Good Morning!
          I can't believe I have already been here for two weeks! The days have been going by so fast as we have been taking in so many new experiences! We arrived last Tuesday pretty early in the morning and we were welcomed by our Hands On trainers.  Wednesday through Friday we spent most of the day in training! Although the days were really long, we were exposed to so much interesting material.  The Affinity team here in the America's did a great job! Here are a couple of topics that we covered:

 * What is our strategy?  We talked about how everything that we do needs to be a part of our overall goal to reach our targeted area. If it isn't strategic then we are wasting our time. This has been really helpful, because the need is so overwhelming that it is very difficult to pick and choose the things that we will invest our time and resources. Let everything that you do be strategic.

 * Are we creating something that is reproducible or creating dependency? This was a whole new world for me. How many times have I gone and imposed the American way in another country? How many times how I gone and just given a band aid to a problem that is much deeper? We must be conscious to work alongside a community or people group, instead of continuing to feed the thoughts that they can never have the right resources to do what we are doing! Everything that we do must set a model that allows nationals to take the lead. We will never be able to complete the Great Commission by sending out  missionaries from a certain organization! We must train and Equip national believers!

* Storying- This is so exciting! I had no idea that storying was going to be something that we would use! This is just one of those things that God has been preparing me to do, yet I had no idea. I went through the T4T training at my church, and I was just so excited about this methodology.  I have a lot of stories to learn!

Overall the training was a really great time! We spent a lot of time with all the Hands On students that are serving in the Americas for the next four months|! It is interesting just how quickly we became a family! Four of the students are serving in Brazil, six in Mexico, and five of us are here in Peru.  Tuesday everyone left to go to their final destinations.  For us, Tuesday was when we finally met Quentin and Gina. They took us downtown and we toured a lot of the places that we will be working over the next four months!   It looks like we are going to be very busy! Hopefully over the next week I will be able to give you a detailed list of our schedule so that you can be praying specifically for each opportunity! So far we have had a blast! The Lord has taught me so much about my desperate need for him even just in the last two weeks, but the great thing about it all is that I know that He has called me here.  Someday's I feel like  I am a Special agent with a really important task. I have some extremely important information that I need to get out, yet there are so many people that need to hear!

Here are a few things that we have done for fun!

 The Incan Market

 Friday night bus tour!

 Water park!

 IN the water tunnel!

 Please keep praying for us! We need you ! We have a very busy schedule and we are just praying that the Lord would use us! He has called us here specifically and we want to be open to his plan  for us here!  I am so thankful to be here, even on the hard days! This next week we will be planning our classes and lessons for the next couple of weeks, and then we will jump in with both feet! God gets all the Glory! Talk to you soon-

Adios!

This Means War

I'm ready to fight.  The past couple of months have definitely not gone according to the plan, or at least not my plan.  I have a dream and a strong desire in my heart and for some reason I thought it would be in place/ happening right now, but guess what it isn't.  I feel like the Lord has been priming my heart for several months maybe even a year now, confirming the desires that are deep down in my heart (Not my own just the ones that HE has planted there).  It is actually really crazy. The things I said a year ago about my future when someone asked me what I intended to do with my nursing degree would have probably sounded something like, Oh I’m going to get some experience and move to Africa...I still kept it in my mind. I partly just said it to give someone an answer to get off my back, but partly I knew that it was in my DNA and maybe someday and somehow it would come true if I just said it enough. When month after month went by, without the right job coming along, I knew He was saying just wait and pray. He had a different plan. What plan? I argued God, if you mean that plan I'll need experience. I need to know what I am doing. I am a new nurse with two weeks of vast nursing knowledge. What could he do with me?  Won't I look illequipped?   Don't I need money? God I have loans I have to pay off... Do you know this?  God, I can't pay my loans working an almost minimum paying job? He just kept saying be patient and pray.  I started praying and He started opening my eyes. Not only to opportunities surrounding my dream, but to new things about HIM and who He was.  He would quiet my heart and say Cayla.. I have you right where I want you, you know that. However, something deep in my heart just couldn't rest in that, and I would fight it.Why did I work my butt off in nursing school to work at this job and to nanny? Couldn't I be more useful somewhere else? I don't understand, but I also knew what He was saying and it was still to be patient.  So I kept praying and He would keep giving me sneak peaks of maybe what He was working on. Even though those "opportunities" didn't always work out, it was like He was saying Cayla, I haven't forgotten. It's just not time. SO I kept waiting.  

