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Note to self. 

In addition to learning Spanish upon your return to the US of A, also learn to swim. Thanks a mil! JK

On Tuesday we found out that we were getting the immense priviledge of going to the jungle. For one night. When team assignments were made for this month, one of the teams was supposed to canoe up a river to a tribe in the jungle for the month. Due to a lot of rain making the river too dangerous, that team ended up staying with us. So, when the river went down a bit, they decided it would be fun to send all of us. Now, being in a jungle didn’t scare me. Granted, the spiders as big as my hand (not fist…entire hand) were a little bit scary, especially when they’re hiding out in the bathroom. But that didn’t REALLY concern me. Sleeping in a tent=no big deal, been doing that all month in the chicken coop. Eating whatever it is that tribespeople feed you (which ended up being pretty tame, including a cocao fruit-you know, chocolate fruit, the fruit surrounding the cocoa bean/seed. Whatever it was, I liked it)=just another food experience.  No, going to the jungle wasn’t all that scary in and of itself. 
The part that absolutely TERRIFIED me was the 10 minute canoe ride up the river.

I don’t swim.

Especially in a river where the current is strong, and there are no lifejackets.

We get there, after hearing we’d take a motorboat up the river, I see this:

I might have had a minor breakdown. As two groups left before me, I sat on the beach and prayed for safety and peace. Then it was my turn. We loaded my pack in, and I let everyone else get in before I took my place at the front of the boat.

Was it fun? Can’t really say that it was for me. Would I do it again? Other than the short trip across to get to the church and the 10 minute ride back to the car, not likely to do so voluntarily. Was it an experience? A thousand times yes, and my World Race would not be the same without being able to overcome it.

God gave me an opportunity to fully rely on Him, as He does every single day. That day, I took it.

Blog Recap:
Took a canoe up a river to the Panamanian jungle tribe Teribe (not Terible, which is “Terrible” in Spanish), spent the afternoon and evening with the people from the tribe, which was not as primitive as you might be lead to think. We got to participate in a service, sleep in our tents in the church, and canoed back. God is Good. Always.