The Rafting of the NILE!!!

Well, as you may have guessed from the title of this post,, I HAVE OFFICIALLY BEEN WHITE WATER RAFTING ON THE NILE!! (This happened 2 and a 1/2 weeks ago...sorry my blogs are so backed up...internet is very touch and go, you know?)You know that river that Moses floated down in a wee little basket?? I got to float down it in my life-jacket in between deathly rapids...I respect that wee little basket, it must have been pretty sturdy. I have never been tossed about, dragged under rapids, or swallowed so much river water in my life...and it was AMAZING!!
It was an all day trip and you should have seen the scenery: rolling hills, beautiful trees, and the big groups of wonderful Ugandans bathing and washing clothes on the side of the river (some of them even rode in our rafts for a little bit:). We all baked in the equatorial sun quite a bit, especially our knee caps. Knee cap burns are surly! As soon as we got in the raft we learned the standard strokes and then we learned the boat flipping procedure...which was a little bit of foreshadowing since our raft flipped twice and we lost a few members on another wicked rapid! In the event of a flipping, we had to crouch down-hold our paddle in one hand and the side rope with the other, then you hold on tight! If the rapid isn't too grizzly, you should be able to keep hold until you clear the waves...if it is that grizzly you let go so your arm doesn't separate from your body!!
Our raft went WILD instead of mild, which means we took the hardest parts of the rapids as opposed to the sissy parts,,,haha no parts were all that sissy- I'm just competitive, so I feel the need to insult unnecessarily. We went down 4 level 5 rapids (one of them was basically a 6, which is the highest level), several level 4 and a couple 3s. It was a sweet work-out and just a kick in the pants in general (that means it was thrilling and fun). Our whole boat capsized on the second rapid and while we all managed to hold on through the waves, one of my friends tore a ligament in her arm (HARD CORE!!). The next gnarly rapid was called Big Brother. It basically maimed our boat and we still have no idea how it didn't flip! We lost 5 of our rafters, who were sucked under the water for about 10-12 seconds (which feels like an eternity when you are being knocked around like that). I was one of the lucky ones who somehow stayed in the raft and I was the only one left with a paddle!! I tried, in vain, to steer and paddle without a guide- it was a good time. Then we stopped at lunch islands for some deliciously wonderful sandwiches.
After lunch we floated a while to the next rapid, which was a 16 foot waterfall. Awesome blossom. The rest were pretty tame until we got to the last one...THE BAD PLACE. Before we reached this rapid of doom we had to get out of our boats to walk up and a around a level 6 rapid that basically would have killed us. We came back down from our little barefoot hike to more white water, where we just got in the rafts and went for it. We were warned by our guide that we would most definitely flip...and ohhh did we flip. The Bad Place is a water pit that flips the boat right before a 12 foot wave smacks you around a little bit more. Sucked under, hurled around, coming up for a breath maybe every 10 seconds...I thought I might die. But when I came up, you better believe I had a smile on my face!! We were rescued by the little kayak men and brought back to our boat. All trauma and injuries aside...it was a fantastic ADVeNTURE. And don't worry, because I bought the DVD, so I'll probably try and make you all watch it, whether you want to or not!!
Glory, Glory, and a Hallelujah- it was SO fun!! The whole trip reminded me of God's awesome power, because you know if water can do that much, He can do SOOOO much more. It also made me realize that nature's entertainment is priceless. God seems to me to be a God of adventure. What an exciting God to follow. I am so thankful to have that experience and, of course, to have lived through it!!