camping trip/glacier hiking

Hello everyone!

sorry it has been a while since my last post, my computer went into foreign language mode and i had a lot of trouble getting it back to English. haha. One of many goofy challenges here. The purpose of the first week here has been to get to know each other and more or less bond a bit. So we went camping! I've gone camping a lot back in the states but this whole trip was a bit diffrent due to the terrain and what not. We hiked up a 5,000 ft mountain in the cold wind and rain, it took about 4 hours and we were all beat when we finally arived at the cabin that was build from supplies brought in by helicopter! The weather got really gnarly and my group had to stay there for 3 days instead of the intended 2. It was a really good time with worship, fellowship, games and sleeping! Going to the bathroom out there was an experience in itself! You had to walk for a few minutes in the wind you could heavily lean into and stay standing; then drop pants over a little wooden box by a big ol bolder! haha After decending the mountain we headed directly to the glacier for some time on the ice! The glacier didnt look that big from camp, but when got all our gear (crampons/ice axes/helmets/belt harness) on and climbed up it a bit we were shocked with the absalute size and majestic feel of the never ending glacier! We were on the ice for several hours learning climbing techniques and moving really slowly due to our large group size and we were all more then ready to get off the ice and finnish up with the day... after an hour and a half hike back to camp w/ all our newly aquired gear. haha. The next day was our last day of camping and we had the option of going up to the glacier again, only half or so took the leader up on this offer and we had a GREAT time on the ice, getting to do much more and covering a greater distance on the ice! It was an amazing once in a lifetime experice for an Arizona boy!! During many of our long waits on the ice I prayed a lot and it was neat to be out in some of Gods coolest work! I was reminded how small I am, and how powerful He is. I had to trust myself, my gear, and my God out on the ice, because in the case of an accident on the glacier, it would be a long miserable trip down. On a good note, my relationship with God has already grown during my time at Nordtun. We have amazing leadership here. Are leaders are from all over the world and have admirable passions for Christ, as well as hard working and super fun personalities! It is a blessing to be here, God is the center, and everyone is in the same boat! The cultural diffrences are fun and this house is like a wirlwind of diffrent languages and customs. The next 3 weeks will be consintrated on class time and leactures, which I am highly antisapating. Week one will be tought by a guest speaker who many of my DTS leaders have told me is amazing! The topic will be the Nature of God. Week two will be on Worship and week three we are making a trip to Oslo to meet up with a DTS from Amsterdam for some more classes. The students here arn't super informed about all the details which is a bit of a bummer for me because I like to know it all. On another note, If you have not recieved a thank you note from me, I am very sorry for the tardyness. But everyone yet to get one will be getting a cool norwegiean post card, which I havent been able to find anywhere!!! yet. But we are making a trip into the bigger city of Bodo so I will get them then. Thank you everyone for helping me get here, I'm extactic about this trip and what is yet to come. Feel free to email me with questions or comments or requests or whatever at, miles152@gmail.com and please take a look at my pictures on my facebook at, www.facebook.com/alecoffner