This is an over view from the Guys’ river section.  The OLD Schoolers just got back from climbing yesterday.  I’ll make sure we fill you in as soon as they get rest up and get me some photos! - Amy

    

        Considering the fact that the only whitewater I have been on is the Nantahala River, which is only a class 2-3, I was a bit nervous to find out that we were going to be rafting the New and Gauley Rivers for the next couple of days which are class 4-5. I remember Spencer described the Gauley River by saying that he had never seen water that big. haha. So, we made the six hour drive up to West Virginia and got ready to raft the New River the next morning.

So, that first day, we rafted the New River twice in a row and got to guide some big class 3 and small class 4 rapids on our second run. It was a good chance to get used to some bigger whitewater before we went on the Gauley River. That second night, I remember we laid out all of our river clothes hoping that they would dry out, but instead, when we woke up, a lot of our clothes were frozen solid, or had ice/frost all over them. Needless to say, it was really cold getting dressed for the river that morning, but we managed. :-)

        That next morning, we did our first run down what is considered the Lower Gauley River. Depending on water levels, it has 3 or 4 class 5 rapids and while we definitely got tons of water in our faces and paddled for our lives, we only had one person fall out, flipped no boats, and had a great time! There were some incredible rapids though including a class 5 rapid called Pure Screaming Hell, that did a pretty good job of living up to it's name. It was crazy cause Brandon and I were sitting in the front of our raft and we hit some waves in the middle of the rapids that were so big and hit us in the chest so hard, it was a fight just to stay sitting up. But it was a blast.

Then we got the good news, our last day of rafting, we got the chance to do the Gauley River Marathon. The marathon is when you raft the entire Gauley River (Upper, Middle and Lower) all in one day. It's a 26 mile rafting trip that basically took the entire day. (We were in the water at 9am and were getting out when all was said and done around 5pm) But, the marathon was definitely a challenge!! Some of us, me included, were lucky enough to get the chance to fall out in 3 or more rapids!!!

        Seriously though, it was a great trip and it was so cool to watch and see the doors and opportunities that God opened for us. For instance, we found out that the Gauley River is one of the top ten rivers IN THE WORLD... and, on top of that, it is only open for rafting for 8 weeks out of the year, and then the rest of the time, the water is drained down to a creek level. Plus, we found out that the chance that we had to do the entire marathon was even more rare of an opportunity and God provided for us all to be able to experience that. What an incredible chance we had that we were able to do a marathon run, during one of the only eight weeks that a river is open on a river considered to be one of the top ten in the world. I can't get over just how much God provided for us this past week!

Something that I was challenged by in my personal time with the Lord was unique in that it came about during such a big whitewater rafting section. Since OLD School started, I have been reading a Psalm each day, and I was reading Psalms 32 on the day that we were driving up to West Virginia, and verse six really stood out to me. It says, "Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him." When I read this, I really had my prayer life challenged. I began to think about how a lot of times, we as Christians only pray when we feel we have need for it, and sadly, when there isn't a need in our lives, our prayer life tends to drop off also. Right before reading that Psalm, I had been praying just that God would protect our Group because I was nervous about the bigger rivers. But what really convicted me is that my prayers should never be focused on my needs but instead on my relationship with God. If I am constantly seeking God in prayer just to establish a consistent relationship with Him, then it is safe for me to lay my needs before God, but my consistency in prayer should never be controlled by my needs in life.

I just wanted to share with Ya'll how I really felt challenged this past week. Thank you again SO much for everyone's prayers and thoughts about our entire group and semester. They mean more to me than each of ya'll know!

 - Andrew