So this month, because of our specific ministry and traffic in our city, we were given permission to ride on the back of motorbikes with trusted drivers that were approved by our hosts. This basically opened up all sorts of options for ministry and for adventure. Erika and I found this out when going to “lunch” resulted in driving away from all semblance of civilization to what looked like a backroad in a jungle. Right about the time that we were convinced we were either lost or a part of some sinister plan, we pulled into an outdoor cafe with the most beautiful view. Thanks God.
After this adventure, the planning for the “real” kidnapping began. In our group message, our local friends were planning what adventure they wanted to take us on- in their language. Every once in a while, there would be a word I understood or someone would interject in English saying, “don’t worry, it’ll be fine” or “we are going to kidnap you” which was obviously reassuring (NOT). Anyway, the conversation ended with, “we’ll meet you at the house at 8 am. Bring a raincoat.” Which really wasn’t helpful because you don’t go anywhere during rainy season without a rain jacket.
Anyway, realistically 8 am means closer to 8:30 so we finally left around 9 am to go on our kidnapping adventure. After about an hour of driving, once again into small towns and nothingness, we pull over at the base of a little mud path. All of sudden, it is extremely windy, foggy, and misting. This is the point where I’m convinced that we’ve made a mistake in choosing to opt into this surprise adventure/kidnapping. Our friends tell us we should walk up this mud path because its slippery for the bikes so we did- still not entirely convinced that our friends were going to ditch us and drive away. We get to the top and it’s foggy. It seems like there is normally a pretty cool view but it’s covered by all the dense fog at the moment. We take some funny pictures joking about “how great the view is” with all the fog.
And then, as suddenly as we can driven into the fog and mist, it was gone. Thanks God round 2.
This day turned out to be awesome! We only had one other “kidnaping-esque” moment when all the guys left to go to mosque in the nearest town leaving the four American girls and one local at this mountain/park restaurant where we hadn’t paid he bill yet. We planned how we were going to get home with 2 bikes for 5 people (only one of whom actually knew how to drive) but the guys came back and all was well.
We hung out, hiked around, laughed at each other as we slipped down some muddy slopes, played on a makeshift teeter-totter (which I fell off of), ran around in a natural sort of wind tunnel that I’m convinced is a weather phenomenon that only exists there, and took waaaaaay too many pictures.
So what did I learn from my experiences in being kidnapped by new friends?
i learned, once again, that I don’t need to be in control. The Lord is in control of every aspect of my life. He has been teaching me over and over again that I do not always need to have a plan. He can work through me even when I don’t know all the details of everything going on. Our new friends were so excited to share their country and their culture with us. They are the experts on their own country and God used them to show me that trusting in other people (especially the ones who know a lot more than I do) can yield some pretty beautiful results.
10/10 would recommend an adventure with new friends- even when you’re not entirely sure what’s happening- if they start using the word kidnapping, you might want to investigate further to make sure they’re kidding but hey, it worked out for us!
