boystown...

Well... here we are. I"ll have to admit I'm a little stressed right now. But, let me rewind back to Saturday, the day we got into Yosemite.

We arrived in El Portal, which is where Steve lives late afternoon. After that we drove into the valley. It was such a beautiful drive in... there are granite cliffs in all directions and a waterfall just about every few minutes. Pine trees everywhere and beautiful green meadows. gosh, I just can't explain it. You will all have to come see it for yourselves. We ate dinner with some of the tribe members we haven't met, and then went to our campsite in Backpacker's camp. We camped there for four days this week, since Saturday night. We were so exhaused, most of us went to sleep. I wanted to sleep in the straight outdoors, but I was too tired, and the mosquitos are kind of bad. Sunday morning I woke up and we hiked up to this waterfall called hidden falls, none of the tourists, (also called "tourons" but the local people) are supposed to know about it. It was about a four mile hike round trip, the first hike I"ve done in awhile. Once we crossed this bridge the terrain started getting rockier and we hiked up and up until we could see the falls. They were so close you could feel the water droplets on your arms. I was content just to sit and take in the beauty, but little did I know that my journey was not yet over. I looked up and there was this rope hanging down from this steep faced rock. "We're going up there" one of my friends said... oh boy, but I"m always up for a challenge, so I grabbed the rope and pulled my way to the top. Once at the top of the falls, the view was beautiful...man it was great. I think the worst thing about that day was coming down the rope on the steep rock face... especially since the spray from the waterfall had gotten some of the granite wet, nothing's scarier than wet granite. We spent some time in the valley that day and that night we did something really cool.
Steve has all these secret plans for us sometimes, we have done some really cool things during orientation. After dinner that night we had a little worship service and annointing of our new members that we not annointed at Discovery weekend. At first I thought this practice was a little wierd, but its really encouraging to have someone praying over you. After that there was this big secret thing that we were going to do, but only the elders knew about it. WE put on our headlamps, (essentials in the valley but really funny looking) and took off on a night hike. We hiked for a little ways until we got off the trail and all gathered in a circle. Then Steve told us to close our eyes and we were all blindfolded. We were told that we were going on a journey, a hike in the dark blindfolded that was symbolic of the spiritual journey we were going to take this summer and also our friends that we are going to meet. I took the hand of the tribe member next to me and we were led through tiny crevices, boulders, low hanging tree limbs, cliffs and finally roped down into a cave. Once down there we had a little share time and then we were left a lone, our only instructions were to follow little glowsticks that the elders left for us on the path and not to take off our blindfolds until we were told. We sat silently in the darkness for a litle while and when we did take them off, we were amazed at how dark it was. I was allowed to break a small light stick and the light flooded the cave and we saw what we had climbed down blinded, in the dark. Zach led us in a few worship songs and it was really spinetingling to hear our voices harmonize together and bounce off the cave walls. As we made our way out of the cave together, I was amazed at how much I trusted the people who were leading me. (EAch of the elders took turns leading us through the hike) If I had been asked to do that in the dark with my eyes open alone, I don't know if I could have done it, but there was something about trusting the person leading you and knowing that they were not going to let you fall. It was also cool to see the symbolism of the dark path to our own spiritual journeys. That was a really neat night. The next day we got up and drove up to sentinel dome, this huge rock dome ontop of a very high point. It was so windy and you could see the mountain tops and waterfalls in all directions. We also drove up to Glacier point which is right above the valley( okay well 10,000 feet up). That night we ate at Steve's house in El Portal. The next day I was really excited about because we had heard that we were going rock climbing! I haven't climbed very much, but like I said I'm always up for a thrill, so this was really exciting to me. WE drove up to the high country for about an hour. This is high in the Sierras, so there was still a lot of snow on the ground and it was really cold! I didn't know how i was going to climb rock in the wind...and I was kinda nervous. Once Steve, Ethan and Amber and Paul( a rock climber on our team) got the ropes set up, we suited up in our rock climbing gear( harnesses and shoes) and watched as other team members climbed up. The thing about rock climbing is that you are in this harness and you are held up by this rope which people are securing down below, but you have to put your feet on the rock with no foot holds and no hand holds and expect to be able to scale it. I definately made it( I wouldn't let my stubborn self not make it to the top) but there was one point where I had to climb over this ledge and I was not so sure I could do it. But the the encouragement of the team, I made it to the top and scaled another face shortly after. ITs hard work getting to the top but the adrenaline rush you feel is really worth it. ( And the view when you get to the top) I really want to look in to getting better at this sport.
Last night we spent the night at Steve's ( we had enough of camping and all the rules you have to follow to keep the bears out of your camp) and this morning we reported to Human resources and got our jobs. I already knew I was working at the Ahwahnee, but we had to get fitted for uniforms, which are really ugly green and tan with high waists and flooding( yikes!) pants. I had a pretty funny encounter while getting fitted... if you really want to know I'll tell you over the phone:)Ah me, my big mouth got me in trouble once again!
To finish what I started though, today has been stressfull for several reasons. For one, we have just spent about a week hanging out, destressing, getting to know our tribe members and doing whatever we want for about a week. Today we were turned lose to get our jobs all straightened out and get housing set up. I felt like a little lost kid... it just helps to have someone hold your hand sometimes. The tents are what I expected but not really what I wanted...First I was put in a wasp infested tent that was right by the basketball courts, but that wasn't going to work, so fortunately, we got the housing guy to change it. I"ll just have to get used to interesting neighbors and I"m sure I will and I got my roommate,who is nice, but I"ll just have to be brave and try to get to know her really fast. Her name is Leslie. Most of the tribe is living in Boystown, a name of the employee housing here.(Hence the name of the blog and the beginning of my stressing out today) I guess I'm just really overwhelmed by all the craziness and knowing that I am about to get face smacked by all this stuff that goes on in the valley. There is a little insecurity too knowing that we are "ministering" to people but subtley. I mean we talk about Jesus like we normally would but sometimes we have to be careful about what we say or word things a little differently because people do not know the "Christianese" or "spiritual lingo" that I am so acquainted with. I am glad though because this makes Christ more real and more accessible. So... just be praying for adjustment to the valley and for my insecurities not to get in the way of my free living for Christ out here. I think tonight I"ll go sit in the meadow underneath a giant rock face and look at the starts... how's that for a little stress relief? I really am glad to be here, it will just take some getting used to... real life begins!