On Tuesday the 16th, 2011 Team Dunamis was told to be ready at 8:00 am to go to the jungles of Ecuador. Well we didn’t end up leaving untill around 5:00 pm and it took us a few hours in the back of a truck with Team Grace Under Fire just to get to where we would be entering to go into the jungle. We all got rain boots and we were told it would be about a 3 hour hike in the mud to get to the town of Igarones. It took 5 hours for those who walked and 4 hours for me because I rode on a mule, I didn’t end up getting there till 12:15 am and the others didn’t get there until 1:15 am! Another girl rode on a mule too and it took her 3 hours BUT I ended up having to pull the mule up a few muddy hills. There was one point where I was completely terrified. I was on the back of the mule and it was silent for about 2 hours, just myself, this Ecuadorian boy named Elvis (he is 16), and the sounds of the jungle. We were at a pretty intense hill and Elvis was ahead of me, his mule started falling back and freaking out and ended up falling on him! Oh my goodness…talk about scary. Its not like I speak Spanish very well and he defenitely didn’t speak any English. He was just laying there in the mud and I was doing all I could to calm my mule down. I started screaming “Aqi, Aqi!” which means “Here, Here!”. Thank God one of the other guys named David (he is 24 and from Ecuador) that was on one of the mules ahead of us heard me and came to the rescue. Elvis ended up being okay, just a little shook up and bruised. I couldn’t wait to get off that mule! God got me to the town safely and everyone else as well. I think the trip shook us all up. The people who walked were exhuasted. We were there until Friday and while we were there we built a church and a bathroom in the house (well we got the water running for it). They also chose 5 people to go to the town of San Pablo which was another 3 hour hike. The 5 who went were the first white missionaries to ever go there and 8 people ended up giving their lives to the Lord! God is great!
The hike back on Friday ended up only being 3 hours since it was day time and we went back a different way. We were all ready to take showers and eat a meal that wasn’t rice! We ate rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner when we were in the jungle. I think my favorite thing about the jungle was going to this waterfall one day. It was so glorious! I have been realizing that God speaks to me through his creation and when I was sitting under that waterfall it was like I could feel the weight of God’s love, glory, grace, and freedom on me as the water was rushing over my body. I loved the jungle because I was so deep in the midst of God’s creation that I could feel him overwhelming me. One day I hiked up to this hill and you could see the whole city from it…I could feel the wind on my face and it was like God was brushing up against me saying, “Soak it up, take it in…I made this all for you to enjoy my child. See me in the sky, feel me in the wind.” Its like I am experiencing this new found freedom, freedom to enjoy my Lord in his creation! I have never felt this feeling in my life and it feels so good! For so long I have believed that its not good to be so free spirited and child like…that I need to grow up. I no longer believe that, now I know that God has wired me the way I am so that I can experience him through my free spirit. I will sing loud and twirl around for him! I will run through the fields with my hands opened wide. I will be FREE and I will be CHILD LIKE! “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doens’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Mark 10:14-15
I wasn’t meant to be put it in a box, I was meant to spread my wings and fly!
“I don’t wanna ride on somebody else’s passion, I don’t wanna find that I am just dry bones. I wanna burn with unquenchable fire deep down inside see it coming alive…Help me find my own flame, help me find my own fire. I want the real thing. I want your burning desire.”
�
