Simply living simply.

Welp, I am back in California and its time to get going. 

Getting rid of all my stuff seemed like the easiest place to start (and the most exciting... freedom!), so I gutted my room last week. All of my little possessions were gathered into the middle of the floor so that I could start picking teams. 

 

Ahh, there is so much character in my
dear, sweet memory- filled bookshelf. 

The bed was for the stuff that is going to travel across the ocean with me, the box is for the things that will go to Arkansas to live with my parents, the trash bags were for the give away items, and the hallway was for trash.                  

You guys gotta pretend you are going to move overseas. It was so much fun to release all of that stuff that I don't need anymore.

Adios, bridesmaid dress! Good ridens, college papers! Sayonara, old bookshelf, you have had better days.

As much of an advocate as I am about not having a lot of stuff, it was surprisingly easier than I expected it would be to part with my possessions. It reminds me of what my favorite person said once,

One's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. 

-Jesus

He was so right. There is so much more meaning to life than what I have and what I am going to get.

 

True Religion.

True religion. Its more than just fancy jeans.

The Southwest is Still Snazzy.

I was so stoked to get to hike down into the canyon!

(Click the photos for a better view.)

Beautiful views from inside the canyon. 

Sedona. 

I jumped from that giant mountain in the background and landed right here. 

Here are a few more photos that I did not want you guys to miss out on!

The Hoodoos that fill Bryce Canyon have created a spectacular view from above, and a fun maze from below.


When I hike, my heart sings. My heart is just so overflowing with wonder, that sometimes my mouth can't even shut up. This was definitely one of those times. I wish the photos could capture the depth of the canyon. Each layer has its own personality!

After nearly falling over from the weight of the blessings that the Lord has poured out on us, we collected ourselves and drove on to Sedona, AZ.

The following photos need no explanation. Enjoy!







Ok, I will say one last thing: one of these days I will be a real ninja. Until then, I will just keep jumping off of mountains. :P

The Snazzy Southwest.

On our way home from cross-cultural training, Cynthia and I did a bit of sight seeing. Here are some neat photos.

Delicate Arch 

A quick hike up to the arch before hitting the road for the day.

Navajo Arch. 

At Navajo Arch, I experienced the silentest silence of my life! Not a bird chirping, not a footstep or an airplane, not even a whisper of the wind could be heard. It was strange and surreal, but so sweet!

We found the silver lining!

Wow. As we were walking around Sedona, we raised our heads to this! We could not stop praising the Creator for the beauty of His hands, and for the opportunity to be surrounded by it!

Purple cacti. 

How fun is this?! It's like a Barney Cactus.

Good Goodbyes.

Today we learned how to say proper goodbyes. Many tears were involved. Read more here.

Open hands and an open heart. 

Crossing Bridges.

Nerd camp. What an adventure it has been!

The past three weeks of training have more than adequately prepared me for life abroad. Last week (no stitches in the photo!) we talked about transition, and to give a visual what it might be like to move to another culture, I got to get in front of the class and cross the "culture bridge." 

Trying to get over the "chaos" phase.

 We talked about how sometimes you need help with transition. Sometimes you need support from people who are on solid ground- either because they have been through the process before (other Ex-patriates), or from those who have not ventured across the culture bridge (people back home).  

Crossing the bridge with ease...with help. 

The only problem is that sometimes I don't like to ask for help. I want to be able to do it on my own. Oh pride. 

I was encouraged to ask for help, and although I was reluctant to ask for assistance, my friends were glad to give it! Crossing the bridge became so much easier once I laid down my pride and allowed people to help me. 

All of this is to say that when I get to Nepal and am going through culture stress, I might "forget" to ask for help. So feel free to ask me if I need a hand crossing the culture bridge. :)

Stitches, Staples, and Smiles.

Yesterday some of my fellow students and I woke up at 4am to go attack a few fourteeners (We decided not to go to Pike's Peak, because we wanted to climb four mountains, not just one :]). 

  

The view of Kite Lake in the morning.

We prayed for safety, that the Lord would protect us, and that we would bring Him Glory.

It was a chilly morning, but oh so beautiful when we started out. As we gained elevation, we lost visibility. Soon we would be in the clouds!



