This month has been slightly insane.
We were supposed to be in the jungle.
But the river was too flooded for us to safely travel.
We thought we would stay with two other teams.
And we did. For a few days.
And then we headed into the Chiquita jungle.
It was a day like any other on the World Race. 21 one of us, three teams, staying in the same house with one bathroom. I don’t remember what I was doing when my team leader, Josh, called us down for a team meeting. But I do remember what he said.
“So guys…looks like we might be going to the jungle after all.”
As you all know from my blog at the beginning of the month, I was not too excited to go to the jungle. But I had made my peace with it. When we arrived at Pastor Moran’s house, our last contact before the jungle experience, we found out that because of the record rainfall, it was too dangerous for us to cross the river to get to the tribe we were going to work with.
Honestly, I was fine with that. I was at the point where I figured that God knew what He was doing, and I was going to enjoy running water for as long as He would let me.
And then the bomb was dropped. As more information came out, I started to get kind of excited. Living in a Chiquita plantation? Sounds like a once in a lifetime experience! And it was.
On tuesday, which was the 14th, we packed up our bags and headed off in a five passenger truck with all seven of us. We pulled up to Pastor Moran’s church, walked behind it, and the adventure began.
There is a bridge that connects the main city and the plantation. You would figure we would just walk over it and be on our way. But no! This is the World Race, and everything has to be a new experience. So the bridge was closed, and covered in barb wire. So, being the resourceful people our Panamanian companions are, they found a 2×4 and laid it across the river. So, one by one, we slid down the steep embankment and did a tightrope walk with our 40 pound packs on.
We walked, and walked, and walked, slipping and sliding through the mud for 45 minutes.
And then we arrived. It was a humble two story shack, filled with smiling people. Octuvio, our jungle contact, is an amazing man. He is so full of joy and passion for God. All he wants to do is shine God’s light to his neighbors and his family.
(This is Octuvio and his wife, Sarah. She was an amazing cook.)
This is their church. They just started it a month ago, and in the five days we were there it grew from a few people to about twenty. It was an amazing thing to see.
Oh, and I preached! That was fun too. Jacinda translated for me, and overall it was a great experience.
There will be more jungle blogs coming today. The internet connection is alright where we are, but not fast enough when there are a bunch of people on it.
The blog train has left the station! 🙂
