Outdoor Education 2011

Hey All, I would like to share with you my experience with Outdoor Education (OE). Let me explain a few things first! OE is a 2 week missions trip that the entire high school goes on. The idea is to give the kids an experience of Papua that they wouldn't otherwise get. We take them interior and work alongside a missionary family or two helping with various work projects. Remember, 70 kids can get a lot of work done in 2 weeks!

As a leader, I am responsible for a group of 10 students and we are responsible for many small things, mainly our day of running the kids club program. Other than that, the groups are moving between work projects and taking their turns preparing meals and leaning about the other cultures that we are visiting.

This is an intense time of bonding and spiritual growth as the kids and leaders go through many stressful situations together. It is neat to see different kids excel during different situations.

Here are some pictures to help you wrap your brains around the idea of OE! Enjoy.

We traveled by boat for about 30 hours straight to get to one of our spots and this is the view from my little bunk. All 70 of us is this little section.


One of our work projects was to widen the airstrip to a very small village. This was pure mindless moving of rocks and we lovingly labeled it the "Operation Mountain Movement!"


This was the group that I was in charge of. What a great bunch of kids. I was very proud of them!


The missionaries that have been working with the people group in the mountains of Papua were able to celebrate with a baptism. There were about 60 people: men, women, and children who were baptized! What a time of celebration! To see people come out of the jungle, put down their bow and arrows and walk basically naked to the river puts an entirely new meaning to the idea that Christ came for all of us! Very moving!


This is the after baptism part! Awesome!


We had the opportunity to work with a missionary dentist. The kids were able to teach about dental care by using puppets. They were also able to teach about HIV and AIDS using the same puppets. The kids always include the dental work as part of their favorite and most moving experiences on OE. God truly uses all types to further his kingdom!


This picture is of my group singing and dancing with kids at a kids club afternoon.

This is a picture of us traveling in a taxi to one of our work projects. Always fun to squish into a vehicle!

Well, that's all for now. I'll try to post more later!

Paul