Hey friends! First of all, I’m so sorry for how long it’s been since I’ve written a blog! I’ll try to do my best to not go this long without writing again. Okay, let’s get to it!
Several weeks ago, a bunch of my squad hiked Acatenango, an inactive volcano here in Guatemala. I REALLY wanted to do it too, but I felt the need to stay back at the Adventures in Missions base to rest. In the end, I had a sweet, well rested weekend with the few people who stayed back. The Lord really showed up and gifted me with comfort and rejuvenation for the week to come.
Although I had a great time, part of me still wanted to do this hike. Then, about a week later, my friend Kourtney and I were talking and she mentioned how she really wanted to do it too. We decided to see who else wanted to do hike the volcano and we got our other friend Jason to join! We had two weeks to prepare, but waited until the last minute to get everything together!
We woke up at 4:45am to get there at 6am to start hiking! Keep in mind that we had to bring our tents, sleeping bags, food, water, and warm clothes all on our backs… and we had to walk straight up for 5 hours. It was intense to say the least, haha. The first two hours were real rough. I felt nauseous from the change in altitude and my legs hurt a lot. Online, it says to train for 3 months before doing the hike, which we definitely did not do. Luckily, Kourtney and I packed together in one pack so we could switch off when needed. She pretty much carried it for like 2/3 of the whole hike. (She’s a beast!)
I decided to talk to the Lord for most of the hike up. If I wasn’t feeling strong, I knew that He would be the only thing that could help. He reminded me that the pain I was feeling wasn’t even close to everything He bore for us on the cross… that He suffered and suffered and on top of that felt the weight of every single sin of the whole world just for me. That even though my burden was light compared to His suffering, He still desired to be with me and to comfort me along the way. He spoke sweet things to me and I eventually started to feel better.
When we got to our campsite, we set up camp and then I napped for 3 hours straight. I was real tired! At 2pm our guide took us to summit the volcano. It was 2 hours up, but this time the ground was all tiny rocks and ash, which made it difficult to walk in. As we were walking, it was extremely foggy all around, since we were up in the clouds. I heard the Lord tell me that the fog I was seeing is what His Holy Spirit looks like. I was pretty sure I heard Him clearly, and I thought it was super cool, but I didn’t tell anyone. A few minutes later, we were sitting on some rocks and Jason asked me what the Lord had been speaking to me. I told Jason, and immediately he said, “What, no way! He told me that too!” And then Kourtney said that He told her that too! It was such a cool moment that confirmed how you can really hear the Lord’s voice. And sometimes, He likes to give you extra confirmation!
The summit was super beautiful and also very windy and cold. We stayed for about an hour and then went back down to our base camp. What took us 2 hours to hike up took 15 minutes to come down!
We got back and had dinner while watching Fuego (an active volcano close by) erupt.
I was constantly in awe of my Creator and His creation. He taught me a lot that day and I’ll never forget it. His timing is perfect and His ways are higher than our own!
The summit!
The sunrise!
Kourtney
Jason
Fuego
