i almost died

well.. it felt like i almost died..

our team went out to a lake called suchitoto (pronounced sushi, as in the food, and toto as in the dog from the wizard of oz) in the northern central part of the country.. i had not been out there before, but we came with boardshorts ready to swim.. we ate at a little restaurant, and i had some incredible fish filet with garlic sauce.. reeally good!

as we were driving in, i saw an island out off one of the shores, and said to the people in my car, 'lets swim to that island..' well, the guys were slightly more excited about actually doing it than i was.. so after lunch, we got out boardshorts on, walked down to the water, and hopped in! the swim-to-the-island crew consisted of me, brandon, joe, and a guy named rob who was visiting from the states (he had come down for the spring break trip earlier in the year)

so we started swimming for this island! its crazy, but boys will be boys right? im doing my best not to exaggerate, but i would honestly say it was a good half mile.. okay okay, it doesnt sound like much to some of you people who do triathlons or are in decent physical shape.. but to me, it was brutal.. about halfway, i seriously thought i wasnt going to make it on my own.. it seemed like it just wasnt getting any closer.. the wind was going almost straight against us, so the waves were making forward movement tough.. we were all tired (except joe, who was a swimmer and was hardly winded) but i felt like i was gonna die.. i was about to start praying, 'Lord if You save me from this, i promise i will serve you in a foreign country or something,' but quickly realized that i was already doing that! so.. my selfish prayers of desperation and promises to God were kinda nullified..

well we finally reached the island, and i really cant think of a time in my life that i was more exhausted.. i smiled a weak smile, cause it felt so good to do something so hard, and actually accomplish it.. and it felt so good to realize that it was the Lord who gave me the strength and determination to make it to the island and not give up..

the island was not nearly as glamorous as we had hoped.. images from treasure island or swiss family robinson were quickly removed.. the island was surrounded on all sides by a tangle of thick floating vines.. we had to army-crawl through about twenty feet of these nasty vines just to get to solid ground.. the solid ground was covered with rotting leaves, spider webs, and enough cans and bottles to build a boat and sail back.. we were happy to get headed back..

we found a large log that could easily bear all of our weight, shoved it into the water, and began the swam back.. it was much more enjoyable having the log: one, i knew i couldnt drown; two, it was a lot more fun swimming together as a team than as four individuals; three, we were just kind of a goofy spectacle.. a fisherman in a boat rowed by us at one point and we must have looked like some pretty crazy gringos..

anyways, it was a lot of fun, a little scary, and a total adventure.. thank you for all of you who make it a priority to pray for my health and safety down here! ill try not to directly require it so much..