I preached at the church to the left, Igreja Batista Esperanca, all week and help with VBS at two other churches, Igreja NovaRepublica and Santarinzinho. I also helped share the gospel using the evangecube at a public school, distributed food at a poor neighborhood, went visiting in the neighborhood around Esperanca and was allowed to share my testimony at another site. It was a lot of ministry crowded into a short time. Everyone was exhausted by the time we were done.
Writing now, two years later, there's so much I can't remember. One thing I do remember is the friendship I struck with my translator, Janderson. He was a great kid, one of the adopted children of the Scott's, through whom we were serving. He was a pro soccer player, albeit for a minor league team.
Another memory is of the pastor who led the team. He was so aweful that at one point his wife cried on my shoulder after one of his inane outburts in which he claimed he was never coming back. Just to be clear, there were several pastors on the trip and the one I was accompanying, Randy McCollum, was awesome. It was his third trip, I tihnk, and he actually warned me about the guy we were 'following,' which I appreciated only after the fact. Randy and I were there representing Bloomington Baptist Church in Bloomington, Indiana. I think there are even pictures of the trip somewhere on their website.
Some of my favorite memories are of the river itself; 32 miles wide at Santarem, and 800 feet deep. It is almost too large to fathom. In the picture you can see the confluence of the Amazon and the Tapajos. (The Tapajos is blue, the Amazon brown.)
These last two pics are of myself with some of my favorite people. The first is of me, Dahlison and Janderson (my translator). It was a great honor to share Christ with Dahlison, who accepted the invitation. I used an evangecube, which is just an awesome tool. The second picture is of me with a group of kids who prayed to receive Christ with me at one of the VBS clinics. To make sure they were serious, I first shared the gospel, then told the group I was sharing with that there was a soccer game outside for them if they weren't interested in hearing more. These stayed.
I loved this trip. THe last two days were spent on a houseboat. We slept in hammocks, swam in the river, fished for piranha, and basically just took in the beauty of the scene around us. A thousand pictures wouldn't do it justice.
Another memory: The black vultures that were more brazen than any rat I've ever come across. They were ubiquitous and knew the garbage pick-up schedule better than the collectors themselves. Seriously, you could get within two feet of them. Also, I thought I had termite issues, but the hills I saw down there were often three feet tall. Amazing, amazon.
