Before I left for the race, one of my friends wrote me a letter that said said this, “…We are about to enter into seasons that are victim of complete surrender to God’s plans. I am positive that we are about to get wrecked by the holy spirit, and Iv’e never been more excited/petrified.”
And that is a pretty accurate description of how I feel in the middle of month three in the jungle of Peru.
Life in the Jungle is pretty exciting and different. It’s humid out here so we sweat a lot, but it’s also very beautiful. It rains quite frequently and usually when it rains it pours. Last night my teammates and I got to play in the rain and I decided to shower in it. (10/10 recommend). There are a lot of cool fruit trees in the jungle with fruits I didn’t even know existed. There are also all kinds of birds, beetles, and bugs that make cool noises and weird nests. We live in a wooden house up on the hill. There is a HUGE water bucket that fills up with rain water that we use to scoop out water for bucket showers, and wash our faces and hands. We share our home with approximately 4 tarantulas on our ceiling and one bat. We named the biggest tarantula “Marcel” and in our free time, we track her and watch where she goes throughout the day. Last night, I was watching one of the furry guys crawl when all of the sudden all of our worst nightmares came true and it dropped onto the ground by my bed. I screamed, “It dropped!!” And we all gathered around squealing while we debated on how to best kill it. Then my squad leader, Aly picks up a broom and whacked it repeatedly. Guts everywhere. It was an exciting night.
Our hosts here in Peru are the absolute kindest and the most accommodating! We eat really yummy food and a lot of plantains which I love. The coffee is also straight FIRE which of course has been a blessing. We live right on the river, so we take a boat to our ministry everyday. Our ministry has looked like helping maintain “the farm” where we stay, and then helping run a kids program for children after school. We usually teach them songs, go through and act out bible stories, play a lot of silly games, and teach a few english phrases. They are filled with so much laughter and joy. And the current favorite game is to poke your arm and then run away giggling. (it’s quite adorable) The people of Peru are very kind and friendly. Sometimes the language barrier feels complicated or frustrating but I am learning to find other ways to communicate and also learn more Spanish phrases. Our first week in the jungle and team abundance is thriving!
Personal/prayer update:
I’ve found that I am fearful of a lot of things. (more than just the tarantulas)
-I am scared to let people have grace for me, because I don’t want people to give me something I might not be able to reciprocate.
-I’m scared of coming into a culture and end up trying to be some kind of “savior” and ruining relationships.
-I’m scared of trying to tell a story in a blog and messing it up and looking stupid.
-I’m scared of being vulnerable and wide open and having people examine me, because I want to feel put together.
-I’m scared to do things that I don’t know how to do.
The holy spirit keeps calling to me “Come, come, come!!” “I love you and I want you, daughter. I’m not scared of your mess. I know how to handle it perfectly.” And time and time again I keep striving, and struggling on my own and then end up in curling up in a ball, shying away from the Lord and what he has for me. The process of the Holy spirit bringing up wounds is painful. It really makes me want to quit. It’s so much easier to give up than to keep going and keep pressing in. But I will keep pressing in, because I believe that what The Lord has in store is better than I could ever think or imagine. I would love your prayers as I continue to allow God to deal with these fears and trials as they come up. Thank you all again for reading and supporting me.
Sincerely,
Jules