       I had the opportunity to hear a girl speak about a month ago who was so ridiculously in love with Jesus, I honestly don't know if I had ever seen someone that was so obsessed with him and also so bold about telling people. She was talking about this point in her life when doing life and doing church just wasn't enough anymore. When I say "Doing church” I don't mean it in a fake way. I don't mean you just show up, eat the doughnuts and go home, but it wasn't super personal. It wasn't a longing that couldn't be quenched or a relationship that made every other relationship in her life look like hate. While she was speaking, something in my spirit just couldn't be relaxed and entertained by her words, it was compelling me to something much more significant than  "doing church”. I honestly wasn't trying to simply replicate something that had happened in her life. It was showing me how disgusting my laziness is when it comes to my relationship with the creator of the world. She continued talking about how she didn't know what to do except read her bible day and night, and when she wasn't reading she was meditating on it or praying.  It wasn't a new fun thing to do or a heartless commitment that would fade away in a week or two IT WAS WAR. It was war against her flesh, against the prince of this world, against the comfortable Christianity that we have fallen in to. I walked out of that place extremely challenged and convicted.   It has become a war the past month.  I am not going to lie I feel like I'm losing most days, but nevertheless I keep fighting because I know in the end He wins and He has my heart.
       I truly believe that God has something churning in my future. I would like to think that it is closer rather than far away, but either way I still believe it wholeheartedly. I believe that when I would flippantly throw out an answer about doing community health around the world to answer someone's question, that it wasn't a coincidence.  I am not saying that with arrogance, because it isn't my grand plan. It isn't my idea or even possible for me to complete without Him. I feel like this time that I thought had been wasted is really only him preparing my heart for the mountain ahead.  A journey isn't easy.  I won't always have the comforts of my couch, friends, or bed, and sometimes that will be hard. My calling is much higher than that though and so is yours.
       Tonight I was reading over Psalm 40, When David was talking about the Lord not restraining His Mercy from us, because our sins have overtaken us. I am so thankful for that chapter. David, God's chosen man said that his sins outnumbered the hairs on his head, yet God still chose to save him! I'm pretty sure I could have a lot of head's full of hair, and my sins would still outnumber them. He is still faithful. He is still my Father, and His love is still steadfast.
       "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Look Full in His wonderful face, and the things of the Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace"
So Thankful for his pursuing love everyday towards my hard and dark heart. Praying that He will use me in a mighty way only for His Renown. Also for his all-knowing plan that has provided me with an almost minimum paying job and opportunity to share my Faith.
 There's way more to it than we will ever know. Go to War. He hasn't forgotten and He has a plan.

