I am sitting in our bedroom in the hostel. Linnea and I have spent the afternoon shopping, and we finished with getting a coffee. I got an americano con leche y expresso, and realized I had a lot of blogging to catch up on. So I am hoping to put this caffeine to good use.
A week ago today, at this time, Linnea and I were relaxing in our room in Misol-ha. I surprised Linnea that day with getting the room, and her eyes began to water. I love when she does that, and wanted to take the total credit, but had to admit that Chad helped with the idea. So thank you Chad.
After getting the room, Linnea and I walked toward the waterfalls with Jake. We looked out at the scene and saw the world racers swarming the site. We joked about how american we are. The truth is we are extreme americans. Not just tourists, but fifty people who think it is an ordinary thing to just take off for the year and pursue God. I have learned that I am one of the more mellow people here in almost every way. These people are crazy. I am so happy to be here. I stood looking out at the crowd and just was in awe that God had called us to be a part of this. To be a part of this group, to be a part of a team who are changing the world. People who are effecting eternity.
We then walked along the path under the waterfalls. These waterfalls were in the movie “Predator”. I don’t remember the scene, but I guess someone jumped from them in the movie. The falls have to be at least 100 feet high, and the path goes along behind them. Breath taking doesn’t even begin to do justice to the beauty here.
We brought our headlamps, to explore the caves. I have never done any caving. I know this isn’t real caving, but it was really cool. I have been in caves with walkways and lights, but this was the first time I have had to use a headlamp and wade in. Ducking rock formations, and feeling with my feet for holes or stubbing my toes on big rocks. We went in about 25 yards, and came to a big opening with a waterfall about 6 feet high. We shined our lights around in the darkness, and disturbed the bats. We were in the cave for about 20 minutes, and I was ready to get out. I was getting a claustrophobic feeling, I have never really experienced this, but have always shied away from being closed in to places. (like offices, relationships, careers, religion…)
Once we got out of the cave, Jake and I went swimming. We walked all the way around, and found a good place to get in the water. As we tenderly manuvered to avoid rocks, and stepped carefully around some europeans (who like to smoke and drink beer in their underwear), I watched as Jake lost his footing and made a water slide into the pool. Then I dived in. We swam toward the waterfalls, and just said how incredible it was that God has called us to this. What better way to really begin to realize that God created us to be loved by him, and created the world beautiful to enjoy our relationship with him. That the God who created all this wants us to engage in a relationship with him is mindblowing.
It has been such a long time since feeling the way I felt as the waterfall landed on my back, that I couldn’t help straining my vocal cords with a cry of “FREEDOM!”. I am just beginning to learn what true freedom is. To proclaim freedom in our lives, and the lives of others is one of the things we are really focussing on here. The freedom of living by the spirit. The freedom of a life full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against this. Freedom from demonic oppression. Seeing the smiles on peoples faces and hearing the songs…. Songs of freedom that Bob Marley only dreamed of. Freedom to be the person God made me to be. Not the person that religion tried to shape, or hollywood, or muscle magazines that just made me feel weak and fat. Not the person that the business professionals and sales training tried to make. Not even the person that self help books, or 7 habits books tried to make me. Oops, tangent.
Later, Linnea and I walked up to the restaurant to enjoy a romantic dinner. A party had booked the whole place and we were told it was a 20 minute wait. About 90 minutes later, it sounded like the party was just getting going as the beer and wine was flowing, so we decided to just buy some snacks at the little store and eat in our room. We bought cupcakes, chips, cookies, and candy and headed to our little cabin. We layed on the bed, and stared at the naked bulb that lit the room and just started to laugh. Our fan didn’t work, our hot water was broken, and our romantic dinner would have to wait. Our entertainment was watching the bugs swarm the bulb, as we read “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C.S. Lewis.
The next morning I did pushups and chinups and had a fantastic quiet time as I had the whole place to myself. One of the issues all of us are having is finding our alone time with God, and as I sat there I realized how much I had let this slide. Linnea and I then had some devotional time and headed out to catch a ride back to the group.
Our journey back was an adventure. We were trying to get to Samuel’s place. Samuel is Celina’s (pastor Nestor’s wife in Palenque) brother and has an incredible place on a river, about 20 minutes from Misol-Ha. We hiked up to the main road, and had to ask which way to Jerusalem. This is the town where Samuel’s Palapa is, and every time I asked how to get there I got funny looks. We headed in the direction, and hitched a ride in the back of a pickup. I counted 30 seconds between Km markers, which if my math is right is pretty fast. Both of us held on for dear life (I wish I had a third hand to get a picture of the panic on Linneas face). The driver forgot we were back there and drove 7 km past the road. This cost us 16 pesos, and as he turned around, we said it was ok, we would walk. We then hitched another ride and got funny looks again. These funny looks, I believe come because even though I use the correct words, I say them with a boston accent. So this 20 minute trip took over 2 hours, and we were reminded of the importance of loving the journey, not just the destination.
