Dear Supporters,
Yet another month has gone by and this one was even faster than the first two. We just finished up Week 12 and only have one more week before we leave for outreach. Seeing the lecture phase wrap up and outreach phase draw near is surreal to say the least. Nonetheless, there are still a month of updates to go over before I get to outreach!
To start off, I’d like to say that our staff did a wonderful job making up for the missed trips I talked about in my last newsletter. While I missed both the rock climbing and backpacking trip, I’ve had several opportunities to do both since then. After we missed the rock climbing trip, some of the staff and students from another school took us on a day trip where we got to do a ton of climbing. Both this trip and the times I’ve got to go indoor bouldering have been a ton of fun. Right after I wrote the last newsletter when they canceled our backpacking trip, our school went on a two-day backpacking trip where we covered about 20 miles. This was very physically challenging with the steepness and heavy weight we were carrying. In addition to other day hikes and experiences offered, it really hasn’t felt like I missed out on much of the backpacking experience I was looking forward to. So while I missed some of the originally planned trips, I felt like a lot of that was redeemed, and I honestly feel like there was a reason why our school didn’t go on some of those trips.
Anyways our next lecture week was Week 8 which was on the Holy Spirit. I’ll start by saying this was the most challenging week of the entire lecture phase for me. Growing up in a pretty traditional non-denominational church where the Holy Spirit wasn’t talked about much, this was an experience to say the least. Our speaker for the week was very charismatic, which wasn’t something I was used to, and honestly something that annoyed me at first. I went through some heavy spiritual warfare early on this week which made it really difficult to get something out of it. It wasn’t until one night at something we call Practicing His Presence that things started to change. Our speaker felt like something was blocking me from experiencing the Spirit: that I judged others who were experiencing the Spirit and had a fear of others judging me. So in front of the class, I surrendered my fear of what others thought of me, and let’s just say I immediately felt the Spirit like never before. The rest of this week was incredibly impactful and life-changing to say the least.
The following week was a very busy week. It was our last combined week with the Summer DTS, a parallel school running at the same time as ours that we grew close to. Us students decided to do something fun to celebrate so we had a spirit week all week long where we did something fun every day. We had a twin day, dress up day, and a funky day which was a lot of fun. In addition, this week was our school’s blessing week which is very similar to Secret Santa. Essentially each person has a secret blessing buddy they try to bless every day for a week without being discovered. It was really fun trying to stay hidden and at the same time find out who my blessing buddy was. Besides all the fun going on, we still had a regular lecture week which was on relationships. My biggest takeaway this week was that God should be the center of relationships and in order to do this, there must be a constant surrender of our own desires, seeking him first, and trying to be a reflection of Him.
Week 10 wasn’t a lecture week, but a week of WAFA instead. WAFA stands for Wilderness Advanced First Aid, which is a 36 course on wilderness medical training. Because of the endurance and outdoor aspects of our school, we take this course to be prepared for some of the worst-case scenarios we might face. We really went over a basic understanding of all things wilderness medicine from basic wound management to triage in the event of a mass-casualty incident. The lectures were a little boring since this isn’t exactly something I’m passionate about, but I really enjoyed the scenarios we got to do. One night we got to do a two-hour scenario that simulated a mass-casualty incident where we had to take care of 8 patients as if it was a real situation. While it was a little stressful, it was also a lot of fun, and really helped prepare me in the event of an emergency.
The following week was back to regular lecture. Our topic for the week was Fear of the Lord which was a little repetitive for me since I ended up listening to the Fear of the Lord lecture during Week 5 when I had Covid. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the week, particularly the questions that our speaker asked us that forced us to pause and reflect. At the end of the week, my family came to town to visit me before I go on outreach. I got to give them a tour of the base, explore the local area, go on a hike with them in Glacier National Park, see my first grizzly bear, and go river rafting with them. It was a ton of fun to get to see them.
That brings us to this last week, Week 12. This last week was our last trip during the lecture phase. It was a week-long glamping trip on a buffalo ranch outside of East Glacier. The ranch was absolutely stunning. Picture everything you imagine when you think of a Montana ranch. It had gorgeous log cabins, rolling hills, and an epic view of the mountains. We slept in canvas tents, did a lot of outdoor activities, but still ate and did class indoors. Our topic for the week was evangelism and my big takeaway was how evangelism should be a part of our everyday life. We had one day dedicated to hiking where we got to pick the hike we wanted to do. I had the option to do two different 10-mile hikes, or instead the longest, hardest, but most beautiful day-hike in Glacier National Park, the Dawson-Pitamakan loop. I was really nervous to do this hike, but I wanted to challenge myself and see what I could do after a summer of training. We set out early in the morning, hiked all day, climbed up a mountain ridge, hiked along a ridge, went around 2 mountains, and then came back down a whole separate mountain range back to our car. All in all, we ended up hiking 21.5 miles in a little under 10 hours, which is the longest hike I’ve ever done. It was incredibly challenging, but incredibly rewarding, and I felt a great sense of accomplishment.
That brings us to this weekend, my last full weekend in Montana. Next weekend I will finally leave for the Himalayas. The closer departure gets, the more and more real it gets. I’m growing evermore excited, and really can’t wait for what this experience will entail. I’ll admit, it’s been hard saying goodbye to friends, family, and missed opportunities. However, I believe what God has in store for these next two months is going to be more fulfilling than anything I can imagine. In January of this year, God called me to the Himalayas, and in one week I’ll be heading there. I’m so excited and grateful for all of you that made this possible. The next time you hear from me will be from the tallest mountain range in the world!
Until Next Time,
Jacob Frenzen
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