most anything out here, and that’s so beautiful.  Our routines are easy, our community is beginning to form deeper, our love is stronger, and it’s just been a week!  Well, 1 ½ weeks.  BUT I’m noticing shifts within myself after they’ve been named.  I don’t need to have a plan any further out than when I’m eating, sitting, sleeping, and fixing my feet- again….  My habits are being shaped too.  I don’t care about my looks- can’t see myself much.  I wear clothes that don’t match and that I've slept in and keep on for multiple days.  I’m back to good teeth habits.  I don’t obsess about my plans, my space, my things.  I’m cleaning things with water, I took a bath in a lake.  I poop in a hole hidden behind a tree or shurb….my routines are so different and I was struggling to adjust, but I think I’m starting to get it.” 

From June 21st- 

"Throughout this trip I have been awestruck by all the beauty I have witnessed.  From the massive cliffs, powerful water, sunsets, sunrises, moonlight and shooting stars, to the tiny beauties like wildflowers, moss, tree bark, pebbles, and bugs.  I have seen beauty in others as we serve and encourage each other, struggle, laugh, learn, and journey together.”


“As part of the learning side of LDW it is important for us to understand the six different character areas.  The character area that stuck out to me was “knowing”.  Knowing how we fit into the community was important and how the imposter can take over our true self.”

*Note: the 6 Character areas the group is learning about throughout the trip are: Knowing, Servanthood, Leadership, Christ-likeness, Community, and Spiritual Disciplines


**Editor's note:  You've now seen a reference a few times to pooping in holes.  Maybe you're scratching your head a bit and wondering what in the world that's all about.  Well, for starters, there are no bathrooms in the backcountry!  So one of the very first lessons that we teach students is how to go to the bathroom in the woods and making sure that we are taking care of our waste.  This does indeed involve digging a hole and burying 'that which cometh from us'.  (For an interesting Biblical reference, look up Deuteronomy 23:12-14)  For some students, this is an extremely foundational shift in how they think through daily routines.  But by the end of the trip, it has become second nature to them.