FRIDAY JULY 21

Today was another great day. Went to bed felling good.

At the Monastery three monks woke Matthew and Jean at 5am. One had a carboard mailing box with a hand carve wooden box inside. The wooden box was really nice with the monastery in the background and the High Monk in the front. Matthew and Jean put their diplomas and necklaces inside with a note stating that they would be gone another 2 to 3 weeks. Matthew wrote to Angel that he loved her and Jean put in a note to Serena that he loved and missed her. The monk had Katarina’s diploma and necklace. He asked Matthew if he would be seeing her and she had forgotten them. Matthew said he believed he would be seeing her and added them to the box. The Monk tied the carboard box shut and went off to mail it. The other two monks brought clothes for Matthew and Jean for the trip. Special robes, boots, gloves and wraps for under neath. Also a containers for water. The monks told them it was cold out side and they needed special clothing for the trip. The monks showed them how to wrap their face, neck, chest, legs and stomach. Then they added the boots and robes. The robes were much heaver than the ones they had been wearing. Matthew and Jean had a hot breakfast of oatmeal, bread and goats milk. The monks gave them chicken jerky to put in their pockets.

When it was time the monks took Matthew and Jean outside. There were 5 mules with 5 monks. The mules were tied together and a man in the back tied behind the last mule. The monk in charge tied Matthew to the man in back. Then he tied Jean to Matthew. He kept saying don’t untie your rope for any reason. The trail is very dangerous, the air is very thin and we don’t want to loose anyone. After everyone was set the head monk went to the front and lead the group around the side of the building and up the hill.

After 4 or 5 hours of walking up hill the guy in front of Matthew started yelling for the head monk. They stopped and the head monk made his way back to him. The trail was very thin and over the side was straight down thousands of feet. The head monk had to climb around everyone without falling off the side to get to the man. It was very cold out. The man said he wanted to stop and rest. The monk explained they couldn’t stop. Someone may come down and there was no where for everyone to go. The monk asked the man if he had water. He still had water. The monk took something from a bag he had on him and said to the man to open his mouth. He put something in the man’s mouth and said, chew. He then did the same to Matthew. He said to Matthew open up. After putting something in his mouth he said, chew. After repeating the same thing with Jean the monk worked his way back up to the front and started the group up the hill again. Around 4 or 5 hours later the head monk stopped the group and came back to check on everyone. He then gave everyone something to chew again.