So Saturday, instead of going riding, I went to Ukarumpa village again because the former rascals or criminals were putting on a formal apology. Many of them came to Christ this past Easter and they have been making amends ever since. First they apologized to the director and then to BTA. Then they wanted to apologize to the community as a whole, which is what I got to see.
It was really powerful. A few local pastors spoke and then introduced the former rascals who put on a long skit and played/sang some special music for us. Then they all came forward and apologized individually. If they knew someone whose house they specifically broke into and that person was there, they apologized specifically and shook hands/hugged. Then there was more speaking and at the end they came to shake all of our hands. They also had gathered up a bunch of food and a bit of money to give to us. It took a few hours in the hot sun on a hard bench, but it was definitely worth it. I got a little red in some places, but not burned, luckily.
We were invited out for dinner Saturday night, too. Apparently there was a 4.9 earthquake during the night, but I didn’t feel it. Sunday I unfortunately set my alarm for 9:15 thinking I set it for 8:15 so I missed going to a village church. My tailbone and back were still really hurting me, so I spent most of the day resting, which I think really helped because it’s felt so much better since. It still hurts, but not nearly as badly.
Monday was the 4th of July here, so the Americans here threw a party. It was funny to think that I was celebrating America’s Independence Day when even America wasn’t doing that yet. So there was a pot luck and bring your own meat to grill. It was delicious. Once it started to get dark, we all gathered together and one of the hosts read something about the signing of the Declaration of Independence and we sang the (American) national anthem.
After that we had makeshift fireworks, since it’s difficult to get real ones into the country. This involved some guy who had made a cannon out of PVC pipes and put glowsticks in it and shot them really high up. Little kids would run and get them for him so he could get doing it. Then there was my favourite part: steel wool. I never knew you could do this before, but you take the non-soap steel wool and hook it on some wire, which is attached to a string. You put the steel wool in a fire until it starts to glow and then you take it out and spin it around in circles really fast and it makes sparks everywhere. We also fired off some emergency flares from boats/planes that were like five years past their expiration date.
When my roommates and I got home, we watched The Princess and the Frog because it was definitely a good night to veg out. As I was lying in bed to go to sleep there was another earthquake, and I felt it this time. I don’t yet know what it was rated, but it was small and lasted all of three seconds. I was still excited.
So that’s all for now. Miss you all. Keep in touch!
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