Today was a goooood day.

I became a man today.

Justin and emily went north to celebrate their honeymoon. so i was given the opportunity to do other things. I (ben) woke up early and decided to go check with Josiah (our missionary host) to see if they needed help on the house they are constructing which is a project i have spent a decent amount of time on while here. I found him and asked, "Do you need help dear sir?" He replied, "how do you feel about doing some running this morning?". I laughed. he pointed to the mountain side and said the sheep were loose on the neighbor's mountain. The neighbor found out early and made a friendly visit at 5 am saying something about female dogs..didn't catch it all. So my self and 4 indians (who live on Josiah's property with their families) went to catch the run away fold. It took us 4 hours. ha. i tried to tackle one. fail. it..jumped over me...we chased them up and down the mountain. a mountain. i asked so many times for God to move the mountain. my poor faith..or dehydration. i eventually spotted one in a thicket and over a 189 minute period sneaked up behind it...crawling on my belly..while the indians distracted it with strange whistling..then i SNATCHED it by the legs and the others came to help. this is how all 6 were caught. i became a man today. i felt like an indian. so i went and jumped into the river with my clothes on. theeeen. i went and worked on the mural by myself in a giant storm for the rest of the day. i listened to music and worshiped. it was unreal. watching a storm come over the mountains pound the terrain and then roll on leaving ghostly remnants of misty clouds creeping through the mountain tips is a spiritual journey. Furthermore, for the first few hours i had a crowd of 10 to 15 kids standing a foot away from me..watching every stroke of my brush. (to matt w: here is a sneak peak of the mural with eyes!! ;) then we would talk fragmented conversations and laugh at each other. Then i walked back a couple of miles on dirt roads and over swollen rivers at dusk to the missionaries house where a fantastic dinner and friends awaited. The kingdom of heaven is on earth!!! Praise Jesus for wonderful days. this was one of them.