For most tenth graders on this planet, a 5 day, 36 mile backpacking trip with 7,465 feet of elevation gain to the top of Pico Duarte is not a typical part of the school week. But for the 18 students and 5 chaperones (myself included) at Doulos, it was a life-altering experience in the Dominican Mountainside. The amazing views, group bonding, and hilarious moments were all wonderful, but the real beauty was in the moments where the Lord showed up to do work in people’s hearts.
Simplify for the Struggle
When planning for the week, there are many things that the leaders hope to accomplish during the week. One of the key goals is to strip the students from everything that is the norm for them, including their friend groups, technology, and routine to allow for the Lord to work through the simplicity and the struggle.
Students were put into varying groups (see above) as their hiking group for the first day’s 12 mike hike to Base Camp. This allowed for many technology-free hours of conversations on all sorts of topics. We sang Taylor swift, discussed the benefits of beef jerky, and the wide variety of thoughts that enter 15 and 16 year old’s minds. Although there were many funny topics, the Lord worked to weave in some deep conversations between myself and the students.
One example was during a two hour stretch of the steepest part of the hike. I was walking with a student that was by himself and was having a hard time making it. (Personally, I was struggling as well, so it was great to have to have a reason to go a little slower!)
While huffing it up the trail, we talked through the hard of his life, the struggles of his broken home, and figuring out his path for the future regarding work and university. Two years ago, I was also walking with him on an outdoor ed trip and learned about a lot of his family pain, specifically around his parent’s divorce, so this provided a special time of following up on how he was dealing with the pain and where he was with his walk with the Lord. We talked about seeking God in the midst of the hard and the unknown and looking for His will in the midst of all the changes. This student is usually pretty withdrawn and quiet, so it was great to have intentional time to invest in him.
Later on at the end of the first day, I was with a group of students who were getting tired, but were also “enjoying” their breaks a little longer than they should. I kept pushing them that if they did not hurry up, we would be hiking in the dark. To that, one of the boys replied, “Night hiking sounds fun!”
Well, sure enough, they found out how fun it was. Around 6:30pm, the fog rolled in and we wound up being two miles from base camp in pitch dark. So I had them stop and get out their flashlights to which the reply was, “We didn’t pack any. We figured other people had them.” So there I was with five teenagers, one flashlight and their panic setting in. The thought of a “fun night hike” was quickly dashed as two of the girls started bawling hysterically, screaming that they were not going to walk any more, that something was in the bushes to get them, and that they wanted to go home. At the same time, two of the boys said their backs hurt too much to go on. Internally I was like, Lord, this is ridiculous. How am I going to get out of this mess? But on the outside, I was able to maintain a calm over the situation that can only be credited to the Holy Spirit. Through lots of prayers, pauses and pep talks amidst the teenage tears, plenty of stubbed toes, and a dark object following us (it was a rock…) we made it to camp 90 minutes after everyone else through the darkness of the mountains.
After settling down and getting a hot meal, one of the girls talked to me and thanked me for being so calm during that stressful time. She said that any other leader would have “freaked out” on her, but that she knew that I had her back and would keep her safe in that hard situation. I was able to use that conversation to give all the credit to the Lord and His ability to provide a peace that transcended the incredible struggle of leading five panic-stricken teens through the mountains in the dark. This is a young lady that both Melissa and I have poured TONS of time into regarding her faith, understanding the truth of the gospel, and how a life following Christs transforms us into His likeness. So for the Lord to use me that evening as an on-earth model of His peace and patience was a special way to end the day one.
Speaking on Suffering for the Lord
Day two brought us to the top of Pico Duarte!! Less than 16 hours after our night hike and the declarations of wanting to go home, we all made it to the 10,174 foot summit of Pico Duarte. The entire group was full of smiles and pride in their accomplishment of making it to the highest peak in the Caribbean together as a class. There were high fives, hugs, kisses given to the Duarte statue, and celebratory dance moves.
That evening, I got to lead the evening devotional for the students around the campfire. I focused on the passage of 2 Corinthians chapter one which focuses on the joy of suffering. I was able to explain to them that God gives universal blessings to everyone, believer or not, when it comes to having an achievement that required suffering; such as all of them being proud to have hiked to the summit of Pico, which didn’t require any of them to be a Christ follower to feel pride for their achievement. And while this is good, it is only an earthly feeling. However, the Word in 2 Corinthians is talking about how followers of Christ should view suffering as a way to disciple others. Not through simple actions, but by modeling the comfort we received from Christ in our suffering to bring comfort to others.
I also shared about how accepting Christ is not a “make life easier and prosperous” decision, but actually, that the life of the Cross is hard and with suffering. But unlike the suffering for naught of the world, it is full of a supernatural joy of living for so much more that this world can ever comprehend through a life following Christ.
Rest and Return
Day three meant packing up camp, and heading on the nine hour hike for Valle Del Tetero. 9 miles from our first base camp, this is a grassy valley, with an amazing river, peace and quiet to relax and space for kids to play. After so much energy was spent hiking, a reprieve was much needed.
Upon arrival, everyone was able to catch their breath, relax and reflect on their experience the first two and a half days. It allowed for the kids to ponder their accomplishments, their struggles, and how they felt the Lord was speaking to them. One of the girls that I talked with reflected on how the culture she lives in focuses so much on taking the easy way out, and how the trip was a great example of how the special things of this world take effort and struggle. I followed up with her thoughts and connected them to the fact that this is shown in the Christian walk- that God’s path is narrow and difficult, but it has ALWAYS been worth it.
After our day off, we packed up and headed home to our families, a comfy bed, and a shower to clean off our layers of sweat and grime. Through all the blisters, bug bites, and burning muscles, this was an experience that none of us will ever forget. During my time, I was thinking how thankful I was to be able to be God’s physical hands and feet in the DR and to be able to speak gospel truths into this group of students. Thank you soooo much for being an extension of the work that God is doing in the DR.
