día de las salidas al campo

Most every Tuesday this summer was outing day. It was undoubtedly the absolute best thing about being the Pioneer B Area Director at Lutheridge. Each week, I would sit in the Senior Staff room pouring over maps of Pisgah National Forrest looking at new potential outing sites and debating if connecting this waterfall and that dinner site with this short hike would be a feasible outing. Every Tuesday lunch was like Christmas morning to me. As I ran about camp grabbing the last minute things we´d need to take with us for the afternoon, my grin was as wide as a six year old who got exactly what he wanted from Santa.

We´d pull offsite to the resounding choruses of silly camp songs and wind our way through the Blue Ridge Parkway. Between the songs and stories and jokes I´d hear gasps and little choruses of "wow" and "ohmygosh!". My heart would be so full of children marvelling at the awesomeness of creation before them. We´d arrive at our hike or dinner spot or base of the waterfall and I'd be treated to watching community develop in its truest and most unadulterated manner. Children would make friends with campers in other cabin groups, counselors would mingle with campers they hadn´t before engaged, new counselors would show initiative while returning staff would beautifully lead from the middle, meanwhile that one camper who had been observing on the outskirts finally dove headfirst into a new friendship and that one who´s faith had been rocky experienced the divine in an entirely new way. Outing day was my favorite day.

3rd and 4th graders head off on their salida

Every Tuesday this year at Instituto de Educación Integral de Magdalena Cervantes is outing day. Or día de las salidas al campo. Every grade experiences one class period out on the shores of the nearby river or in the fields and trails of the moutains beckoning just outside the school´s gate. I have the absolute honor of accompanying each of these groups. Tuesday is undoubtedly the best thing about being a YAGM at IEIMC. When it´s la hora de salir (time to leave) the children respond to the word "formense!" (line up!) with so much gusto their pens and notebooks are almost left spinning on their desks. After a mad dash to the school gate, the teacher performs one last head count (a very familiar move) and we´re off. As it is the tail end of the rainy season, we head to the river to take advantage of seeing its beauty before it dries up in dry winter season.

I´m pulled in a million directions as soon as we arrive the precious children are eager to show me their favorite spot to dip their feet in, the best rock for sitting and soaking up the sun , their favorite slope to roll down, the oldest and biggest cactus plant, and the best place to scamper up the rocks and admire the view. I watched classes of first and second graders sit in a circle and try to count the different types of trees around them. I saw the elation and surprise on their faces when they realized that there were too many to even count! I watched 3rd and 4th graders help each other to wade across the river so that all could be included in a game of tag on the opposite shore. I watched 5th and 6th graders get to just relax with their teacher, dip their toes in the water and talk about life.

The joys and benefits of outings are universal. By taking, even just an hour, to experience creation and the beauty of community without the bounds of our tiresome and meddlesome institutions we are treated to an incredible growth in relationship with one another and relationship with God. It´s no wonder that whenever Jesus meant serious business he went out-out to the mountain, out the dessert, out the sea, out the garden. Out into creation to experience it with His community. What a joy I have this year to get to go OUT and experience creation with mine.

 1st and 2nd graders pause and chat with their teacher about their experience