The Amazing TREK

Well, not long after being put into teams, they decided to test our endurance, and we participated in an activity called "The Amazing TREK," that our fabulous interns spent a TON of time putting together for us. This activity is designed to help us learn how our team will function in stressful situations, and to teach us to function without relying on the people around us, because in Thailand, they aren't always going to be there.

Our team had an interesting experience...they say it was the most similar to what will really happen on missions- because pretty much everything went wrong! The day started with incessant banging on the door, and then SonJa (one of our interns) announcing "It is five o'clock and the Amazing TREK has begun, be downstairs in five minutes to begin." So the frenzy began, we ran around trying to get ready, unfortunately my team being all girls took to long and we missed the first challenge!

The second challenge we definitely participated in however, we searched all over the Mark Centre property in the dark for team bandannas...unfortunately ours were dark blue, so they took us two hours to find, and we actually never found them all, they just took pity on us and let us come in from the cold! Even the people who hid them couldn't find it. After we did really well with the next few clues, racing around Abbotsford, until we had to find a house in a residential area for breakfast, you see, all the teams were supposed to have a map, but they forgot to give us one. Eventually we found the house, and headed in a delicious breakfast of rice, little herrings with no heads, and two litres of coke.



We were on track with the other teams and feeling good! However, for the next clue we had to find another house...and we ended up in somebody's garden for half an hour before we realized it was the wrong place. We walked to the correct house, where we found a large pile of hay, in which there was a needle. I don't know how many of you have looked for a needle in a hay stack but it really is impossible. After half an hour they let us leave, needle-less. Only one team actually found theirs.


After this we had a photo scavenger hunt, went and got a picture developed, and had to trade our picture for our next clue. Well, the only problem with that was the place we traded in our picture, a car in the mall parking lot, and all the direction we had to find it was the license plate number. We ended up running around the ENTIRE parking lot, and not finding it. Then we had to do it again! Eventually however we got there, and got our next clue, which sent us to the fire hall.



The fire hall was my favorite of the challenges, we dressed up in full gear and participated in an obstacle course that firefighters do in training. We ran with heavy buckets of water, sprayed things down with the big hose, and ran up the fire hall, and then lifted a weight up the side of the building. I was really proud of all the girls on our team, they were champs, working so hard, and working up a good sweat.



After a few more activities, it was time for lunch, and they sent us to the Sikh temple. It was a good experience to be in a place as a team where we really stood out, and were unfamiliar with proper conduct. We had to be really careful to be respectful in everything we did, because we were definitely being watched.


After lunch things went downhill for our team. Our clue was to go to the Swaan's backyard, where we had been earlier in training. Our driver gave us a map which we followed, unfortunately we weren't supposed to have that map yet, and we had detoured half an hour out of the way, to Yarrow, another city!! This is where the challenge really began. We needed to get back to our original location, with no map, no cell phone, and a phonebook for the wrong city. Our team really banded together, and with several phone calls, lots of ideas, and asking quite a few people for directions we made it to a gas station in Abbotsford, and from there we were allowed to call Luke (the TREK director) for directions.

The challenge in the Swaan's pool involved walking across planks of wood, to a canoe and back, without tipping. Our team dominated at it, even though we arrived two and a half hours after the other teams. We were re-engergized and full of enthusiasm.

Our next task ironically took us back to Yarrow- but at least we knew where we were going. In Yarrow we arrived at the home of a lady we had never met, who we serenaded on her balcony. She in turn gave us our final clue "Team Thailand you've arrived to late, I'm sorry but you've missed your date. So stand up and take a bow, you can head back to the Mark Centre now." We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to finish the race, but the reality of it was that we were proud of ourselves for the obsitcals we had overcome, and we had a good time doing it.

Later that evening we had a time for debriefing as a team about the event. It was incredible how much we had learned about each other in such a short time, and we were able to talk about how we could support each other more effectively and what we loved about each other. It was a great day- but everybody was happy to go to bed.

the adventure begins...

Three weeks have flown by here at TREK.

Arriving here on the first Sunday was perhaps one of the most nerve wracking experience of my life! Thankfully sixteen of the other trekkers are pretty great people, and we all clicked right from the beginning, and it didn't take any time to get started. On Monday night we read through the entire book of Mark with Steve Klassen- an incredible man who runs the Mark Centre where we are staying.

After barely settling in we headed out right away on Tuesday to Whistler for a retreat where we looked into the topic of worship, and dived into getting to knowing each other, and participated in some fun activities. (The picture on the left is of me and some other trekkers participating in a photo scavenger hunt). I came back on Thursday loving the people on our team and pumped to get going on the rest of TREK.

The rest of week one and all of week two were spent in sessions discussing various topics. We had talks on hearing God's voice, prophesy, relinquishing our rights, and many other things. I've been in information overload, but slowly I'm processing all the information that's coming in.

This last week we went on a silent retreat, we left on Tuesday and participated in complete silence until Thursday afternoon. It was time to listen to God, and spend some time totally focused on him. I really realized how much we miss out on in our culture, running from one activity to another, with all the hustle and bustle around us. It was refreshing to get away, with no agenda and spend time in prayer, reading my bible, journalling and taking long naps. I really got to communicate with God, and hear some things from him. Once again it gave me a lot to think about and process, but I left totally refreshed and excited for what God is going to do this year.

Yesterday was the day everybody had been waiting for since TREK began. The day when teams were announced. And I am headed off to...drum roll please...THAILAND. I'm going with a team of all girls, who I am really excited to get to know. We had our first team time last night, where we shared testimonies, were honest about our feelings about the impending trip, and bonded over Starbucks and Quizno's.

So...I hope all of you are doing incredibly well, and want to hear from everybody. If you have time send me an email and let me know what's going on in your lives- jill.wiebe@gmail.com!

I also have some prayer requests!! First of all, everybody around here is pretty overwhelmed, finding out teams was an emotional experience, and now begins the process of applying for visas(I started my application today!), learning about the language and culture, and getting to know each other better. You can pray for us for good rest. Also, you can pray that we will start getting a hold on the Thai language; one of the hardest languages in the world to learn (they say it takes up to twenty years before you can be fluent). Also you can pray that as my team researches Thailand, gets in touch with the missionaries there and starts preparing to leave, God will birth in us a deep love for this nation, and that we will be ready to go and SERVE.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!