Brooke, Becca, and Blogs

Hey! I’m Brooke Silcox, working on base camp staff at Beyond Malibu this summer season. I am from Napa, California, recently graduated from Sacramento State. This is not only my first time to Beyond but also my first time to Malibu… and my first time to Canada. You could say it’s a bit of a culture and a weather shift. I am working with the guest services team to promote Beyond this year. This blog has quickly become my adopted child. This is my first time blogging, so bear with me. In order to help this growing blog prosper, I thought, “A great idea would be interviewing someone who has been around Beyond for awhile. Becca Williams.”

      Becca just returned to base camp from her ninth 10-Day Training trip up Sun Peak. I wanted to know what kept Becca coming back each year. To answer this she felt it was necessary to explain her 10-Day experiences starting from her first year as a guide and leading up to the most recent trip as a Beyond trainer.

       When Becca first arrived at basecamp in 2006 she was in a mindset of “proving herself.” Each season the first trip in the mountains that guides participate in is called “The 10-Day”, an adventure with training, scenarios and team building exercises. All the guides are spilt into groups before they head into the mountains. The first group consisted of a mesh of the charismatic and funny people and the second

                           was filled with the cool confident studs She described her 10-Day group
                           as a hodge-podge of folks. A cluster of guides with little in common, not
                           sure where she fit in – comparing this group to the other two groups. In
                           turn, creating an emotion of feeling out of place throughout 10-Day.

Back in the day
Becca and camper - Kirsten
(now a first year guide)

       After this experience, Becca was sent out on her first trip as a guide with two 2^nd year guides on a route she thought had fewer challenges. She took this as an expression that the Guide Team Leaders (GTLs) didn’t have confidence in her mountain skills. Becca wanted to prove to everyone she knew what she was doing and could do it well. Unfortunately she didn’t feel like she was being given the opportunities to show it.  During her first trip guiding she was pushed to all her limits. Trying to prove herself. Trying to be the best. This was when she learned her first big Beyond lesson.  “Beyond requires everything from you. Emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically. It is in the space that you are at your limits of yourself, doing the best you can and it’s still not enough, this is where the presence of God is as real as touching the surface of water.” Becca realized exactly what God was saying to her. - Service isn’t about what you want. - God wanted her to be fully extended so that she would rely on Him rather than on her own wits and confidence.     

       Now after her ninth 10-Day experience, Becca explains why she keeps coming back to Beyond. It isn’t just the great friends who proved to be more than a hodge-podge group of people. As Becca explains, no matter how many times up here, as leading trips in these Canadian mountains becomes second nature, she continues to be brought back to the same place: a front row seat to everything God is doing. She is challenged to a level that reaches human limits and must put full reliance and trust into God.

This being my first time at Beyond, I am still sitting in awe of the mountains around me, attempting to be productive in the midst of captivation. When I arrived here thinking I was fully prepared to do my job, God has reminded me that I can’t do this on my own. I am beginning to feel the pull as Beyond stretches me in many ways. After hearing from Becca’s experience, I know I am in for a whirlwind of experiences - in need of putting full reliance and trust into God.