first i must do this: welcome to the jungle, weve got fun and games. okay, sorry had to. wouldn’t you?! as if you couldn’t tell, im super excited to be in not only malaysia but in the jungle! yay!! i wanted to have a jungle experience so im super pumped that my team gets to have one.
okay so imagine this. imagine going 1 hour outside a huge city to a smaller city. then imagine going 30 minutes to a ‘junction’ point and then turning onto a bumpy dirt road for another 30 minutes. then at the end of the dirt road you start to see bamboo houses (called shalley’s? (sp)) and a few cement houses that the government has built for some of the people. then you start to see a few dogs, heaps of chickens, a few adults and even more kids. this is what the community looks like that we are staying at in the jungle. how sweet, right?!
we are staying at the village church, which is located right next to the pastor’s house. he stays in one of the bamboo houses. we eat dinner there every night and sometimes we also eat lunch and breakfast there. it just kind of depends on what we are doing that day.
speaking of days, here is a typical day of working in the jungle. the girls stay at the church and hold school for all the kids of the village. now there are heaps of kids at this village but only a few actually show up for school. we teach them the alphabet, numbers, colors, phrases, etc. there was a team previous to us at this village and we are basically continuing what they started with the children. meanwhile, the men go down to these three shalleys they have been building and work on them. around 12 school the girls go down to the river, where the 3 shalleys are being built to have lunch.
this is a beautiful place down by the river. ***side note: the river is also where we bathe, wash our clothes and wash the dishes. its heaps of fun!! i love it!!*** after this the girls go back to the church and the guys stay down by the river to work.
around 5 or 6 we go on home visits. it is really enjoy the house visits because the people are so friendly and it is very nice to hear their stories. during these home visits we also watch them play this game. okay, so this game is kind of like volleyball except the ball is smaller, made of plastic/wood, and you cant use your hands. its hard. you either kick the ball or head butt it over the net. yeah, its pretty hardcore. so i tried it. and i failed. okay, well i wasn’t that bad but i wasn’t that good either. i think i did a better job serving the ball, which means someone throws it at you and you just kick it over the net. all you have to do is make sure you get it over the net and in bounds. pretty easy, right?! yeah, no.
anyways. after we do this we come back and hang around with the kids at the church until dinner. then after dinner we usually chill until bed.
oh yeah i forgot to tell you we get electricity for about 2-3 hours every night. its pretty sweet. the fans come on and its so nice. its amazing how much i missed having a fan!! little things world racers really appreciate!
so i think that basically sums up our time so far in the jungle!! keep praying for me and my team as we continue our work in the jungle and really on this journey. everyday brings a new and exciting adventure!
p.s. umm yeah okay so im kind of in love with the philippines still and my heart is still kind of stuck there. i sort of feel like that maybe god might be calling me to go back there after this trip. so please pray for guidance on this issue!!! thanks
