Venturing Across the Water

 Based on a true incident.

“Yvelisse, have you ever been on a tract tour to the islands, before?”

Dalisay’s friend shook her head but didn’t admit how nervous she was about going.

“Never been! Yvelisse, you have missed out on so much. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Maybe it will be a lot of fun. Once we get there. But there is a huge expanse of water between here and there. I wish we could at least see the island from the shore! Yvelisse laughed inwardly at her trepidation while deftly sorting tracts into their correct piles. Having been a city girl with the advantages of living in comfort and going to university had not prepared her the changes that would come after joining a mission-minded church.

“Bring your wind breakers, and you might want to keep them on!” One of the youth leaders called from the other end of the table. “It may be hot when we leave, but you can almost expect it to be at the least quite breezy as we get further from land.”

Yvelisse shivered involuntarily and Dalisay gave her a quick look while arranging a handful of pamphlets in a heavy plastic envelope. Why, she is truly scared. Oh, God, please calm her fears.

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Amor, one of the nicest of youth boys as far as Yvelisse was concerned, handed out the life jackets. “Be sure to put them on and have them fastened completely,” he instructed. His eyes seemed to linger on Yvelisse a second longer than on any of her friends. I’m going on his boat. She suddenly decided. She hadn't yielded to her heart’s inclinations to like, really like him, because he was only a fisherman but knew she would feel safe with him propelling the boat.

The ride across was exciting, a little too exciting for Yvelisse, but as the island became more visible, she relaxed and began to enjoy the trip.

As they lunched together after handing out many hundreds of tracts, they talked excitedly about the many varied and favorable responses.

“Oh, if only some of them would accept the gospel story and become Christians,” Amor voiced the longing they all felt.

Yvelisse looked down and tried to ignore the struggle going on in her heart. I am sure he likes me, but it would be a terrible adjustment to be married to a fisherman—if it would ever come to that! I must not let him know how I feel!

They split off in pairs and handed out tracts for another hour or so before the youth leader suggested that they call it a day. “After all it would be nice to get back before nightfall.”

Yvelisse looked up at the sky and bit her lip. Was that dark clouds on the horizon?