Intern Retreat (7/1/2021-7/4/2021)

For the last few days of the trip, we had our intern retreat. The retreat consisted of time with the Lord, team activity time, and team processing & reflection time. We didn't really have a tight schedule to follow. Our team leader repeatedly emphasized that our main focus for the weekend was having good, extended time with the Lord. It was very good time, though it had it's difficult parts. I feel like the Lord spoke in some really clear ways. Since time with the Lord and team processing & reflection time were more private activities, I won't talk about them here. I will talk about the team activity time, though. More than any other time during the trip we were able to act somewhat like tourists and do some touristy things as a team. It felt weird that being a tourist was finally allowed. We were able to see a lot of God's creation, it was so cool. 

Our first trip was going to Mount Bromo, which is one of the most famous active volcanoes in the area (this actually happened a few days before the retreat but I figured I would include it here). We rode in some original Toyota Land Cruisers up a neighboring mountain to see the sunrise while looking down on Mount Bromo (first picture). Then we rode to the base of Mount Bromo and were able to walk and drive on the volcanic sand (second picture). Finally, we hiked to the top and were able to look inside the volcano. 

Our second trip was a hike to a secluded waterfall. The hike took about twice as long on the way there as on the way back because of how many pictures we took along the way. It was incredibly beautiful. The hike started high on one side of a huge valley. Water could be seen way below and trees growing on cliffs could be seen on the opposite side of the valley (first picture). Once we eventually hiked down into the valley, we came to the thundering waterfall (second picture). You could be a hundred feet away and still feel water suspended in the air. 

Our third trip was paragliding. It's probably one of the coolest things I have ever done. For some reason the views are different than the views from the top of a mountain or from an airplane. The landscape seems clearer and closer and bigger all at the same time. I know this probably doesn't make much sense, but it's the best description I can give.