Chronicles of Growing Courage

Monday, August 09, 2010

Farewell, Tuchekoi and Southeast Queensland






What a fantastic trip! Some of the kids were crying as they boarded the bus that would take them to the airport and back to Hong Kong. I, too, felt a mixture of the sweet, painful sadness that comes at the end of an experience that has been significantly valuable and memorable. Truly, Camp Tuchekoi is a unique and special place.

As a sidenote, the really good pictures were taken by my friend Allison. I must give credit where credit is due!

Monday, August 02, 2010

Biking Adventures: Part 2

“It was kind of a faith journey,” the 14-year-old boy earnestly said to me. C. was describing what had happened when he had finally put his mountain-bike-learning into practice on the students’ five day wilderness expedition (See earlier post for C.’s story on learning to ride a bike the first time).

“There was a lot of rocks and I kept going off the trail as it got narrower and narrower. I was getting nervous and finally my bike went completely off the trail and I had a big crash. Everyone else had already gone down the steep hill…I was all by myself and I began to cry and felt very scared. I wanted to give up.” C.’s gentle face grew livelier as he continued his story—he was almost unrecognizable as the timid, shy boy he had been three weeks earlier at the beginning of the program.

“The whole group stopped to wait for me at the bottom of the hill and started to encourage me. K. came up and brought me lunch and prayed for me. I decided to try it again. As I began riding, I felt that God was protecting me with a shield that went around my whole body. As I felt this, my inner confidence came back once again and I was able to ride down the hill.”

He paused, collecting his thoughts into English. “Many things have changed inside of me since I have come here, “ he said. “I am not the same person.” He smiled, a warm, contented smile, full of life and light. It was the smile of a person who had confronted his inner fears and come out the other side, an inner-confidence born of struggle and hard choices. I smiled back and patted him on the shoulder. “That, “ I said firmly, “is a great story, C.”