Amazon Adventures

Here I am in Maraba, half way to Salinas--our final destination--visiting the newest branch of the Xingu Mission. Two international missionary families currently live here, next to a Brazilian missionary family from Altamira. The first family came in August, the Brazilians moved shortly after, and the second family joined them just this past month. We arrived here Friday late afternoon and will leave for Salinas with one of the families Monday bright n’ early.

Yesterday the youth came to the church (which is currently attached to the Brazilian family's house, looks like a small covered eating area at a park), for that Saturday night's youth service. And guess who had the privilege of giving the message? I did!--translated by the wonderful Dee. I was originally asked to give a testimony but felt led to give a short sermon on the power of prayer instead. It was a really great night, and I loved the experience. Prior to that night's service I spent the day teaching the children the hand game "My-chica-chica," and playing Cops and Robbers. In a half hour I'm off to play volleyball and other games with them, and at night Elba will be preaching for Sunday's service. (About 50 children were at last night’s service, and I'm told to expect around 100 people total for tonight's.)

Redefining Road Trip
The time in Maraba has been a great experience so far, but it was a rough ride up. On Friday we (Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa Dolan and me) left at 5 a.m. and spent 11 hours traveling with a grand total of 5 people in the car...may I remind you that Camilly is 3 and Alyssa is 1. And the drive was far from smooth. I'm not sure how many of you have gone off-roading before, but I can hardly imagine an off-roading experience that can even compare to this Transamazonian experience. The dirt (sometimes muddy) road is covered with massive pot holes and sudden drop-offs that often cannot be seen until you physically approach them and no longer can dodge them. It gives the vehicle, and your neck, such a beating, that I literally found myself unable to look in any direction other than straight on for fear of injuring my neck. Unfortunately though, looking straight on doesn't exempt you from injury and within the first half of our trip to Maraba, Elba got hurt pretty badly on the top or her head, her neck, and upper back, though she is doing fine now. We have ten more hours of driving tomorrow to get to our destination. Coming home, we will have another good 18 hours of travels to look forward to.

A Brief Update on the River Trip
As you know, I had the amazing opportunity to travel with Kevin Vanhulle, Chelsea, Isaiah, and a Brazilian couple and their two children along the Amazon River. This trip was an absolutely incredible time. The purpose of this mission was to disciple people along the River who have committed their life to Christ, but need more training. We were able to host small groups, visit with different families who we have built relationships with, and spend quality time with their children. In a few instances Kevin and Nay (the Brazilian), would meet in somebody's house and disciple them. In such a case, as it would have been unnecessary, and perhaps obnoxious, for me to have joined in for such an intimate time, I would play games with the children. Now, I've never seen myself really involved with children's ministry, but God definitely used this opportunity for me to share God's love with these children, and it was a BLAST. I spent time playing different water games with them, card games, and other silly games that I couldn't describe here. It was so genuine and so much fun! My favorite game was trying to stand up in a little dug out canoe then row around while still standing. I loved all the laughter and smiles on this trip.

My other favorite thing was how incredibly beautiful the experience was and how God flooded me with a sense of peace throughout the trip. I will never forget the beauty I witnessed and the since of God's glory I felt. At one point Chelsea, Isaiah, and I were sitting watching the sun set (after an afternoon of re-teaching ourselves how to dive) and Chelsea told us that in Ohio when she was with her friends and bored, they would ask each other, "If you could be anywhere in world right now, where would you be?" And it was such an awesome feeling to look out upon the bright blue painted sky, the lush forest, and the reflective water, sitting with two amazing friends, blessed with perfect weather, and sense God's peaceful presence, and come to the realization that there was absolutely nowhere else in the world I would want to be. Even greater than this, was that this feeling followed me throughout the trip. The second place where I felt this feeling the strongest was while canoeing for two hours through the rainforest with Isaiah another afternoon.

God's been doing so much, and it's been such an incredible experience. Thank you all who are supporting me through prayer and financial giving. This next week I will be spending the majority of my time in community with various missionary families from all three locations (Altamira, Porto de Moz, and Maraba). I am very excited to have the opportunity to learn more about the families and build stronger relationships with them, as well as become rejuvenated and refreshed.

May God's Grace be with you.

More Travels

My most recent travel on the river with Kevin was very fruitful in terms of the people we discipled, the children we connected with, and my personal spiritual walk with God.

And while I'm anxious to write about my different experiences and adventures, my nearly closed eyes and over worked brain refuse to follow by hearts desire to finish the blog.



