Wiped Clean in the Amazon

Ally, KyLea, and Kiersti all got baptized in the Amazon! The water where Kiersti was baptized was flesh-eating! So her and JP quickly took a shower as soon as they were done in the water!

The Song of this Village

The partially blind woman led the woman in a song. It's an amazing story of mercy, grace, forgiveness, and life!

Will We Have A New Sister?

The story of the 2 sisters opened up another opportunity for a woman to ask questions about her faith and how she can have a relationship with God. She was asking away and we answered her questions, regarding works, and how "do you know" ... We prayed over her and her family, and asked the woman of the village to put a hand over her - tears streamed down her eyes. We also prayed over the 2 sisters with the woman of the village. It was extremely powerful.

Death or Life

We took off right were we ended village #1. When walking to the homes and inviting the woman to join us later, we came by an 80 year old woman who was sensitive to light and partially blind. She couldn't be in the sun. We spent the morning with her and shared the gospel with her knowing this was our one shot. We invited her to the women's meeting, knowing their was a chance she would not make it. As 4pm drew nearer (yes, we changed our meeting time to 4pm)... we were gathering the women to a shaded bench. I look over my left shoulder and their is the woman we met this morning, walking alone, as the hot sun shines upon her. I ran to her. I asked her why she had come outside, and her response was that she wanted to come to our meeting! That was the start of God working through us!



Brittani shared her testimony & story of verbal and emotional abuse. Her story opened up opportunities for a pair of sisters to share their story and how they accepted Jesus. In response, their father held a knife to their throats and threatened to kill them. "It's God or me!" ...the girls chose God. He disowned them and kicked them out of his home. The sisters left but continued to pray for their father. 3 months later, their father accepted Jesus!

Colors and Paint

These buds grow on trees and when you open them inside, there are little pebbles that you can use to "paint" - as we did on our arms ... and as they use for their homes.

Swimming the Rio Negro

There were several opportunities for us to swim in the Negro River. The Negro River runs east to west... towards Peru. The 1st opportunity I wasn't as ready for the jump of faith... but the 2nd opportunity I finally took the leap into the water!

Piranha

The Story of the Piranha. They feast on blood. As I was swimming in the Amazon - a little nervous knowing there are some interesting fish and sea creatures below me... praying Anacondas and Crocodiles aren't near. I tread near Pablo and ask for his assurance that we are okay swimming in this water. He shakes his head and affirms that there is no need to worry... Then he pauses! ... unless it's your "feminine time" ... I looked at him, knowing exactly what he was trying to say ... and without another word, I swam myself back to the boat so fast you would have thought I came with a motor. I come to find out that Piranha's feed on blood. Hmmmm, I think I'll play on the boat. Hahaha it was a good 2 minutes while it lasted!

On a 2nd note, I had the opportunity to hang out with Alana and Marcos in the dentist room. They were pulling out some teeth of the local fisherman. Alana politely asked the guy if he can catch piranha's, to which the guy said yes. During our siesta, he returns to the boat... after his small prodecure to get his teeth removed, he fished a Piranha out of the river and brought it to us to see. WOW. Check out them teeth!

People of the Villages

Cruise through the Jungle

Jungle Hike

An 85 year-old woman led us through the jungle, without shoes on, to show us her mandioca field. She plants, harvests and prepares this plant to sell.

Frisbee in the Village!

Beauty on the Amazon

Lunch on a Boat ... in the Rain ...

The picture speaks a thousand words. What an awesome experience!!!!

Swimming with Dolphins

We had the opportunity to swim and feed the dolphins in Nova Airao. The dolphins were pink and they'd swim up to us and open their toothless mouths for the fish.

Butchering A Pig

To spend some time with the Women, we would help them cook lunch. One pleasant lunch, we helped a woman butcher and cook a pig! This being a new experience for me, I was extremely tentative , but got the hang of it after a while. A funny thing to note: we were cooking rice and the woman we were helping asked us to pour water in the pot. Ally dumped the whole bowl of water into the pot... haha ... there was soooo much water we had to take some out - I'm sure the woman thought we were crazy! Never butchering a pig, messing up rice, and needing instructions on how to dice garlic! I felt lame for a moment. But it was a great time! Mental note: the feet and eyeballs of the pig still are vivid in my mind. I may become a vegetarian! :)

Alligator Hunt

The guys arranged for the people in the village to take us a gator hunt. The boys got in the boat that was several feet from the surface of the water, had a protective roof covering and secure seating. The girls on the other hand, were put in a canoe that sat inches from the water, with nothing protecting us overhead, and a piece of plywood across the canoe (not secured to it) for seating. Agh! They were in a cruise boat compared to our canoe. By the way, it started to sprinkle and while we were getting wet, the men were nice and dry, sitting on their life vests, while ours were securely fastened to our bodies, restricting our movement! Any time we'd move, we'd dislodge the person sitting next to us.

While on the river, mind you it's 9pm and pitch black, we spotted 3 alligators. The first dipped into the water too soon. As we turned off the motor and glided towards it, he dipped below.

The 2nd gator, we rolled right up to it and we invited the guys to join us (they were searching the opposite shoreline to the left of us). We glided all the way to the shore, and the gators eyes were stark red. Our hunter / guide Bayyo got out of the boat to go catch him bare handed. To no avail, the gator disappeared.

The 3rd attempt was successful! Our guide spotted the gator from a far with his lamp, which during attempt #2, he took off and placed on my head as a spotlight for him. We attempted to call the guys over but they didn't follow. As we crossed into more jungle-like terrain on the water, our guide turned off the motor and we slowly paddled our way closer to the gator. He was directly in front of us, with his piercing red eyes. As we began to glide closer to him, our guide worked his way closer to the front of the boat and drew his 3 pronged spear. We were at a still silence - more excited than nervous. It was awesome! As we drew closer, I asked myself how much closer were we going to get? A moment later, Bayyo launged forward and speared the gator. Our 2nd guide, Jayid screamed Allelujah! Jacre! Jacre! Bayyo lifted him up and we began to celebrate. Later we found out Bayyo didn't hurt the gator - He caught him between 2 of the prongs of the spear! CRAZY!!!

Our canoe ride back to our boat we sang in excitement, Jacre! Jacre! The guys were excited to see and hold the gator. We let them pass it among themselves on our way back to the boat and village.

Jaguar Skin

Bayyo.. the best hunter in the village caught a jaguar the week before we arrived. They ate the meat and hung the skin out to dry. He gave Tim the skull.

Here we GO ...

Headed to Manaus

There we were! Ready to embark on a journey that would forever change our lives. With 2 bags, one full of ministry items and another bag for our personal belongs... we boarded the plane, unaware of the challenges we'd face ahead of us. We left at 6 pm Dallas time and landed in Mananus at 6 am!