We had gained about 2,000 feet on our way up to Mt. Democrat, and I felt like I was on top of the world! Woot! The clouds were surrounding us and the wind was whipping past my face. As we walked past the residual snow, I fell in love with the mountain! God's creation is so wonderful!

 

Me on top of my first 14,000' mountain! 

After descending the first peak, some decided to go back to the van (which will be important later) two went on to do one more peak, and four of us decided to go on and do the other three. We climbed up what felt like another zillion feet to Mt. Cameron. The air was thin, and it was a tough climb for me. 

The guys on top of the moon! 

 For a while, it was so foggy that I could not even see these guys in front of me! We had to call out to each other to make sure we were all still on track. 

At one point, I paused to catch my breath. I couldn't see anything, and it was silent except for the sound of the bongo drum inside my chest. Dude, it was so awesome. 

We arrived at the top of Mt. Cameron and it was unbelievably calm. It was silent and the wind was still, although we were engulfed in forever whiteness.

By the grace of God, I caught a second wind and it was on to Mt. Lincoln, our highest point of the day!

Mt. Lincoln. 14, 286'

 After bagging Lincoln, we knew that we didn't have much time left before the weather started to get bad. My sheer delight in the fact that I was walking on top of mountains made me begin to think that it was cloud 9 that was beginning to surround us, but the hail made me consider otherwise.

Mt. Bross. That made us four for four. 

We asked the couple who was enjoying a glass of wine (and you thought we were crazy!) to snap a quick photo of us, and headed down. As we headed down, I was singing and praising Jesus for the wonderful feeling of the beating of my heart, the pain in my legs, and the ability to experience it all. 

The rain made us move more quickly than we normally would have gone, but I was sure to be careful. I was trying so hard to take each step with awareness, but the gelatinous state of my legs trumped the steadiness of my feet. We were so close to the car, about to pass a cute little waterfall, and my legs decided to become a waterfall underneath my body. The next thing I knew, I had fallen sideways into a bush, and my knee was kind of hurting. 

I looked down and pulled up my pants leg. Yikes. A lot of skin came off. And then a river of blood started rushing down my leg.

"Welp," I thought, "we should probably get back to the van."

My owie, all cleaned up and ready for stitches!

 We were about five minutes from the trailhead, and the thunder and hail were getting really intense.

Praise God! Of the thousands of hikes that I have been on in my life, the one time that I fall and need to get stitches, I have an ER doctor and and ER nurse waiting for me in the van (and a Physician's Assistant just for good measure!)!

We were huddled under the raised taligate of Ryan's minivan, and Ryan was holding my leg up so that Amanda could wrap it. The other two that were still on the mountain came running back to the van at just the same moment! Suddenly, lightning struck the ground outside the van and sent electricity through Ryan (who was still holding my leg), into me, and then into Amanda! I screamed and at first it didn't register as to why I just got shocked! Crazy!

God most certainly heard our prayer that morning. He kept us safe, provided for my minor fall, timed it perfect four us all to get off the Mt. just in time, and then kept the lightning under control!

What a day! We got back to the training center, and since we have a surgeon training with us, he stitched and stapled me up and voila! 

I took a photo of myself getting stitches
on my bed at the training center!

This is a day that I will not soon forget, and I hope that I always remember just how perfect God's provision was for every aspect of the day (more than I could even fit into this blog post... sorry, it was already way too long!)

Pike's Peak

This Saturday I plan on bagging my first fourteener. That's mountain talk for, "I want to summit a 14,000 foot mountain."

Sunrise over Pike's Peak last October. 

Last October Cynthia and I came to Colorado to do some community health training, and we stayed at the base of Pike's Peak. Oooh how loudly the mountain called my name every morning! "Bethany, Bethany, come climb me!"

I have wanted for so long to climb to the skies, and it looks like we are finally going to do it! Cynthia and I have been training to do this since we got here, so we are hoping that our lungs and legs will be in good enough shape to take each painful step up the steep mountain. It will certainly be worth it once we make it to the top.

I just can't wait to get back out into nature after another week of intense introspection.

Each day in class, we have been digging into the depths of our souls, searching to identify the causes of our actions. I'm not going to bore you with details, but I will say that I am more messed up than I thought I was.

Ahh, humility.

As much of a bummer as it is to see my true, messy self, it is so sweet to be able to know what parts of me to address to make my soul more beautiful. It's just another painful step along the journey up the steep mountain to looking more like my Father.