If you’ve been reading my past blogs, you’ve probably realized that God has been teaching me a lot about finding joy in the little things. He’s continuously showed me how something as small as a smile can change someone’s entire day around, how deciding to be happy in a difficult moment can lift not only your spirit, but everyone’s around you as well, and how seeking God out in the smallest things is what brings his kingdom near. Our time in the jungle was full of moments like these, some funny, some beautiful, some a bit wild, but all moments I never want to forget.
There was the time our host told us all to put our boots on and follow him because he wanted to teach us how to use machetes. We swung our machetes around and shouted encouragement to each other while weeds went flying in every direction. We picked up jungle fruit we found on the ground and tried to play fruit ninja mid air with it.
And that day when we made a conga line with a bunch of kids and marched around in the sprinkling rain yelling about how big our hearts are to love the Lord.
There was a day when Rolando, the father of the family who lived on the farm, took us on a jungle walk. He took the time to cut down a bunch of weeds so we would have room to try swinging on vines like Tarzan, and found wild passion fruit, pineapple, guava, and lychee for us to try while we walked.
One time we visited a village and a family invited us into their home even though they were in the middle of celebrating someone’s birthday. They generously gave us each a piece of cake and hugged us all even though we were strangers.
I really loved when my team gathered around each other to pray, no one feeling nervous to ask for prayer because praying for one another is such a normal part of our lives.
Another day I sat on the dock and water-colored with my friend Erin. The two little boys who live with their family on the farm came to sit by us and started painting too.
Our hosts are working on building a house on the property that will be turned into a place to bake bread, giving the village people somewhere to work or buy bread so they don’t have to travel so far to find work or bread. One day my team spent our morning sitting in that house and praying over the work God would do there.
There was a time when I stood slightly off to the side watching my team play a game of soccer with some village kids. A little girl ran over to me and grabbed my hands, pulled me into the game, and we chased all over the field after the soccer ball, laughing even though we never caught it.
Did I mention the day Alivia and I sat on the dock playing Phase 10 and watched a storm roll on over the river?
I loved the days when the pastor at the village would tell us he had something to show us and bring out a boa constrictor or a sloth. The village kids would gather around and laugh at us if we were scared of the snake. The pastors smile was so big and he laughed as we all took turns holding the sloth and exclaiming how cute it was.
One time a little girl scurried up a tree to get us down some papaya to bring home. Once we got back to the farm, Alivia and I decided to hang out on the boat for a while and our host Julio stayed with us. He cut up a papaya and we sat on the sides of the boat spitting the seeds into the water as we ate it.
There was this night where it started raining after it hadn’t for a whole week. We all got super excited because the rain would cool things down a bit. Some of us put on our swimsuits and rain boots and spent almost an hour dancing and singing in the pouring rain.
Oh yeah, and sometimes we would play this game like duck, duck, goose but instead called it boa, boa, anaconda. I loved seeing how excited and giggly the kids got from sprinting around the circle chasing us.
I loved the times when my teammates would point something out that I had never noticed before. One day Erin showed me how the pastors house was small, run down, and had a hole in the floor, while his church was a pretty big building in nice condition.
One time as we got in the boat to head back from the village we did kids ministry at, we saw a river dolphin swimming in the distance. Rolando saw our excitement and proceeded to take us on a evening boat ride to see if we could find more dolphins.
My favorite moment of the whole month was when my friends Caela and Aidyn treated us to communion and prayer during our teams worship night.
I wanted to share my favorite moments from the jungle with you because they are so much more than just moments. Every time I sang off key alongside a chorus of children’s voices, every time I watched the sun melt into the river, every time I was welcomed into a new community, God was teaching me more about who he is and how he works.
Think about the pastors house and his church. He could have had a group of missionaries come in and fix up his house, but he’d rather have a nice church instead. It speaks a lot to what the village people find important. They have little, but their hearts are so big and the joy they get from learning about the Lord is immeasurable. It makes me think about the things I think are important. I don’t like thinking that I value material things. Living without many of the comforts of home while in the jungle has shown me that doing without things and objects and material items doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, when life is simpler, it’s easier to find God in every moment.
And when Rolando would take us to see dolphins or step back to watch us swing on vines, he was showing me how much giving others joy can bring yourself joy. It was the same thing when the pastor showed us the boa and the sloth. Everyone here gives so much even though they have little to give. They’ve shown me how much happier and joyful a life of loving those around you can be. When we would get excited, they got excited. When we smiled, they smiled bigger. They just wanted to see us happy. I think that’s how God feels too. He’s our father, while these people have only known us a week. Think how much more joy he has when he sees his kids laughing and smiling. I want to be that way too. I want to make other people feel the joy I have, to help them see how beautiful this life is, and how wonderful it is that we get to live in it!
What about when Caela and Aidyn prepared communion for us? They washed our feet and prepared questions for us to think about while we spent time in silent prayer with the Lord. One of the questions asked us think about how we can treat others the way we want to be treated. Caela had been thinking about writing a list of the ways you want to be treated, and then having the list as a tangible way to treat other people. I had never done that before, but it’s a really amazing thing to try. I thought about what would make me feel loved: when people take the time to listen to me, when people pray for me, when people spend genuine time with me, and when people did things like what Caela and Aidyn were doing in that moment. I want to treat others like that. I want to wash their feet, serving them in the way Jesus did. I want to show them God’s love by being kind and hearing what they have to say. I want to show Gods joy and light wherever I go.
Or think about when a family who had never meant us before decided to invite us into their house and give us some of their birthday cake. It wasn’t the first time I had experienced hospitably like this while on the race. It seems like people in other countries have a much better understanding of what being hospitable means. I want to be like that too, constantly inviting people in to my home and offering them food and rest. In Matthew 13 it talks about how the kingdom of God is like a woman who took yeast and made it into bread. This references Abraham and Sarah in the old testament when they had visitors and Sarah took yeast to make them bread. She did it to be hospitable. The bible is literally telling us that bringing the kingdom can simply look like hospitably. It doesn’t have to be extravagant.
You can find attributes of God in all my other favorite moments as well. Think about the sunsets, animals, storms, river, and the million different types of plants. Our God is so talented, the creator of all things bright and beautiful. And playing with the children in the villages. Our God values joy and childlike laughter. When they invited me into their games it showed me how God always reaches so everyone can experience the greatness he has to offer. Or when my team would gather to pray. Our God is all about community and living out our faith together. We were never meant to do it by ourselves. From the beginning of time God made sure humanity was never alone. Our purpose is to live missionaly together. And all the many times my team and I would simply sit with one another, playing cards or talking, mostly laughing and having so much fun. It’s another example of how much community means.
Yeah, the jungle was hot.
Yeah, the jungle had a lot of spiders and mosquitos.
Yeah, the jungle didn’t have any wifi or service.
But none of those things really mattered. I still had an amazing time. I still laughed like never before. I still found joy in every day. I still was surrounded by one of the best communities I’ve ever been a part of. And it’s because I chose to find God in every moment.
And when you start to do that, every moment can easily become a favorite.
