http://www.aisforadventure.com/ An adventure is an undertaking into the unknown, often connotating danger and excitement. en khedding@gmail.com Copyright 2008 2008-11-12T16:28:13-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/m-is-for-mistake/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/m-is-for-mistake/#When:15:28:13Z From Misc pictures for a is for adventure It was a fatal mistake; we were trapped.  At the time I thought I was doing the right thing.  It actually would cost us our lives. I had been chosen as the leader.  I didn’t want to be but I didn’t have a choice.  As I connected my air tank to my mask I shuddered.  I was afraid of fire.  Now I was leading two of my friends straight into a fire in the bow of my ship. We reported our air pressures before we went on air and then made our way into the smoky area. I could not see a thing.  With one hand against the wall I waved the other hand over my head to feel for dangerous objects.  I walked slowly with one foot in front testing the floor to make sure it was safe to walk on. It was very hot.  The cool air from my air tank felt refreshing.  I reminded myself to stay calm and control my breathing to make my air last longer.  The weight of my teammates hand on my shoulder keeping us from being separated was comforting. My hand struck something.  It was a large, steel object. “There is something overhead,” I relayed to my teammate, taking care to enunciate clearly with the B.A. mask mufling my speech.  “I’m going to get down and crawl,” I said. I heard my teammate directly behind me relay the message to the third member of our team. It was slow and tedious work moving through this cramped portion of the ship.  We made progress slowly, feeling our way through the blackness. “I am going through a doorway,” I called to my teammates.  “There is a board in the way.  I am moving it out of the way.” I did so.  We slowly moved through the doorway and the door slammed shut behind us.  I felt my way around and found myself and my teammates in a tiny, closet sized room.  We carefully passed through the opposite doorway into the next room.  There before us was the fire.  It was out of control. Our team got set up to open the hose.  When we were in position I told my team I was going to start spraying.  We all braced ourselves for the kick when the valve on the huge fire hose was opened. From Misc pictures for a is for adventure “B.A. 1, this is roving party,” came a voice over the radio a few minutes later, “you need to get out of there now,” came the urgent call. The fire was directly in front of the opposite exit.  We would have to go back the way we had come. Turning around I put my hand on the air tank of my partner who had been behind me.  Now I would be bringing up the rear.  I felt relieved that the pressure of leadership was lifted off my shoulders.  å We passed through the doorway into the small, closet like room.  We waited while our new leader looked for the other door that had closed behind us.  And we waited… “I can’t find the door knob,” called our leader. It was then that I realized that the plank of wood I had moved earlier had served a very important purpose - it had been a prop for a door with no knob.  Little had we known that when the door slammed shut behind us it had barred our only way of escape. We were trapped; with a locked steel door on one side and a raging fire on the other there was no chance of escape. We tried our radio but there was no reception in this section of the ship.  There was no way for us to communicate with the bridge.  Soon our air would run out.  All we could do was curl up in a corner and wait while our air ran out and we roasted slowly. Suddenly a cheerful voice popped into the room. “Ok, you guys can take off the blindfolds,” the voice said.  “Let’s gather in the other room for debrief”. Thank goodness it was only a drill. From Misc pictures for a is for adventure Adventures 2008-11-12T15:28:13-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/d-is-for-downhill/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/d-is-for-downhill/#When:20:45:50Z 2008-11-11T20:45:50-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/h-is-for-hostel/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/h-is-for-hostel/#When:17:24:55Z Nathaniel isn’t happy about the accommodations. Ryan is glad he has wi-fi. Hans can’t get wi-fi. 2008-10-20T17:24:55-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/climbing-the-twin-owls/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/climbing-the-twin-owls/#When:19:54:22Z Heidi, Hans, Nathaniel and Ryan climb the Twin Owls in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Adventures 2008-10-14T19:54:22-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/on-the-rocks-an-adventure-story/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/on-the-rocks-an-adventure-story/#When:19:05:48Z “There is probably no pleasure equal to the pleasure of climbing a dangerous Alp; but it is a pleasure which is confined strictly to people who can find pleasure in it.” -Mark Twain August is a great month for adventures. Take for example this August, I was really looking forward to the HSA National Reunion in KY. A cool road trip, new places and faces. Lots of things to see and do. It was going to be the highlight of the summer.