It was about 3pm. we were all sitting around having lunch(rather late, o well). A storm was brewin outside, looked like it would be a down pour from the look of the clouds and the thunder we heard.
but our new friend Damian (who is really awesome, he has been traveling all around South America for years, been nearly everywhere, and he is actully form i believe Venezuela) asked us if we would like to see the farm he works at. He assured us it was just a ten minute walk so we set out, thinking that its just ten minutes, we can beat the storm for sure!
Ten minutes became 20 quickly. down hill at a steep angle. We should have taken note when we were asked if we had problems with our vertigo...or when one of our translators, whom damian had just shown the sorta location off yonder that we were headed to, decided she would not be continueing with us. With her we lost 2 others. 7 remained and carried on.
that 20 minutes became 45 before we made it to the farm. luckily the rain had not come and it was still pretty light out.
as we were walking, downhill, still at a steep slope, we shuffeled through our minds the concept that of "what goes up must come down", except the difference was that for us, "what goes DOWN, mus go UP!" keeping this in the back of our minds as we continued on. we crossed over little streams and through fields nestled in the mountain side, walked throught the sometimes extremely narrow farmers paths and up and over the various rock wall fences. It was a GORGEOUS walk! green hills, beautiful mountainscapes, precious little flowing streams, wild flowers everywhere, animals around. GOREGOUS!!
us 7 (Stephen, Amy, Liz, Jim, Damian, Roberto and I), i would say we were tough and rose to the challenge! we made it to the farm, met the farmer and his wife, saw thier little puppies and the donkey and pig. damian showed us the expanse of land that was a part of the farm and the chickens tried to attack once. (haha, it was funny)
It was great times, only one of us had a camera, so we do have a pic of us there.
alas, the time came to head back up. We contemplated doing a straight steep hike to the road above us a ways to be able to ease our way from there into Chavina, but Damian reminded us that there is a possibility that Matt, Lacie and Margaret were still waiting for us where we left them(30-40 minutes earlier) so we just went the same way we had come from.
It was intense. and i had to pace myself. I was in constant conversation with the Lord, in complete relience of him for even my next breath. "Lord, fill my lungs with Oxygen, help me take this next step, stop the burning sensation on my hand from that plant i just grabbed and shouldnt have!" lol those were my prayers. as silly as they sound, they were truth, honesty, and proof that the Lord provides ALL of our needs. It was a beautiful time. Not only because of the surroundings, but because of the closeness to the Lord, the fellowship with friends, the challenge, the smells, EVERYTHING! The fact that the Lord answered our prayers for the rain to not come (there were many rocks on our return, slippery rocks would have made for some danger, and possibly funny stories...). One minute the clouds were thick and gray, the next they were gone.
At the close of the walk(HIKE!!!), when i asked Roberto to help me thank Damian, Damian responded with something along these lines. "When you are given the chance to see the glory of God through His creation, you should take it, no matter what the cost. He is the ultimate artist and this world is his canvas and he has given it to us. Look how magnificant this is, this piece of art, here for us to see".
That made the entire walk worth it in my book. He was so right! It was a phenominal experience.
FYI. Peruvian 10minute walk=45minutes there, 2 hours back.
got back just in time for night to settle in.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment