Today was supposed to be our day off. And it was. I went to bed at 11:00 last night and woke up this morning feeling really refreshed. I heard some movement outside and figured it was 9 or 10 and everyone was up having breakfast. Turned out it was just the dogs and I was the first one awake. And it was 6:57. Apparently 8 hours is a lot of sleep to me right now.
I did get a lot of work done this morning, though. I read and wrote some e-mails and got a lot of my jungle notes turned into the blog entires below. That’s really helpful because I’m using my blog as a journal of sorts for myself, and much of an internal processor as I am, typing something out and forcing myself into processing it externally can be really helpful to organize my thoughts.
Everyone pretty much hung around today, as our only obligation was to be at Chet and Katie’s at 5:00 for dinner. Lane had coffee with Sarah and Teddy had lunch with Adam and Sara, but otherwise all of us were home all day. We watched Semi-Pro downstairs and hung out, and I had some good conversations throughout the day with each of the guys as they came and went from the breakfast table, where I’ve been doing all my writing. I’ve spent a lot of time in front of this screen today, and yet I feel like I’ve been very productive and surprisingly social even within the house despite that.
We didn’t even leave for lunch (other than Teddy) since there was (emphasis on was) a lot of leftover Papa John’s pizza from last night when all the girls were over. (Ecuadorian Papa John’s isn’t the same, but it was still a fantastic treat after 8 days of Yuca).
The plan was that we would all go up to the park and play basketball at 3:30 before we had to come back and change for dinner/final jungle debrief. At about 3:29 it started hailing. HAILING. I got the honor of running outside and letting the dogs back in through the gate and into the house and we just stood and watched it for a while. Nobody said anything, but it was just incredible to watch and listen to hail of all things pour down on us on a mountain on the equator after over a week in the “middle of the stinking jungle.” What a wacky series of days.
Bryan came home after all his meetings with Dana and Cameron for just long enough to pack up what we needed to take back to Chet, and then it was time to go pick up the girls. I’m not sure exactly how international driving and insurance work, but I know that for some strange reason we have today and seven more days that we can drive the Malloys’ truck. It is a beast. Bryan had a lot of trouble getting it out of the driveway and it shut off on him twice, despite being an automatic. By the time we made it to Christy’s to pick up Necia he’d figured out how to gun it and keep it going, but I was really thankful when we made it to the Williams and parked.
Cameron came over (and eventually so did Marlo and Mikala) for Final Debrief and basically ran that (I guess because Dana and Bryan and Chet were actually there and got to debrief the experience themselves). We talked about the sounds (BUENOS DIAS, SENOR JESUS!), the smells (armpit pants), the feels (sloshing through mud) and feelings (having the Ecuadorians do the “rain” for us) and what we want to take away. There was laughter, there were tears, there were profound statements and fond memories. There was faith and trust and openness and Katie remarked as an outside observer how different a group we were from when we left. More comfortable in our own skins, more confident and more willing to go where we are sent, and having truly become a unified group, all friends and all partners.
We could have gone on all night telling stories and life lessons, and I could do the same right here, but I’ll leave some things to actually tell everyone when I am once again in America de Norte.
After that was dinner and another sort of debrief exercise. We were supposed to (and eventually did) spend two minutes talking about our experience in the jungle and tell it to the person next to us, then listen to their story. I sat at the kitchen table with Danielle, Jerry, Angela, Lane, and Nicole and we first discussed how ridiculous an assignment we thought it was because most people will not listen to you for a full two minutes. I’m happy when someone listens to thirty seconds (PS- When I get home, do not ask me how my vacation was) and at least seems like they get it. Especially for us, having been on such an incredible roller coaster of experiences and emotions over the last 8 days it was hard to get that across sitting around a table with people who were right there with us. But eventually Nicole just busted out and did her spiel and before you knew it all of us had, and it turned into a full discussion by the end. I know what single experience I will use if someone asks me about my time with the Huaorani, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to get across anything close to the feelings and emotions and experiences to anyone who was not there.
About the time we finished up, Chet came and asked if we wanted to see pictures. Everyone was upstairs in front of the computer before you could say “Surfin’ U.S.A.” It was hilarious to see ourselves over the course of the time in Toñamparé, from doing the “rain” to singing and doing our skit to the mud fight to the obstacle course. We even got to see a couple videos of the banana hunt and one of the gringo guys vs. the Ecuadorian counselors in tug-of-war (we got owned- pwn3d, even- twice in a row). Chet had put it together in a fantastic slideshow presentation complete with a soundtrack of “Jungle Boogie” by Kool & the Gang.
