Who Am I?

On our last day of outdoor adventure we put on our rain coats and pants and ventured into the foggy, wet mist for one last hike. Once we arrived at the base of the mountain everyone had a stereotype or "role" taped to their back. All of the roles were either "one up" or "one down" to the students: a homosexual student, a professor, a homeless man, a CCC staff member, your roommate, a grocery store clerk, ex boyfriend or girlfriend, etc. Each person as if they were the person taped on their backs. Everyone could see who others were, but not themselves. The objective of the hike was to show how we subconsciously treat other adults as better or worse then ourselves instead of as equals. The can often do this in our relationship with God as well.

A New Friend...

During a day of evangelism last week Becca and I met a Vietnamese women, Linh. She came to Bar Harbor (the town near Acadia National Park) by herself to work for the summer and have a new experience. It was her first day here! She was very curious and open to Christianity. We got to talk to her for over an hour and share the Gospel! Last night Becca and I went and got ice cream with her. It was fun to casually hang out and learn more about her life. Please pray for Linh and our relationship with her over the next week.

Can You Carry This For Me, Please?!

In Changes That Heal, Dr. Henry Cloud, states that the biblical basis for boundaries “exists between our identities, wills, and responsibilities…when we think of boundaries, we think of limits. Boundaries give us a sense of what is part of us and what is not part of us, what we will allow and what we won’t, what we will choose to do and what we will choose not to do.” It is important to have good boundaries in all aspects of our lives’. Part of having boundaries, is having the ability to say “yes” or “no” to people. We are responsible for our own limits and not letting those be crossed by others.

To help students apply this to their everyday lives’ we did a biking program on limits. Before the ride started we unloaded a bunch of random gear: tents, sleeping pads, gallons of water, kayak paddles, life jackets, etc. The gear needed to be transported by bike from where we were to another destination for a learning activity. Everyone started grabbing their fair share of equipment; strapping things onto their backs, putting on life jackets, hooking water jugs onto their backpacks, and attempted to ride with bag in between their legs. After we started bike riding, the staff (Nic, John, and I) slowly started to unload our gear onto the students. I would say “my knees are really hurting do you mind carrying this for me?” or “I really like this rock, can you put this in your backpack for me, mine is full” and so on…

In the beginning they were all quick to say “yes” to carrying our things. It wasn’t until I was riding without anything that some started to catch on, yet they still continued to say yes. During our debrief we talked about how easy it is to say “yes” to people you know, respect, and trust. Often times, people are stepping over our limits without realizing it, but it is our personal responsibility to stop that. Cloud says, “we decide what limits we will set on ourselves, and let others be responsible for the limits they set on themselves.” Everyone really learned the importance of limits with this program. We hope and pray that they will think back on in the future when they’re asked to do something outside of their limits.

Bonding: Faith, Courage, and Humility

We are now into our second week for project! The first week all of our activities focused on bonding with one another, as well as, the virtues faith, courage, and humility. Students learned practical ways to apply these virtues through rock climbing, boldering, rapelling, and traversing.

The rock climbing program focused on bonding with one another. Before they began, everyone was given a card with various instructions. Most of the cards said "The goal of today is to bond with one another. Talk to as many people as you can, ask open ended questions, participate, and be encouraging." However, four of the students were given "handicap" cards, each with a different stipulation. They were each told one of the following: to not to talk unless someone asked you a question, to always turn the conversation into talking about yourself, to only answer questions with a yes or no, and to only ask others questions, but never answer any about yourself. Also, you were not allowed to tell others about your handicap. This is where the program of bonding came into play! During the debrief the four students revealed that they were "role playing" and talked about how it affected them, the others, and the group. Matt, a student from L.A., was only allowed to answer questions with a "yes" or "no". He said that it was frustrating to not be able to elaborte more and it really affected his bonding. "Eventually, people just stopped talking to me and I felt really isolated" he said. Matt really learned the important of open-ended questions and how you're effected when you don't bond with people. All of the students have various stories of what they learned from the program.