AFtermath

 Five weeks and one day ago I came home from a summer of seeing God work in my life in an unbelievable way.  I think it has taken me this long to just process everything and understand partially what the Lord has taught me.  I think one thing that I learned during the whole trip was very simple. There wasn't a moment in my time there that I thought  "Oh yea.. this is exactly why I came".  There wasn't a huge moment when the Lord shot lightening down from Heaven or anything spectacular, but it all started with a small voice.. that grew bigger and bigger until I was willing to listen to it.   I had been there about a month, I was having the time of my life.  I was making friends, eating strange foods, learning culture and all the wonderful things I had intended to, but I wasn't always looking for the Lord's work. I was looking for my experience. Please understand that I knew that God had called me to this place, and I was right where he wanted me. I just didn't feel him working. I felt like nothing was happening. I was just living and having a great time (thinking I was doing something extraordinary). I then realized that is the exact place God needed me to be in order to show me what he was about to show me.   My heart.  Who knew that it would take me flying all the way around the world and doing crazy things in order for Him to show me something that was with me the whole time.  He kept impressing these thoughts in my mind. .. Why am I here? For my glory or His? How am I living? Lifting my name higher or His?.. I quickly realized I was so easily wrapped up in what I (BIG I) was doing for His kingdom.  I was there telling an unreached people group about the one who brings life.. I was doing that.. How awesome was that.  me. me. me. me. me.  Then He showed me..  He doesn't need me and I don't bring anything to the table He doesn't already have.   He showed me who I was .. Who we are as humans. Wicked. Evil. Sinful.  (regardless of our deeds) I have a sin problem. The only good in me is Jesus.  Even when I try to do something good it is usually tied in with some kind of self exaltation. My flesh seeks to glorify self. I never thought that I was a horrible person... I mean yea.. I have sinned a couple of times , but they weren't "that bad"..  so I thought until this particular time.  Jesus showed me how desperate my heart was for a Savior.  So desperate.  So entangled in Earth.  My sins that weren't so bad ran deep. They ran deep into my DNA, and I saw why I needed a savior. It wasn't those little sins that were so bad, but the underlying issue that I was mocking God. I saw how prideful I was. I can no longer say that I am a good person, because there is no such thing. A good person doesn't sin against the creator of the World, spit in his face, or mock his commandments.  I do.  We do as humans,Yet He was willing to die for me.  I feel like this is a lesson that I have known in my head for a long long time, but I have never truly felt it in my own heart until this point.   He is good and I am not. I am unworthy to stand before him, and unworthy to be his servant. I am not good with words, and I don't feel like I have expressed my heart adequately.  I hope you are able to see and understand. I hope that God allows you to see.
 If you would have asked me before my trip what I thought God wanted to teach me this summer I would have said.. Learn to love the Lost or how to be a good worker in the garden . I never would have thought that the Lord would show me my heart and how self seeking it is.  I am so glad He did.  I am so glad He showed me because I felt like It brought me closer to him by seeing how much I needed him. I need my heart to be healed. I need to love like HE loves and not how I love.  I need my eyes to be opened like His eyes are opened.
 My God Is faithful. He is faithful to use my efforts even when they are not pure.  He is faithful to lead you to the desert and bring you back with more knowledge than you had before. He is always there. Ready to teach and equip you. Ready to show you how you can love Him more.  Ready to prove himself faithful over and over and over and over and over. You just have to have faith. He can do it. He is the God of the Universe. The One who conquered Death. The One who took your place! The things he shows you aren't always the lessons you want to learn, but always the lessons He needs you to learn.
 I don't know how I can express anymore how crazy this has been.   I just know that He told me to do something and I did it. He took care of the rest. Be obedient.

 " Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up" James 4 :10

"Being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it out unto completion until the day of Christ Jesus" Philippians 1:6

 The Lord is faithful.. ... Always.

A continuation

I can not believe it is time to say good bye! It less that 5 hours,we will be getting on a plane and leave this hot, sticky city that I have grown to love! I can't believe it is over! Really! The Lord is working in my life and in the lives of all the people that I have  met!  It has been a incredible journey, but I am trying to remember that the Lord is not finished leading me !  The journey will only continue when I get home!  I get to share my stories and testimony to everyone in America and tell them what my summer has been like! What an amazing opportunity!  It is a little overwhelming thinking about all the things that are going to be thrown in my face when I get back, but I know that the Lord is with me.  ( This is one of the most comforting phrases that I have grown to love during this time) I love being here and having my mind set on a purpose every single day, and doing whatever the cost is to accomplish that Purpose! I intend to try my hardest to leave everyday with that purpose when I come back home!  I don't want to re reabsorbed in to the "American way" that I was so entangled in when I left! It's so freeing to not have to worry about what you are going to wear because you only five 5 outfits, or what kind of car you drive because every one has black Kijangs.  It is simple and only the issues that matter are the issues that you face every single day! I am so thankful for everything that I have been able to do while I was here. Everything was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity!  Thank you!  I am going to try to write another post as I am readjusting to life in the US!  Thank you for all the Support!

