MK Adventure 2013

(Modified from our July Ministry Update.)

Paraguayans aren’t the only youth we have a chance to reach here in Paraguay.  Each year South African teammate, Greg Cameron and I take the older missionary boys out on some form of adventure.  This is a chance to rough it with the boys and challenge them in their walks with God.

This year we took them hiking to the top of Paraguay’s highest mountain, Trés Kandú, where we camped for two nights.  It was a first time experience for the four boys and you could see the satisfaction in their eyes when they reached the highest point in Paraguay.   On this hike we also saw a lot of orange dirt road, breathtaking views from the top and many iridescent butterflies.

 

We had one full day on top of the mountain and we kept the boys busy by giving them survival training initiatives including building a one-match fire, a bow and arrow, and various animal traps with the requirement that they had to eat whatever they caught.  Though they didn't catch any rabbits or birds I did nearly skewer my foot stepping into their extremely well concealed, knife-laden ground trap.  It was a great setting for these guys to just be boys.

But everyones true survival skills were put to the test when the MK's had to light their campfire.  After hours of hacking away at massive logs with machetes the fire was ready (a fine example of an altar fire if I ever saw one).  For some reason I still don't understand everyone got bent out of shape when I lit the match for their 'one-match fire' with a lighter.  Then, before we knew what was happening, thousands of angry wasps began to swarm around us!  Ironically, they were being driven out by the smoke from our survival campfire.  They chased us into one of the tents where we were forced to eat dinner (without hot sauce!!!), pass the time playing cards, and endure teenage body odor!

Since everyone in our group had recently been to our Spanish youth camp, each day I recapped our talks in English on Psalm 119:9; "How can a youth keep his way pure? By keeping it according to God's Word." We had some great discussions about how the Bible can lead us into a deeper relationship with God and help us become the men He wants us to be.  I think everyone walked away a little bit challenged and changed. 

Here is a short video Greg and I threw together showing the hike to the foot of the mountain.  It was probably the most boring part of our hike but with epic music like Life in Technicolor by Coldplay it seems pretty exciting.  The beginning part with the title overlay is a view from the top of Trés Kandú at night.  Enjoy!