**STRESS CAMP DAY #1**

Life had been a little hectic, and my pre-stress-camp prep had not gone well. in fact, i didn't even start packing until past midnight, and it was pushing 2 when i finished. it's a little different than just packing to visit the fam for 2 weeks; by the time i decided to quit i looked like a dog who is about to lay down somewhere- standing in one spot turning in circles. the fateful day dawned, and i headed to CAJ to meet my group. the support staff has all the food, maps, and random stuff (whistle, compass, knife, rope, etc.) and we had to go through a checklist with every kid to make sure they had everything. the kids were trying to cover the fact that they were nervous, wondering if they knew what they had gotten themselves in to, and i wondered if they could see through my facade as well as i could see through theirs.

I was the leader. i was to provide...basically everything that i imagine a father would have to provide. i was in charge of giving them the information they would need to survive. i had to recognize their percieved limits and safely push them past what they believed themselves capable of. i had to be trustworthy- they had to trust me; to obey me without always understanding why. i had to direct their thinking certain ways at critical points so they would learn the most they could from this experience, rather than just completing it. i had to model every kind of positive behavior that i would want them to have. i had to encourage, push, mold, and direct them. i had to be aware of their wants and their needs, and to be able to correctly discern where that line was. and, of course, all these things come from loving them with the love of Christ, love that believes that they are worth it. it all hit me when i walked on campus and heard one of the kids replying to a friend, "i got ryan as my leader": i was not ready for this.

All that to say, i think all of us were wondering what we had gotten ourselves in to.





a shot of the team looking all fresh and showered (except me. i didn't shower at all for the preceding week so i would feel more at one with the mountains)
Back: Laura, Marian, Mrs. Polischuck (assistant leader), me, Yuta
Front: Yuri, Michelle, Corey, Tim, and Eric.











Moving on: all the groups pretty much take the same trains out from the city, and once we get out far enough, one group gets off at each station. we narrowly avoided disaster on the way there- i told the team to get on a train, and just before it left, i noticed like 3 other groups still out on the platform, waiting for the next train. a quick double-check later and i was holding the door open with my foot and yelling at the kids to get off. i think the kids were worried about foreshadowing at that point.






After hiking a few hours and a delicious lunch of ham and cheese on corn rolls, we came to the entire reason i had made this route in the first place. it just seemed like it'd be fun to go up a rock face, you know? it wasn't too steep or anything, but it was a challenge, and had a great view from the top.






















At this point, after hiking with this team for only a matter of hours, i was very excited about spending the next few days with them. in the climbing picture above you can see one of the guys (yuta soda) has just put on one of the girls' packs. he had gotten to the top already, and he dropped his pack there and went back down to help the slowest people up. this kind of thing became more commonplace as the hours wore into days, instead of becoming more rare as i would have expected. at lunch i had talked to them about the difference between a group (anyone can be in a group) and a team, which supports eachother, and cares about the other members. they were such great kids, i think they would have served eachother anyways.

We made camp fairly early that night, about 45 minutes before the sun went down. it was just enough light to make camp, show them how to tie up their rain fly's in case it rained during the night (which it did), and get a fire going. we had some strange/delicious miso-pork soup stuff, and baked apples with cinnamon&sugar for dessert. the apples are a surprise dessert thing, so the leader has to carry them. those things weigh a TON, and there was no way i was carrying them for one more minute than i had to. besides, i wasn't sure if we'd get a fire going again on another night :D . we spent some time around the fire talking and singing a little, but once it started to rain in earnest i sent them to their bags, where they promptly konked out. it was probably...8pm at that point, but since i had the only watch, i let them think it was midnight.








the sun set, and thusly the first day of stress camp came to a downy, smoky close. spirits were high, which is usually an ominous omen of misery to come...