Back at base

We are back at the base after an amazing five days in God's country. We took a 45 minute ferry ride over to an island called Bolga that is in the same fjord that the base is on. Bolga has a small community of farms and a school. We hiked out of town to an area right by the water that had lots of trees on it. There is a small back-county cabin there but it is far to small for all of us. We set up three lavvos (Norwegen tee-pees) for us to sleep in. Then we went on a hike through a hole in the side of the mountain and then up to the peak. It is called Bolgtinden and is 338 meters high. The views on the way up and at the top were really great. There were parts of the trail on the way up that were really steep and sometimes the wind would almost blow me over. The second night there we were given a 3 x 5 meter tarp, some rope and some matches. We set off in separate directions to be alone until 4PM the next day. It was a really cool experience and the weather was fairly good for it. Back at the main camp the leaders had to take down one of the lavvos because it was so windy. The place I picked for my little camp was fine though. I stared a small fire and after a while I went to sleep in my little tarp bivy. I explored around the next day before going back to camp the next day. The third night we were back in the lavvos. The next day we packed up and took a private boat to another island called Meløya. We hiked around through the farms and then up into the forest. About halfway up the mountain there is a huge lake and a back-country cabin called Fjellheim. We put our packs at the cabin and then continued up to the summit of Meløtinden at 582 metres. The sky was so clear and bright. I could see all of the islands all around, the YWAM base in Engavågen, the snow covered mountains and way out to sea. We sang some worship songs and prayed out over Norway. We went back down to the cabin for some great dinner and a warm night sleep in a real bed. At noon the next day (Friday) we headed back down a got the ferry back. Friday night the Northern Lights were out but I missed them. I told everyone to come find me next time they saw them. Saturday evening the most amazing sunset I have ever seen happened. I could see it out the window so I grabbed my camera and ran down to the boat dock as fast as I could. It was changing so fast I was worried that I might miss it. I spent about 15 minutes down there being awestruck by how beautiful and vivid it was. Truly an amazing experience to witness.