March 25, 2010
Right now I’m on a bus to Iguazu Falls in Argentina! I never thought this would happen--ever! Things seemed to fall into place perfectly, it was most-definitely a God-thing. The other night, Niki came into our room saying that her and her parents were going to Iguazu! I wasn’t really listening to the details, even after she was inviting people to go with her. Truly, I never thought this would happen, I never expected to get an opportunity or have enough money to go. After praying about it and seeking out wise advise, I mentioned it to my parents. In seemed like a perfect time to go, we just finished our Spanish finals, our ministry trip to Cordoba was cancelled, and it would be safer for us with a family. My parents completely agreed and thought that it was a once in a lifetime experience. This was SO exciting! The time was drawing near for us to leave. Niki gave us the news on Monday night and we were to leave on Thursday! In the meantime, while I was awaiting a reply from my parents, Kate and I went to town to do a few things. Along with all that was going on, I had to remember that my mom would be arriving on Monday, and I in no way wanted to neglect her because of the trip. As Kate and I were walking past a store, I was able to get a wireless signal along with an email from my parents telling me to do it. So, from there, we took a trip over to the travel agent. This was a bit of a challenge because she only spoke in Spanish. It was a great confidence booster for me when I found out that I could communicate and understand! We booked everything that day and even found a mistake in the Malone’s itinerary. God was definitely planning everything, we would have never seen this if the Malone’s weren’t late and if we didn’t receive the email on time. I’m not gonna lie, the whole process was a little sketch, but we found out that she had formally worked with Word of Life, so I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. As luck would have it, the next day, Wednesday, was a national holiday and the whole country had the day off. This was also remarkable because we were just going to go to the travel place the next day, which would make us too late. Because everyone was off, we had another day of waiting until we could get our vouchers for the trip. Daniella, our travel agent, told us that at 10 on Thursday she would call and everything would work out.
Today, we went to get our tickets, but they weren’t ready yet. She promised to have them at the Centro Medico at 1 from a nurse that was there. Sure enough, we went to go get them, but there was no one at the Centro Medico and no one had any idea of what we were talking about. So, there was noting we could do, we just decided to wait, go to lunch, and hope that they were brought over in the meantime. After lunch, we went back, but there was nothing there, and no one to talk to. We were running around and didn’t know what to do, the time was getting closer, and we had nothing to verify that we paid! We called Daniella from the pay phone, but she didn’t answer. Uh oh. We didn’t know if she was on her lunch break or what, but we were getting a little nervous and stressed for that matter! We decided to try one of the missionary apartments to see if by chance they had any idea. They didn’t, but one of the nurses was there and was able to open up the Centro Medico. We checked for envelopes, but there was nothing. Praise God, Daniella called while we were in there! After talking to her, we found out that she couldn’t put the transaction through for the Malone’s until they approved it. This was just craziness! Now we were rushing, good thing our stuff was all ready to go. We ran back to call two taxis and out were out and ready to go in no time. We made it to Daniella’s and solved the problem. Kate and I were completely okay and ready, but I was worried about the Malone’s for a little bit there. Everything went great, we got our tickets for the bus and caught it right in time. It was actually a pretty nice bus over to Buenos Aires, exactly like the one we took to Pichi. We were to arrive at the station at 5:30, which we did, and then we had an hour to catch our next bus ride to Iguazu. We went by the gate numbers that Daniella had given us, but Kate and I decided that maybe we should check in with the bus company to make sure it was still the same. This was a huge bus station, there were around 75 spots that that buses were pulling in and out of. It kinda reminded me of an airport with the intercom and just the stressful, fast-paced atmosphere. Kate and I found out that the platform had actually changed and that we needed to check-in to get our tickets, not what Daniella had given us. Could you imagine if we hadn’t done anything, bus just stood there waiting?!
