But of course Walkabout would not be complete without a poem...

God placed this poem on my hear during a hike with a bit of drizzle action going on. 
Enjoy!

There's something about a thunderstorm in the middle of the wilderness
the rumbling reflecting the very passion that quakes within our hearts
matching the way our feet meet earth on a five hour hike
One tarp
Eight people cuddling so close
that no amount of rain could cover 10 days worth of B.O

There's something about falling asleep so closely to the stars
almost as if you could kiss them if you climbed high
or touch them if you reached far enough

There's something about two days in solitude
believing that every rustle of a tree must be the voice of God
every evening his blanket of beckoning into a oneness with him
the quiet moments where you feel his voice whispering to you in restlessness
calling you to be surrounded in his presence
as he meets you in the most intimate place of where your soul meets his spirit

There is something about laughter that echoes through
rocks and ripples in a small stream
uniting every lung and stomach that it captivates
stretching every muscle in your frame to remind you of how
beautiful being alive feels

The feeling of a fire being the center of eleven people
as the sun rests in its quiet place to the west
the flames dancing over faces you've been blessed to wake up to
eyes filled with compassion and encouragement
with smiles more refreshing than the feeling of being clean

There's something about meeting yourself out of your comfort zone
becoming acquainted with every bone and muscle
as you journey 10 days on a search for who you are
as a leader
for who you are in the eyes of your creator

There's something about clouds after rain
reminding us that seasons will come and the clouds will go
but he will always remain constant
reassuring us that he is the creator of all things
reminding us that God will always meet us at the end of the storm
and encounter us
in exactly the way we need him

My plate is overflowing!

I had the intention of going straight into my Walkabout experience, but the first thing that popped into my head to address was, "How many times do we doubt God &his faithfulness?"
As you know, I was absolutely terrified about Walkabout and the very idea of it.
I totally did not consider that God would actually meet me in the middle of the wilderness and have me encounter him in beautiful and new ways.

First day of walkabout looked something like this:
Wake up & meet in the parking lot at 5am, drive 5 hours to Yosemite, get to our destination and the first thing we find out that we're doing is Repelling down a 138ft rock.... Wait, seriously?
I didn't even know what repelling was. Apparently the sight we went to was the best place in town.... but its a steep up-hill 45 minute hike to get there.
So basically, I figured after this day, that all fearful boundaries had been broken and that whatever else I would encounter this week would be exactly what I needed to weather it be challenging, uncomfortable it would also be absolutely necessary to contribute to my entire walkabout experience.

Man,
I don't want to get into detail about what the experience logistically looked like.
But know this,
I was able to not only experience the God I have come to know and be shaped by for the past 20 years in new ways but he also showed me so much about myself that it was baffling.
My biggest fear going into walkabout was based off of my physical abilities.
Coming from years and years of insecurities and self loathing a ten-day backpacking trip was something that was not necessarily on the top of my list to-do.
On the day that we had our longest and more testing hike, was the day that I just so happen to be leader of the day.
WHY!
That's what I wondered & asked... well maybe yelled at God. Why would you have me lead on this day? Out of my entire team I was the one person to not have backpacked or camped before let alone know how to follow a trail, and I was placed to lead on this day.
Well I can tell you that God answered back to my plea, he showed me who I was in his eyes, what I looked like when gazed upon by my creator.
Talk about a humbling opportunity. I found myself realizing what he was showing me as my guides had to continuously tell me to slow down while leading the hike....that I was going to fast.
WHAT?! HA!
The first couple of times it didn't register, I often that my pace was too slow for my team and that I must continue on.
In the midst of this God showed me that I am stronger than I give myself credit for, that my physical body is equipped to do things that I assumed it was not.
I found myself giving my body a pat and telling it good job, an outward expression of genuinely appreciating this body I was molded in but also remembering this quote:
"You don't have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."  C.S Lewis

Along with all of that good stuff, on top of that I was placed on a team with AMAZING PEOPLE.

Seriously, each year I am more and more blessed by people in my life who just BLOW ME AWAY with their passion, their joy, the wisdom God has placed in them to share and what they are able to teach me.
If I had one word to describe this group of people it would be Encouraging. There was not a moment that went by that positive words were not shared from one of their lips in moments where it was a hard part of a hike, someone was making dinner or washing dishes... even in moments where you wouldn't think that encouraging would be "necessary" they did it and it was wonderful.
There was not a day that passed that did not consist of laughter or good, heart sticking conversation.
I am seriously at this point having withdrawals from them even though I just made a collective, yummy veggie pasta dinner with them last night.

