mud.

So this morning I learned how to put the truck in four wheel drive... the fun way. :)

--Background info--Almost every morning I drive the truck out to the ranch to retrieve our drinking milk. 100% organic-straight-from-the-utter milk. It is really good. I wish I could have easy access to it in Mansfield. I will definitely look into that when I get back. (I did drink soy milk before coming here, but obviously that is not accessible here.)

Anyway-- I got stuck in the mud today. It has been raining all morning and earlier, it was really pouring down. For a while. So that made the dirt roads into mud roads. I was driving on this road with the truck in rear wheel drive, every thing going well. I was driving slow and trying to keep straight so I wouldn't start to fish-tail. But then this truck coming the opposite way was driving really fast and fish-tailing all over the road. I didn't know if he was doing it on purpose but he didn't get stuck. I was trying to avoid a collision with this guy so I veered to the side of the road a little. When he passed I was in the divot that everyone wants to avoid. I started yelling NO!!!!! But it was too late. I was stuck. And I didn't know how to put it in 4-wheel. So I got out to check the damage. It was not going anywhere without some pushing help. I have been stuck in snow before but being stuck in the mud is... a little different. No matter how hard you press on the gas, those wheels will just keep turning. And there is not grass or pavement underneath the mud like there is when snow is on the ground. Just more mud. So the guy who sped past me before, saw that I was stuck. He started walking down to see the damage. I asked him if he could help me push in broken Portuguese. He was telling me things that I did not have the vocabulary for to understand, so I just nodded. But he ended up getting in the truck while I, and two other guys pushed. Finally we got out. After, he showed me how to put the truck in 4-wheel drive. It helped.

So all in all I got the milk. And on the way back I drove in 4-wheel drive the whole way and did not get stuck. Plus, I saw a little monkey with a funky tail run across the road on the drive way back. So it was a great morning. And a good story to tell in the future. :)

By the way- I love driving in the mud now. Its a challenge and I love it.

home.

If you keep track of my Facebook profile, you will notice my status has a quote from the book "Kon-Tiki." It is a narrative of 6 men who decide to travel across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to the Polynesian Islands. They decide to do this for adventure and to prove it was done hundreds of years ago by the Inca Indians who lived in Peru. These people, according to Thor Heyerdahl's theory, used a balsa wood raft, to travel across the ocean and start a new civilization in the Polynesian Islands. At the time the theory was not even considered because people thought it was impossible to do such a task with the unforgiving, treacherous sea elements. Heyerdahl wrote a manuscript explaining his theory backed with facts with which he presented to many scholars, but it was not even considered for reading. His life was devoted to this manuscript, and no one even wanted to read it because of the impossible task of crossing the sea in a raft for 4300 miles. So he, in a desperate attempt to save his theory and redeem his faulty scientific research, came up with a daring, life threatening plan. He would cross the Pacific Ocean on an exact, ancient replica of the raft used hundreds of years ago which were built by learned and experienced Incans. He round 6 quirky men to join him, and their journey began.

I love this book. The story makes me want to do the exact same thing. It exemplifies curiosity and adventure; something we all have deep down. The quote posted on my Facebook profile is when the men were half way across the sea. Already had they made it farther then what people speculated. Fish, whales, sharks, squid, turtles, and the raft had become a part of them. The raft was their home on the sea and they were attached to the new lifestyle. Occasionally, a little rubber buoy was taken out, away from the raft in order to take pictures, meditate, swim, and take in the plain blue beauty around them. However, despite the beauty and relaxation the buoy offered, the men began to grow lonely and homesick if they stayed out for too long. One time the buoy was nearly swallowed by the huge waves and a man almost did not make it back to the raft. They ended up attaching a rope to the buoy because they were always attracted back to the raft; their home. There was a magnetic force pulling them into the the only home they knew and grew attached to over the months. This reminded me of something...

It reminds me of my walk with Christ. Often I stray away from Him. I wander off because of curiosity and the longing for finding adventure; by myself. The more I grow independent from my earthly parents, the more dependent I am, therefore, becoming on God. My situation is similar to the men on the Kon-Tiki raft. Their home whispered their names whenever they strayed away for too long. Every time I wander off on my own and try to be independent from God, I pathetically come crawling back eventually. I think this might apply to most Christians as well. If it can happen to people on a raft out in the middle of the ocean, I am sure it can happen to all of us. And the cool thing about it is this. God always welcomes us back. Just like home always welcomes us in again. Were never locked out.

lots of things have been happening...

Yeah, I have not been on here for a while. Facebook seems to be my first choice of social connection. I tried posting one of my videos on here last Friday but, needless to say, it did not work out as planned. So I have posted (one of) the video(s) on there. You can go there and check it our if you have not already. I am also posting all the pictures on there. It just seems to work better on Facebook and not a whole lot of people know I even have this blog...

But anyway. Things have started really rolling here. I am getting the hang (sorta) of this language. Its not too bad I guess. Just takes practice. Just like everything else. And being absorbed in it. This past weekend was Fiel with the Central Church. We stayed the nights over at the ranch and on Saturday morning we had a lesson. I wasn't really sure what the lesson was about. And every other word I would sorta understand so I would dwell on those couple words and try to draw my own conclusions on what he/she were talking about. Then I would realize like 50 more words just went by. Ha. So this is how it feels to be a foreigner... I suddenly have a little more respect for the people trying to learn English in the states who are also foreigners. It sorta sucks, but its a very humbling experience. And the only thing you can do is keep listening, talking, and cracking the books.

So the reasons for no posts from me are... I don't know what to say, and... I prefer Facebook. To be honest. And I have not been around a computer for about 4 or 5 days. I hope you all (6 or 7 people) can forgive me.

tchau!