One of my thoughts that I have when I think about the race is the tv show LOST. One of the first posts I made I talked about how I wanted to go to the jungle and eat mangoes just like the show. Last week I got my wish.
The trip to Higuerones was not on any itinerary that I received…it was actually quite the surprise. At first I was hesitant to get on the jungle train, but after all this is what I asked for. To be perfectly honest, if I had known the details on this adventure…I would have taken a pass.
This adventure involves two small trucks, 27 people, 3 donkeys, 5 hours hiking through the muddy jungle in the middle of the night, and 2 days of hard work. Getting to Higuerones was an adventure all by itself. Just driving to pick up the second team of racers our truck ran out of gas, the hood flew up while driving, and the windshield wipers stopped worked. Sidenote: A few of my teammates and myself were in the back of this vehicle covered with black plastic amidst the downpour. At any rate, the real adventure starts when we get there and we get our work assignments. I was on the team that deconstructed the old church and used the materials to build another church house onto an existing building. The other team built a toilet/septic system for the house we stayed in… pictured below
In addition, five individuals were selected by our pastor to go to a nearby town called San Pablo to speak at a funeral. This town has one christian family and the man who died asked for someone to speak about God at his funeral when he died. However, no one in the town wanted to be that person. God’s timing is perfect though and provided people to speak at this man’s funeral. This isn’t my story, so I won’t tell it, but if you wanna read about a truly God involved experience go to my teammate Bekah Byxbe’s blog and read more about it. http://bekahbyxbe.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-unreached-people-of-san-pablo
I learned a lot of patience during this time. I learned about how God is always orchestrating events and how to recognize his handiwork. I learned endurance. I also learned that I have lots of people praying for me…many that I don’t know about. I am thankful for all these lessons and am eager to learn more. Thanks again for keeping up with me and all the comments. Let me know if there is anything I can be praying for you about…