There is something beautiful about coming together with a group of leaders who all have the desire to follow Christ, to learn and grow in every way possible to better serve people and to truly be apart of the body of Christ. We all had similar interest, we sang lots from 90s to now (everyday...almost every hour) and you knew, that in the center of all of our interactions and conversations there was God orchestrating all of it so delicately and intricately to make a beautiful bond between not only us but our guides as well.

I have lots of stories to tell, a lot of which will not quite be beneficial to you because you weren't there and then it would be that awkward "you-had-to-be-there" kind of moment, but I would still love to share if you want to hear them! I mean it was my first time in the wilderness so I will have a handful of things to share, feel free to ask!

So there it is.
The season of Walkabout has passed.
In the next 2 weeks residents will start moving in.... & that will be an experience of its own!

Until next time.

IS THIS REAL LIFE?

Well hello good people!

So, I have been back to APU for about 2 (almost 3) days now & I figure before these next ten days I should get a blog in there somewhere.

First,
it feels so INCREDIBLE being back... each year I think I leave more& more of myself here on this campus and when I return it's literally like connecting with whatever part of myself I left here.
Complete, that is a great word for this situation. I am complete here that whole knowing this-is-exactly-where-I'm-supposed-to-be thing?
Yeah, that exists.

These past few days have just been one big preparation for something I have talked about before....

WALKABOUT!

What is walkabout?

Well this year I am going to be a Freshman RA (oh shoot!)

And with that leadership opportunity comes intense training (spiritual, mental, mind, body, soul the whole shabang) the first part of that training is a ten day backpacking trip in the wilderness somewhere which is called Walkabout.

All the RAs are split up into teams (of about 11 or sometimes fewer), lead by highly qualified guides & are dispersed into different mountain like areas with packs filled with the entire teams food, a change of clothes &toothbrush (maybe not that drastic... we do have like warm clothing for the evening, hat for sun protection, sunscreen and lots and lots of wet wipes because that is our only source of being clean!) 

This part of training, is really to focus on who we are as leaders, individuals, servants of Christ before we get into How to be an Ra, we need a strong understanding of who we are in Christ.

Understanding our strengths & weaknesses, realizing the different mechanisms we have when it comes to being faced with challenges...

I'm not going to lie... just writing this out is actually giving me a huge comfort.

as you can see by a previous post I was not Walkabouts number one fan, in fact you could almost say that all summer I have been dreading it.... but it's here ( 5 am tomorrow is meet up time!) and I refuse to be a Jonah and run from it (I really can't do that anyway... But just so you know, I have thought of it)

So for the next ten (11 ish) days I will be ruffin it out with a team of people in the wilderness, talkin about Jesus, laughin it up & then for two days we have a time called Solo.

Solo is 48 hours of fasting, and well.... solo time.

This is probably what I am most excited about, I always seem to meet God in such an intimate way when I am immersed within the very presence of his creations.

The fasting doesn't bother me either, sure it's going to be bit hard but man (nor woman) lives on bread alone (Matthew 4:4)

Why didn't I blog about this before?

I am at such a peace right now about this whole trip!

Exhale.

This morning before we packed up our packs... we had a time of devotional & worship.

My CA (Community Advisor) Chelsea, spoke about Esther, what she was called to do & how she kinda did not want to do it. And then she brings up Mordecai's words of advice to Esther & about the thought that maybe she was deemed, purposed for such a time as this ( Esther 4:12)

WOAH.

I was created for an ultimate purpose.... but within that ultimate purpose are sub-purposes of which I was also created for.

Walkabout is one of them.

To back out of the opportunity to backpack with great people, have tough & memorable conversations, hearty laughs and to be stretched out of my comfort zone is what I was created for right now.

When she talked about this... and I thought about my fears, insecurities etc God laid it upon my heart to say my own name...

Arielle.

Which means Lion(ess) of God.

LIONESS.

I think its time to allow God to instill in me my namesake.

To be courageous...in him.

To fear nothing... but him.

So here we go.

Tomorrow at 5am I will leave and embark on a journey where I want nothing but to experience all that God would have me experience. 

LETS GO.

WALKABOUT 2012.