“If I die this week, please take care of my dog,” was the last thing I texted to my friend, Hannah, before turning my phone in. That week, my family forced me to climb a mountain with them, along with 12 other people from my church. I was not looking forward to it. In fact, I was absolutely dreading it. I'm not the most athletic person, so climbing a 14,263 foot mountain was not on my to-do list. When you add no showers, toilets, and electronics, I guess you could say it sounded like torture. When my mom told me that we were going to climb a mountain for a week and I would only be able to communicate with the people there, I remember laughing, thinking that I would find a way to get out of it before it was official. Well, there I was, three months later at the foot of the mountain. With my pack on, hiking shoes laced tight, and a sick feeling in my stomach, we started walking.
           

At one point Cameron Paul, or as I call him, Cammy, turned around and said sarcastically, “See Brenna, this isn't too bad.”

I responded quietly to save my breath, “I wanna go home.”

I was not alone in my misery. Bri and I were both wishing we were not there, so we walked alongside each other laughing at how the two of us were actually climbing a mountain. It was a miracle that people finally talked, or forced, us into doing this.
           

“Left, right, left, right,” I would say in my head to keep my feet moving at a steady pace.

As the huge, beautiful trees started to surround me it really hit me, I am climbing a mountain.

*****

The very first day while walking we heard this out of the blue: “Bang! Bang! Boom!”
           

“Oh no,” I thought, “I am going to die if it rains the whole time.”

Sadly, it wasn't rain. It was hail. Painful little drops of hail being thrown at me from the mean sky above. I was not happy. I kept thinking, “of course this would happen to my group, of all people.” I didn't think I would be able to make it if the hail didn’t stop soon. I prayed and prayed asking God to make it stop so this week would be somewhat bearable. No less than five minutes later it was sunny and 70 degrees, yet again.

*****
There we were, me and Savannah lying in our tent.
           

“Wow! I can't believe we are in a tent right now about to sleep in the wild,” said Savannah.
           

“Wow same. Not gonna lie, I’m a little scared a bear is going to kill us in our sleep,” I said very seriously.
A few tents over we hear a voice, “Addison said there was a bear in this camp last week!”

I did not sleep at all that night.

*****
           

Three days later I was woken up by Phil, one of our guides, singing loudly outside our tents.
           

“Summit day! Summit day! Time to get out of bed and summit a mountain,” Phil sang with a joyful tune.
I couldn't believe the day was already here. I was going to summit a mountain. It wasn’t until after we were off the mountain and back to the hotel, I would be told we had begun our summit at three in the morning. When you are on a mountain, you never really know what time it is. You just go with it. As we started walking up, we heard the storms surrounding our mountain. We would need to hurry if we were going to summit. When we got past the tree line, the sun had just started to peek around the mountain.
              

  “Everyone stop and turn around,” said one of the guides. “It's not every day you get to see a sunrise like this.”

“Woah,” we all said at the same time.

Oh boy, she sure was right. The beautiful array of colors filled the sky. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. The orange and red rays began to fill the valley and shine among us. It was like a one of a kind art piece painted carefully so each color popped in its own way. The sound of a few birds up that high singing their quiet morning tune was so peaceful. That was just the encouragement I needed for the long trek ahead of me that day.
*****
           

“Oh no,” I said when I saw the ridge. We had just stopped for lunch when I saw the ginormous beast. The only way to get to the summit is to climb around, through, over, and under the zigzag bridge of rocks. The rocks were so spiky and tall with no trail to weave between them, like a giant dragon guarding a castle.
           

“How in the world do I get through this without falling to my death or breaking an ankle,” I thought.
As I ate my lunch while staring at the ridge that led to the summit, I realized that since I had made it this far, I knew I could finish. Looking back on the week thus far in the moments, I had felt like dying. I knew that if I got through that, I could do anything. Weaving through the rocks, I felt so adventurous. I felt as if I were on a wilderness survivor show because here I was on my hands and knees, crawling and climbing, on a mountain side. Someone take a picture because later when I tell this story no one will ever believe what I was doing. Only through the kind words and encouragement of others I made it across. Climbing the ridge was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Surprisingly, it ended up being quite fun, too.

*****
           

Just a few short steps away from the very top.
           

“Families first!” The guides said as we approached the last few feet to what we've waited to stand on this whole week.
My family was the second one to go. Since it was my first mountain to climb, they let me lead us up. One, two, three steps up. I'm there.
           

“Woah,” was the only thing I could say for the first few minutes up there.
           

“See Brenna, aren't you glad you did this?” said my youth minister, Adam.
All I could do was nod my head yes. I felt as if I were on top of the world. It was amazing to see the huge mountains beneath me. I felt like I could just pick them up and crush them. Once everyone was up we all just hugged each other, laughed, and some even cried. Once we got all the pictures we wanted we circled up to pray and sing a song. We thanked God for allowing us to get up safely and see so much of the beautiful creation he created for us. After we prayed, we sang the song “As the mountain surrounds Jerusalem”.  Looking at all the mountains below us, I was blown away. It was amazing seeing how much detail was put into each and every mountain, tree, and even rock. No words can describe the way I felt and how beautiful it is up there above all the business and chaos of the world today. I will never forget how good it felt to finally be at the top of the mountain.

*****
           

During that week I learned a lot about myself and how to somewhat survive in the wild. From the beginning to end of the trip, I caught my perspective of things changing. For example, at the beginning all I wanted to do was go home, but once I started opening up and having fun with those around me, it ended up being so much fun. It makes such a big difference to have a positive outlook on things. It changes the way you look at everything in life. Now when I notice myself being negative, I think about how I can decide to either be positive and happy or negative and sad. Trek really taught me that I can do whatever I set my mind to, with the help of many, prayers of course.  I also learned that I need to believe in me more. I always assume I can't do something, whether it be climb a mountain or make all A’s. Now I know I can accomplish so much if I work hard and do not give up. Looking back, I am so glad I did trek and I can't wait until next year!