Ahh....home again....................sort of.
My trip to SD and ID was great! It was amazing, crazy, awesome, tiresome, long, short, and just....good.
I left my humble abode three weeks ago, on a Tues., flying out of TUS at 6:34 am, and arriving at 11:30ish SD time (I think it's an hour later right now).

The youth camp began Tues. evening.
Wed. morning we had worship at 6am, so we got up at 4:30-5.
Breakfast at 7, and then we were supposed to be off for a hike at 9. Well....we didn't all have our things in order, so we had to straighten them up before we could leave. :-p
Our hike took us on a drive from the place we stayed....hmm....about 10-15 min. away, from which we HIKED INTO THE BACK OF MT. RUSHMORE. :-) (And back....)
It was really hard to keep going....keep going....keep going....but we all made it there. We looked at the monument for a little while, and those who had stayed at the camp brought us up our lunch! :-p It was GREAT food......mmmm......Noodle salad, veggies, potato salad, crackers....yummmmmmy.....
Then, of course, it was back down the trail!

Thurs. we had thought it would be a short hike, no big deal, right? Well....It was a hike where we kept hearing "over the next hill".....well, it wasn't "over the next hill," or the one after that. :-p It was a LONG hike, but it sure was a BEEEEuuuuuTEEEEful hike! Ahh! It was amazing to stand on the tops of the hills, and look at all the valley's around us!
After uh....about 8 miles I think, we reached our destination (5 hours after we started).
Then, it was on to lunch! Ahh, we had such good food there. Healthy, and tasty, and just...good.
Corn on the cob, veggies, soy patties....mmmmmm.......
Then, the DRIVE back.

Fri. was.....a good day. We cleaned our rooms, and cleaned up the camp site, and made ready for Sabbath, then we went on "The Narrow Pathway." It was a good hike. :-)
We started out driving to the main road, and parked at the base of the hill (across from the fish hatchery). We found a marker saying that there were two ways we could go: the broad, easy way-OR- the steep, narrow way. We decided to go up, up, up, and then up we went!
At the top of that hill, we found another marker, saying (along with other things), I think, "straight is the gate, and narrow is the way," at which point we had to pull ourselves up by a rope through a little cave/passageway!
At the end of a passage, we found the way we were supposed to go, and after a bit we found another marker. This one had a song on it. (pssst! Crystal, can you guess what song?) The song was "The Narrow Pathway." We had a few minutes to sing this, talk a bit, and then we were on our way again.
As we progressed on the trail, we came across more places where it was necessary to use a rope to pull ourselves up with. :-)
At one place, near the end, we went down into the canyon, and then up the other side. On "the other side" we had to use the rope, and when we stopped using it, we climbed over some rocks, finding "the blood of those who had come before us" on the rocks we climbed over. :-)
At the top of the canyon, we came across "deaths yawning chasm," but we didn't "swing across" it. :-p I guess the adults though it was too dangerous for us to do.
This was almost the end of our trail, and it was actually almost Sabbath. :-p
At the very top, we all sat, and discussed what we thought about the trail we had just been on.
I have since realized that although it was a great experience, it was a meager attempt at the real narrow pathway to heaven. It was an amazing voyage that week, and I was blessed to be able to go!

I have seen God working, preparing my way to go, and I KNOW He was there on all those hikes, leading, guiding, strangthening us along the way.

This is going to be all for right now, but I will write about the big camp, which happened the next week. :-)

- posted by Rachel @ 5:51 PM