Fancy A Climb?

"For you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James Ch1 v 3,4

Black trainers, now brown and falling apart; black trousers...also now brown with 'spikies' in them; cut hands and a heart with an irregular beat. Are you wondering why yet?! These are the consequences of climbing a mountain in Huycho that even the Inkas themselves would have raised a smile at us climbing.

Over the weekend we were staying at Casa Girasoles in Huycho, a little province about one hour outside of Cusco. We're were there spending time with 11 boys that Union Biblica are rehabilitating, educating and teaching them about the gospel. Casa Girasoles is a bit off the beaten track, planted in a gorgeous valley hugged by mountains and decorated with lush greenery and a sparkling river. As soon as you arrive here you are smacked by the beauty of the mountains and instantly you feel the creative side of you starting to tingle. The poetic side of me yearned to write about the mountains; the big ones, small ones, the ones that you couldn't see the top becuase they were in the breath of the clouds and the ones that we're frosted on top with snow.

And so i started to write....

'Over the mountains and the sea...'
'Over the white cliffs....'
'I went up to the mountain...'
'The mountains are His, the rivers are His, the stars are His handyworks too...'

Ah...ok yeah, I was nicking lyrics from other songs! So I tried to write my own lyrics...
"The mountains are big..big..really big"
"We have a big God..that makes big mountains..."

They were feeb! I asked God "Why can't I write anything? You've blesed Erica and I with such a beautiful vision and yet...nothing comes out!"

I was staring to worry...thinking that I had a cold heart to the things that we're being shown to me. And so, I left my paper and pen under my bed with the stolen one lines dedicated to beautiful mountains.

That was until yesterday, I took out my book of thoughts and I will tell you why. After church the children invited Erica and I for a walk up Montana Zero. Sporting our climbing gear, my fetching red anorak ( in appreciation of my mum - she always wears a red anorak when we are walking!), our cameras in hand we were definatley ready to go for a walk up the hill and take some photos; hopefully getting that 'one' photo that would capture the beauty so we would be able to show you guys.

Before Erica and I had even started our walk, I looked on the mountain and saw some of the children stuck like little alpacas - designed to trot up mountains with ease on the side of a mountain not designed for humans to trot up...with ease.

Things started quite nicely. A few kids were holding our hands on our easy walk; Erica was joking with the kids as she took photo's of them 'jokingly' trying to scramble up the mountains 'death' face.

"Eh, they have to be careful - there's no way that they can get up the mountain that way," Erica said rightly in innocent unaware of the adventure ahead of us. So we called the boys back down the face of the mountain and they continued to lead us on the correct path.The gradient started to get a bit steeper, but it was ok, I was feeling quite fit and was happy that I had put on my comfy shoes that I knew would stay on my feet until I had reached the top (to see what happens when I don't have my comfy shoes on when climbing, refer to the blog in New Zealand.)

The first 'challenging' thing that happened was passing a very angry (unchained) dog that was on our path. I don't know why the dog was angry but I was very sorry for anything I had done to upset it. With my eyes closed tightly the children helped me pass the dog and shouted 'Ugly dog! Ugly dog!' that actually calmed the dog down! Leaving this first challenge behind, we continued merrily on our adventure.
Thankfully Gideon, a child of nine years, lead me up the hill. He turned and faced the already weak Lorna and said, "This is where the steps end!". I smiled back and gave a wink, assuming we'd probably just about reached the top. Hmmmm...no! I was about to have my first encounter with 'the spikies' and experience humility at a new level!

Further up the mountain we climbed without steps...or actually anything that would help my sliding feet grip at all. This was when I had my first hand shake with one of the spikiest plants that I've come across - it wasn't a cactus, but i'm pretty sure that it was one of it's family members - to me I saw it as it's naughty little brother - looks pretty innocent but plays tricks on you if you come too close.

All glamour (if there was any) was taken out of the jaunt in the Peruvian mountains as I found my technique for getting up the mountain. I was on all fours as I found myself mimicing the 'montbaca', a technique I found to be a pretty successful way of getting up the mountain!

My feet lost their balance on the sliding stones and my free hand (the other one had the camera in it) reached out in desperation to grasp anthing that would stop me from seeing the bottom of the mountain again and so in my head there was two options; grabbing a smaill child and risking both our lives was one option, but the other option that would only hurt me was reaching out for the plant - 'spikey'.

