Madagascar

Day #82 of Summer.

We have arrived in Madagascar.

As Jay packed us into the car, and gave us the close, and fast driving experience through Antananarivo, we were all swaying in our seats with our weighted eyes. We were ready to let our heads finally hit the pillows, close our eyes and sleep laying down, breathing fresh Malagasy air, and not reduced, reused and recycled air that circulated through the second plane for thirteen hours. God that flight was awful, my ankles are swollen from altitude, and my body aches in places that it typically doesn’t after gymnastics. I ache in places like my neck, from leaning my head back in the chair, and my butt is numb from sitting on it for hours on end.

After twenty-one hours total.

Time in the airport, layovers, time on the plane.

The act of flying has been almost a full day.

I’m going to go to sleep.

We are at an orphanage right now.

Not allowed to eat the fruit, or drink the water. 

Those kids had smiles bigger than smiles I see on half of the kids in America. They danced as if they were the only person in the room, they worshiped as if it were just them and Jesus in the room.

And they have nothing.   

Day #83 of Summer – Jet lag game strong.

I don’t mind Cornell speaking, but today was just too long.

It’s really weird listening to an interpreter speak after Cornell.

The benches that day hurt my back, I didn’t want to speak that day either, and oh dear God, that toilet. If you can even call it that, we had not gotten used to squatty-potties yet, but this one had to be the worst of them. It was a hole in the ground with two slabs of wood to stand on. Squat and go. The smell was radiating from the hole. As we watch Scooby-Doo or Tom and Jerry when we were younger, and the artists would draw the smell coming off of food, so we could see the smell on the cartoon. So I swear I could see it when I entered that toilet. I tried to hold my breath, plug my nose, shove a couple of sticks of minty gum up my nostrils, but I decided it was better to kill my bladder holding it all day than using that toilet.

Meet a young man named Andry, he sits next to me at lunch, but doesn’t a word.

Day #84 of Summer – Almost over the jet lag. 

Headache + fire smoke + loud singing + Cornell’s preaching = Altitude sickness symptoms.

Don’t move me.

Set your corner stone down, and don’t move me.

Put me in the shade.

Don’t give me anymore chicken and rice.

Tomorrow we travel to the coast.

Day #85 of Summer – Over jet lag. Until you spend seven hours in the car.

Unlike Antananarivo, this place is covered in trees, rivers are blue and not auburn.

If you listen closely you can hear lemurs calling out to their pack.

There is more vegetation, and not as much trash.

Day #86 of Summer – Twenty years old, and treated like a child.

We stop at a waterfall in the rainforest.

Cool breezes, hearing lemurs in the background.

Get a handstand picture for me!

What are you doing? Jeanine came over. A handstand picture next to the waterfall. No. What do you mean no? No, you’re not going to do it. I’m twenty years old, I’ve been doing this for fifteen years. No. No. No. No. No. I will be fine, I promise, it’s not dangerous at all. No. I’m serious I’ll be fine! This is the eighth time I’m saying this, no. I don’t know why you are saying no, it’s just a handstand. This is eight times now, no. I’ll be fine! Now you’re really pissing me off, the more that she said it, the more degrading it was for me. Dad always said, “you teach people how they treat you.” That was a defining moment for me, as I stood with my chest as her nose, looking down to her, I am an adult and I can make my own choices of what is safe and what is not. I don’t mean to disrespect you, but you also have to know I just spent a whole summer being a mother to over sixty girls, I pay my bills, I have a job, and responsibilities. I know what it is like to be an adult, so let me be one.

I take responsibility for my mistakes on the trip.

Don’t treat me like a child please. 

Day #87 of Summer – Welcome to the Indian Ocean.

The sun rises over the Indian Ocean.

Kiah and I on the roof of our hotel.

Silently we watch the sunrise.

That is when everything about summer suddenly felt right. I missed camp, but I got to be in Madagascar. I missed my campers, but I got to be in Madagascar. I missed my team, but I got to be in Madagascar. As the wind blew in my face, there was no other place I wanted to be. I could have wished that I was visiting the Indian Ocean with Daniel, the one person who was the Evil Queen’s undoing. Or with Katie. Or the squad. Or Becca Morris. God I missed her. Then Jeanine came over and ruined the moment when she started talking.