We got to the platform after confirming with only 5 minutes to spare! It’s amazing that it has been such an adventure thus far! I can’t tell you how much more complicated it has been with it all in Spanish. It’s quite a challenge, but it’s not overwhelming. I’ve been prepared enough to take it. Between the stress, time restraints, and the language, I’m pretty sure I should’ve had a meltdown by now! But, God always gives us grace in times like these, and I am so grateful to him for that! Maybe this is the kind of experience I needed all along. It’s not only a time away, but it’s a challenge and a time to test what I’ve learned.
God has taught me that I can’t just sit back and watch things happen. I need to be assertive, open-minded, and willing! If you allow God to work, He’s gonna do it! These past few weeks, I’ve really seen God’s hand in things. He truly is working all around me. If I open my eyes to more than just focusing on me, I see it. God is constantly revealing himself and the still-small voice is still there. The more I obey in following that voice, the more responsibility He will give me. I don’t want to sit back, I want to be a part of the action! My life will never be boring if it’s surrendered to God. The life of mediocrity just won’t exist. I don’t know what God is preparing right now, but these days, I just don’t feel like it’s going to be the “work 9-5, 5 days a week” kind of life. I think God is going to do great, out of the ordinary things, and I just hope that I am rendered and privileged enough for Him to do this.
March 26, 2010
Well, we finally made it to our hotel around 1:00 in the afternoon after an 18-hour bus ride! It was a good trip, leaving us quite tired, but that wasn’t about to stop us! We had about five minutes to decided if we were going to do an excursion zip lining and repelling. Although it had been a very long time since we had sleep, we decided to do it. First, we picked up all the other people from different hotels, and then we would proceed. We met a mom and daughter from CO and they were believers as well! It’s amazing how small the world is! We drove down this very narrow road in an open truck. We were completely surrounded by trees, except for the few times when we saw reserves with native people. It always surprises me how they live, we are just so affluent in America that you lose touch with reality. After about half an hour of driving, they dropped us off and we walked about 900m through some pretty intense jungle. I was a bit worried because I haven’t had my yellow fever shot, but thanks be to God there weren’t that many mosquitos , just a lot of flies. Once we made it to our first excursion, we suited up in our harnesses and helmets and climbed up a whole bunch of stairs to start our first zip line. In all, there were only 3 zip lines. The 1st was 400m long which was really cool! All the zip lines went straight through the canopy. This was really cool because my last zip line experience I went over a great canyon. I had a little knot in my stomach while I was going, you just never know if some freak accident could happen and you fall to your death! After this, we went to another part where there was a huge waterfall cascading down and we repelled down to where the river was. This was a first for me and I really liked it! We were supposed to repel down a waterfall, but they said that a platform got destroyed when it rained the week before. This was still a fun experience though, it definitely wasn’t like when I did it on a cruise! By the time we finished, we were exhausted! We came back to the hotel and finally got to take showers! This was seriously one of the best showers I have ever taken, not because of the accommodations so much, but because we were so gross! We ate at the hotel for dinner and then spent some time in the town. It’s a pretty touristy place here. I’m excited for tomorrow because we get to see Iguazu! We finally made it!
