Novice Campers Travelling Oz

This week has been great in regards to trying new things.  On Saturday we went to the snow at Mushroom Rock with Elwyn, Shelly (from the Outback Safari), Roo, Marg and their kids, the Chats, Ben (Associate Pastor of Moe and Traralgan SDA churches) Delhuntie staff (James, Keith, Montana, Neil) and a bunch of youth.  It was so beautiful.  I?d never gone bush walking in the snow before, only skied once, so to take the time and see the clumped snow on tree branches, the stripped bark of the trees, and the ?movie-like? panorama, was quite breathtaking.  I was surprised how wet I didn?t get, considering I was in joggers and jeans ? not the best water resistant clothing you can get.  Lots of crazy snow ball fights were had (thanks James, Neil & Ben) so the Melly kids had freezing cold feet and hands despite their boots and gloves.

Sunday saw our family plus Neil, Leah, Natanya and Shelly out at Peterson?s Lookout for some abseiling.  I guess the rock wall would have been about 15-18 metres high, a good 50 metres above the river in the valley below ? awesome vista.  I used the day as training to learn the Delhuntie way of doing the abseils ? including the anchor points, belaying techniques, and encouragement to each jumper.  It was great to share the top of the jump site with Neil ? I really respect him for his practical abilities, his genuine love for other people, and his funny humour.  All our kids gave abseiling a go, with Shay trying it for the first time ? after some great encouragement from Neil.  She was pretty teary on the first one but after she got down she asked to go again then proceeded gung ho down like a pro.

Tuesday saw Neil and I back up at Petersons lookout with a year 12 class from a local high school for abseiling and rock climbing.  I worked the top of the abseil belay, while Neil worked the bottom of the climbing belay.  I was truly impacted by a young girl who had told me she ?won?t be doing anything today.?  After much encouragement (she really had me working hard in that area) she climbed over the safety fence, then after heaps more encouragement she approached the abseil site, only to back out.  In the end, she did the abseil and was wrapped with what she achieved.  It was a really high moment for me (no pun intended) to be so connected with her in a part of her journey.

Thursday saw Neil and I take the P.O.T. (Pinnacle of Terror, a mobile adventure-therapy wall) to a school to work with the year 11 kids.  I stayed at the top of the P.O.T. to help the participants gain courage to take their Leap of Faith (harness on forwards, leap out to a trapeze bar, hang from backs of knees, then get lowered rapidly to the ground), Angel Rush (harness on backwards, leap out into thin air, get lowered to the ground rapidly, grab hands with the designated ?catcher?), or Everest jumps (harness on backwards, climb onto the top of the 10 metre tower, leap out into thin air, get lowered rapidly to the ground).  Again, powers of persuasion were needed.  You see, Delhuntie uses Encouragement by Enthusiasm, as opposed to the Industry way of Encouragement by Choice.  If someone puts on a harness and helmet, we will do our best to help them see their jump through.  We don?t want them to run on their feelings of fear that will make them back away from the jump and go home a failure.  It was an exhausting, but terrific day.

Overall, the week was awesome and exhausting.  I got to engage at a close level with people; to encourage them to become more than they felt they could; to celebrate their victories with them; to help them face their fears and come out the other side; to input some really positive comments at crucial times.  All in all, I felt like I engaged in effective and practical ministry this week.  This is what God has brought us down to Victoria to see.  We are starting to make plans to include a P.O.T. in our future.  We are seriously thinking about settling down on the Gold Coast Hinterland to work and set up an Adventure Therapy Park to work with disadvantaged/at risk youth, broken families and schools. 

Oh, and this week I welded a firewood box for our tent, to go with the combustion heater we have in the tent to keep us warm.  I?m pretty proud of that effort, considering I?m such a rookie.

B