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 The
Trip to Boga:
A great time spent together
from Adi Matis (Smiles 100 Love Club Manager)
Gepiu Youth Camp |
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Finally, the long awaited
summer trip with the teenagers from Gepiu happened last week-end!
Everybody was so excited about it. For almost one month, since we
first told them about the trip, they would ask me every time we met “When
do we go?”
We left on Thursday
evening, heading to the mountains; the weather forecast was mixed. We
hoped for some good weather, but you never know – I asked everybody to
have rain coats with them, strong boots and good protection for the
mountain dew over night. Also we prepared for strong sunlight, as that
can become an important factor when hiking. Being well prepared,
having all the stuff, I thought we had got everything right!
We decided to be brave! We took the mountain trip to Boga, in
the Apuseni Mountains, which is about two hours drive from
Oradea. We stayed in a small, yet welcoming wooden hut, a little bit
too small for 21 people, but fortunately - we had some extra tents
available! And don’t believe there was no wish for tent accommodation!
We almost had to ask them to get in the house! Anyway, the first night
we just had time for getting our heads around the place and eating
dinner. Very important! After that, we split in two teams, as there
was a promise of nice prizes ahead! |
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Friday was our “long distance trip and don’t complain about it” day!
The Apuseni Mountain area is full of interesting
 places to
visit, many impressive landscapes, nice fast little rivers, water
falls, caves and stone walls, huge forests with old trees and so on.
There’s a ton of tourist interests to be seen. The only problem is the
distance from Boga, which is not exactly in the centre of the area,
and so we had to take a 32 Km (20 mile) walking trip to see the
Galbena – one of these beautiful places. That is quite a walk in a
single day, up and down the mountains, by inexperienced young and
restless trippers! On top of that, some of the people forgot to take
their strong boots, instead showed up wearing sandals! How typical is
that!? Well, it wasn’t gonna be an easy day for us, the grown-ups... |
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Pretty soon, the enjoyment turned into commitment,
 still
there were no serious complaints. It was only after another 10 Km or
so when we took a longer break and at that point some of us decided
they couldn’t go on. They accepted to wait there, but eventually we
decided they should go back together with one of the supervisors. So,
about one third gave up, even though we could see in the distance our
destination… What a valuable lessons to learn! Of course the last
few steps – in fact more than that, last few miles – are the toughest,
but without taking them, the reward is only partial! |
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The rest continued on the trip and soon we arrived at the most
interesting part: crossing the river, climbing on steep hills, making
sure we survive and avoid injury! Well, I must admit we had our
victims, but the worst that happened was a simple yet unwanted fall in
the cold water, few wet shoes and hurting soles, but what’s that to
these young and strong fellows? They turned everything into fun and we
all enjoyed it!
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We got back to the hut late in the evening, around
 9 pm,
after a full and tiring day and the dinner was most appreciated, so
much so that no one wanted to take a well deserved rest after it, but
instead they all became energetic and active! That was an unexpected
way to end up, at least to us the old and tired grow-ups. So, the
teens decided to give us a lesson of what a trip to the mountains
means and they found a way to keep us all awake until four in the
morning, driving us crazy… Actually, the hut helped a lot, as any
small move would be heard all over the house, like squeaks, creaks and
bangs! Hm, what a night !!! For sleep that is!
 In the morning,
everyone was fresh and able to start everything all over again! At
this point, at 9 am on Saturday, because the old boring guys still had
the power, we call a general meeting and had them promise the next and
last night they’ll be good and behave properly. And what do you know?…
All day Saturday was rainy
and cold. We only took advantage of some small breaks in the rain fall
to walk around for one or two hours. The fresh air and the good food
kept us happy and the day ended up in a good mood. We had a great
fellowship time singing and praying together, and singing some more…
Indeed, being in a “less official” environment helps a lot for having
an open heart and open mind and
it is very beneficial to spent some time together this way, as a
Christian group, simply because it drives us closer to what the
Jesus’ way was. Simple friendly talks, yet serious message,
fellowship and friendship. It doesn’t get much more real than that! In
the evening, everyone wanted to do some games and we spent another few
hours laughing and having a good time, making fun of each other and
that just reminded me how nice is to have good friends, Christians
that can have fun, without ever getting grumpy or upset with the
innocent practical jokes… This opportunity to ‘hang out together’ was
simply wonderful and got every one better bonded to the others. The
benefit is for long term, I am sure!
To our surprise, yes, they
kept the promise! We had a good long sleep, so good that I decided to
d elay
the “wake time” with some good two hours. After that, Sunday at noon,
we had the “worship programme” with songs, praying and a short message
from the Bible, which was in connection with the body of Christ, the
unity that develops in diversity, as each one of us have different
abilities, personalities, wishes and desires. We’re all a single
body though. We have to learn about this and be willing to
share everything with each other! I thought that was a good and
constructive way to conclude these three days of fellowship in the
mountains.
 In the
afternoon, after a delicious Sunday lunch, we started packing and by
5pm we were ready to leave. Not before presenting some interesting
diplomas and prizes. We had a prize for everyone. There was a winning
team and a losing team. I won’t get into details, as I personally was
in the… team that came second so, no reason to joke about it! We had
prepared diplomas for the most sleepy, hungry, funny, optimistic,
courageous, and so on. No one was forgotten, one way or another, to
everybody’s amusement.
 I
believe the biggest benefit of this trip is that we really could get
closer to each other by doing things that we don’t normally have the
chance to do. I can think of the two boys helping a girl not to
fall in the water, or carrying the bag for the other one which is
so tired… Getting to know the other’s strong and weak points and
trying to help and to encourage when needed really helped us all learn
a valuable lesson: we are all together in one single team, and we all
should compliment each other in the best way possible. Everybody
enjoyed the Camp, everybody wants to go back there one day.
We want to thank you all that made this possible and we appreciate and
are grateful we had the chance to take this trip! It was a much
anticipated event for the summer and both leaders and the teenagers
enjoyed every bit! Thank you.
Adi Matis,
Project Manager Smiles 100 Love Club
15th July, 2009
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