And finally it was time to get our team packets. Sarah totally called ours days ago, during our first debrief in Toñamparé I think. The two of us will be hosting Woodbury United Methodist Church, a team of 19. They’re from Sarah’s hometown, so she speaks their language, and they’re Methodist, so I speak their language. Perfect. And we’re going to Tena/Shandia for two full days and two travel days. And for those who don’t know what that means… back to the JUNGLE! Shandia is actually a lot like Shell, so there will be electricity and water and restaurants, but still.
I’ve pretty much entirely gotten over my nervousness at the responsibility of hosting teams, but it was still just a bit unnerving to have Sarah pull $800 out of our packet and set it in my lap. I’m fine handling money, in fact I’m good at it (when I’m the only one in the drawer all day at work, it’s basically always right) but anyone who knows anything about me knows that I hate cash. But oh well, this whole culture uses nothing but cash, so I’ll get over it.
When we left Chet and Katie’s Cameron took the guys and Angela and Danielle home. She asked how computer savvy I was and I guess I answered pretty confidently, because she asked if I’d check out her modem. During that hail storm this afternoon there was a lot of lightning and Cameron’s neighbor’s chimney1 ended up on her porch. Turns out her modem got power surged and fried as well. I determined that pretty quickly and got to talk to Cam for a bit about lessons from the jungle and about Roberto (who is currently in Florida) and at 8:43 I headed out to walk back home.
I had a feeling Cameron would forget to buzz me out, so I have no idea why I closed and locked the upstairs gate behind me. I got downstairs, and yep. I called it. The door was locked. So I picked up my phone to call Cameron. Her number wasn’t in my phone. I called Jerry and he texted me her number from the QQ Training Manual. Wrong number (I think it was Roberto’s brother that I got, but I’m not sure). Called Jerry back to see if Matt had her number. No luck. Dana and Bryan didn’t answer, but I finally got ahold of Christy, who called Cameron. By this time it was 8:53 so I think Cameron felt really bad when she stuck her head out the window above and called down “Is it open?” I thought she said “Do you need it open?” and I of course answered “yes.” Cameron said sorry and went back inside. Then I realized that the door was still not open. Thank God that the guy on the second floor was coming down, because he let me up through the upstairs gate. I knocked on the door, Cameron answered, and was very surprised to see me. She buzzed again, but grabbed the keys and came down with me. Door was still locked. Then we realized, it got fried in the storm too. I got Cameron’s real phone number and walked back home (this is the first time I’ve gone anywhere in Quito totally by myself and I honestly was only about 50% sure of where I was headed, but I made it back (down the hill, left after the park, first right, down and around two blocks, house on the corner) and got Jerry to let me in. I’m actually really proud of myself and feel a lot more confident about making it to the office at 10am to meet with Sarah before our meeting with Dana and Bryan at 12 (and hoping that Sarah knows how to get to Dana’s because I haven’t a clue).
I thought my eventful day would be over at that point. But as I sat typing this, Jerry hollered from outside “Dan! Guard the gate!” Bryan had come back from Dana’s in the truck and swung the garage gate inward instead of outward. That meant that he had to pull back out and swing the gate the other way because it will not close once the truck is parked in the way, cutting off the path through which it swings. In the process of trying to fix this problem with the gate wide open, both the dogs took off down the street and Jerry and Bryan took off after them.
When everything finally chilled out here, Bryan talked to me about the team Sarah and I are hosting. I’m really excited for them, and really glad he filled me in on some history, but overall even more confident about it because we were placed with this team for a very specific reason, not just because we get to go to Shandia or that Sarah sort of knows them.
Please just pray for us as we prepare tomorrow, meeting with the Maestros and going over in-depth schedules and shopping and finally picking up our team. Also pray for our team as they travel and the team leader and for their time in Ecuador, that it be fruitful for all involved: hosts, leaders, team, people served and touched.
1You can tell how used to Spanish I’m getting. I seriously typed and then deleted “the chimney of the neighbors of Cameron” En Español it actually would have been “la chimenea del vecinos de Cameron,” which is literally what I typed en Inglés.
Hola Danny,
I’m so glad you are safe, sound, and refreshed in Quito. I spent the morning reading your blog entries from the jungle and enjoyed them so much. I’ll probably read them several times to take it all in. I have been thinking about the ten essentials all day. So many characteristics seem to overlap, it’s hard to settle on ten. I’ll keep thinking, but love keeps coming to the forefront. I know it sounds cliche, but I can’t imagine life without love: love of the Father, loved by the Father, love of family and friends. Maybe that’s what I like about my job and La Casa; children are so easy to love. I know that’s what I treasure in my faith. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16
So share God’s love as you work with the team this week. I know they will be strengthened by their time with you.
En Cristo,
Julie