Unexpected Service

July, 2018, at Horn Creek Colorado. My fourth of five years at YXL, a Presbyterian youth leadership camp. YXL is sponsored by churches of the PCA from across the United States; the students, counselors, and staff are also from across the states. The goal of YXL is to teach students about the doctrines of their faith, their own personalities and capabilities to lead, and how to interact and work with others as is best suited to them. YXL is also meant to be an exhausting experience. The hope is that it may push them far enough to find themselves at their worst and learn how to interact with others well even from that point.

Seeing as it was my fourth year at YXL, I knew quite a few people among the staff, as well as students from other churches. By this point, YXL had become an extension of my family. A place where, for one week out of the year, I could freely give and receive unbridled love. There were countless people who could and would gladly build me up, show me love and compassion, and just generally enjoy my company and personality. Countless people to whom I could return the favor. I had grown particularly close with a group of kids around my age from the New Mexico group (for some reason I always seemed to have an affinity for the New Mexicans of YXL), and this year my male counselor was also from that group. He was a somewhat intense man, but very wise and full of love; absolutely ready and willing to pour himself into each and every one of us. He is an important character for my story.

The event of this story occurred on our activity day. Every year, we got our choice between going on a float trip or one of several hikes. This year, three hikes were available. Two trails led up the mountains from the camp we were staying in, and another was a few miles down the valley. Of the trails from the camp, one led to Horn Peak, and only 13 or so students were allowed to do this hike (first come, first serve). The other led by a series of lakes. I elected to go on the latter of those two, as it was supposed to be the easiest of the three hikes, and I don't get much opportunity to hike at home.

The day came, and in the morning we went to the main hall to prepare for the hike. We had our choice of sack lunches (various kinds of sandwiches with cookies and chips), and our last chance to fill up on water before the hike. Before too much longer, we loaded up in the vans and headed to the trailhead on the far side of camp. We were told the basic rules (don't go off alone, stay on the trail, if you're not feeling well, tell an adult, etc.), and we started up the trail. It was a beautiful trail, and not very difficult. There were roughly 30-40 students on the hike, all having a good time.

I however, was not. I was experiencing the beginnings of altitude sickness, and it was gradually getting worse the further we went. When we finally got to a rest point, I found one of the adults and told him that I wasn't feeling well. He asked me a few questions before telling me that I ought to wait for our nurse to catch up with us and see what he had to say. So the others moved on, and I waited for the nurse to catch up. When he finally did, we talked, and he ended up saying "Well, I know you're not supposed to, but you can take care of yourself. When you're feeling capable, just go ahead and make your way back down to camp." So I waited a little bit longer before putting my earbuds in and hiking back down to camp alone. I took my time going back down, seeing all of the sights and not overexerting myself.

Eventually I made it back to camp. I still felt somewhat nauseous and weak, but much better than I had earlier. When I walked back in to camp though, I happened to run into my counselor (he couldn't hike due to health issues). He immediately asked me "Hey man, what's up? Why are you back here?" When I told him that I wasn't feeling well, he asked if I had eaten. I hadn't managed to eat very much due to my nausea, so I told him no. He offered to take me into town for lunch (he was already about to leave to run some errands for the staff). Of course I said yes, so we headed into town and got lunch at a little restaurant that served pizza and wings. I got myself a whole pizza and he got himself some wings, and we sat and talked about life: mostly what was going on in my life and where I was hoping to go with it, and him just giving his insight and wisdom into my situation. It was a wonderful, enlightening, and encouraging time, and I will treasure that lunch for the rest of my life.

After lunch, we went to the grocery store to pick up all of the things counselors and staff had requested, and then headed back to camp. We got back, and began to bring all of the supplies into the main hall. As we walked in, one of the staff members' wives told us that most of the students from the hike I had been on had gotten lost on the way back down, but we had no idea how many. Immediately we got to work taking a head count of who we knew was already back, and working from there to find out who was lost. Tensions rose as the count of lost students continued to grow. While we were working on our list, I looked out of the front window to see 3 guys from the peak hike running into camp. They came inside, out of breath, and told us that one of the girls on their hike had torn here meniscus towards the top of the mountain. The others were carrying her back down, but were completely out of water with many miles left to hike.

We sprang into action. My counselor and I had just bought 10 gallons of water in town, and the trail to the peak wasn't far. We jumped in the van and headed over to the trailhead, where he turned to me and said "You know I can't do this. It's gonna have to be you." I knew it was true, but I also knew that I was not at all ready to fulfill this task. My nausea had mostly cleared up, but I had an absolutely full stomach and still felt rather weak.

Knowing that there was nobody else to do it, I grabbed 5 gallons of water and began hiking up the trail. I was consumed by fear. I was far too aware of my own weakness in that moment. But I had to serve, so I prayed. I begged the Lord to give me the strength and endurance to serve my brothers. I begged Him for one more step. Then another. I fought the urge to see my lunch for the second time. After about a mile, I ran into my youth director and a friend from my church. They told me that the others shouldn't be too far behind, and gave my a bag to help me carry half of the water I had with me. From this point though, the trail got harder. I prayed more. As much as I could.

After a little more than a mile past my friends, I rounded a bend, and there they were. 7 guys, a mix of students and adults, with a makeshift stretcher holding the girl between their shoulders. The looks on their faces will forever be burned in my mind and bring tears to my eyes. The relief that they felt was tangible. And as one of the staff members saw me, he said "Thank goodness you're here. I just stopped sweating." I started taking their water bottles and refilling them as we hiked back down the trail, making sure that all of them at least started to get what they needed. And before long, we all made it back down the trail in one piece.

Because of that event, my counselor suggested that I should consider becoming a deacon someday, as my way of serving the church.