Day 3 – Saturday, January 29
– Wake up groggy because I took an Ibuprofen PM last night for my cracked toenail that’s oozing green. It’s better though, Praise God. Have not-breakfast. A glass of tea. Apparently most important meal of the day isn’t universal.
– First taste of gardening ministry. Picking green beans. Yeah! Get back and play the exciting game of guess if lunch will come. Good news it does, and there’s barely any anchovies. It’s the small victories that count
– Try to play cards after lunch. Enter village children. One hops on my back. One pretends to stab me repeatedly with a pencil. One starts playing the drums. One pees on the floor. Two run through said pee and scatter it about the church. It’s total pandemonium. Oh kids, got to love them.
– Time for English class (turns out to be the first of two before the children stop coming). Our translator offers Lili a “marker-pen” to write on the white board. It’s a ball point pen. It shockingly and fortunately does not work.
– First taste of gardening ministry. Picking green beans. Yeah! Get back and play the exciting game of guess if lunch will come. Good news it does, and there’s barely any anchovies. It’s the small victories that count
– Try to play cards after lunch. Enter village children. One hops on my back. One pretends to stab me repeatedly with a pencil. One starts playing the drums. One pees on the floor. Two run through said pee and scatter it about the church. It’s total pandemonium. Oh kids, got to love them.
– Time for English class (turns out to be the first of two before the children stop coming). Our translator offers Lili a “marker-pen” to write on the white board. It’s a ball point pen. It shockingly and fortunately does not work.
Day 4 – Sunday, January 30
– Dog fight breaks out at 7:00 so I awaken. We get a special Sabbath treat – rice for breakfast! Hallelujah.
– 9:00 – Time for church to begin. Nobody’s here however and we’re told the pastor isn’t here today. Will church go on? Nobody knows.
– 9:35 – “Maybe church start at 10?” – Translator. The wait continues
– 9:40 – Village chief shows up. Good sign. He’s got a machete tied around his waist. Questionable sign. 10 minutes later we receive news a singer is on the way. Things are looking up.
– 10:05 – People have begun to filter in. The first breast-feeder enters. We must have been waiting on her because service immediately begins. Maybe she’s the singer.
– Later in the day go to the river again to bathe. Uneventful until Kirsten finds a dead scorpion a solid foot long. Biggest I’ve ever seen. Not okay. An excavator then pulls into the village. Of course. Why wouldn’t it?
– 9:00 – Time for church to begin. Nobody’s here however and we’re told the pastor isn’t here today. Will church go on? Nobody knows.
– 9:35 – “Maybe church start at 10?” – Translator. The wait continues
– 9:40 – Village chief shows up. Good sign. He’s got a machete tied around his waist. Questionable sign. 10 minutes later we receive news a singer is on the way. Things are looking up.
– 10:05 – People have begun to filter in. The first breast-feeder enters. We must have been waiting on her because service immediately begins. Maybe she’s the singer.
– Later in the day go to the river again to bathe. Uneventful until Kirsten finds a dead scorpion a solid foot long. Biggest I’ve ever seen. Not okay. An excavator then pulls into the village. Of course. Why wouldn’t it?
– Quote: ‘I challenge the village chief..’ – Kyle, at church asking the chief to gather the men for a village meeting since there were so few at church. Never thought I’d hear that phrase.
Day 5 – Monday, January 31
– While enjoying our regular lunch of a bowl of rice (eaten with our hands of course) we begin to discuss about what we’ll eat at the Outback upon our return to KL. It becomes a common theme. The power of cheese fries…
– Team gets back from the farm and our wildlife adventure begins. Kirsten is showing us a huge roach she found on her when our village dog drags a snack onto the porch – a huge reptile foot. Likely a water monitor, possibly Godzilla’s child. Whatever it is I don’t want to come across it even if it’s only got 3 legs. Add that to the scorpion and I might not leave the church for a while. This doesn’t even include the bird that ran into the wall and hit Kyle on the way down. Where are we?
– Team gets back from the farm and our wildlife adventure begins. Kirsten is showing us a huge roach she found on her when our village dog drags a snack onto the porch – a huge reptile foot. Likely a water monitor, possibly Godzilla’s child. Whatever it is I don’t want to come across it even if it’s only got 3 legs. Add that to the scorpion and I might not leave the church for a while. This doesn’t even include the bird that ran into the wall and hit Kyle on the way down. Where are we?
Day 6 – Tuesday, February 1
– Farm this morning. God’s answered prayers and after essentially 4 straight days of flood the sun’s come out for most of the last 2 days.
– Spend over an hour with Kyle on a bamboo tower structure at the next village trying to get cell service to tell our contact we need breakfast food. We ask for Cookie Crisp if it’s not too much trouble. We’re able to get a few texts out by leaning off the side and stretching the phone in the air while our translator offers constant advice, and by advice I mean he tells Kyle to do the exact opposite of whatever he’s doing.
– Okay the wildlife encounters are no longer humorous or acceptable. Tonight during dinner we hear a sound on the roof. Then the terror…the noise stops temporarily and there’s a soft sound of something hitting the floor. Not one but two rats have fallen from the ceiling. Being team leader I realize my survival is vital for the team’s success so I immediately run to a chair while our dog kills the rats.
– But wait, there’s more! As the rat corpse cleanup process was winding down I hear the 78th scream of the night. Don’t worry, it’s just a spider..the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in the wild complete with glowing eyes (until this point). I’m done asking how our animal situation can get worse because each time the ante gets upped. I’m just praying now (from the safety of Kyle’s tent in which I now sleep instead of on the unprotected open church floor) that the giant 3-footed reptile doesn’t come looking for foot number 4.
– Spend over an hour with Kyle on a bamboo tower structure at the next village trying to get cell service to tell our contact we need breakfast food. We ask for Cookie Crisp if it’s not too much trouble. We’re able to get a few texts out by leaning off the side and stretching the phone in the air while our translator offers constant advice, and by advice I mean he tells Kyle to do the exact opposite of whatever he’s doing.
– Okay the wildlife encounters are no longer humorous or acceptable. Tonight during dinner we hear a sound on the roof. Then the terror…the noise stops temporarily and there’s a soft sound of something hitting the floor. Not one but two rats have fallen from the ceiling. Being team leader I realize my survival is vital for the team’s success so I immediately run to a chair while our dog kills the rats.
– But wait, there’s more! As the rat corpse cleanup process was winding down I hear the 78th scream of the night. Don’t worry, it’s just a spider..the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in the wild complete with glowing eyes (until this point). I’m done asking how our animal situation can get worse because each time the ante gets upped. I’m just praying now (from the safety of Kyle’s tent in which I now sleep instead of on the unprotected open church floor) that the giant 3-footed reptile doesn’t come looking for foot number 4.
– Quote: I need photos of 2 confirmed dead rats before I get off the chair. Embarrassingly, me.
Day 7 – Wednesday, February 2
-Shockingly nothing exciting happens. Don’t worry, the excitement is far from over though.
Coming next. The exciting conclusion to my jungle adventure including our most surreal animal encounter yet.
