Hi, I’m Christian, another missionary kid. I want to tell you a little about how different life is here in the land of mosquitoes, floating grass and tropical insects. Here are a few of my favorite memories.

One time I saw this huge green beetle. It was really cool because it was so green and kind of like a reflector. Oh, and there is a butterfly around here that is really cool, too. When the sun shines on it, it has so many different colors.

I don’t know if my friends eat these big green beetles, or not, but I do know they like to eat ants, especially the big orange ones. They like to eat wasp larvae, too. One time I was hanging out with my friend, and he was holding this big wasp larva. It was almost like an adult; you could see its wings all scrunched up around its body. My friend just popped it into his mouth and started crunching away.

My friends and I like to catch lizards. We hide in the banana stalks and sneak up on them. We once had a family of lizards in the house—big ones—and we had fun giving them names. Some of them were about a foot long. They would pop out from behind the washer or a hole somewhere, then we would run around trying to catch them. But they were too fast, and eventually they would find another hole and disappear. It was really fun.

When we first got here, I found this big lizard. Its tail was about two feet long, and its belly was about three inches across. My friends grabbed sticks and things and started throwing them at it from a distance because they said the lizard was venomous. One of my friends was really quite brave. He just grabbed a stick and got right up close and personal with that hideous monster, then Whack! he killed it. He also killed a venomous snake once.

Another time, my friend said he would come over, and we would make bows and arrows together. He was true to his word. He brought with him the outer part of a piece of bamboo, which we used for the string, and a really strong stick from a certain tree, which we used to make our bows. He also brought a bundle of long, green spines from the tops of Sago trees to use for arrows.

My friend is very intelligent and talented. We were target practicing, trying to hit a tree in the distance. After all of our arrows were gone, I think I only hit the tree twice, but he only missed it twice.

Being a missionary kid is fun and exciting. I think it’s a privilege because you get to do things that other kids haven’t experienced.

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