 The last couple of days have been really great! We have had a really great time with friends and workers here. We have had to start saying good byes, because The fasting month begins tomorrow and a lot of people don't want to hang out with us because it is a time to be with family.  I don't want to leave some of them, but yet I am so excited to see my family and friends again.   There are some things I just can't wait to do as soon as I get back, but somethings I will just miss terribly.
 For example, I won't miss being able to wear my shoes wherever I go so that the bottom of my feet are not constantly black.  I won't miss the smell of things burning all the time . I won't miss the smell of the bathrooms or houses, It's like an ammonia smell. So strange but it is everywhere.  I will miss the smell of J- co doughnuts.... SO amazing. I won't miss having to put my shoes on every time I go in the bathroom because it's wet.  I will miss the helper looking at me like I am absolutely crazy when  I walk out of my room when I first wake up with all my hair on top of my head and my pajamas.  I will miss trying to use my little bit of Indonesian along with motions to the helper to communicate.  ( you would think that once she said the same thing several times I would learn it) I won't miss falling asleep to toxic bug spray or the mosquitos eating me up. ( IF YOU EVERY COME HERE YOU CAN NOT BRING ENOUGH BUG SPRAY). I won't miss wearing the same 5 outfits for 2 months, but I will miss the fact that it doesn't matter what I look like every one still tells me I am beautiful.  We will miss eating with out hands, despite how dirty they might be.   I won't miss never having a hand towel to dry them off with. (They never have things to dry your hands off with ).   I WILL NOT miss smelling Durian  every where I go. I will miss being able to play at the petting zoo when we go to the supermarket. I might miss the call to prayer being blasted in to my room every morning at 4 am.  I won't miss picking out the bones off my chicken. A nice chicken breast with zesty Italian dressing would be truly amazing. no bones, no heart, no liver, no galbladder, no breaking it legs.  That will be so nice. I won't miss brushing my teeth with seperate water.  I won't miss tofu, but I will miss soybeans
These are only some of the things I can think of right now, I know it probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but It will once I get back.

This morning we were able to  meet and fellowship with people literally from all around the world. We had people from, Indonesia,Germany, New Zeland, Switerzerland, and America all in the same room. It was so incredible. It was so nice to be around people who were taller than me again. They were so tall. SOOOO tall and get this.. They had white skin.  It's the small things.  I am actually taller or as tall as most of the people here which is so strange.
 Love you all,
 Cayla

