My Assessment of Camping

Wow.

I can't believe it's already been two weeks. And I also can't believe that I survived for that long...

So, here's my assessment on camping...I hate it.

Now, before you die-hard campers freak out let me just tell you about a few of the "fun" adventures we had while camping...I'll actually start with the drive there:

Well, it started off great! I woke up early enough to get really good seats, and LaChelle and I both slept all the way to the first pit stop. And then from the first pit stop to the second, and from the second to the third (we slept a lot). Well, sometime after the 3rd pit stop we lost a wheel...yep, the entire wheel fell off - completely. And it was pouring outside...and we were kind of in the middle of nowhere.

3 1/2 hours later we were on the road again and a few hours after that we arrived at Fingal. But, guess what? It was still pouring rain and now it was pitch black. So, we all lugged our soggy stuff to the upstairs of a church and crammed in for the night. Oh, and the bathrooms were flooded and outside...and the sinks were outside too...so I just brushed my teeth in the rain.

But, God was sweet and dried up all the flooding by the next morning. :) (not permanently though...)

A few days later we actually put our tents up. Now, I think I would REALLY love camping, if it was with a few friends...and relaxed...and not covered in sand all the time...and not muddy....etc. haha But, honestly camping was actually pretty fun! :)

Oh, and about a week into our trip came a rain storm...and because our tents were set up on sand all of our little metal rods that held our tents in the ground came up...so we had to run all of our stuff from our campsite back up into the church for the night. But, since LaChelle and my suitcase was so huge we had to just leave it and pray. But, about an hour later I realized my phone was in my suitcase!!! So, I sprinted out and back and got soaking wet.

The rain dried up the next day, thankfully, so we all moved back into our tents. Well, we went back in to go to sleep late at night and found out that some of our suitcases were soaked through. What?! It wasn't even raining. Come to find out, there were two large puddles of water stuck between the bottom of our tent and our tarp on the ground, and it was seeping through the seem in our tent soaking all of our stuff. So, me and the 4 other girls in my tent did a little tetris with our bodies and figured it out.

While there were a lot of "fun" adventures with rain and dirt and outside showers and spiders and poisonous snakes and things like that, there actually were a BUNCH of really fun adventures.

One of my favorites was our trip up to the lighthouse! It was BEAUTIFUL! We all went up as a base to do some worship and we were told to ask God for a revelation. Well...I kinda hate doing that because it just feels awful sometimes to me, especially when I feel like I don't get anything. BUT He was sweet and pointed out some sweet things to me!

First: My favorite part of the scene was where the waves got close to the rocks and they looked like they sped up and then they would completely cover up the rocks from all different directions. He pointed out to me, "Clancy, I rush in to cover you and wash over you. And sometimes I come in from unexpected directions".

Second: We saw dolphins!!! So, I was super scared to go in the ocean because of the sharks...but, someone told me that sharks don't go where there are dolphins. And throughout the day we saw two different "families" of dolphins swimming in opposite directions, like they were patrolling the beach, for me!! God was patrolling the beach so I didn't have to be scared to get in the water! :)

Yeah, that was amazing - and then yesterday we went kayaking! And OH MY GOODNESS BEAUTIFUL! We went with a FOR REAL aboriginal guy who even speared a sting ray...with a spear. WHAT?!

And the absolute best part was this: we saw dolphins again!!! This time there were only about 15 feet away! A momma, a baby, and a pappa and two other "teenagers" (I assumed so b/c they liked swimming ahead of their mom and dad ;)
And then all of the sudden one popped up less than 5 feet away from my kayak!! The aboriginal guy told us that if I kept paddling he would swim with me, AND HE DID! The dolphin swam WITH my kayak right in front of it!!!!! It was amazing!!

I thought that I would be able to remember everything that happened while in Fingal but, as I try and write more I can't remember a thing!

Basically, my real assessment of camping is this: although I didn't like the weather situations I had a really really really fun time and enjoyed somewhat of a vacation! We danced a LOT (we're learning a dance for Tahiti) and bonded a TON!

But, the absolute best part was that I heard God's voice! Honestly it was like I had a little honeymoon with Him the whole time! He made it so easy and fun and leisurely and then at the end of the week he spoke a doozy! And when I say doozy I mean a realllll doozy...But, you will find out about that later ;) Don't worry! :)

So...yeah, I don't know why it's so hard for me to figure out things that I did while in Fingal! Maybe I'm just pre-occupied in thought about that doozy that God told me! :)
Anyways, thanks for all of your prayers I really love you all and I'll update again tomorrow! :)

G'Night!