thursday afternoon after lunch the other teams arrived at the train station and we loaded up a bus getting ready to go. there were so many bags and it didn’t leave that much room for us so we all sqeezed in for the hr. bus ride to the boat. did i mention that it is really hot here??? we get on the bus and our contact started to explain the way things would be on the island. we found out that we were the first short term missionaries to hit this island. again another huge honor and a blessing. he explained to us that they were mostly muslim, but they weren’t as strict in their faith as what we had been around in china. he told us that we were not to call ourselves christians…but followers of Jesus. the people on that island think that the word christian and westerner go hand in hand. they see tourist from america come and and go to the bars and get drunk and then they see people from america saying they are christians and that all looks the same to them. he also told the girls to stay with girls and the guys to stay with guys. if a guy and a girl are walking together…they assume they are married. then they see you both walking with someone else and that confuses them. we finally arrive at the boat and start loading all of our bags on that. that was pretty scary. they kind of had to close us in the boat with our bags. we had another hour until we would arrive. driving over there it really felt like we were on survivor…on our way to our island getting ready to get started. when we finally arrived…it was so beautiful. it was raining…which it did a lot while we were there…and we waited on a pier while our contact went to check on rooms for the non-daring people that didn’t want to camp in the rain. the water was so clear and the sun was going down while we waited. an amazing sunset as soon as we arrived. the Lord is really good. we got to our rooms….our team was among the non-daring group and they were little bungalows. with mosquito nets…thankfully. i got to walk around the island a little that night, but i was so tired i went to bed very early. the next day we were going to prayer walk and listen to the Lord. our contact wanted to teach us what he had learned about worshiping….not just singing. the next morning we all woke up and met and got into groups to walk the island. this place is just beautiful. the tsunami hit here about a year ago…and is still undergoing a lot of work. restoration and resurection is what they called it. i really liked that a lot. as we walked around….laura, kim and i….the locals were very kind. they were either sitting on their porches, cleaning out their nets or riding on their mopeds. everytime we passed someone they would say, “saw wa dee kah” which means, “hello”, “how are you”, “i am fine” and “good-bye”. that made things kind of easy. as we were walking we kept getting pictures of restoration and kim and laura both got something about things being hidden. we reported back and our next assignment was to get together as a team and discuss what the Lord said to us, pray and decide on how to react to that tomorrow. we decided that maybe we could help restore something….maybe just clean up somewhere. but our contact had different plans for us. he said that he felt like we should spend the next morning as a team praying for and blessing the children in the villages. i was so excited. he said that we would be planting hidden seeds that would not be seen for a long time. so we went off …..kim had to stay behind because she burnt her leg on a moped…but we went and just got to smile and pray for the kids as we watched them play. they were very shy…so we didn’t actually get to play with them, but they were very sweet.
that night kim, laura and i moved to the campsite with the others. that was so much fun. i have been waiting to be able to camp since we started and haven’t gotten a chance yet. the next day…sunday…was our sabbath. we all met at 8am to go out to a beach that you had to swim through a cave to get to. i thought i was a good swimmer….but i am really not that great. i jumped in the water and started swimming and looked up and almost everyone was there…except for the few people who stayed behind to make sure i was ok. kind of sad. anyway we got into the cave and there is a point where you can’t see anything….that was so scary and so much fun. we got to the beach and it was amazing. it was enclosed with huge rock going straight up all around. after that i went to lay out and swim on the beach. i fell asleep…and am a little burnt. no good. after that wonderful day we went back to pack and get ready…because the race was the next day.
yesterday morning we get up and get ready for the race. i was very tired and i can’t say i was all that excited…but i wanted our team to win. we had anita from south africa join our team for the race and we knew that she would help out a lot and be a lot of fun. our contact put the whole race together for us. i have a lot to tell about the race…but please read the brown team blog for all of it. the highlights are…..riding elephants, staying up all night, walking to the top of a temple…1237 steps, eating a roach and a worm and winning of course. this was definatly the best race we have had so far.
Shalom
