Last Monday three of our squad’s teams hopped on a bus and traveled 7 hours to the jungle. I repeat the jungle. La Talamanca to be exact. On this journey our poor bus had gone through a whole lot of bumpin and jumpin due to unpaved rocky roads and a few mini rivers. Gracias a Dios for getting us there safe and sound! The bus stopped. We had finally arrived, except not really. We had to hike up this mountain to get to the base because the bus couldn’t make it up there. So here began our first hike up the mountain. Being from bama I don’t have a whole lot of experience with elevation and hiking so I was pretty sure I was gonna die because the air was so thin.
We made it to the base and got settled in our rooms. We got to our beds and began to put up our mosquito nets when a bat flew over my head!!!! Super scary folks. After we unpacked a little we had an orientation about what the next few days would look like… lots of house visits, where we would go walk to the peoples homes and get to know them a little, worship with them, share a message from the Lord and pray over them and their family. We also visited a Church where we were asked to sing on stage as a group. We also had a prayer walk for the persecuted church @ 3 am. Our first house visit was literally through the rainforest. On the way we saw some red poisonous frogs, bullet ants and other cool bugs I’ve never seen before. We tried jungle fruit..water apples, cacoa, sour lime, bananas, mandarins, and coconut water.
It was about a 6 hour walk to the first guys house. When we got there he wasn’t home so we just prayed for him and his house. He had lots for pigs, chickens and horses. Then we headed back home for a nice little jungle meal (burgers and fries) cooked by some of our squad mates. Then it was time for bed. I got in my mosquito net and made sure it was zipped up so I wouldn’t get attacked in my sleep by bats or any other creatures the jungle had. Looking back on this is pretty cool I guess, I can say I slept with bats now.
So much happened this week, too much to even share but it was really an eye opening experience and a great time of growth. From learning as a squad instead of just our team, to being comfortable with being uncomfortable whether that looks like sharing a message with the indigenous people here in the jungle or walking hours in the hot, humid jungle, not getting to shower every night because our water came from a well and it would run out fast. For me, it was just awesome to not use my phone all week and get to explore God’s beautiful creation. This was definitely the coolest experience ever and a place and time I will always remember. Thank you Father for calling me to this race! And thank you friends and family for allowing God to use you to support me and pray for me here.