The countdown begins

Wow! Can you believe that we have been gone for almost two months! The thought of that is absolutely crazy.  My Father is doing a mighty mighty mighty work  in this place, and you both know where there is a hero there is always an antagonists.  It is certainly that same way in this situation!  I feel completely overwhelmed by everything that has gone on.  So overwhelmed that I was chosen to come here and share my life with the Indonesians.  So overwhelmed that I  am able to see the harvest, and eagerly planting new seeds for the next season. Wow. My heart is so full. .... Seriously.  Please be talking with your families and fathers and everyone urging them to share the news of the things that are happening on the other side of the World! It is truly amazing. My Father has been BY MY SIDE the entire time and I think that has been one of my favorite things.  I can go on and on and on but I can't say much more right now..... except PLEASE be obedient to the things your Father is asking you to do.  Please. It's worth everything you could ever have to give up.  That doesn't mean that it is easy, but worth counting the cost.
     I am going to try to give you a recap of everything that has been going on for the last week. I think that is the last time that I have sent out an update.  Last Friday  we had a normal day and then spent the night at the Rukko. I was not feeling really good, so I went to bed early. The next morning  I woke up with a pretty high  fever and was pretty much toast for the rest of the day. I was a little scared because I thought I might have dingy fever, but then when I started feeling better, I knew it would be smooth sailing. (Talking about answering requests fast). Sunday, I was still not feeling super great but able to function. We spent the morning together and just resting.   We got a phone call asking us if we would like to go to the S's house to spend some time with an Indonesian friend. We jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house and to be with him , so of course we went. We spent the afternoon talking and singing songs together.
     That night  the K boys came over and we had a great time with them playing while there parents went out on a date for their 18th anniversary! We also got a special treat from McDonald.  I love those boys so much. They are so sweet spirited and are a great example! 
   Monday morning, we had our last Monday with the Brimob police. It was a bitter sweet parting, but all good things must come to an end.  Some of them were icky so we were happy to leave, but the most part were so kind and eager to learn. They even put together a sweet little concert for us and sang.  We have encouraged them to come to the library to keep practicing so tonight we will see if any of them come! As soon as we were finished with The police we hopped back in to the car and headed over to a school to teach at an English club.  It was a good experience.  ( Trying to be positive) It was so hot and the kids did not speak a lot of English so it was really hard to get things done. Also, It was the beginning of school so they didn't listen well.  I am sure that the next time they go they will be better behaved.  They were sweet though.  By the Afternoon, We were all pretty wiped out from the heat and being sick so we rested.. I think.
    Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all pretty similar. We woke up, got ready, and headed out to the Library to spend our day talking with people. There aren't usually a lot of people there, so a lot of the time we just spend time with the workers. I played Hang man with them  for a long time one day and we had a lot of fun.  I also had a sweet conversation with a girl named Tres something.  ( I am just writing this so I will remember to tell you about it when I get home).    On those evenings, We spent time organizing all the things that you sent with me to give to the Orphanage.  We bought a lot of things with Your Money and had TONS of toys to give to them.  So we had to organize it all and package it up for them. It took a bit of time.
       Thursday Afternoon, We finally got to go to the Orphanage.  It was such a long awaited time! Oh and the best part was that It was an all GIRL orphanage.  Oh my gosh, I wish I could tell you every detail, but I can't. So I will just highlight.   A lot of them are refugees from a war that is going on, so a lot of them aren't even from Indonesia.  They looked so sad at first, but once I got them going their shells cracked and they had the biggest smiles.  I played and taught them songs, and games, and all kinds of things for like 3 1/2 hours.  Meanwhile, We had a little situation because they told us they only have 30 children, but once we got there  they told us 55, and then changed it back to 35 . BUT we only had 30 bags. M said.. what were you thinking you didn't pack extra bags.. and we said, Well we thought that they knew how many kids they had haha. Anyways, P and Rachel did an awesome job of re organizing it and buying more stuff while A and I kept them entertained. Our Talents fit so perfectly in that situation. We had such a blessed time, and we are hoping that we can go back next week.
      Today (Friday) We woke up really early and went with our doctor friend to her clinic and got to tour her facility. It was such a great time. Rachel and I took Aids test, and you would all be thankful to know that we were both NEGATIVE. .. I was a little scared at first because I didn't see them change the needle in the sticker, so I was a little freaked out because I thought, what if you give me aids in the process of testing me for aids, but when I asked they changed it. :) We had lunch with her... and now We are back at home for an hour of so until we have to go to the Library for the night. Tonight, We are having Joke night at the Library and a little going away party for us! It should be a great time.
           This is the kicker. Next would can either be a really great week or a not so great week it all depends. Monday Ramadan starts, which means fasting starts, which also means EVERYTHING changes. So we might have a lot of chance to hang out with people, or no one will be able to hang out. We are still trying to work around this, so you can be talking with the Father about that.  We can potentially have some great moments.
     " The Reality of the path we follow could never become greater to me than right now, It is so amazing that I have been found"
  Would love to keep hearing from you! Miss you all so much!

