A Day In The Life
5:30 – the sun woke me up
I lay on my bunk bed under my mosquito net and think about what this day will hold. I think about thanksgivings back home, how we would be watching the Maceys thanksgiving day parade while baking pies this morning. I drift back to sleep to the sound of a million different birds I’ve never heard before.
6:45 – journaling
Journaling is a habit I’m really glad I started on the race. I’m excited to be able to go home and recount these amazing days without forgetting anything. I journal for a bit then head down from my bunk to get ready for the day. I use my phone as a mirror to put my contacts in and braid my hair. I get a bucket of water from the rain barrel to pour over my hands and face because the trickle from the sink takes too long to rinse. I use my water bottle to brush my teeth.
7:30 – breakfast
I put on the pair of muck boots our hosts has given us, loving that I get to wear boots here and thinking about my favorite yellow rain boots from back home. I walk with my teammates down the hill by our bunk house and up the next one, then down the stairs to the building where we eat. We stop at the top of the stairs to catch our breath and marvel at the beauty of the river. We greet our hosts on the way down and sit down to eat jam and bread with bananas. All nine of us sit in a semi circle of chairs and talk about our thanksgiving traditions back home, many say they eat donuts for breakfast. Our leader, Aly, walks to the bag of goodies she got for us at the store yesterday and hands out little packs of donut shaped crackers with chocolate and sprinkles on them. We yell with joy about what a great thanksgiving it is.
9:30 – swimming
Back in the bunk house some girls have their swimsuits on. They convince me to join them. We run down to the river and swim and laugh for a long time. We sit on floating logs and fight against the current bringing us downstream. We try not to let our feet touch the muddy bottom and laugh when they do. There’s lots of splashing and diving, I mean, here we are in the jungle in Peru swimming in the Amazon on thanksgiving, how cool is that!
11:30 – relax and read
Today’s feeling amazing. After swimming for a while my friend Erin and I decide to “lay out”. We take plastic chairs from the dining area and set them up on the little walkway to the shower and laundry house. It doesn’t matter that we have to keep swinging our legs so the mosquitos don’t get us. It doesn’t matter that we have to keep moving so people doing laundry can walk by. We love it. We’ve gone swimming and are sitting in the sun, it feels like home. When we walk back up to the house, I lay on my bunk and read for a while. Slower days like this are such a blessing. I’m able to take the time to see how great and fun every little moment can be.
1:00 – lunch time
We all head back down the hill to the bunk house. Meal times here in the jungle are my favorite. We sit and talk for forever, literally hours sometimes. We talk about everything, and spend the majority of the time laughing. These girls around me bring an incredible amount of joy, I’m so glad I get to do life with them! We eat rice and plantains and fried chicken, our host is the best cook ever! She brings out slices of coconut cake at the end and once again we‘re yelling with joy, “thanksgiving cake!”
3:00 – ministry
We take a boat to get to ministry each day. It’s the only way to get anywhere from the farm where we are staying. The boat ride is one of my favorite parts of the day. I love being able to look at the water and the beautiful green jungle on either side. Some days we see river dolphins jumping around. Once we get to the village we do ministry at, we walk to the church. Inside kids wait for us, excited to play. Today we put on a skit of the story of Jesus walking on water. The kids think it’s hilarious when Peter pretends to start sinking. Then we sing songs and play lots of games, and at the end we teach the kids some English phrases. I love the smiles on their face when they say “my name is…” and we all clap for them.
5:00 – team time
Once we get home from ministry we head up to one of the buildings next to our bunk house. We bring over chairs and benches and all gather around one of the wooden tables. We talk about how the weeks been going for us and how we can take more advantage of the free time in the jungle to grow in our intimacy with the Lord. We eat chocolate wafer sticks, another treat from the thanksgiving treat bag. Then we take tiny pieces of paper and write funny quotes on them for a game we’re going to play after dinner.
6:00 – dinner
We all head over the hill and down the steps to the dining area. We see that tonight’s dinner is spaghetti and all get excited. Then a song breaks out, “thanksgiving sghetti” chanted over and over. I love how much fun this group has with singing the most random things. We talk for a long time during dinner. We talk about who we would wish was here with us if we could bring one person. I can’t decide, I want to bring my friends because they would have as much fun as I. I want to bring my parents because it’s a holiday. I want to bring my brothers because they would like the jungle a lot. We drink hot tea even though we’re all already sweating, it just feels right.
7:30 – game time
We head back up to the bunk house, moving fast to keep the mosquitos away. Once there we all gather on the floor, eating little cakes from the treat bag. We play a game called “what do you meme”. Each one of us hold up a really funny picture of us from our childhood, or even from recently, and everyone else picks the best quote or sentence from what we wrote earlier to describe what the picture represents, like in a meme. The person who’s picture it is chooses which sentence they like best and whoever played that card gets a points. It’s really fun and we laughed a lot. These are moments I never want to forget.
8:30 – bed?
We all laugh about how early we get into bed here. The mosquitos get us if we are out from our nets, so we all get in our bunks pretty early. But we don’t really ever go to sleep then. We yell at each other from across the room, commenting on the tarantulas we see on the ceiling. We’ve named one Marcel, she’s our new friend. Or when the power turns off around 9:00 we all start freaking out, and it starts a series of hysterical laughter across all of the room. Finally we all start to quiet down, and Julia sings us this really cute little song called “goodnight girls”. This has been one of the most fun and strange thanksgivings ever. It’s my first big holiday away from home, and it’s been something to remember. I’m so thankful for each and every one of the beautiful women around me. I’m thankful for the people we get to stay with here in the jungle. I’m thankful for the kids and their joy each day when we come to their village. I’m thankful for God’s creation all around us. I’m thankful to live a life like this one. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
