Hello friends and family! I have been wanting to share with you about everything that has been happening here in Indonesia. It almost seems like too much for words. But there’s especially one story I want to share about.
2 Fridays ago, (1/15) our whole squad went camping in a jungle near one of the bigger cities. It was a time of learning about the culture and the incredible people we would be getting to know. But something else happened, too. I got an adventure that I hadn’t anticipated.
My teammate, Jenny, voiced her interest in going for a run while our squad was camping in Indonesia that afternoon. It had just begun to rain and the thought of going for a run in the rain in Indonesia was rather enticing. I smelled adventure. My kind of adventure.
At 3:15pm, we began our run, agreeing to be back within an hour, telling one of our squad leaders before we left. Jenny and I ran up and over a mountain (we’re pretty sure), passing locals everywhere and laughing about how we probably look kind of odd. The rain had ceased shortly after we started, but that didn’t take away from anything.
We ran past small shops, motorcylces and tea plant fields, marveling at the sumptuous green of the surrounding landscape as well as the friendliness of the locals. We thanked the Lord for his beauty as he was unrolling it out before us.
Turning around, we began making our way back up and over the mountain.
We ran past a courtyard full of kids, and, upon Jenny’s request, we stopped for 5-10 minutes to play with them. Her charisma with kids carried her along, while I cautiously attempted to connect with them on any level. I was NOT successful. When we left, I felt out-of-place and awkward, like I had overstayed my visit and should have left 10 minutes prior.
Farther up the road, we derailed again, this time into some tea plants. Overcome by the beauty and sacredness of the endless rolling hills on the side of this mountain, we clumsily fumbled down a slippery, muddy hillside into the plants. We skipped, twirled, worshiped and laughed ourselves silly.
Heaven on Earth. Sweet freedom. Thank you, Jesus, that we can come to you just as we are.
I honestly cannot convey to you the stark contrast between these precious moments and the following fretfull hours. Coming out of the 2nd emerald-colored valley, we glanced at our watches. 3:40pm. Not wanting to delay any longer, we ran on, our hearts full and our bodies soaked from the dew.
We kept running along the assumed path. We were close to the one turn we had made on the way out. But then…no turn in sight. No memory of the place we were in. Nothing looked familiar. Maybe we just weren’t there yet. Had we forgot how long that part of the road was?
Hmm…
Jenny and I discussed landmarks and places we remembered, but we weren’t seeing any of that. Curious…this was the way we came, right? Jenny was convinced we were on the right road, while I was convinced we hadn’t gone up the mountain enough after we derailed into the tea plants. Why don’t we just turn around and try another direction from where we came out of the tea plants? After a few more minutes of unfamiliarity, we turned around.
Everything is still ok. 3:50. We have time.
Returning to a fork in the road where we emerged from the plants, we headed up the mountain. It wasn’t 5-10 minutes up that road before our conversation turned into another exchange of pessimism, except that this time it was mutual. So we went back to the fork.
4:00. It’s ok. We’re not more than 10 minutes away. We can make it back within the hour still. But…something was changing in me. I started envisioning worst-case scenarios.
Back to the fork. Time to completely retrace our journey through the plants. Recalling the way through was easy enough. The frustrating part was realizing it was the same road we had emerged onto after our initial trip through the plants!! WE HAD BEEN ON THE SAME ROAD.
Slight panic set in. We didn’t remember any of our surroundings. This was quickly becoming less fun and more uncomfortable. More than confused, and a little worried due to the time, we started out on another road we didn’t recall having ran down.
Passing a silent older gentleman with a quizzical look, a military member crouching in the bushes with his rifle (they were doing drills in the area) and a gated road with a sign saying “geothermal power”, we were not just confused and worn out from running, we were on edge. Where in the blue blazes ARE we?! Why is nothing we’re seeing matching what we had seen the first time?!
Farther along the road, we cautiously interrupted a high school-aged couple on their motorcycle to ask for directions. We had seen no more than 3 other people on the road up until that point so we figured it was time to start trying to communicate with anyone.
We talked to them in broken English, asking them about a waterfall we were camping near and the campsite we were at (see picture). Moments of silence and confusion were interspersed with temporary excited understanding. We started walking with the girl down the road back towards the intersection we had come from. The boy (Deni) went on ahead with his motorcycle.
From there, things became a blur in my mind’s eye. We enlisted the help of more passersby, hopped on Deni’s motorcycle with him (my first motorcycle ride ever), drove to a police station we had passed earlier (where I nearly broke down in tears from being so exhausted, being surrounded by laughter from the policemen/towns people, and being so late getting back to the camp), and finally we rode back to another place in the road where we found Dani’s girlfriend with a couple other people standing around. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by yet another group of locals all trying to brainstorm where this “waterfall” was. That was fruitless.
I was overwhelmed and starting to shut down. 5:30pm. We should be back to help our team set up for dinner by now. Everyone would soon figure out we are missing if they hadn’t already.
Just as we began insisting we get going, an older gentleman offered to take us to the waterfall in exchange for some money. We explained we didn’t have any money with us, but he was still ok with taking us. So we (Jenny, myself, Deni and the older man) then set off through the forest. Jenny and I had no recollection of anything now. Everything was unfamiliar.
God, please let us get home tonight!
We eventually found ourselves staring at the ravine where our camp was. But we started going the wrong direction, away from the camp! I felt my heart hit the bottom of my chest. I kept telling Jenny “this isn’t right, we should go back in the other direction”, but we kept going, upon the insistence of the older gentleman. Oh no…no no… And then… we ran into another group of college guys who went to the local university and who spoke English.
They recommended we turn around, and so we did. And after a good bit of walking, we finally found the home stretch and I was gripped by relief. We hightailed it down the ravine. We could see the tents, and then…we were back in the camp MINUTES before darkness set in.
Thank you, Jesus.
It was interesting to me; Jenny maintained her cool the whole time (at least that’s how I saw it), asking about everyone’s family, laughing and still making an effort to learn the language. She was a natural and I couldn’t help but admire her in the midst of my distress. Everything still wasn’t easy for me to cope with, but I was so glad I was with her during the whole thing.
To this day, I still don’t know how to wrap up this crazy adventure properly. What do I make of this?! I learned so much, saw so much, FELT so much. Even a week+ later, I’m continuing to discover the meaning behind it all.
For now, I’ll sum it up by saying this…
When you sign up for the World Race, you sign up for both anticipated adventures as well as unanticipated ones, and if you think you’ll be completely prepared for both kinds, I’m telling you you ARE wrong and you WILL find that out at some point. I know I did, but I believe I am the better for it. 🙂
