I do not like mosquitoes, man, I do not like them, Sam I am!
Despite the
joyous farewell to the mosquitos, it was so hard to leave Nauta. On the first
day, I met a boy a little boy with a slightly misshapen face. He didn’t come
around the group of kids much, and when he did, they would tease him. He told
me his name was Carlos, and that he was 10. I don’t think I’m supposed to pick
favorites, but… if I had one, he was it. We were buddies from there on out.
Every time he would get teased, he would come and cling to my side and I’d tell
him that he was my friend, and that I thought he was handsome. I watched his
confidence grow and the teasing lessen throughout the next 2 weeks. By the end
of Fiesta con Dios (our version of Vacation
Bible School),
he was all smiles and one of the gang! On Friday, I had to tell him goodbye
before we left for Iquitos.
He hugged me and would not let go, and buried his face in my stomach so that I
couldn’t see that he was crying. It was so hard to pull him off and walk away.
But, that’s just something I’m going to have to get used to. I know that there
will be many more tearful goodbyes in the next 9 months, and I’m definitely
going to need your prayers to stay emotionally stable through all of that.
Then there
was Wilbor. Wilbor came to every single church service (which, in Peru, is
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and twice on Sunday), stood outside the building, and
watched the service through the window. I hung around outside during many of
the services to try and bring some order to their version of “Sunday School”
(50 kids screaming in the street throwing mud at eachother and moto-taxis), and
got to spend a lot of time talking to Wilbor. On the first night I met him, he
asked me for a bible. Each night he would try and strike up a conversation and
was not phased by the fact that I could only understand 11% of what he was
saying. He’d say something, I’d tell him “no comprende”, and he would grin and
keep on chatting. He kept asking me to show him verses, and asked me to write
out the lyrics to numerous worship songs on whatever writing materials we could
find; most often, a dried out palm leaf and a pen. He started attending the
youth program we put on each week night and had made a couple friends by the
time we left.
It was
definitely a blessing to get to attend that church and watch its youth program
take shape. There were about 30 youth (ages 12-18) that attended, and each
night, a world racer would share their testimony or a lesson, and then the
groups would split off into guys and girls for discipleship. On the last night
of the youth program, I gave a lesson in front of the group about
relationships. I talked about how they needed to find their identity in Christ,
and that the hole in their heart could only be filled by Him. I urged the guys
to be Godly men that respected and protected the hearts of their sisters in
Christ, and to become someone worth marrying before they looked for someone to
marry (which is around 18 here).
Towards the end of the trip, I decided that there were no gators
waiting for me below the boat, so I jumped in the river. The current was much
stronger than I had expected; you have to swim at full strength to get back to
the bank of the river. One day, the we took the boat 2 hours downriver just for
a little sight seeing, and docked the boat in an area with very little current.
Everyone took turns jumping off the roof of the boat, climbing back on, putting
shampoo in their hair, jumping back off the roof… and on and on until the
entire showering process was complete. As we were all getting out of the water
to head back upriver, a fish locked onto Patrice’s shirt and bit her in the
armpit. Needless to say, we didn’t get back in.
We are now
back in Iquitos
staying at Pastor Jorge’s house. Gretchen and I are sharing my tent in a
downstairs-porch type area, and I’m getting very used to having a bed-buddy. It
is VERY hot at night, so we bought a little table fan yesterday and put it
inside the tent.
Ministry started Monday at a little church on the
outskirts of Iquitos.
A bus takes us there at 10 each morning, and brings us back at 6pm on Monday,
Tuesday, and Thursdays, and at 9:30pm on Wednesdays and Fridays (after the
weeknight church services). We spend the days doing a combination of Fiesta con
Dios, youth group, discipling, and family visitations. Tomorrow will be the
first long day; we will have lunch at 1pm, and won’t have dinner until we
return to Jorge’s house around 9:30 or 10pm. Please be praying for energy; it’s
going to be a very draining 2 weeks!
Oh! and I can’t forget; I haven’t updated much about the
status of my stolen items (if you don’t have any clue what I’m talking about,
read “An Interesting First Day”). I have a brand new passport, a 90-day visa,
and a new bank card/drivers license. My dad sent me his iPod, and my friend
Betsy sent me a brand new camera, complete with rechargeable batteries and a
camera bag with my name already sharpie-markered inside of it! PRAISE THE
LORD!!! Every single item that was in my
bag when it was stolen has now been replaced. I can’t tell you how encouraging
that is to me. On January 6th,
I wondered if I’d even be able to get a passport (or if I’d be spending
the rest of my life in Peru
without any form of identification or proof of citizenship). The Lord started
teaching me a valuable lesson on day one… and I have a feeling it isn’t over
yet!
Here are some pictures from the past 2 weeks (much easier
this way than spending 30 minutes to upload each individual picture):
Nauta Slideshow from Teagan Highfill on Vimeo.
And here’s a great video Rachel made that will give you and
idea of what “home on a boat” looked like:
Nauta Peru,
Cribs from Rachel Hunt
on Vimeo.
Thanks for reading! Love you and miss you all!
-Teag
PS, yes Rasy, I saw pink dophins. They are ugly.