I love the sound of the ocean as we fall asleep.

Day #90 of Summer – I really miss writing.

I want to write a story about nationals.

Maybe a story about camp.

Could I connect them? Possibly.

Day #91 of Summer – Malagasy camp is over.

I have a lot to catch up on.

Thursday; Barb and Kiah spoke that day. It was the same night that Cornell preached the undeniable sermon. He went fully into the difference in the disciples before the coming of the Holy Spirit and the difference after. They were cowards before! They ran from Jesus, denied that they hung out with him even though they SPOKE like Jesus. Their speech gave them away, and they still denied him. Cornell preached. Never before had I realized this. After the Holy Spirit came, they were mocked, stoned, hung upside-down, sawed in two, and they were not afraid to do so. Extreme difference.

The truck is stuck on the way back to the hotel.

Friday; a guy kept staring at me during services, and during worship. Even after church. We opened up the floor for the kids to ask us questions. So pastor Miefa asked me since I had spoken on wise choices, how do you know who you are going to marry? That was an interesting moment, but I answered honestly. This is how I go about dating… Cornell and Barb tell me that they are very proud of me for the standards set for dating. Don’t let some boy that doesn’t fit them come and ruin that. I won’t I said with a smile, but Daniel… I thought to myself and sigh. The standards mean nothing when it comes to him.

The Holy Spirit explodes during worship.

The moon comes over the sky.

The bugs find their way to our dirty bodies.

The Holy Spirit has kids falling to the ground one by one, still praying, but completely out.

Saturday; it was too foggy to watch the sunset again. That day was the beach day though! There was what was called an undercurrent, so if we weren’t careful, we would be pulled out and never make it back to shore. It’s happened before, Jay told us as he warned us of the undercurrent. The last wave was the worst. We would sit on the shore and let the waves pull us out a little bit, but this one pulled us out. It covered our heads, and flipped us over. This is where I die. I thought. I pictured my worst fears of drowning in the ocean coming true, struggling to swim to shore, but the faster I stroke my arms, the further I get away. Until it becomes too much, the waves overtake me, or I get too tired, the water enters my mouth and fills my lungs, and as it would burn, that is how I would drown. If you think about it, it’s a form of asphyxiation. It would be my luck that I would die on a mission’s trip. I thought to myself, but it spit me back out, and as soon as my feet met the sand, I took off up the beach until I knew I was safe again.

Time for street evangelism.

It always shocks me.

Faith seems silly when you think of it from the outside.

Fifty come to the alter call, this is where I regain my faith.

I woke up this morning to a text from my Dad saying that we needed to talk.

We will be in Antananarivo later tonight, I can talk then.

“Grandpa might not make it through the day…”

That cued the FaceTime call, as Barb walked in and I was in tears. Dad, can you put Grandpa on? I want to see him, I want to say goodbye, but he was asleep. Becca, you’re making him proud, continue doing work for the Lord. I nodded and said goodbye, it was time for breakfast, what Dad didn’t know is there was no other “missions” part of the trip. It was all shopping around the local markets and going to see the lemurs. The only work I was doing for the Lord, was building fellowship with people who had become family. Jay, who had become a second father, Carry, a second mother. Cornell, and Barb, those crazy aunts and uncles… that was the only thing I was still doing there.

I find that I really miss camp, but I also miss the college life.

Day #95 of Summer – At the airport, catch up later!

Backtrack a little… So, Sunday morning, we woke up and it was raining, so we got ready, ate breakfast, and went off to the Malagasy camp. The thing is though, since it was raining, the sand was even worse on the truck. Of course it got stuck, so we got out and walked to church as the rain came down, with no umbrellas, and I hid Cornell’s camera under my sweatshirt.

The truck is stuck back there, but you know what? Jesus is bigger than stuck trucks.

