The life of Sofia Frielle, a Cabin Leader from Argentina in the 2:22 Wilderness Tripping program, testifies to the reality of this vision. With parents in Christian camp ministry in Argentina, Sofia was shaped by camp at an early age, where her faith became her own. This was the beginning of Sofia’s desire to be involved with camp in the United States. “It was a dream, a childhood dream,” she says.
But after years of trying, Sofia grew discouraged. “The answer was always no,” Sofia remembers. She deleted HoneyRock from her phone notes, if not her mind.
Sofia shelved her dream of finding a camp until her last year of university–until a camp found her. Exhausted, Sofia grabbed her phone one night to find friends asking if she needed prayer. Sofia said yes: what was the next step in her life? The next morning, the directors of CCI Argentina approached Sofia with an opportunity to serve at Honey Rock.
“I started looking for the hidden cameras,” Sofia laughs. With a mixture of excitement, apprehension, and doubt, Sofia filled out the application and hit ‘submit.’ “God, I have no idea what I'm doing,” Sofia remembers thinking. “But if this is Your will, I will be there on May of 2023.”
After submitting both the application and to the will of God, the pieces of Sofia’s redeemed dream began to click into place. Booking flights, securing a visa, and lining up accommodations all went smoothly. Fast forward to May 2023, Sofia had made it to HoneyRock.
“God was faithful,” Sofia says. “He gave me this opportunity, this adventure. Since that day, I felt that God was opening a box with a title that says, “Sofia's dream,” and with His hand, grabbing a childhood dream from the bottom of that box, and taking that dream out. I was feeling God saying to me–‘Do you remember this? This is your time.’ And that was the moment that I realized that I was not crazy for having that dream. If that was in my heart, it was because it was God's dream.”
With her faith and future enriched by experience, the post-HoneyRock chapter of Sofia's adventure is just beginning as she returns to Argentina. “We are capable of everything when God wants us to do something,” she says. “Don’t stop focusing on God. I remember the first time I tried to carry a canoe; it was impossible. And I can tell you now that I'm able to do it. And it's because there were leaders and partners who told me; ‘you can do this, it's not impossible. You're capable of big things.’ I love being journey-minded, enjoying every minute, every detail of the journey. Stop breathe, reflect, rest, enjoy discovering new things. Those are the moments with God speaking to your heart.”