let’s say it’s, Monday Nov. 19th, First day in the Amazon Jungle.
Woke up in Iquitos, Got ready for the 2 hour bus ride to Nauta. The bus ride was semi glorious and adored in a way to me and this was because the bus was falling apart and rusted and we were sharing the bus with our big packs, day packs, all of our supplies for the next two weeks, and a plant.
I had my headphones in for most of the ride with the the volume loud enough for me not to be able to distinguish the conversations going on around me but when there was laughter, I could hear it enough to make me turn to see what was happening and the beauty in bringing background music into laughter to make time go a little slower like in the movies was an absolute dream or as my teammate and friend would say “dreaammy” – Erin Andersen.
Aidyn was sticking her head out the window and Aly got the most world racey picture of it; if I would say so myself lol. And when it started to rain we were already deep enough into the ride where there was only jungle on either side of us. Julia’s arm out the window, considering her love for rain. Relaxed smiles towards one another in light of the joy and laughter my team brings into everything. The whole scenery during the ride put me into a thought loop of my favorite times being outdoors with my grandparents taking trips to places where we would be fishing, four wheel riding, hunting, etc. I couldn’t wipe the soft smile off my face if I tried and you couldn’t slap the gratefulness I was feeling out of me if you tried.
Soon the bus was dropping us off at a dock, we started to load up the boat with our packs and the other supplies I talked about earlier. It was about an hour boat ride going against the current to get to the farm. Once we got there I’m not gonna lie it was hell trying to carry my big pack up the all the stairs then down the hill then up another hill to get to our cabin like house (thanks training camp for prepping me for that type of hell) At one point of the day I mentioned how I love rain showers one of my favorite types of ways to experience rain. Rain showers are when the sky is semi clear and the clouds don’t look dim but it’s raining like you’re in a shower with the perfect water pressure. I’ve only actually seen a rain shower on instagram where some famous photographer was in what it looked like the jungle and the beauty of the green and the sky bringing light to the drops coming down on the whole forest looked so pleasing to me that if I was to make a bucket list that would’ve been on my top 3. And guess what I got to experience not too long after getting settled into our new home for the month.
Picture this: I had already shown up to the farm in this childlike attitude because of the sweet memories and appreciation that arised in me from my childhood. It starts to rain shower, I ran out to the jungle to get the view I’ve always died to see after being in such an awe and giving thanks to God for hearing and taking into considerations the thing I spoke and love. Maddie and I jumped into the river out of adrenaline and I had this eagerness in my heart for my environment and how familiar it felt in so many ways. It has brought me home and it has brought me into some hard things like experiencing the mosquito bites that cover most of my legs and the heat that brings us so close to nudity and having constant feeling of being drenched. Living with bats and tarantulas that roam on the ceiling over our beds and bats that fly down on us during dinner has been such an experience.
It’s now the 24th of Nov sorry I suck a lot at picking up where I left off sooner than later. But that first day here was the sweetest day for me, it has been dragging on since but the delight of this way of living hits me again when I wash my clothes; something about washing your clothes out of a bucket and acknowledging the scenery. “I’m in the Amazon jungle living off a farm where I can only get anywhere else by boat. How I chase cows because they try to eat our wet clothes that we hang up to dry and the beauty during sunset when it hits the forest and the river, watching the people go by on these very slim canoe type boats chuckling at how much their motors look like weedwackers.” But the soft smiles that cross my face without knowing because of these thoughts and where God has placed me, how he’s with us all in these moments. He’s with the children we teach in the church. He’s with the women we pass in the village taking care of there daily duties. He’s with the men and families we see on the boats passing us by laying in hammocks and lost in thought. God is everywhere he’s in the air we breathe in to refresh ourselves from a long day. He’s in the laughter I have with my team when were sitting in a circle during breakfast, lunch, and dinner and in the hours we spend after talking about almost nothing but everything at the same time, just lounging in each others presence.
God how you love us, how you humble us with these experiences and how you bring to light the darkness and wrap me in a community that cares, cares so much. And how I see the tattoo on my wrist and the reasoning behind it come into play far more than it has before Genesis 2:7 “God makes beautiful things out of dust.” the scripture portrays such intimacy between God and man “Then the Lord God formed man out of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Imagine God taking dust; every little particle that dust is and making a human out of it, the purpose and time that he put into making Adam and the fact that God got so close as close as breathing into his nostrils to give him life shows the willingness and love God has towards us as our creator. I picture this being done to every one of us, the people foreign to me, and the people that bring strife into life are all made from the beautiful hands of God and life is given to them by the breath of God.
