24 Marzo 2014

Dear Family! I feel like I have so much to tell you this week. I'll
try to get it all in the email. The first exciting thing that happened
this week was that we got locked out of the church. There are two sets
of keys and they both got locked inside of the church due to
forgetfulness, exhaustion, and a bit of bad luck. It was late at night
and we didn't want to break in because there was a group of kids
sitting outside and
 we didn't want them to think they could try it as well. After saying
a prayer we headed to Lily's house. She's the one we go to for
everything. She is wonderful and came without hesitation with her
equally wonderful husband to help us out. To put it simply we
successfully broke in about an hour later. Then we spent about another
hour repairing our break in so that it couldn't be repeated by
delinquents. It turned out to be a memorable experience and reflecting
back on it, Hna Dawson and I could find a few valuable lessons that
the Lord needed us to learn.
Today makes a little over a week on the island without water. We are
all hoping it arrives soon, but until then we make do with what we
have. Last Thursday we took a trip to the river to collect a little
bit of water, wash clothes, and take a bit of a bath :) The river
connects to the ocean, but if you go in far enough it is no longer
salty water. I don't even know how to describe how incredible that
experience was. It was one of the most peaceful places I've ever been.
It was so beautiful. I felt like I was on a National Geographic tour
through the Amazon. Upon arriving we loaded everything out of the
small boat and started washing our clothes. In case you're wondering
how to wash your clothes in a river, this is how it's done :) We laid
a piece of plastic over a flat slab of wood, then scrub and scrub,
then scrub some more. Afterwards you take your clothes to the middle
of the river and rinse them out. Tedious, but worth the clean clothes
:)
Afterwards we all took short bath in the river, don't worry we all had
clothes on. We were able to wash our hair and get relatively clean.
Since the river meets up with the ocean we were able to find some cool
animals. I found some crabs and saw a large mantaray floating by in
the center. The most interesting one was when we had to scare a
crocodile in the other direction. We didn't see it, but the boat
driver shouted over to us as he was pulling away.
Afterwards, our Kuna friends that were with us took us through a
little jungle hike to see the Kuna burial ground. When a Kuna dies
they take them to along the river and bury them in the family
''house''. Basically it's just an area with lots of rooftops made out
of dried palm leaves with gravesites under them. It was an interesting
experience.
On the way back the sea was really rough. We made it back safely, but
we quickly all got covered in salty sea water . . . . so much for nice
and clean :) All in all it was an incredible experience. I loved each
minute of it.
The other day we took another trip to Sugdup. Each time we go to
Sugdup we have to wait in the por for somebody who is willing to take
us. Fortunately there is almost always somebody that comes along
fairly quickly. Very shortly after arriving to Sugdup we realized that
we had forgotten to mention something to the boat driver, so we turned
around and started walking towards the port again. While walking, a
man walked out of a door and ended up directly in front of us. I don't
honestly remember how the conversatin got started, but we began
talking with him, and he asked us almost immediately about the church.
He explained his story to us and explained that he had been
miraculously saved from an accident a while ago. He was really happy
to have found us and wanted to go to church. When we explained that we
had run into him because we had had to turn back he began crying and
told us that we were angels sent from God. He asked us to take down
his information and come back because he was working. We're planning
on going back on Tuesday. I'm really excited to talk more with him.
This week has been full of incredible experiences. I'm not sure if I'm
having more of them here, or if I'm simply learning to better
recognize them. Either way, I'm very happy and grateful to my Heavenly
Father for this opportunity :) I'm looking forward to this week's
experiences. I love each of you SOOOOO much!
Go Forward With Faith!
Hermana Falslev :)