So! Where to begin?! We left Thursday morning early on a bus to a city to meet up with some people before going to the Bible school. It was SO much more comfortable than the comi! Everyone got to stretch out and chill. We then agreed that from now on this is what we were going to do. :) After arriving we then shopped for food which I was like "People, 15 minutes then we are gone!" What can I say? I shop with a purpose. :P We then made the long trek to the school. Once we got there... lets just say it wasn't really what I was expecting. The people were great... just it was very... rustic. :P Like, holes for windows and an outhouse with no toilet seat and a hole... yeah. God really worked on me thats for sure! Sad thing was Kim got sick that night... and I didn't hear her! Sleeping right next to her you would've thought that I would hear something which I did. Not 15 minutes later at 4:00 AM a stupid rooster starts to crow every 5 minutes. THAT was a growing experience. I joked to the guys that we were having a change in the menu. Instead of cereal for breakfast we were having fried rooster and Max was going to kill it in preparation for his ALERT training. :P
Oh I skipped a part! Thursday night we went into the town and put on a program in the park. Me and an honorary team member played violin and guitar to draw in a crowd. And boy did we! Then Max shared his testimony... IN SPANISH!!! I was so proud of that kid. I mean really. Coming from nothing to sharing your testimony to a large crowd? Yeah. He OWNED it. After playing some more we got an even bigger crowd. Then it was my turn to share my testimony... in Spanish. Yeah, it went ok. I wasn't really nervous about the words to much but just the inflections. But by God's grace it was heard and 2 of the kids that were there accepted Christ!!! I couldn't stop smiling! <3
Friday was the day that we shared with the students how to share the Gospel with kids. I took story telling and songs, John memorizing scripture and culture, Max games, and Kim crafts. Over all I think we did very well! They loved the story that we put on and once John was finished with his presentation of Nigeria they had a ton of questions. They asked if all of us were missionaries and what we did normally which in Spanish was a bit difficult. But the guys there were so passionate for the spreading of the Gospel! They live at the school then are able to go home one weekend out of the month or go to a church and preach. Most of them choose to preach. I couldn't imagine living the way they do and not seeing my family. God has given them much grace!
Saturday morning we left at o'dark thirty to go do some sight- seeing. Once we got there it was quite an adventure! Before I go on let me tell you that I am usually a very strict person when it comes to being on schedule for things. In Spanish speaking Countries they are very much laid back and chill. Takes some getting used to! Anyways, I go barreling down the path to get to our boat while the others are just walking and chit chatting with each other. As the first one to the boat I got my pick of the seats which I didn't really care... til later. As we started down the river I told everyone that we HAD to see a monkey or else. It was the very first thing we saw!!! And we saw at least 5 of them!! Being fully contented I said we could go to which everyone laughed. I didn't see what the big deal was. I mean what other cool things could there be to see besides Curious George? Right?
We saw a ton of wildlife. Tucans, Crocodiles... and bats. Yes bats. There is a story behind this. So, there happened to be a huge fallen tree in the middle of the river. Our guide said, in Spanish, to look at it. We did and saw at least 7 bats on the log. Well... lets just say I've seen Batman and I don't like bats. As if our guide hears my thoughts he starts steering the boat towards them... on my side. Meaning I'm the closest to the bats. I start freaking out and saying how they're going to fly out in our faces. Knowing this was going to happen sooner or later, and not wanting them to land on me, I leaned over and put my face in Kim's lap and covered my hair. We were about 6 feet from them when, not 10 seconds later, they flew away and literally in everyone's face. Everyone was laughing at me for being so freaked out about it but hey! They didn't get me so I saw it as a win!
We went further down the river seeing other wildlife and got to this little island where our guide said we could swim. I didn't believe him. I mean we had just been seeing crocodiles so there was bound to be some were we were at. But I believed our guide when he said that there weren't any and they don't bother humans. So we splashed and played around for 20 minutes, talking, swimming, skipping rocks, before we got back in the boat and continued our journey. Not 50 meters up the river there was the biggest crocodile we'd seen yet!! We were all like "Are you kidding me??!! We could've been eaten!" Kinda funny... now. :P Our guide was truly the greatest though. He loved us and when we asked him if we could go up a small waterfall one more time he did it! Fun, fun times.
Another funny story. They always seem to involve me somehow. On our way back, Max spotted another crocodile but this one had it's mouth wide open. Well of course our guide started getting closer for us to take pictures. The seating was Ron, Max, myself on the left side and Andy, John, and Kim on the right. Well of course it's the left side that is closest to the crocodile. We're all taking pictures and wondering if it's dead because it's completely still. But I saw it breathing so I knew it wasn't. They way that it was sitting was on a log and the only way for it to get out was to either go backwards... or straight for us... 6 feet away. I saw this and started to get nervous and Max then said what I was thinking. "If the Croc moves it's gonna have to go straight for us." Not even a milasecond after he said this the Croc lunged into the water towards us! All of us on the left side yelled and jumped back to the right side causing them all to yell too! Our guide was laughing pretty hard which afterwards it was funny! Everyone kept saying that they should've put a camera on me the entire trip cause I had the best reactions to things. Whatever. ;)
We got back in one piece then took the journey back to see a waterfall. If you all know what the Incline is in Manitou Springs CO then just envision that but way smaller. The steps were the same though. It was about a half a mile and the view was pretty cool! I loved the bridge at the end though were we took yet another team selfie. We really like those in case you all hadn't noticed. :P We made it back to the house were we all got nice warm showers and clean beds. It was... an ahhmazing feeling to be sure.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday... same old same old. Classes, Studying, eat, sleep, repeat. But now it's push time. To get everything prepared for our last week. Jungle week. All I can say is that I've already started praying for that week. If this last week was any clue to how it's going to be... I'm going to need a TON of prayer. I want to be like Christ. To give up the comforts of my everyday life for Him and for His glory. This may come easy for some. I can tell you right now, it doesn't for me. Hopefully though, one day I'll be able to say easily "Anything for you Lord Jesus."
God taught me a ton about gratefulness on our little venture. About being content too. There are so, SO many things that we take for granted. Think about it. Would you give up your nice fluffy bed to sleep on wooden boards? Would you give up your luxurious bathroom for an outhouse? For the sake of Christ?? These questions you may be saying well of course naturally but it really caused me to think. We were only there for barely 2 days. Would we be willing to put up with it for whoever knows how long? For Christ?
Please continue to pray for us. We're in our last week of school before we go into the "jungle" on our own with the Spanish that we have. Pray for strength and rest. For health. For endurance and wisdom. Finally, for God's love to shine through us.
Ash-Bash
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