Day 13: Chills in the Jungle

Day 13: Sunday, July 11, 2010
Chills in the Jungle

This Romanian team is proving themselves faithful. They are very focusing is spreading the gospel, very consist in prayer and devotion time. In retrospect, I think this team is more like what I subconsciously expected it to be. But I’ve also realized that I learned so much about unity, leadership, and servanthood from the first team.

I HATE roosters! It’s quite likely that I will kill one before I return to the States. Even with earplugs in this morning I was awakened to blasting music over the village’s loudspeaker (which is conveniently located next door to the church we’re all sleeping in), and the deformed crow of the neighbor’s rooster. I had actually gone to bed early last night because my sinuses were bothering me (and causing a huge headache). Needless to say, all was not well with me when I was so suddenly woken. I virtually fell out of the hammock only when I had to pee so bad that it started interrupting my sleep. Already the village was alive with men taking advantage of the early morning coolness to machete the tall grass. The team was slowly, groggily stumbling out of their tents, so I tried to get up and get going.

I went outside for a bit, saw that the guys were setting up the soccer field (quite religiously), found out that breakfast was at 8 at the earliest, tried to help where I could, didn’t feel very useful, my head was throbbing because I was trying to wait until breakfast to take my medicine with food. So I slipped back into the church and laid on the wooden floor because I didn’t feel like putting forth the effort to get back into the hammock. A short nap later, the community and YWAM team meeting had just gotten started.

Once the schedule had been set and the rules established for the games, it was time for breakfast. The usual eggs and instant coffee but this time we also had bananas and bread with jam, so I didn’t have to deplete my snacks any this morning.

In compliance with South American culture, the futbol tournament started about an hour later than planned. I observed from the sidelines with Sarah, Alex, and Steve. The group had purchased jerseys with the name of the community printed on the front. They provided these along with shorts and socks for 12 communities. The Peruvians were so into it too. What a better what to evangelize than join in on what they already love.

The games obviously took a break for everyone to watch the World Cup finals. Not a single family here has indoor plumbing, but you better believe that somebody in the village has direct tv. I don’t even have cable in America. Haha! Futbol is such a big deal here. No less than a hundred people were standing in the scorching sun watching the game on a 12 in tv sitting in some guy’s window.

Then before the last game we had a service. There were hundreds of watchful eyes that greeted the worship team. John from Chicago (who struggles with saying, “Mississippi”) spoke on the parable of the prodigal son. Then Juilo shouted some words in Spanish and gave an altar call. Six or seven adults gave their lives to Christ. Talk about Holy Spirit goosebumps in the middle of the Amazon jungle! It was incredible!

The theme for my day from encouragement notes and literature seems to be wisdom. 1 Kings 4:29. James 1:5-8