Block 1 Travel Day: 1
Block 1 On Ground Day: -1
I began my devotion tonight unsure of what would happen or what I even wanted to happen for this whole trip. Because of weather, we don’t know how many planes are going to make it in, or if any will. If not, it will be missions projects in Shell for the week. And although even now nothing is set in stone, we have a plan that we’re confident in. It’s not the way I would have worked it out, but the fact that it works out at all shows God’s hand and timing.
I’ve been saying how excited I am to go to the jungle and the Hauorani ever since we heard that was what we’d be doing for Block 1. But for the last couple of days I’ve been really unsure, and though I didn’t admit it in the conversation we had about who might/might not get to go, I haven’t been sure I really wanted to, particularly today. I don’t have a reason. I’ve been on enough camping trips that it can’t be for fear of my own comfort. I know we’re running a bible study with another group of missionaries so it’s not out of any irrational fear of what used to be the most violent tribe in the world. And I have no clue exactly what I’ll be doing with each of my teams all summer, so it’s not out of frustration of not having a plan. I just don’t know what it is.
But as I began writing my journal and praying tonight, I asked God to let me know if my fears were from me or something else. The second those words formed in my mind Chet called us out to the outer room of the Guesthouse where we’re staying to meet with everyone. He, Dana and Bryan had worked up the flights based on our weights. They managed to keep each set of parejas together and keep the flights balanced and still allow us our 25 lbs of luggage. Bryan/Dana and Lane/Danielle are flight 3, which may or may not go. Fabian, Jerry/Necia and Matt/Angela are flight 2, which will more than likely go. Chet, Teddy/Nicole and me/Sarah are flight 1, which will definitely go. If there’s anything that could confirm that God wanted me to be where we’re being sent, it’s that I’m one of only ~35% of us who know for sure we’re going. It doesn’t stop my brain from going a million miles an hour thinking about the rest of this trip, but it does give me a comfort I couldn’t have imagined a few hours ago.
So let’s back up.
We started the day early with breakfast at Katie and Chet’s house after a quick stop to snag our stuff at Matt and Marlo’s. There were leftover cinnamon rolls and lots of other great stuff. We also packed sandwiches and such for the bus ride because there wouldn’t be any stops. Couple of last minute details and pictures and suddenly we were on the road in the Williams’ and the Jensons’ cars and then on the bus.
The trip to Shell was much less eventful and much less time-consuming than my last one. The roads have been repaired to an amazing extent such that it only takes the three hours even by public bus now. Which is not to say they are perfect, but even I got to rest some despite all the tunnels. If you didn’t know this, I don’t like tunnels. And to make matters worse, I was sitting next to the guy who is afraid of the dark (who shall remain nameless). It was a lot easier to ignore even the loooooooooong tunnels under huge mountains simply because I could stare at the television at the front of the bus. But even that was playing some terrible Armageddon-type miniseries that must have flopped in the U.S. and had been dubbed into Spanish. But it was better than thinking about tunnels. Needless to say there was some devo time spent on the bus.
Just like the last time I pulled into Shell and the HCJB Guesthouse, it was raining. But unlike last time (they were unexpectedly full and we had to stay, much to our pleasure, at Hostal Germany) we actually got in. The guesthouse is actually really nice, and although Hostal Germany is beautiful and has fantastic breakfast, the guesthouse it at least dry.
We took a short tour of the MAF facility with Ron Grant, the guy who keeps everything except the airplanes functional there (which is a lot of stuff). Chet even got him to take us over to the Nate Saint house, which is directly across the street from MAF and next to the Nate Saint School, which is next to the HCJB Guesthouse.
It was like walking into History. There was a model of the plane they flew to Palm Beach on the counter, lots of pictures, and the actual basket in which the five missionaries lowered gifts to the Huaorani and received the first contact back. Unbelievable. To know this place was home to the very people who cleared the way for us to even be here is just indescribable. The house itself is in pretty bad shape, which is the only reason it’s not used anymore (it used to house 20-30 passing missionaries all the time) and why not a lot of people get tours. In fact, our team went by it last year, but that was all.
It made me think just how much we were really following in the footsteps of all the people we watched in the documentary the other night, and to think that we are 10 hosts who will be bringing 17 teams of short-term missionaries all over Ecuador just really made us feel connected to those families, and really appreciate their sacrifice.
After that we hiked over a suspended bridge over a gigantic valley. Bryan didn’t tell us that the door on the other end was locked and that we were just walking the bridge for fun. I don’t really have any problem with heights, so it was a little bit funny to jump and make the whole thing shake and terrify the girls. Oh well, I guess nobody ever fully grows up. Nobody crazy enough to spend their summer in South America anyway.
We were all starving and starting cooking spaghetti right away when we got back to the Guesthouse. Good old American (sorta) meal full of noodles and beef, two things we won’t be seeing until next Monday at least. After that was a little bit of devotion time and a semi-debrief just talking about how we would debrief a team that had done nothing but travel all day. And that brings us full circle back to the beginning of this post. Ups and downs today. But it ended with me being content with God’s plan for me, no matter what this next week holds.
