Yay for internet is all I have to say! I am not quite sure how we ever lived without it haha. Anyways, my hope is to use this blog to keep everyone up-to-date on my adventures in the Amazon this summer. I am going to do a quick recap of the past month. First of all, as many of you know, I graduated from Belmont University on May 12th with a Bachelors of Business Administration. Just over a week later I boarded a plane on my way to Santarem, Brazil. When I first got here I was exhausted and a little overwhelmed. I had no internet to get in touch with anyone which was quite frustrating and I felt very alone. Once I finally got to talk to my family I was much better. The day after I got in myself and a team of students from Oral Roberts University left on a 6 day boat trip. We had about a 14+hr boat ride on the Tapajos River which is a tributary to the Amazon River. We went to two different villages and stayed at each for about 2 1/2 to 3 days. In the first village, we attended cell groups, church meetings, helped make the foundation for the church building, made house visits and did programs for children. One night we went alligator hunting. There were about 10 or more of us in a large wooden canoe. We didn't have a harpoon so we went to a man's house who had one but he wasn't home. On our trip back to the big boat it was lightning and thundering. Then we heard a loud noise and in the distance we could see the wall of rain coming straight for us. We got soaked. It was quite the experience. It was hard to leave the first village because we grew to love the people and especially the children. The second village we did similar things. We did not stay in this village as long and it was more difficult to build relationships with the children because they were in school majority of the time. To see pictures from this part of my trip go here: http://belmont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032251&l=075d7&id=34100423. When we returned to Santarem we had just about a day or so to get ready for our next adventure. We were headed to the island of Parintins. This city has a reputation for its sinfulness and demonic activity. To get to Parintins we took an 18hr. line boat ride up the Amazon River. A line boat is quite an experience. Everyone strings up their hammocks and sleeps on the boat with their luggage all around them. Our trip had a rocky start when 3 of the girls had substantial amounts of Brazilian and American money stolen from them while we were sleeping. This would not get us down though. We were going to Parintins to do a lot of ministry and we knew Satan would not sit quietly. We arrived in Parintins on Friday, June 1st at mid-morning. The church there has a Healing and Liberation service on Friday nights. When we arrived the pastor decided he wanted us all to share our testimonies or parts of our testimonies. I was silently freaking out because I like to prepare before I get up and speak. I sat there thinking and decided I would share the part of my testimony involving living in Brazil previously, leaving and then returning this summer. It went really well and while I was speaking I started choking up which made me realize even more the love I have for the people here. One of our tasks while in Parintins was to paint some of the church buildings. A lot of times during the mornings we would work on painting and then we would have services in the evenings. We also made several house visits to pray for sick people or people who were struggling with different things. The first weekend we were there we attended many church services. After the youth meeting on Saturday and the church service on Sunday they had what was called "Cristotech" it was like a christian dance party. It was so much fun. The topic of Sunday mornings service was relationships and I was asked to speak a little bit. I spoke about modesty and emotional attachment. I felt very scattered because of the translation but I feel that it went well. One of the nights several of us were eaten alive by mosquitoes. I woke up and my face and neck were covered with bites. I got bit the next few nights even more. I looked like I had chicken pox or something. There is a picture in the photo album link below. After the weekend was over, the next several days were spent going into schools and doing presentations with skits and speaking. These presentations could not have gone any better. There was truly favor from the Lord over our group. My friend Davi said that a lot of times when people come do similar presentations that they are booed and have things thrown at them but we were widely received. It was really funny because at most of the schools we couldn't even leave without being mobbed with students wanting us to sign their notebooks. It was quite an interesting experience. It was like we were the Beatles or something haha. Being in the schools was such a blessing because we were able to reach out to thousands of children and teenagers. One of our free afternoons we went out to the camp owned by the church to relax and swim in the river. It was a lot of fun but I am a major scaredy cat so they were teasing me about the snakes and alligators, etc. Praise the Lord I didn't see any of those things. Really the best part of being in Parintins was the relationships that I made. The people at the church there are so wonderful. The church has a lot of young people that are such a blessing. You will see many of the friends I made in the photo album. Our last night in Parintins we got up on stage and some of us had the opportunity to share about our time there or whatever we wanted to say. I couldn't speak because I was so choked up. I started crying while other people were talking. It was very difficult to say good-bye to these people. Lord willing I will see them again soon. To see pictures from this trip go here:
http://belmont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032253&l=fdb7a&id=34100423.
Santarem, I have been doing a little relaxing and recuperating from travelling so much. I am excited to see what the next weeks hold and will do my best to keep everyone updated.