{"id":4030,"date":"2017-05-01T01:56:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T06:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/?p=4030"},"modified":"2017-05-01T01:56:01","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T06:56:01","slug":"trip-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/2017\/05\/01\/trip-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Trip #1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It was weird to not have a small person clinging to me or asking me for something every few minutes, but Payton and I agreed that my first trip to the jungle should be toddler-free. I\u2019m so glad it was. It gave me the ability to focus and observe rather than chase and manage Finn.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I had the privilege of attending the biannual pastors conference of a maturing tribal church here in our region. Payton attended a similar one last fall. They were teaching through the Pastoral Epistles and the leaders were asking multiple questions about the meaning of different passages. It was fascinating to hear their questions\u2014ones I\u2019ve never heard asked before. For example, in the case of a charge brought against a church elder, who can be a witness? Do they have to be all from seperate family groups? When should he be brought before the congregation? Can he be trusted again if it\u2019s something not super serious?<\/span><\/p>\n

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One of my favorite parts was being able to tag along with the veteran missionaries who had been there when it all began. They were attending the conference and teaching different lessons. I really enjoyed seeing so much of what we\u2019d studied about in training come to life around me and be retold from multiple perspectives. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The hospitality was wonderful while we were there…although I did get burned out on rice 3x a day. I usually do 2, but 3 put me over the top.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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They took turns hosting all of the visitors. Everyone cooked and brought it to one place. See the pink drinks in the front? It’s actually just water, but they boil it with a type of wood so it has color and therefore, you know it’s been purified.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Taking communion with brothers and sisters in the middle of the jungle was also a memory I will keep tucked away. As we remembered the sacrifice of Christ together, I was struck by how amazing it was the God called men and women from out of this tribe for the praise and glory of His Name. And I was able to sit and partake in a bit of heaven with them as we remembered our Lamb together.<\/p>\n

One afternoon we went on a little jaunt through mostly untamed jungle terrain to check out their hydro electric system\u2014the whole village has power this way\u2014at least 1 light per home, plus they were all given 1 small solar panel to share per 2 families from the government. The house we stayed in was pretty rustic, but they even had a TV! At first when we set out on our hike,\u00a0 <\/span>I wondered why so many people had decided to follow along\u2026turns out, I think they made sure there was at least 1 of them for each of us! It was probably in the event that we had to be carried back to the village! We did have to cross a pretty swift river several times and hike up a really muddy hill, but it wasn\u2019t terribly crazy. I was very grateful for the help though.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The beautiful valley and the village down below<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The reservoir that sits above the hydro system<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Hiking down from the reservoir in very slippery mud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The very simple turbine with the generator inside the shack. It has a wooden axel that’s replaced every 6 months or so. This little thing powers the whole village!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The last and final river crossing–they let me try their rafts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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But, again, my favorite was probably sitting on the porch drinking tea with the old veterans as the afternoon rains poured down on the tin roof, hearing how over the years God had worked miracles in their hearts and miracles in the lives of those around them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was weird to not have a small person clinging to me or asking me for something every few minutes, but Payton and I agreed that my first trip to the jungle should be toddler-free. I\u2019m so glad it was. It gave me the ability to focus and observe rather than chase and manage Finn. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1068,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,1],"tags":[448,580,1455,51899,83419,637,83416],"class_list":{"0":"post-4030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-overseas","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-ethnos360","9":"tag-hiking","10":"tag-hospitality","11":"tag-hydro","12":"tag-new-experiences","13":"tag-new-tribes-mission","14":"tag-trip-interior","15":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/payton-downing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}