combining them both and hiking up and cooking a meal on the top of a mountain.hmmm, its been so long that i'm beginning to forget what has happened so many details will be missing but ill give it my best shot.
so we went island hopping, we caught the local ferry across to a small island called Bolga, it was a small island with a granite mountain. Base camp was the best so far as we were right next to a sweet boulder feild with heaps of stuff to clamber over and under, more moss covered boulders everywhere with little caves with a large mountain looming behind us. We managed to get a little bit of bouldering which was good as most of the rock in norway is falling apart and crumbles under your weight.
The first day we hiked around the island (this one was pretty small) and climbed up through the moutnain, there was a large crack that split it in two that turned into a short cave to get through to the other side of the island. the descent on the other side was pretty nasty, with a few spots with just a rope and a small drop onto a small ledge and another drop... fun... that was all followed by a traverse across some slippery slopeing rock.
the next day we went up the mountain, passed over the giant crack in the mountain and made it to the top. Any vertigo i may have once had is quickly dissapearing with these repedative climbs! sketchy is the best way to describle some of it. at the top it was a beautiful view! the weather was perfect, for the whole week infact, which is totally uncommon for Norway for this time of year, a week of sunshine! My roomies and I have started a tradition for taking a photo on the cairne of each peak we cap. we've got 4 so far and will most likely have heaps more at the current rate. At the top of the peak we had a time of MPW (moutnain peak worship) which was a time of prayer and intercession and worship for the surrounding islands in the area. someone managed to hike a guitar up the top and we just sat on the sheltered side and worshiped! it was great. oh yeah, the wind was absolutely insane up the top, you could run down with your jacket open and feel the wind hold you back and slow you down!on the way down we took a rediculously steep chute down the side, it took us about 1/4 of the time to get down that it took to hike up.
That night was solo night, a chance to get out into the widlerness with our packs, a tarp, some rope and a bible. it was great, after i managed to find a spot to camp out.
i can tell you now that the top of a windy treeless hill by the sea is not the best place to pitch a tarp, i searched up there but after the sun began to fall i quickly dropped down to the forrested valley below to find a spot. with a head lamp on and a pack on my back i muddled around for a while. Norsk wilderness with either rocky or swampy for the most part but i eventually found a spot (probably settling with it out of desperation) that managed to do. Most of the next day was spent by myself wandering around, i found a nice ravine to chill out, pray and read my bible for a while coming complete with a babbling brook hidden below the fallen rocks.Meloy was our next stop, we had one night in a cabin half way up the mountain situated by a glistening lake with two large peaks looming over the top. We settled in and hiked up to the peak. we were set loose to go solo for the last stretch up to the peak. It come complete with 3 false peaks so finally reaching the top was a releif. More MPW followed and some great views.
Ill run through it a little faster now... my fingers are getting tired. On the weekend a few of us, probably due to out masachistic nature or something, decided to climb another peak behind base, the tallest one so far. The day was just too beautiful to waste though so we did it. best views so far as i got to see the whole surrounding area with our local outreach spots all within sight and all the spots we have been, the glacier, ornes, the pool, etc. laying below us.
The following week of teaching was headed up by an Aussie who has been living in norway for 20 or so years, it was really nice to have a familiar accent and common slang (even with the generational gap, he didnt know what a bogan was... go figure...) around the base. the teaching was on the nature and identity of God, it was great as he attempted to fit together they apparent inconsistencies in Gods character as he is both Holy and righteous and loving. It gave us all alot to think about around base and our processing groups (discussion groups) were running with full verbal diarrhoea for once. it was brilliant.everyone here at base is slowly coming out of their shell and we are becoming one big family, I'm loving it!
NExt weeks teaching is about hearing the voice of God and I am quite excited to see what we will learn by the end of the week. Monday week i will be caving in the surrounding area for 1 week and will fill you all in when i get back all covered in mud. hopefully ill be able to sit down and write it straight away, not wait for a week and a half before i try and dredge up some memories....
Hope all is well!
oh yeah forgot, my local outreach, 7-11, (it runs from 7-11pm on a friday night) is going great! we have a bunch of local youth come every second week and just hang out with them teaching them some life skills like teamwork or practical skills like music or cooking and just build up some fellowship, on friday we had a massive scavenger hunt with team building games that ended in a large bonfire down on a rocky beach in a nice cove with sheer rock walls! we cooked bananas and chocolate. all teh Kids are opening up and really enjoying it! they even said it was nice!!! (thats a massive thing in norway as they tend to under exaggerate their excitement here...)
ok now this is the real end.
bye =)
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