Last night turned into a bit of an adventure. While I was sitting downstairs journaling (around 10:45), Cody came downstairs, obviously full of energy, and announced "I'm ready for some adventure." A man after my own heart! So, we ended up doing the hike which goes to the top of the waterfall which overlooks Elvheim. Lars came along too, and we had a great night of man time - despite (or because of?) the sketchiness of the hike. It was getting pretty dark (at least for Norway) and it was lightly raining, which made the trail super-slippery. We made it up in pretty good time and enjoyed an utterly fantastic view... the whole valley was calm and quiet, and you could see all the houses with their lights on twinkling in the twilight. It's a beautiful view any day of the week, but that night it was extra-special. I'm not sure why, but we felt compelled to sing the Star-Spangled Banner at the top of our lungs (I'm sure no-one heard us, which was probably a good thing given the quality of our rendition) before we headed back down. It actually took us longer to make it back down than it had to hike up because the trail was so sketchy by that point (almost pitch-dark in the woods, and the rocks were as slippery as ice from the rain). Cody had forgotten to put in his contacts before the hike, so he was basically hiking blind by that point... but, God was good, and we all made it back down relatively unscathed. It was good to get to know Cody and Lars a bit better - they're both solid dudes, and it was great to have a chance to talk with them during the hike.

Today has been a good day - it's been raining for most of the day, so we pretty much stayed inside and did some cleaning and preparation for tomorrow, when a bunch more people will be showing up for International Discipleship Camp... students and leaders from Norway, Latvia, Belarus, and the U.K. will join us for a week of study, fellowship, growth, and experiencing the outdoors together. Can't wait for it to start!

Had a short nap this afternoon, spent some time in the Word, and had a good chat with Darrell Sr. He challenged me to think about my gifts, looking for areas where God has gifted/blessed me to sort of help point me in whatever direction I need to go. I think I tend to focus more on my faults - looking for what I'm not so great at and then ruling options out. It feels awkward to talk and think about what I'm good at - perhaps it's because I have a poor picture of what it really means to be humble and practice humility. I need to do some more thinking and praying on that subject.

The only "catastrophe" of the day was that the rice cooker sort of crapped its proverbial pants during supper prep, so the rice ended up being soupy/soggy/blah. It still tasted alright, but I always feel self-conscious and disappointed when something I'm in charge of doesn't work out exactly as I had hoped. Anyways, just a minor mishap during an otherwise splendid day.

I gave my testimony (or, as I prefer to say, shared my story) earlier tonight with the rest of the team, which was good - it's always good to share and to hear what God has been doing in people's lives. However... I think God may be using other people to prod me towards something. I'm too scared/hesitant to even write it down, because that would transfer an idea, a thought, a dream into something more concrete than I think I'm ready for right now. It seems like over the past couple weeks God has been prompting people to ask me pointed questions, as though they already knew exactly what my thoughts were. Creepy. I've managed to talk around the idea and dodge the issue for a while now, but I'm not sure how much longer I can do that without letting the dream out of the pillowcase. It makes me feel like I'm holding something back from people I know/love/trust. So, we'll see what happens. I'm excited and scared to see where things may lead. But as for now... it's bedtime.