In De-Nile

 

I FLIPPED ON THE NILE!!!!!!!

During debrief, we had a chance to go white water rafting on the Nile, which was absolutely amazing! Seriously, the Nile, the same river Moses floated down oh so many years ago! It was just too cool. I was in a raft with Tara M., Tara B. Kyle, and Becs. Our guide was a Kiwi named Cam. He was an interesting guy, definitely a grace grower for me, but fun for the rafting. He isn’t a Christian and mocked us a bit, but it only taught me more how to stand firm in my beliefs against adversity, to react and speak truth in love no matter what. I feel like God is preparing me for situations when I get home, and I definitely need the preparation.

Anyway, rafting was amazing, such a rush! We went down everything from class 2 rapids to class 5 rapids and only flipped once (which was an adventure within itself.) When we flipped, we were heading down a rapid and turned sideways, thus flipping the entire raft over. I went airborne, then hit the water and was under the raft for what seemed like forever, but was probably only 5 seconds. It was a little scary… I remember thinking, “OK, I’m going to drown in the Nile… hadn’t planned on that.” But then I was able to get out from under the raft and surface to find everyone gasping for air and laughing all at once. I had water in my nose, ears, sinuses, but strangely, I was having an absolute BLAST!! I mean, if you’re going to go rafting on the Nile, you have to flip at least once, right?

Our final rapid was a rough one. Normally we are told to hold onto our paddles, even if we fall out, but on this rapid, Cam told us that if we fell out, to let go of the boat and paddles, curl into a ball on your back, and just ride the rapid so that we didn’t get beat up. Comforting… very comforting. So off we went through a super rough rapid, and just when I thought we were home free, the boat hit a rough spot and tipped. We were vertical and I held onto the raft for dear life thinking, “If I hit water, then I will let go, but until then, no way!” Just when I thought I was going in (I was hanging vertically from the raft) the boat righted itself and I was lying across it, paddle in hand! One other rafter, Gus, and I were the only ones who managed to stay in, even Cam went for a watery ride! Such an amazing experience!! 

At the end of the day, we were wet and cold, but had the best day of debrief, one that I will never forget. J