The long-awaited part two!
Here is Part One if you missed it: PART ONE
We pick up where we left off last:
The two wild boars had just pillaged a tent of young students on a school camping trip at Wan Tsai campground and my team and I clamored to console them and set the tent back up.
The memories are foggy now that two years have passed but I can remember most of it from here.
We look around, constant vigilance, waiting to spot the next exciting event with the unexpected wildlife on this little island. One of the boys, let’s just say, took precautionary measures around our campgrounds to ward off any future attempts of attack or plundering. Things calm down for the day and we were able to make our way through the evening with merriment and camaraderie. We rest.
The next day, we wait. After all, we are supposed to be hearing back about our visas! It wasn’t all just fun and games with the pigs. By the second full day of camping, most of the people had cleared out, leaving just a few stragglers and our teams.
Tucked away in the corner of the campgrounds is a tent city, some may say, with the legend that is Jaco. Now, I didn‘t get to meet him until the next round of activities with the boars. Before we get to that, the context you need is that Jaco was once part of the Chinese military and he disagrees with a lot of things there, understandably so, so he chooses to live on this island away from people. He has the ultimate setup and the generosity and liveliness of no one you have ever met, pretty hospitable for a guy that doesn’t like people if you ask me. A team on our squad befriended him and created a connection for us all to gather that week.
In the following days, we take turns being asked to head BACK to the main island in Hong Kong to be interrogated and to run various errands. Time is getting cut shorter, our leaders are being asked to provide insane documentation of their travels in order to join us and it’s pure chaos. Anything that could go awry did.
It all leads up to this one last day of complete turmoil.
Our Leaders finally join us on the island after accessing their travel information for the government. Everything hinges upon one passport number being chosen to have a final interrogation with the authorities. Through miscommunications, Molly is sent to the main island when, in reality, it was supposed to be me. Honest mistake, two blonde girls…We get the call that I have to interview that day, so they send me off as well in a rush. It’s halfway through the day and we approach the last of the buses to get off the island and onto the main island. My teammate, Zach and I sprint left and right, dodging traffic, and we make our way to the interrogation office before closing time to find out the approval of all the visas rests solely on the answers I provide. We all get approved or we all get denied. Together.
Through the grace of God, Zach and I were able to get our visas approved and we were given a document for all 20 something of us to make it into China.
This one piece of paper held so much power.
Zach placed it in his backpack with a verbal note to transfer it to our faithful squad-mate, Jenny, once we get back and we worked our way off the main island and onto our campgrounds. I won’t spend time on this portion of the story but know that the theme of chaos was still prevalent as we navigated our way back….it was grueling. But bonding.
The sun had already set and it’s dark as Zach and I rejoin our group. We head to our tents first and then meet up with others who are communing in Jaco’s tent. We share stories of being delivered over beer, some Duck dish and other food items prepared for us. More news on the boars ripping through our tents, and more laughter.
Through no other explanation other than the Holy Spirit, I get a strange feeling that I need to go check on my team’s tents. Molly asks to join me so we can trade stories from the day as we both faced the same interrogations. We turn on our headlamps, and set out into the pitch black as Zach calls out ”hey can you check if my backpack was put away?” I agree to check and we continue on.
Our laughter was cut short as we approach my teams’ tents in time to witness a MASSIVE boar, in cartoonlike style, making eye contact with us as he grabs Zach’s backpack (it was NOT put away) from the stone picnic tables and descends into the ravine. We shriek and I yell that our visa documentation is in the backpack and Molly and I take off after it. I grab a rock, Molly grabs one too and we descend down after the boar tossing the stones. We hear a triumphant squeal and see the boar ripping into the bag with just enough time for Molly to slide further down to take action, I toss another rock towards the boar and she grabs the backpack and tosses it up to me and we scamper back to the picnic table to check out the damage. An honorable mention to JD and Eric here, they were sleeping and Eric tried to throw on clothes and get out of the tent in time, JD managed to get out and grabbed a shovel, but we had it covered.
Hand lotion, a water bottle and of course, the backpack bore wounds from the assault, but the visa documentation suffered only that of boar slobber but remained 100% intact. We transport it safely to Jenny and return to the group in shock of what just took place. We were still set to go to the big country. Praise God.
Battles not of flesh and blood, my friends….my faith remains.
Thank you for reading. As I mentioned, many parts were omitted, but one day you may hear the full story (; This is 100% true, I would never lead you astray.
Peace and Blessings and watch out for the pigs!
Allison, you can truly believe that God is what that saved you from that hog. Since I grew up in the country and we raised hogs I am truly familiar with how vicious they can be.
Thanks grandmother hahahaha that makes this way more credible!! God definitely wanted to give us a little run for fun to show off a little.