So if I can't tell you about my experience now, why bother writing anything at all?

Well...I'm leaving in about seven hours (5am) with the Dolans for a little beach town called Salinas. As there is no internet access there (so I'm told), I will not be able to update my blog until the first of April.


--although you can check back before then just in case we do have access




There's power in prayer, so please continue to pray for me, this mission, and the people we interact with.

I love you all and am so thankful for everybody in my life.

Boa Viajem

In half an hour I'm taking a taxi with Isaiah and Chelsea to Vitoria. From there we are hitching a ride on a line-boat and traveling north (down river) for ten hours until we reach Porto de Moz. We will stay with the Kubackis for two nights then head out on the River. Us three, the VanHulles, and a couple of Brasilians will take Kevin's boat to a village 6 hours away called Quieras. I visited this village with the team from Delaware Vineyard in January and while we were there, 5 men and 1 woman dedicated their lives to God. 

Kevin and Angie VanHulle have visited this village many times throughout the years, but since January, have revisited about every two weeks. The men there are on fire for God and hungry to learn more about Him. We will spend about four days here, discipling and encouraging them. We will return to Porto de Moz on Friday and I will be back in Altamira on Sunday. Keep us in your prayers! :) 

Ate Mais!

Picture Perfect

You cant lead the people if you don’t love the people. You cant save the people
if you don’t serve the people. Cornel West

Chelsea, Cleide and I were walking home from the River today when an ambulance pulled up next to us to ask where a specific street was. He slowly drove off, passed a road, reversed, and turned onto the wrong road. Some things you just learn not to count on here...

But that's not the only thing that makes Altamira unique from Westerville (or for that matter, any city in the US).

I take walks through the city or through different parts of Altamira almost every day. It's a perfect way to talk one-on-one with somebody, enjoy nature, and become increasingly familiar with my surroundings. Here's a little bit of what I see...

The sky here is gorgeous and if I could start a ministry for sky-gazing, I'd snatch it up in a heart beat. Unfortunately I don't think that's realistic. The sky is bright blue and the clouds are distinct, multi-layered, and incredibly surreal. How can I describe clouds without it sounding like clouds that we've all seen before? I don't think I can but you've got to take my word for it. They pop out, entrance you, and hold you captivated. It's so hard not to stare.

I live on a hill and when I look down I see the city of Altamira. Down below are an assortment of houses,all different shapes and sizes, all unique in and of themselves. Their vibrant colors paint the city and all in-between-space is filled with a lush green from all the vegetation.

In a two-deminsional view the little city would color the bottom, the dynamic sky would paint the top, and the Xingu River would snake in between, bringing it all together in perfect harmony. It's the third deminsion that takes your breath away. It's incredible.

What else is different? Well, when you walk somewhere, you are never alone. Accompanying you on the road are probably a herd of cattle, a couple horses, disease infested dogs, or hungry vultures. People generally walk or ride bicycles, but motorcycles, volkswagen beetles, and donkey and carriages also share the roads. A couple of main roads are paved, but most are 'dirt' (redish-orange clay) roads, lined with trash and poorly, poorly, poorly managed sewer/draining system. Despite the fact that it rains here every day, the city is incredibly filthy.

On our walk yesterday I was commenting on the amazing color contrast between the color of a house, the trees hugging it, and the deep blue sky behind it. But to see it, we needed to overlook the mound of trash and dead carcasses along the road leading up to the house. We laughed and said, just do a little cropping and it's perfect. [Photoshop] Picture Perfect.

A couple other things...

When people go to other people's houses they clap, and if you enter the house you always take off your shoes. No exceptions.

There's no double dipping policy, no five second rule, and there's almost always a community cup for drinking.

It's not weird to see a boat sitting on the side of the road, policemen guarding the bank with ak-47s, or half of the frame of the head of a truck sitting in a corn field.

Amiga

Elizangela is a girl (27yrs) here who I have become really good friends with. Since she is studying English, and I Portuguese, we love to help each other with grammar and pronunciation. Aside from our conversations, we enjoy practicing pronunciation by reading the Proverbs together. She will read a chapter in English and I will help her with specific words, and then I will read the same chapter in Portuguese and she corrects me. I love doing this with her :) . We also go to the same small group and take many walks together. Elizangela is one of my best friends here and I am so blessed to have her in my life.

Prayer

Continue to keep my health in your prayers. Amongst other things, I'm very weak, dizzy and at a loss for energy.

Thank you for all of your prayer support! It is so wonderful to be blessed with the friends and I family I have.