 Love
 Cayla

Homestay

Everything is going really well on the other side of the world.  I think that the last time that I updated everyone might have been last saturday, almost a week ago.  The quick run down of the  days in between are as follows. Saturday night we went out with a lot of friends and sang karaoke which was really fun. Saturday was had a house gathering, and a couple of people from the team had to go out of town for various reasons so we the rest of us spent the afternoon at the mall and furniture shopping for the K family.  We had a great time (as always). Monday we visited the Police men again and then came back home and packed for our trip. We had movie night with Prisk and Andri two of our favorite teenage girls, and then off on the road we went.  We were going to a place about ten hours away, and everyone told us it would be cool there so we were so excited. The plan was for us to stay with an Indonesian family for two days and a night just to get a little more culture experience.  Well, Let's just say it was full of culture.
          After traveling all day, we finally arrived in PA and met Espi.  We thought that we were going to be staying in a city, but once we got there we found out we had another 40 minute drive out. (which actually turned into 2 hours). You could probably imagine that after two hours, we were not in a city anymore, but surrounded by village after village. OH and by the way, when I say Village I am not using that word loosely but in every context. So we arrive, and the road that her little house is on is not big enough for our car to drive down. So we unpack and carry all of our stuff to her house. By this time everyone realizes that someone new is in town. Little did we know, we were the first white people these people had every seen. We meet up with her family and they invite us in. So we sit down and are talking (except we aren't really talking because no one speaks English so we just smile). AS we are chatting our little lives away I see someone walk in carrying the dreaded fruit.... yep. you guessed it was durian. I Wanted to cry, because I knew that I was going to have to eat it. There was no getting around it . They were all staring intently at us. So they slice one.. then they slice 2 and another and another. Before I knew it there we were sitting with atleast 9 halves of durian in front of us.  So We dug in. I was praying that simple phrase that Peggy taught me. Lord Ill gulp it down if you keep it down.  Rachel and I were sitting across the room from each other so I look at her and notice she is trying to distract herself from the durian and I made eye contact with her and smiled with me eyes (you know in that really nice way) and told her there was no getting around it. So we ate a little and it was really nice to see her gag in front of everyone.. Made my day.  Then we continue with mangos, avocado juice, duku, rambutan etc.  When we ate all we could, I looked out the door and there stood almost the whole village at the front door trying to get a look at us. wow CULTURE SHOCK.  We went outside and took pictures for about 2 hours.. Then it happened.
       It was time for B and G to leave.  I watched them drive away in there kijang and I thought I might fall on the ground and scream and cry as loud as I could, but I held it together. Espi knew a little English but she couldn't understand us so that made for an interesting time.  We walked around the village with all the little Asian children following us it was so sweet. We walked around saying hello and everytime we met a group of people and told them we were from the us they would say  OOOOOOOH AHHHHHH. It was hilarious.  We Eventually made it back to the house we were staying in and Espi asks us if we would like to take a bath. Rachel and I looked a little funny at each other and thought well, its only like 5 o clock so we passed. Then she went to take a bath followed by her mother, father, brother, and aunt.  By 6 o clock everyone had their PJs on and I thought hm... maybe I should shower and put my pajamas on because that is what they are doing and after all I do want to be culturally correct.  So I ask Espi, Could I take a shower ? She says of course and hands me this towel...  It was a little damp (actually like soaking wet) and I put it all together they all had used the same towel. EVERYONE and now it was my turn... So I said a quick prayer and asked him to put me in a  bubble so I wouldn't get any disease and hop right in.  Except It wasn't a shower.. That's what you were thinking right? Nope. A Bok. It's like a big tub of water and you dip water out and pour it over yourself with a little bucket. and it's in the same room as the squatty.. So it had to be clean right?
 I managed to get clean with some forever Sunshine body wash and St Ives face wash. It seemed to act as an all in one cleanser.  Then I make my way back in to my room where I find a host of ladies waiting on me. I tried to communicate that I was going to be changing, and I thought they might leave, but instead they decided it would be okay if they all cramped in really tight and just shut the door.  I did a really good job of changing all my clothes and holding a towel up at the same time.  I am sure that whole village knows about the white girls.
( Rachel is going to fill you in on the sleeping part or lack there of sleep part of the night)
