first week¡¡¡

Hey guys,

So, first week was intense. I arrived in Iquitos on saturday night and it has been a week and a day. I am doing a DTS program through YWAM, its a 6 month school, 3 months in the class room learning what it is to be a missionary and 3 months of hands on work in the feild to see if being a missionary is legit or not. I´ve gotten to know a lot of the people here and they are all awesome. The first three days we all had classes and orientation. Still adjusting to living in a different country and everyone realizing that we all are in a constant state of sweating... I´ve learned to love rice... and more rice... So by wednesday I started to get into a routine of what is going on with schedule etc... Well thursday held a surprise that impacted me more than I would´ve ever expected. Thursday at 9:00 they had us pack a bag a little smaller than a walmart sack and it had to be for a retreat, that was all the info we were given. So being in the jungle and all i brought 100% deet and toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, two pairs of socks, three pair of underwear, and two shirts. We were able to bring a sleeping bag and water bottle seperate of tiny bag... We loaded up on a bus and headed into the jungle... we arived and we were given food, a machete, a shovel, cookwear, plates and utensils. our leader took us deeper into the jungle and we had there 3 2x4x12, 10 2x10x12, and a bunch of jungle looking 4x4x4´s a big tarp, a bag of nails, a hammer, and 6 mosquito nets. there were 10 of us in our team. At first I hated it. I was hotter than I had ever been, even with 100% deet, i was being eaten alive by mosquitos, i was soaked from sweat like three hours into it. I lead the construction of the tent, and it was water/bug proof... one thing that night as we all piled into it, one of our team members from Holland yelled out. Hey guys we built a sauna... Hip Hip Haroo!!! It was hilarious. I was so frustrated. I wasn´t in control of anything, whatever the school staff had planned i had to do and they didn´t tell us. needless to say i was taken out of my comfort zone. Our team lost every single competition there was. I´m a competitive person who HATES losing. Needless to say I have lost every competition we have had since the school has started and with the extremes of the environment, the lack of control of what´s going on, being stung by an amazonian wasp in the eye, eaten alive by mosquitos and bugs ive never seen before, some character issues started boiling up to the surface. I turned into a jerk to my teamates, or so I did in my head. I realized I have major pride issues and in some ways that stops me from being tought. I´m being refined by fire, or worse, survivor camp... I´m growing and learning and this is just the first week. I´m excited and ready for anything. Have a great week guys and I´ll update next week!