Squeezing my lips in pain and pretending the tears in my eyes were tears of laughter, joining the boys that we're breathlessly hee-howing at me I pulled out the spikes that pierced my wee hand and whimpered as i realised that we were now walking up the 'death' side of the mountain.

The mounmtain was getting steeper and the 'spikies' were overtaking the ground. I felt the pressure in my throat, my ready to stomp a tantrum believing that I couldn't do anymore, when suddenly I saw a hand reach out for mine.

My knight in a dusty blue t-shirt, a pair of nike shorts and flip flops was called Jose. Jose is a helper at the boys home and has many a time, strolled up this mountain - I think for fun - and so knew the best way to lead me up.
And he did, although the way up the mountain was full of 'challenges' Jose took me around them and made sure that I reached the top of the...alive.

I met back up with Erica at the top of the summit. We furiously started taking pictures like the view was going to disappear at any moment. In this moment of flashing lights and smiles, Erica stood on 'spikies' cousin 'sharpy' now this cousin was out to kill. I heard Erica squeal and all eleven boys ran over to her rescue. 'Sharpy' had made his way through Erica's trainers into her foot; in her pain Erica must have forgotten her spanish and cried out 'What in the name?! It's in ma foot!!' The children trying to respond to her call picked up her foot and Erica was now balancing on the peak of the mountain on one leg. " I cannae go back any further, or I'm gonna fall of the mountain!"

I wasn't too sure what to do. I would have run over to her rescue as well if it weren't for two things.
1: Me dying of laughter because Erica was talking to the children in broad Scots language.
2: Me actually dying if I tried to run over the hair pin top to get to where she was!

But hurrah for the boys as they carried on whipping the spikes our of Ericas foot. After the chaos of the accident I finally had time to take in the blessing that God had put in front of me.

Describing what it was like at the top of is difficult. I don't think I would do the view any justice with words so I will let the photos speak for themselves. I may not know how to describe the beauty but I do know that I would have shaken hands with a thousand 'spikies' to reach the top just to see it. In this moment I finally heard the word that God was waiting to tell me about the mountain.

If you want to write about the mountain - you have to experience the mountain.

To reach the top of the mountain was to experience everything that the mountain had to offer; to see the land below in all it's glory and the other mountains that joined in union. I was seeing the full picture; recieving the full gift that the mountain wanted to give...the reason it was there. We had endured the climb and reached the top, and this was our reward.

I believe that God gives each one of us our own mountain. God wasn't wanting to give me inspiration of the mountain by what it looked like but he wanted to give me the gift of the mountain by what if felt like to experience it.

With the mountain that God gives each and everyone of us we choose to either stay at the bottom and imagine the top, never fufilling our full desire to know what the mountain could offer; some of us start climbing the mountain but either stand still or even give up climbing because of the 'spikies. But let me tell you what happened to the pins in my hand that the 'spikies' had left. I took the pin out, wiped away the blood and was only left with a little mark - probably couldn't even see it! I still had both my hands and they were there ready to grasp the hands that were there to help me. Some of us are making it up our mountain. We are holding onto Jose's hands. Holding onto people that have been through the tracks before and making new tracks together.

Jesus will never leave you to climb your mountain alone. Infact he wants us to join hands and help each other up the mountain. Because at the top is our reward. He doesn't want one person to miss out on it. And no one has to miss out if we just take the hand of the person that is holding out theirs to help.

And if you do miss the hand and put it in a 'spikey' - keep going, it might hurt, but pull out the pin, wipe away the blood and realise its actually nothing - don't let 'nothing' stop you from getting that full gift.

Going down the hill is another story. I was going to put my full Gold insurance in use and call for the air search rescue to come and find us but Erica didn't have any signal on her phone. So instead I grabbed the hand of Jose and also Edgar (The 'pappi' for the home) and together we made it down the mountain. My technique for getting down the mountain was more of a slide and if I was lucky my foot would hit a rock to support me; and if i wasn't , it was my toosh that was feeling the consequences.

So for me now - thinking about super gluing my pair of trainers, giving my trousers a scrub and my heart a check over. I loved my mountain walk, but if the kids offer us to go on another one I might have to pass - hey I've experienced it! If I need reminding - I've got the pictures!

Big God love

Lorna xxxx