We have been told that most Indonesians sleep with the light on, out of fear of evil spirits. We had been preparing ourselves for sleeping with the light on, but we were by no means prepared for the long sleepless night ahead. There was a twin size bed in the room that the three of us, Cayla, Espi, and myself, shared. It was to our great disappointment that the hammock-looking thing hanging from the ceiling was actually a mosquito net. (or mosk-queee-to, as they like to pronounce it here) The entire night Cayla and I hugged the wall laying horizontally, legs dangling off the bed; meanwhile our dear LITTLE friend took up 3/4 of the bed. Thankfully we were able to turn the light off, as Espi told us the light would only make the room hotter. This was difficult to believe, as we were sleeping in a sauna with no windows, a closed door, cement walls, and silk sheets. Somehow a renegade moskqueeto managed to join us under the net. He bestowed us with countless little itchy bites throughout the night, but we were unable to get the benadryl stick out from under the net. We slept a couple minutes and lost at least two pounds just from sweating. The next morning Espi brought us our first breakfast in bed. It was fish crackers. Now please understand that this family, especially Espi, did their best to provide only the best of food and conditions for us. Indonesian and American culture is so very different that it made the stay challenging but very educational for the two of us. That being said, the fish crackers resembled the taste of cardboard and the lumpy fried unknown item . . . well we are unsure as to its identity and resemblance. After we were ready for the day, we were offered a second breakfast. Rice, fish soup, and chicken. The rice was the best I have eaten yet. The fish head was still in the soup, its eye looking straight at us every time we were served more. The chicken was absolutely delicious, but spicy enough that we no longer needed the sauna room. Even Espi found the chicken too spicy to eat. She would later offer us lunch and was kind and thoughtful enough to wash the chicken with water to tone down the spice for us.
      We went  to meet the head of the village who needed to grant us permission to be in the village. He was very disgruntled as the last foreigners some twenty odd years ago had neglected to request permission to stay there. Cayla, through some translation help from our very smart Espi, was able to smooth things over.   (Cayla is now telling the rest of the story). After he made us write down every piece of information about ourselves in his little notebook we hopped back in our land rover from the 80s car and headed to the swinging bridge.. Eh The things I do.. I hate bridges. Anyways, We had a fun time there and headed back to E's house to grab our sutff. When we arrived there were atleast 10 other guys in our living room area who had decided they were going to go to the tea plantations with us.  So they all crammed in the car... It was a tight squeeze. Twleve of us all together.  They were all smoking, eating durian, burping durian, shooting snot out their noses, along with a little hint of BO.. perfect recipe for  a long day in the car. We drove to a couple waterfalls and they were so extremely beautiful. Hiked a little bit on the mountain where all the tea plantations were, and then visited a few more waterfalls. 
       The whole time we  were walking this one guy kept telling us that we walked really fast, and I preceeded to tell him that if he didn't smoke he too could walk as fast as I could.  He refuted, but I insisted and after we were finished the first thing that he did was light another one up. Genius.  The last waterfall that we went to visit, turned out to be one of the most comical things in my life.  The bridge was broken so we climbed down on the rocks to see the fall. Unfortunately,  it wasn't a great view so the Indonesians and I convinced Rachel to cross the rough river and go to the waterfall.   She thought it would be okay because she could just hold her skirt up and it wouldn't get wet.... well. The water was a little deeper, a little faster... the rocks a little sharper and slippery than she had first thought. She ended up falling and the men had to drag her across. I have never ever laughed so hard in my life.  It was a great day. 
      One of the things that we learned was that they like to take rests. For example, when we had been in the car almost an hour they would say.. we must stop and take a rest, so naturally we said okay..   We got out stretched for 10 or 15 minutes and then  got back in the car. We literally went around the curve and there the waterfall was. I don't know why they couldn't have waited just another 10 minutes, but that is the culture and it happened all day.   On our way back home, we had an array of tasty (sarcastic) snacks Tofu... etc. When we arrived we pulled in to the hotel where B and G where and they didn't believe it was us when  we pulled in and everyone was smoking and there were so many people in the car, but then we emerged from the depths.  We had a blast that night telling stories. 
      The next day, we drove home and on the way stopped and taught some English at some schools, which is always a blast. The kids are so fun to be around. I think I laugh as much and they do. We arrived home late thursday night and were welcomed home by a nice meal at Pizza Hut ( where they make you balloon animals). I don't think the servers at PH in the states are that talented, but I could be wrong.
 That long story basically sums up the highlights of the past week. There are so many other things that I would love to share but it is simply too long.  It was one of the hardest and uncomfortable things I have ever done, but  worth every sec for the purpose.
On that note, there are several people here who may one day get to meet my father.  Please be thinking about that and knowing that dreams can come true. Also,   Our energy levels need to stay pumped up for the last couple of weeks. We still have a lot to do.  I have some sort of cold going on and I am not feeling super great. There is so much going on! I miss everyone the most right now! Keeping my sight on Mcghee Tyson on Aug 11! Be there or be square!! Love you all! Would love you hear from you and there are a lot of new pictures on Facebook!
see you soon
 Love,
 Cayla and Rachel