Spiritual Retreat Part 1: Ngemelis Island

So on the weekend of September 9 to 11, we planned on having a spiritual staff retreat on the island of Ngemelis (pronounced NEM-eh-leez, as far as I can tell).  This is a beautiful tropical island owned by the head chief of Palau.  It has palm trees and beaches, and it looks like a postcard or a tropical scenes calendar.  We would be able to camp out and relax on the island for part of the weekend, enjoy fellowship, and worship together over Sabbath.

   The problem was that mid-quarter grades would be due the next week, so there would be a big crunch to get all the assignments graded, the grades recorded, and the official report cards out by the next week, and that really needed a weekend of work to accomplish.  I was really stressed out with all the grading, and I wasn't even doing half of it (the former 7th grade teacher would be working on it too).  Also, the island doesn't have running or drinkable water, and we would have to pack our own food and bring our own individual drinking water, plus pack what we might need for two and a half days on a place without any of the conveniences of home.  So with the time crunch and the hassle of packing, I wasn't so sure that it would be a vacation...

There was a little camp on the island owned by the chief.  And we also brought our hammocks to set up.  On Friday the 9th, we had finally gotten all our stuff packed, our food prepared, and our water purchased.  The grading was done or would be completed when we got back.  There were about 30 of us altogether--student missionaries, local teachers and their families, principals, and the boat driver.  We all loaded our gear in one boat, and rode in another through the Rock Islands to the island paradise...Ngemelis.

It really did look like a calendar when we got there.  Like I said, there were coconut palms, and beaches with little hermit crabs, and there were white shells and sand dollars...it looked just like everyone's stereotypical idea of a desert island.  It's the place people dream of when they're sitting in a stuffy little cubicle at work, listening to customers on the phone.  Maybe you've seen an Almond Joy commercial where the person eats the candy bar and is instantly transported to paradise.

This was it.

 I even set up a hammock ON THE BEACH between the PALM TREES.  (You're all so jealous right now, I know)

But before you jump on a plane and fly out here, I should tell you some of the things that those calendar and postcard pictures don't tell you:

1:  There's not always a resort with a pool and people to hand you lemonade nearby.

2:  You have to hang your food up because the rats will eat it if you leave it on the ground (I even got to see a wild rat on Ngemelis.  It was just as cute as the ones we have in the states!  :)

3:  The saltwater makes everything slightly sticky

4:  Taking a dipper shower is fun, but not like having a real hot water shower...

5:  The outhouses don't always smell nice 

6:  If you run out of drinking water (which fortunately we didn't), you don't have anything to drink

7:  Most importantly:  If it rains, you CAN'T SLEEP IN YOUR HAMMOCK

So by the time we were there, and the rain started coming down, and my hammock was wet, and everything was wet, and I didn't really have a place to sleep except in the stuffy camp house, and I felt like a wet dog...it didn't feel so much like paradise.  In fact, I was wishing I could be back in my dry little room with the air conditioner back at the academy.  I finally went to sleep on a mat in the house, while the campfire sputtered outside and the wet hammocks swayed in the breeze.  

This is what our camp looked like in the morning. 

A mess.  

 

 


And there's me with my raincoat under a palm tree with a coconut...

Just to prove that I was under a real palm tree with a real coconut.

At any rate, we had a worship service out in the yard, with singing and a little sermon and some Bible study.  It was actually pretty nice, even though we got rained on toward the end.  We studied some of Jesus' parables and talked about them.  The theme for the weekend was "Come and rest awhile," and we talked about solitude, study, surrender, and service.  We had some quiet time on Friday night, study on Sabbath, and on Sunday we would do the service part.

 













Above is a picture with a shark fin in it.  I don't know if you can see it, but if you zoom in enough, it's there.  But no one seemed concerned even with the kids playing in the water.

 Later that afternoon, we took a hike around the island.  It was supposed to be fairly "chill," but we had to wade in the ocean to get around the edge of the island's muffin-top on the left side, and the tide began to come in, and the waves were kind of big...I had a feeling we should pray before going (like we always do before traveling somewhere), and afterward I wished we had.  But thankfully God kept us safe.

Some of us had to swim a bit though.

 I got even wetter after this picture was taken.  But my camera stayed dry.  Dry enough anyway.

 When we got away from the rocky island edge and back to the beach, things were fine.  (Though it was a while before we were dry).  We found so many sand dollars that some people were skipping them like rocks.  And there were lots of crabs.  And two Micronesian Megapodes that acted like chickens.

In the end, we had a restful evening (except for some people who went spear-fish-hunting in the dark).  And it was even dry enough to sleep in my hammock that night!  Read the next part for the rest of the story--Spiritual Retreat Part 2:  Peliliu