—-It didn’t happen that way. For various reasons, I was unable to attend the Reunion at all. I have to say I was a little bummed out. That is until I got an e-mail inviting me to go rock/mountain climbing up near Estes Park, Colo., followed by some white-water rafting near Idaho Springs. It sounded like fun, so I coordinated a time to meet up with the other HSAers (namely: Hans & Nathan Bluedorn and Ryan Bruce) and made reservations. On Monday I meet up with the “guys” at the library and it was decided that we should have a quick bite to and climb a mountain. After lunch I followed the guys up to Lumpy Ridge and we hiked up the trail head to the base of Twin Owls. After arriving at the back side of the “Owls” (which by the way is called, “the Bowels of the Owls”) we donned our climbing gear and proceeded to climb to the top of the “Owl’s” head. As Ryan so nicely phrased it we were all “really high” (up that is). About 8,200+feet above sea level. From Hedi's Pictures from Colorado When we had taken in as much of the scenery as we could, we headed back to the cars. I would like to add here that this was my first experience climbing with ropes and harnesses. I learned a ton and had a lot of fun! It was a great time! That evening we had dinner in downtown Estes Park, and I bought a backpack. I had not managed to make it out of my house with one and I needed to up grade any way. It is red and black with pockets for everything, and it met with The approval from our resident “backpack expert” (Hans). From 2008-08-11 Colorado, Estes Park The second morning of the adventure dawned cool and clear. I met the guys in the library parking lot at 9am and we took a drive up “Old Fall River Road” to the top of the pass in Rocky Mountain National Park. We then hiked to the summit, 12,005 feet above sea level. After a group photo we headed back to Estes for lunch and some more mountain climbing. From 2008-08-12 Colorado, Trailridge Road Later in “Jurassic Park” we did some harder climbing than we had done the first day. It was my first time climbing straight up a vertical wall of rock. When I lost my footing and fell I was ready to jump clean out of my skin. It took me well over an hour to conquer my first wall. But the guys talked me through it and Nathan (my belayer) was very patient with me taking me so long. I did finally make it up the wall and had a very fun time doing it. From Hedi's Pictures from Colorado On Wednesday we traveled south out of Estes and got to the rafting office at about 11:00am. We filled out the liability forms and then donned wet suits, life jacket, and helmets. It was agreed that the wet suits were not the most becoming get-ups, but it wasn’t long before we forgot about our looks and began to head down river. Our guide for the expedition was of a less than savory nature, but at least you always knew exactly where you stood with him. He certainly didn’t mince words. The river was too low to be very sketchy or dangerous, but there were a couple of spots where the exposed rocks created some interesting rifts on which to get stuck on. Our guide knew his job, and we didn’t run aground. Just before the rafting trip ended our guide made all of us abandon ship, in order to test our swimming skills. We all passed the test and the only casualty for the day were Nathan’s sunglasses and Ryan’s dinner (but that is another story). From Hedi's Pictures from Colorado On Thursday I woke up to see storm clouds rolling in. Not a good thing when there is a climb to take place at “The Garden of the Gods”. The rocks would be treacherous if it rained. We drove to the visitor center of GOTG first thing. We met up with a friend of the guys, John Doyrk. I was not going on this climb because I didn’t think that I was quite ready to tackle the size of rock that they were going to conquer. I should note here that this was a “Trad” climb. And since I didn’t go along I can not fill you in on that part of the experience. I was a little bummed that I wouldn’t be climbing there this time, but I will someday. From Hedi's Pictures from Colorado We were supposed to meet up with another HSAer for dinner and a movie but we had some extra time on our hands before we need to be any where. So we drove up Pike’s Peak. It was a beautiful drive. The scenery was breathtaking, literally. At 14,110 feet above sea level it becomes increasingly hard to breath. The Lord put on a lighting show for us at the summit and the wind blew the cold rain into our faces, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was a picture beyond words. From 2008-08-14 Colorado, Pike's Peak Friday morning was overcast, rainy and a bit on the chilly side. We went to the climbing gym, and met up with Sarah and Allison from the night before. We all had to sign wavers that said we wouldn’t sue the gym if we did something stupid. And then we suited up. I got to do the first climb of the day to demonstrate for Sarah who had never been climbing before. That climb was a turning point for me, I realized that climbing was not as intimidating as I had at first thought. The first wall was like I was climbing up a ladder. From 2008-08-15 Colorado, Climbing Gym We climbed from about 11am to almost 4pm. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. We climbed and climbed and climbed some more. It was a very fun day. I learned how to keep going even when I thought I didn’t have any energy left. And I learned that when a blister pops it makes the rock you are trying to hang onto very slippery. Last but not least I learned how to belay. From 2008-08-15 Colorado, Climbing Gym Hans was brave enough to let me try out my new found belay skills on him first. I was told however that if I dropped him, he would come after me. I didn’t drop him or anyone else. Sarah did exceptionally well for her first time climbing. And Ryan tried some free climbing. Nathan went up a wall backwards and Allison conquered many walls. From 2008-08-15 Colorado, Climbing Gym From 2008-08-15 Colorado, Climbing Gym From 2008-08-15 Colorado, Climbing Gym When we all agreed to being very hungry (we hadn’t stopped for lunch) we packed up the gear and headed for the nearest restaurant. When lunch was over the time came to say good-bye. The guys headed for all points east, I headed west and Allison headed for home. (Sarah had had to leave out earlier while we were still at the gym.) So here ends the adventure “On the Rocks”. 