Jungle Boogie

We are back from the jungle, and it was quite the experience for all of us! Late last night I almost burst into tears as I stood barefoot and abandoned in a field in the middle of a loud and active jungle, covered in mud, with one of my toenails hanging on for dear life, no flashlight, and a long walk ahead of me. So there was a fair bit of suffering, but I also have to say that I have laughed harder and more genuinely in the past five days than I have…maybe ever in my life. The Lord taught me a lot about perseverance, survival, and what it means to be a missionary. There is truly nowhere that you can go and be away from His presence and there is not a soul on earth that He is not desperate to reach.

The military-themed high school camp that Elly, Whitney, and I were counselors for started immediately upon arrival with acting in a video where we saluted, stood at attention, and screamed with other “warriors” the rules of camp, and things never once let up. Every single second of every single day was a completely unpredictable adventure. Between stepping on mounds of fire ants; losing my left big toe nail; having a possum run across my feet while in the bathroom; being told to sing a song about bananas without warning in front of 60 high school kids by myself; being forced to dance wildly to “Shout” repeatedly until everyone in the room was on their feet for the whole song; always having blood trickling down my leg from some unidentified insect bite; trying to bathe in a squirt-gun stream of water; fending off wildebeest sized insects; being attacked by a rabid Chihuahua that tried to tear off my yellow ankle bracelet; wearing a yellow ankle bracelet; trying to understand Creole, peeling potatoes until my back ached; lying down on a fresh bed only to have blood—human or otherwise—seep through from the mattress onto my sheets; having rain blow through the windows onto my face while I tried to sleep; watching tarantulas scuttle across the floor during breakfast; a lot of interesting times were had. In some ways I think the Lord stretched me just to show me how truly selfish and self-seeking I am. I confess that the week should have been much more about the kids and I made it very often about me because of my discomfort. The kids all loved the experience and were really sad that we had to leave early to catch the bus to Belize City. John and Lisa have a pretty incredible ministry going there, and I was impressed to see how many young men at the end of the week had really good, hard questions to ask John about God. They are teaching kids from tough backgrounds to work hard, to work as a team, and to endure an incredible amount of hardship to discipline themselves and follow the Lord.

So we’re back to town and right back into the swing of things. Tonight is youth group and tomorrow we head to Caye Caulker for a bit of R&R with the Strong Tower girls, which I hope will be a sweet bonding time.

See you all soon!