In the jungle the mighty jungle

Two weeks in and I have already learned a lot and have had unique experiences.
The First few days were orientation and going over the rule and the have not and what not’s. There are 30 students here, some from Peru, some from Colombia, the States, Holland, Germany and New Zealand. Getting used to sharing one room and 3 showers with 15 girls has been easier then I thought it would. It kind of forces quick, close friendships.

Of course YWAM is all about team building and living in community so last Wednesday we did a mini Amazing race. It was pretty intense. We left the base at 10am and didn’t get back until 830pm. We were running around Iquitos, trying to find different monuments, trying to get a picture with the mayor, helping push a tricycle full of wood. There were so many moments of frustration with that race, but my team did pretty good in working together. We were asked in the mayors office if we were on the amazing race, I told them yes, but we just won’t be on TV. Of course, in true YWAM tradition after it we had to reflect as a team on how the day went and on how we worked together and how we could of worked better together. Sounds a little corny I know but it kind of forces you to think of your actions and your actions affected someone else or the team, and then kind of forces you to think before you act, which can never be a bad thing.

After amazing race, came the beloved survivor camp which I briefly mentioned to some of you. They split us up into three teams Thursday morning. They gave u a small plastic bag, less then 8x10 big and we had to pack for 2.5 days in that one bag. Our sleeping bag didn’t count of course. Then they drove us out to the jungle and we had a short walk into our camp. They showed each team to what would be their living quarters. It wasn’t as hard core as survivor because we had all our supplies. Good thing we had Korky on our team who is from Iquitos and know what he is doing or we probably wouldn’t of made it out alive. We built this shelter that was about 2.5 feet off the ground. It was pretty crazy, and we cooked everything over and open fire. Thanks again for Korky who knew how to do these things. The first day was pretty good once we got all set up we played some team building games and our team worked actually really awesome together. So the first day wasn’t bad but the night was rough. We didn’t really hook our nets up right so we woke up with TONS of mosquito bites. We hardly slept and in the morning we weren’t in the best of spirits. But trying really hard to put into practice what we learned from the amazing race, we pulled together and continued to work well as a team. We won the challenge in the morning and won some tuna to put in our food for lunch. With the afternoon challenges we won a chicken. A real live chicken named Chimbi. We totally had plans to cook him, but Korky, who is from Iquitos, had the brilliant idea to give Chimbi to his mom so is mom can cook him. So on the 20th our team gets to go on a 15min boat ride to the camp that Korky’s mom works at to eat Chimbi. I am soo excited. Among other things I learned this survivor camp, one of them is. I WOULD NEVER SURVIVOR ON SURVIVOR. I went the whole time with our showering or changing and I don’t thing I could of done another day.

So this week as been our first really week of classes and they its pretty intense. Wake up is at 6am, breakfast at 7am, personal devotions at 730am, worship at 815am. Then sometimes we have group devotions or group prayer. Squeeze in two classes before lunch. After lunch we have an hour of ministry preparations, where we learn dances and the typical YWAM plays for the kids. I didn’t think I would like it that much but I do. We then have two hours of work duties, which is cleaning. Then another class, some nights small group meetings or study time. We are always done my 9pm and then lights out at 1030pm, getting the lights out by 1030 is never a problem. We have to hand in a weekly devotional journal, a weekly summary of the teachings. Do 4 book reports. Memorize a weekly bible verse and we have Spanish homework so I really hope there is a little bit of grace in taking a little longer to write email (we need to go to an internet café for that) and blogging.
This weeks teachings were on hearing the voice of God and I did learn a lot. Even though it’s a lot of work, all the reflection and journals are good, because it forces me to think about what I learned and process it.
So sorry it’s a little long. Hopefully next blog I can put up some pictures of some of the above crazy experiences.
Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep them coming as their will be trials and in those times I will really be coveting your prayers. I really wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all your guys love, prayer and supports. So thank you really, from the bottom of my heart.