We received fruit of the road, a goodbye gift, and then we said goodbye to those kids, and all those pastors. We made our way back to Antananorivo, with the hick-up of news that I got from my father, and on our final day in Madagascar, we enjoyed ourselves with shopping and getting so see the lemurs. But we arrived back at the hotel, and as soon as my iPad connected to the wifi, there was an influx of messages.

Call me!

Need to talk to you!

Can you FaceTime?

Grandpa has passed away.

I sat on the bed, with my face in my hands, and of course, who else would walk in besides Barb? She saw Kiah comforting me, and that is when Jay came over, I knew your Grandfather, he was a good man, a man who is with the Lord now. I shook my head, and they prayed over me, the thing that got me was my uncle’s post later that night. It was a picture of Grandma, and a picture of Grandpa, together on what looks like their honeymoon. The caption? Reunited at last. Jim and Meg Thacker helped a lot though. They are missionaries as well, stationed in Madagascar, and they made us homemade curry. Although I wasn’t very hungry, I ate it, and it was probably one of my favorite foods there, besides the fioe gras that I had tried earlier, or maybe the Jackfruit, I did like the fish larva as well. Either way, it was a good meal, but then they told us stories, and interrupted one another in the process.

That is when I walked up to the front of the stage and just said Holy Spirit Come.

I walked into the tent, to just see a wave of people passing out, Meg commented.

As Meg was moving people around, more were walking in and falling to the ground.

Meg then described how she asked the people who were coming up the hill why they had buckets of water and sand, but before they could respond, they were passed out on the ground as well. When they finally woke up, Meg asked them again, why did you have buckets of water and sand? The villagers commented, we saw that the Christian’s tent was on fire and we wanted to put it out. We wanted to save the Christians.

Day #96 of Summer – Last three hours of the flight.

When your nauseous, the last thing you want to be doing is moving, and where was I? On an airplane. What was I doing? Vomiting into the sink, from what? I don’t know, it might have been the fruit that I ate, who knows, but I act like I am okay all the way through security, and on the drive back to Bowling Green, my head is between my legs.

Don’t move me, don’t touch me, don’t make a sound.

Day #97 of Summer – Funeral.

Andrew doesn’t even sit in the service.

Andy tells a story of how he would always steal Grandpa’s soda out of the refrigerator. I stole this one out of his stash at the nursing home, he opened the soda and held it up, this is the last time I’ll be able to steal pop from you Pops, and he drank it. Giving a disgusted look, I only like diet when it’s cold.

His body is lifeless, doesn’t move. His chest should be moving, he should be cracking jokes.

Who all is home? I texted the group chat to see who was at The Club House, everyone had moved in except me. Michaela responded, and so did Deshawn.

I’m moving in tonight.

September 16, 2015 – Come September, mmhmm, I will remember, mmhmm, the friendships true.

So summer is over, and pretty much so it all of the magic that came with it. I still have not found a way to put this summer into words, they aren’t enough, and probably never will be. My frustration with camp, the days I wanted to go home, and yet, I just want to be back there. I want to stand on the tables pounding on the benches singing the announcements song, betting with M.E. that we will make it through the song. Yet at other times, I want to be back in Madagascar, I want that fellowship.

But then there are times, like now, when I sit in warner, stretching out my wrists, with my body still sore from two days ago. Thinking of Madagascar, and getting sick on the way back, and just about a week ago when Deshawn walked into my room and I was asleep, but I heard him say, that jet lag is killing Becca. I slept for fourteen hours that night. I’m thinking about pulling out some layout fulls into the pit today, because… why not? There are times when I look around the gym and can’t help but think that it is refreshing to be back, to sprawl out on the blue floor, where everyone’s sweaty bodies, and unwashed feet have been and just relax for a second.

It’s times like now, when I talk to the new freshman, that I know that I can travel the world, go back to Madagascar, I can go back to camp, but I will always find my way back here. I will always end back up on this dirty floor with the people who have opened up life for me, were my escape, and made this place safe. What did you say your names were again?

I’m Sam.

 I’m Hayden.

I’m Evan.

Nice to meet you.