March 27, 2010
Today was an amazing day! It started out early this morning when we left around 7:30 for the falls. After about a 30-minute drive, we arrived and met our instructor Victoria. She started out by explaining the map and what we would be doing for the next 8 hours. We walked for a little bit and then took a train through the jungle. From there, we started our trek! There was a bridge that we crossed over a huge river to get to the “Devil’s Throat.” I never seen such a huge river! It kept going and going! As we got closer, we started hear this loud crashing sound that almost sounded like thunder. When we started to feel the mist, we knew we were getting close! I was not prepared for the sight I about to see, it was just incredible! I could not believe how much water there really was and just how magnificent they were. It was here that all the rivers connected and dropped from a great height. From here, we got to see Brazil and take tons of pictures. Unfortunately, they will never compare to actually being there. We had to break out our panchos as we were just getting drenched by the water coming up. I was a little worried about my camera, but it seemed to do okay. It was amazing to see the mist and how it poofed out from below. You would think the ground was right below, but it was about 70 km down! The water was hitting the bottom so powerfully, kinda scary! After spending a good amount of time there, we got back on the train and began exploring the top part of the falls. There were so many great sights and the magnificence of God’s creation was so astounding. I have no idea how the amount of water keeps coming and not run out! From the upper part of the falls, we also got to see an excursion that we would be doing that afternoon. We saw a boat that was down underneath the falls. The boat looked like it was going full-ahead into where all the waterfalls met. After a few seconds, you couldn’t even see them anymore because of all the mist. Just incredible! There were so many waterfalls along the Argentine side. Someone mentioned that there was a lot more water in the falls because of all the rain, and this was definitely true when we looked back at postcards. It was almost as if some didn’t exist before and that in some parts everything was dry. It was a great time of year to go, and the weather was wonderful. It started out really overcast where I almost thought it was going to rain, but by the afternoon, it was only partly cloudy. After viewing the falls from above, we went to eat lunch, I had empanadas which were pretty good. It was nice to relax for a little bit, but we were getting excited about our excursion! We started the excursion by taking a tour of the jungle. We all sat in these huge trucks that didn’t have a roof and we listened as the tour guide told us all about the history and special facts of the forrest. We went down the tiniest dirt road, we were right in with the wildlife, although all we really saw were birds, butterflies, and spiders. This was actually pretty fun because it was more than just a boat excursion as you got to be in the thick of the forrest. When we were going down to where the boat was, there were tons of butterflies, more than I have ever seen in my lifetime. They were all over the ground and some even landed on me! The time finally came and we all piled into the boat and fastened our lifejackets. The boat took off flying as we headed for the two falls that we would go near. They let us take pictures from the boat before getting wet. This was pretty exciting because we were so close! After getting all the shots in, we put everything in our waterproof bags and off we went. We were zooming around the falls and were getting absolutely soaked! It was a lot of fun! Everyone was having a great time and I just couldn’t believe how close we were! One time, we were seriously like one foot from being under the fall. I had no idea what would happen if all the water came into the boat, the electronics would definitely be ruined! One of the last times we went in, the boat went flying into where all the falls were hitting. There was so much mist that you couldn’t see a thing! The water just pelted your body and you couldn’t look up. This excursion was so great, and I really feel like it completed the day! I still can’t get over how close we actually were to the falls, it was pretty amazing! After our great adventure, we got out of the boats completely drenched, but very happy. We got to see the falls from a different vantage point after this, at about the middle height. The last falls that we saw had a platform that jutted out a little further, and we were right in front of it. Once again, we got soaked for the last time! I’m glad that it was such great weather, being around 90 degrees, that you weren’t ever cold. All in all, it was a wonderful, fun-filled day. God is such a marvelous God, and He definitely reveals this through His creation! Iguazu Falls is one of the most, if not the most gorgeous sights I have ever seen. I don’t know how any atheist could go there and yet still believe that there is no creator. My experience, though very short, was great. It may have been a whirlwind, but we made the most of it without a doubt. I hope that there are many other experiences just like it. God is so good to me that He would allow me such an experience and opportunity to see the world. I see so much suffering and poverty and I wonder why not me? Why am I so incredibly blessed? I praise God for who He is and know that no matter what my actions and no matter how undeserving I am, He still would be there offering forgiveness and wanting to give me these good things. I’m always having to remind myself that it’s not about how I act or the things I do that make me “deserving,” but it’s who God is, it has absolutely nothing to do with me. I’m His child, and He really takes care of me daily. I can’t wait to see where God leads, I now that life with Him isn’t normal, it’s exciting and predictable. I thank Him because He knows the future and He knows what is best for me. I’m so happy to know that He can take better care of me than I can myself, and I hope that I will always remember this in my days to come!
