A Hard Day gets a Sign From God- Eli Leary

Today was interesting. I woke up excited for the trip and being in Alaska. We took an amazing hike and saw a glacier and got lunch, then my day started going downhill. I felt sort of left out of the group. We did an activity where we had a certain amount of money and we would plan a meal, then make it one day this week. I felt like my team wasn't listening to me and I was frustrated. I snapped at them and was being mean. I apologized (many times), but I still felt bad andI felt that because of this I wouldn't be able to make friends with my group. A bit after we got to the shrine, the place we were staying, I decided to walk down to the beach. This sounds like a simple task, but the beach consists of a bunch of huge rocks covered in barnacles and purple clam shells. I was determined to get to the water. I had to try to walk around the rocks and step on the least amount of shells as possible without falling. At this point I had no clue how this trip was going to go. I still technically don't, but I have better faith in it. Because I was in a bad place, I asked God for a sign to show how the trip is going to be. When I finally got to the water, I had the choice to go back, or continue to an interesting patch of rocks further down. Because I hadn't seen any signs yet, I decided to head on through the slippery rocks and shells. When I got to the interesting rocks, I was met at the same crossroads, head over to a cluster of rocks in the water, or go back, but this time I needed to go to the bathroom and it was really cold out. The temptation to head back was a lot, but I kept going. When I got there I was amazed with what I saw, a starfish on the rocks. I turned around to further up to the path and tried to yell to Catherine and Geoff to say what I saw but they didn't hear me. This was my sign, so this trip is going to be amazing. I headed back up and very quickly the shells and barnacles became fewer and fewer. When I got up to the path, James Bryan was there and helped me up the rest of the way up the hill. I told him I saw a starfish and he went down. When he came back he said he didn't see it. 

For me this was a spiritual experience. I made it through the "hardships", saw an amazing thing, and the way back was easier and gave me more faith in this trip. I hope my friends have similar experiences on this trip.