Last week, we were told by our host that someone would be picking us up to take our team into the jungle. What that meant, we had no idea. We were told to prepare some activities for kids, songs, a skit and some games. So we did as we were told, waited at the side of our curb and were picked up and driven about an hour into the jungle.
Now when I say jungle, I literally mean jungle. It was nothing like I have ever seen before in the US. Very different trees on all sides of the dirt road. We drove so deep in that I honestly felt like we were moving further and further away from any civilization for there to be kids. We finally came to a stop to one of the tiniest villages I have ever seen. I actually don’t know if it was even large enough to be considered a village.
The people greeted us with stares and I honestly thought to myself, ‘I wonder if I am one of the first white people these people have ever seen’. We were greeted by a lady named Tina, who spoke some decent English and were told that she was going to gather the kids to meet us in the church.
Our team went into the church, a small wooden building, set our things down and waited for the kids to come in to join us. I wish I had gotten the whole interaction on tape, because I know I will not be able to fully describe it, but bear with me. As we got in the building, the kids slowly began to peek through windows and doorways. They were all waiting for someone else to enter first. Somehow, they eventually all came in and Tina pushed the kids up front towards us. Yet still there was a large gap between us and them. So naturally, we tried to get them all to come closer, but failed. Instead, we moved towards them and they slowly scooted back. For the first 30 minutes, we watched as they slowly scooted back towards the door and we slowly scooted towards them. It was quite entertaining once we realized we had somehow literally backed them into the wall.
The kids really just didn’t know what to think of us. They participated in our few songs and listened intently to our story, but they had zero intention of actually interacting with us. Until…we decided to whip out some games. With some help from Tina, we got the kids to all sit in a circle with us. Of course, in the process of them all sitting down, we watched the kids battle it out as they ensured they would not be the one stuck sitting next to the foreigners, but none the less, we got them in a circle. We then taught them how to play the game duck duck goose. Slowly but surely they caught on and began to love it! First, just one or two of them were willing to get up and run when we tapped them on the head with “goose,” but by the end, we had them all participating, even the tiny little 1 year old!
It was so neat to watch how laughter and smiles brought out comfort and a love for one another. Just from a simple game of duck duck goose, we were able to bridge the gap between us and them. We were able to actually interact with the kids and build a connection.
When I think about my relationship with the Father, which I often do and have found that somehow everything in my life tends to be lessons about it, I find that sometimes I’m a bit stubborn. All he wants to do is have fun with me and play a game of duck duck goose, and yet I am too busy maybe looking at the dirt on the ground to notice he is tapping me to chase after Him in a different direction. I wonder, how many times does your Heavenly Father need to tap you on your head and yell goose before you run after Him giggling? It took us several times with these kids, but wow did they have such a better time once they finally gave in to letting us love them.
