Adventures in Missouri

2007-03-17

Excerpts from my adventures in central Missouri.

I thought it would be good to share with you some of the new things I have done since I have been out here in Missouri. Now if you know me pretty well, some of these things may be hard to picture, but nonetheless, here it is!

Our campus is situated right on the Lake of the Ozark, tucked in the hills of central Missouri. At the end of the summer, I went on my friend Alan’s boat on the Lake. We all took turns being dragged on a tube until we were thrown off... very exciting! We ended up by a cliff where many brave ones (not me) jumped from the one hundred foot-rock into the water. The water was warm, and I had a nice swim out there.

As some of you know, for my first few weeks here it took some time to settle down and meet new people. But the Lord has been very good to me and placed many close people into my life, just as he did in college a number of years ago. A group of us began getting together regularly and playing games, especially one called Carcassonne. This game is played by picking game pieces and fitting them into the board, which build cities, roads, and monasteries and unite farmland. The one with the most points wins. It is a bit more complicated then that, but it is very fun. What I enjoy the most about games are the people I have come to know. There have been so many people who have loved me and included me and for that I am truly grateful to the Lord.

All of us at the New Tribes Training Center have jobs on campus. I am on the grounds crew where I cut lawns, clean up the endless rocks that are around here, and some other odds and ends. But last fall, interestingly enough, we learned how to butcher a cow. We cut meat off the bones of large portions of carcasses, and we ground it up into hamburger. My favorite part of course was that we got to get some of it! Always learning something new here on campus!

Before Christmas break, a group of us went out Christmas caroling, which was new to me. Not exactly having any euphonious vocal quality, I reluctantly went out with my friends and went through all of the apartments singing songs pertaining the birth of our amazing Savior. It all proved to be a very good time, thanks to the Lord Jesus.

If you are from Missouri, you are aware of the huge ice storms and snowstorms we have been hit with over the past several months. Well, my friends invited me out to go sledding with them. Now I have not been sledding in over twenty years before this winter, but I did go with them. On one particular occasion, my friend Travis was driving his truck over the deep snow on the campus fields, dragging us, two at a time, behind him in the sleds. Never a dull moment when with the New Tribes gang!

I have told many people about the battlefield at Gettysburg. While I was in college, that was my favorite place to go to get away to ponder things and pray. Though I liked to go to Little Round Top, there was a field across the road with a farmhouse in the distance to where I went (little to no tourists went there). Much of the surroundings here remind me of there. On the way to church, there are fields and hills and many farm animals, all of which are reminiscent of the serene picturesque surroundings of Gettysburg. The view around the church is very much the same; God’s majestic wonders of His creation continue to astound me.

One particular place that exhibits God’s handiwork as I have described is Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Recently, Miriam and I went up there and saw the castle ruins and the water tower, and climbed the 316 steps by the spring. It is near the New Tribes campus, so I plan to make many trips over there as the weather warms up a bit.

And lastly, I must mention my caving expeditions at Ha Ha Tonka. There are caverns in the high rock of the park. I guess I was not too familiar with this art known as spelunking, because to enter the one cave we had to climb down into this small crevice and into pitch-blackness. Bats were hibernating on the walls. It was amazing to see how deep and how high the caverns went, and how small some of the passageways could get.

It is refreshing to be around so many adventurous people here at New Tribes. It is also wonderful to experience the beautiful surroundings of central Missouri. All of these things are from the Lord, who loves us with an everlasting love.