He put our bags in the back of the truck, shut the door and said “welcome to the jungle!” with a bright smile.
Never did I ever expect we would be in the literal jungle. I thought he was joking…well he wasn’t.
Our team was split up this morning. Four of us were going to a church that apparently required some sort of hike, and the other four were going to a church we had to drive to.
The group I went with all thought we had chose the option of the non-hike….instead we realized that was not the case.
We drove about a half an hour out of where we are staying and ended up in a predicament.
We were somewhere high up in the mountains of a jungle and the road just stopped.
There was a steep muddy road that was a straight downward slope. “You think we can do it?” our host asked us. “Sure, why not,” we said. After saying that, we all looked at each other as if to say there is NO WAY we are going to get down and get back up that hill.
He took a risk, and drove straight down the hill. We swerved back and forth but surprisingly we made down the hill. The problem now was we couldn’t go any further, it was way too muddy.
So he turned the truck around, and tried to go back up the steep hill. We didn’t make it the first time (literally the whole truck slid right back down the hill). The second time he got enough power in the truck and made it up the hill.
Then we (the four that assumed we weren’t going to have to hike to church) hiked to church in the middle of the jungle.
It was challenging and for sure an adventure but eventually we made it to church and through it all it was worth it.
Why was it worth it? Not just the experience of being in the literal jungle but the people we met when we got to the heart of the jungle.
The people all spoke Spanish but their hearts were so warm and welcoming. In church they asked us to sing so we did and a little girls face lit up the entire time. Even throughout the service her smile spoke louder than language ever could.
Even though we weren’t expecting to hike, I’m glad there was a change of plans. I’m glad the guy who said “welcome to the jungle” wasn’t joking, because the jungle is for sure a welcoming place.