2008-10-03T19:05:48-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/aid-w/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/aid-w/#When:16:07:40Z I used to not think I could not make any difference in the world; I thought you had to be some brilliant person.  When I decided to try I discovered that the people who do this stuff are really very normal people.  They face a lot of discouragement wondering if they are making any difference.  In this video one of the girls at the beginning even says she almost felt worse afterwards.  Most times that is how I feel when I try to do ministry.  “What real difference can I make against so much hurt and pain?”  One girl in the video says, “It’s hard because they don’t have much stuff and we are limited.  And even if I clean it and give them treatment they don’t know how to keep it clean.  So they treat it in a bad way again and it again gets worse.”  The volunteers feel so hopeless and inadequate.  In truth, none of the medical help they gave lasted very long.  Like the girl said, things will just go right back to how it was.  But the people they helped will never forget the love the volunteers showed them.  The people were shown that they are special and there are people in this world who care for them.  That is a gift that any Christian can give. 2008-09-25T16:07:40-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/p-is-for-picnic/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/p-is-for-picnic/#When:14:07:07Z 2008-09-10T14:07:07-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/up-a-random-hill/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/up-a-random-hill/#When:01:46:23Z Hans, Ryan and Nathaniel climb up a random hill in Rocky Mountain National Park. Adventures, Humor, Videos 2008-09-03T01:46:23-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/a-day-of-prayer/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/a-day-of-prayer/#When:01:42:28Z Once upon a time on the Mediterranean Sea a ship set sail.  It was a missionary ship.  After two and a half long years of hard work, struggle and waiting in a little shipyard in former Yugoslavia the ship was finally ready to sail.  The day she sailed was a miracle in itself.  But this story is about what happened a few days later. From Misc Images A heaviness was settling over the ship’s crew.  I could feel it in the atmosphere.  I could feel it in my own heart; there was a heaviness that I could not shake.  I did not know what was going on. Our ship was stuck at anchor off the coast of Malta.  We were waiting for fuel; we were on our third day of waiting for fuel.  Weather was keeping the bunker barge from coming alongside our ship. I had noticed the heaviness gradually settling over the ships crew. Our captain was frustrated. I had never seen him frustrated before. The hop in his step had disappeared and he seemed out of sorts. On that third day of waiting the talk about the need for prayer increased – especially among the veterans of the Faith.  I felt strongly the call to prayer.  Everyone seemed to sense the same thing; it seemed as if praying was going on everywhere. I found myself praying while I worked in the morning.  During my lunch break I lay outside on the deck and prayed.  Later I prayed for 40 minutes with my friend Amanda.  Throughout the afternoon as I worked I still felt the urge to pray and did.  When dinner was over I prayed again with Amanda and also my friend Jana.  Then the three of us joined the rest of the ship’s crew for worship and prayer. Our prayers were not simply asking for fuel for our ship.  Our prayers were for each other.  Our prayers were seeking God.  Like one of my friends once told me: “Kelli, God just wants you.” So that is what we were doing.  We were giving God our hearts; pouring them out to Him; praying for our friends, for our families, for our leaders, for our hurts, for our countries. As the evening of prayer and worship came to a close the urgency for prayer lifted.  I stuck around in the dining room enjoying the relief that seemed to have come over the ships company.  There was real joy in the air again. As I sat and joked with friends we saw lights on the ocean bobbing towards us.  We all crowded around the windows to look out.  It was the bunker barge coming to bring us fuel.  A few hours later our ship was on its way again. I am not totally sure what was going on that day.  I have been told many times that Satan wants to steal our joy.  It is easy to lose the battle to Satan and let him steal our joy.  But we have the most powerful weapon of all – prayer – and we need to use it.  Don’t let Satan steal your joy.  Put on your armor and fight.  God wants you.  He wants your heart. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”—Ephesians 6:11 “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”—1 Peter 5:8&9 From Misc Images Adventures 2008-09-03T01:42:28-06:00 http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/f-is-for-friendship/ http://www.aisforadventure.com/adventure/read/f-is-for-friendship/#When:01:41:51Z A is for Adventure, Videos 2008-08-25T01:41:51-06:00