Survivor(wo)man

Survivorman is a yearly thing that our youth pastor puts on in the spring for all the guys in our youth group to attend with their dads. It's a right of passage into manhood- they go and rough it in the woods, living off the land and learn how to survive.
Last year there were some girls who spoke up about wanting to go, and since I was jealous of Bryan every year prior, I was definitely in as one of the leaders. I'd be a surrogate mom since my kiddo is too young but I knew I would be.

We headed out on Friday, us girls joining the boys. We had 6(?) boys and only two girls but it was a start! Especially considering it was the first year. It was starting to lightly rain on us before we even got out to the sight. But once we got there we found that the rain missed it completely and we were able to set up camp before any rain got to us.
The boys were learning chivalry this weekend so they came to help us learn how to start a fire with a fire starter (after our first two failed attempts) as well as learn how to set up our sleeping area with tarps. Then the girls learned what stick to use to roast and we ate our one hotdog with bun. Dry. But it wasn't bad considering.
After we did our lesson on becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman we called it a night. At 9:30pm. We're lame, haha! Then we all slept miserably. I swear I woke every hour thinking it was morning. Once it finally was, we all got up and started getting ready. Then we learned it was 10 til 6! Guess we were all anxious to get going.
So then we had to wait on the boys. They took forever to get up and around but I guess they stayed up late playing flashlight tag. Soon we had our first challenge to earn our breakfast. The youth had to learn to use a compass and read the instructions to find the ammo boxes. As soon as they did we earned our eggs. The girls did awesome and were the first ones done. Jon was nice enough and brought us extra eggs (shh). We also got cheese and fully cooked turkey sausage. Then we made our eggs in a bag. It was yummy.

Second challenge was for our lunch. Everyone had to make survival bracelets. Very cool things. They took rope and cobra knotted them. Then they had rope in case of emergency, they only had to take out the knots. And, actually, those hemp bracelets that you see in the summer, that I've been making since Jr. High, it's the exact same thing but with rope! So it was fun helping everyone get the hang of it.
So after our challenge we all had free time and with it we all decided to go fishing. I think everyone but one person caught at least one fish. I had a bass but lost it. However I still managed to catch two croppies(?). I even took them off the line and unhooked them thanks to Pastor Phil and his handy gloves.
We took our catches and went back to the boys camp. We had exotic fruit (I.e. Mango, papaya and coconut) and we cleaned and cooked the fish. One fish had a title head/neck in it's gut (gross) and another was a female full of eggs. Yum.. We all tried the fish but us girls didn't care for it. We thanked the men, however, for making it for us and headed off to do our next lesson.

For our third challenge we got to shoot rifles. This time it was for our supper and if they hit the farthest target they got a whole Cornish game hen. Everyone hit it, even me! I went last and Jon talked me through it and i hit the first target on the first try. The second target, the farthest, took me three times but I got it!
Keith had his pistol and offered that for everyone to shoot. I passed because of how loud and how major the kick was. But Jon had his of a smaller caliber and let me try that one. Too much fun. I hit my target 5 out of 8 times. First three I missed because I was getting used to it but it was such a cool thing.
We went back to the boys camp to cook our hens. Keith had some rub that made it really good but I was so sick of meat at this point that I couldn't finish it :-/ We again thanked the guys and headed off to our camp to finish up our lessons. Since there were only two girls it made it easy to get personal with them.

Soon Keith came by to start the ceremony. He asked that the girls follow suit with the guys and remained in silence until we started the ceremony. Us adults got together to pray and to chart out our positions. As soon as it was dark, Keith had the youth start out one by one with a five minute gap in between each youth. I was the third stop so I had a bit to wait. Besides, the kids had to find us, in the dark, with no light, only our tiki torches to guide their way.
For the guys I talked to them about chivalry from a woman's perspective. How we're sensitive, and carry things with us for our lives, that we're not always right but we always want to be heard, and how everything they do affects us for good or bad, and if it's bad, someone else will have to pay for it. I cried a few times.
With the girls I talked about beauty and how we need Christ before we can ever have a relationship with a guy. This time they cried. I love these kids.
We had started at 9 and ended at 11. We all crashed and this time I was so tired that I slept right through all the storms that hit us that night. I still woke up at 7:30 but this time I was ready to be home instead of my next challenge. Not that there was any, just food and cleaning up to leave.

All in all it was an awesome weekend. I had a blast and I know the other female leader and the two girls did. The boys were awesome in welcoming us into their yearly passage (thanks guys!!). And I will absolutely do it again. I hope other girls will want to as well. Even when sleeping on wooden planks, it was so worth it.

(Hope this helps, Haley!!)