Before I came here I had all sorts of ideas of what this place was going to be like; it would be hard to get used to but for the most part everything would be a long vacation. When we first got here our group decided to go on a five-day hiking trip into the mountains called Retezat National Park. I’ve done tiny amounts of hiking before and my mind set was that this experience was going to be a long walk in the woods with no shower; I was wrong! This trip was so much more than just a quick trip in the woods, it made me grow in ways that will influence my future.

The purpose of going on this hiking trip in my opinion was to do a few things: get to know everyone better, enjoy nature and Gods creation, and have some time to grow in your faith. All the above had taken place and was very meaningful to me and the experiences came in diverse ways that I was not expecting. To give a little background; before I came here, I had prayed that I would not only enjoy myself but also grow into a man that God would want me to be. To say that I have completed my journey in becoming a good Godly man would be false but the experiences that I had along this trip have been great. I think that every point in a man’s life you will have thoughts of the future such as where will you work, where to live, a spouse and everything in between. It has been a rough road to be honest in trying to find the so-called path, but being in Retezat for five days with nothing on my mind gave me a breath of fresh air. I was given a sense of some understanding but mostly a greater understanding of having a stronger faith in what God has planned for me. I need to keep a positive mind and believe that when the right path comes; God will show me the way.