first jungle trip
Living on the River
July29-Aug 3, 2013
THE JOURNEY. Our day began at 4:15AM. we jumped out of bed excited for our jungle adventures yet little did we know that the lesson for today was about waiting on the Lord. Our taxis were an hour late. Once they arrived, we drove down curvy roads for an hour and a half. Finally we got to a little village on the river,but the boats that we had arranged to take us to sinchi rocha (our destination village) were no where to be found... so we sat and waited. And waited. And waited. After about 2 hours, We concluded that the boats would not come for a while, so we decided to have some fun :). We swam in the river, we had a picnic lunch, we went on a hike, and I napped in a hammock. Still with no sign of the boats and dinner quickly approaching, the missionary wives (Janet and Nichole) and I walked into a near by town to buy dinner. Finally, around 540pm the boats arrived. Twelve of us carefully put our luggage and bags onto 2 tiny canoe boats called “pecki-pecki” placing all of our trust in this native stranger steering from the back with a tiny boat motor. We rode for about 2 and a half hours (only having to get out and help push a few times since we got stuck the shallow water). Around 845PM in the pitch black we heard the boat motor cut off and we knew that we had finally arrived to Sinchi Rocha.
KIDS GAMES. Each morning (after our 6AM wake up song from Leo, our missionary leader) we would eat granola with milk, and the men would head off to the jungles to carry large logs for our house building project. We females did not carry logs or build, instead we did help clear limbs and branches from cutting projects. We spent most of our day keeping the fire going, making lunch and dinner, washing dishes, visiting sick women in the village, doing laundry in the river, and playing with the children. After lunch, we would wash off in the river, and begin our “kids games”. We had a Bible stories( the 7 days of creation and Jesus calming the seas), memory verses (starting the foundation of who God is), songs with motions in spanish, games (tag, soccer, hula- hooping,volleyball, catch) and snacks(cookies and soda).
THE CHILDREN. These village children were by far my favorite aspect of the trip- one I will never forget. They would arrive at our house around 7AM and would stay until dark. If we went to the river, they went to the river. When we went on a walk to take water to the hard working guys, they went on a walk to see the hard working guys. At first they walked behind us watching our every move, but by the end of day our smiles and consistent “holas” showed them that we were friendly strangers.
I made many friends and forgot many names. But one thing is for sure, I will never forget their little faces the he way my heart melted when they smiled at me... it was the same warm feeling you get when you get your whole family together at Christmas or when your pulling into your neighborhood from a long trip... the feeling of knowing that your whole life has been leading up to his point and all those trials and struggles you faced were to help you get right here to these kids.
THE CHURCH. Sinchi Rocha is one of the only “reached” villages out of hundreds of villages in the jungle, and in our American mindset reached means they have a church and have the gospel and are living it out daily. Wrong- sure this community has a “church” building with 4 poles and a roof, and sure, it has a pastor who is willing to serve, but they only meet when Leo our missionary comes to visit. And they only have about 15 people attend and they do not have a Bible/know the Bible and they do not know King Jesus. In these communities there are a lot of sicknesses, and they don't know King Jesus so they turn to witch doctors and spirits to help them. This community os one of the hundreds who are lost and literally have no way of hearing about a loving God unless we tell them. We left at the end of the week seeing little progress but seeing hope with a plan to return in the spring and start discipleship programs for the youth of Sinchi Rocha to teach truth about the One True God who created them. It was really hard for me to leave these little faces that I had fallen in love with throughout the week knowing that they did not yet know Jesus Christ, but my purpose had not been to watch them grow in mature faith- but it was to simply plant a seed. TY! CS