TCA DAY 1

Hey Friends!

We have made it through day one, the absolute longest day of the entire trip. After our six and a half plane ride from Atlanta, we arrived at the airport around 6:15 AM, went through customs (quite slowly I might add) and reached the boat around 9 AM. Delta Airlines unfortunately misplaced sixteen of our bags, which are supposed to reach us tomorrow by speedboat, Delta has informed us how sorry they are and how hard they are working to fix the problem... Wonder when we will actually get them... Thankfully nothing direly important was in the misplaced bags. The team has spent the day taking naps, sorting through our big bags to organize family packs and such, playing card games, laughing at Austin Chandler's white afro (in a kind Jesus way, of course), and of course, enjoying cold outdoor showers on the back of the boat. Taylor Landry enjoyed her belated 17 wet birthday kisses (Alex Beebe claims his kisses were the absolute best, Taylor strongly agrees ;] ) this morning at breakfast, according to tradition on the Amazon trip. Overall, it's been a very slow day. Setting up all of the hammocks was probably one of the high points of the day... who knew so many hammocks could fit on the girls' deck of the boat?! I'm glad to announce there have been no serious hammock accidents yet, although Kyle Cox fell out of his this afternoon- luckily his hammock was a mere five feet above the ground (or 3 inches...). The team is now enjoying time relaxing after our night meeting discussing Francis Chan's book Forgotten God, listening to music and spending time together talking. Austin Chandler says this blog "IS SO BRAZIL!!!"- the new saying that has spread like wildfire among the team.

Tomorrow we arrive at our first village, after travelling down river 18 hours. We will spend the day interacting in all of the different ministries such as VBS, door-to-door, clinics, and women's and men's ministry. The American team will get the chance to get to know the Brazilian crew and translators better as we did not have the opportunity today. The American team is on the big boat "Amor Esperanca" and the Brazilian team is on the smaller boat "Linda Esperanca".

We thank you for all of your prayers! God is good and kept everyone safe through all of our traveling done in the last twenty-four hours. We would greatly appreciate your continued prayers for boldness and strength to be a light to all of the people we come into contact with this week. May the Lord use us as a reflection of Him and help us grow to be more like Him daily.

In Him,

Your Favorite Amazoners:

Taylor Landry & Gracie McCormack

day 5

Day 5

I wanted to start off by saying thank you for all your prayers. They are so very important to us. It's been said a few times on this trip that the most powerful thing we can do is pray. For all those moms, dads, and loved ones back home in the states, your prayers are the greatest support that you can give. So Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, because your prayers are being honored by God. So please continue to pray as we head into our last day of ministry tomorrow. Pray for safety, pray for us to completely submit to the Spirit and the work He will be doing here. Pray for the people that God has sent us here to encourage and to share the Gospel with, and pray that the enemy have nothing to do with this place. Lastly, as we have only two days left, you can pray for a safe trip home.

The night brought cool breezes off the water that made it one of the best night's sleep of the trip. The morning was breakfast as usual, followed by an extremely thought provoking devotional about the greatest thing that Christ ever did for us. After our thoughts were stirred, we loaded up and headed out for the village of Cinturao Verde where God had plenty of work to be done. The Medical team had well over a hundred patients, and the dentist pulled more than seventy teeth today. On a personal note, our dentist has a record of pulling 155 in a single day, so I think brushing three times a day sounds like a great idea. This also kept our pharmacy plenty busy.

The women's ministry once again made bracelets for the ladies in the morning, but the afternoon took an amazing turn. The women came and sat with us to talk, but we did much more than that. In the words of a fellow missionary from that group "It could have been a normal Bible study from home." We went around the circle and spoke about our families, prayer request, hopes and dreams. Then, we all decided to read our favorite verses to the group and tell why they meant so much to us. The American thought that this was just going to be them sharing, but once we were finished the Brazilian women wanted to read us their favorite versus. It was so encouraging to my soul. Some of these women had come to know Christ on our last visit in September. They had actually been reading their Bibles! Our prayer to come and disciple those same people was met, and the odd things is that I felt as though they were disciplining me. One woman told me about how she would read the words of David in Psalms 121 and remember all he was going through at the time, and that would help her to press on and place herself in God's Right Hand!

The Men's ministry was very fruitful as well. It was amazing how for the first time this week the men out numbered the women. There were over 30 men that came to hear Stuart preach about how to lead their family in a Godly way. The men were very receptive, and even made comments about how much they knew they needed to hear those words. There were also women that told us that they had been praying for us to come to talk to their husbands. Our arrival was an answered prayer!

The eyeglass ministry was another area with evidence that the Holy Spirit was moving. The Lord sent the powerhouse AKA "Tha Don" to share the Gospel with every person that sat in his chair. He was persistent and purposeful in the words that came from his mouth. It was a beautiful! They prayed for hours with fervor over the wonderful people he encountered. There was two decisions made to be reconciled to Christ! All in all another normal day… =)

DAY 4

day 4

God right now I feel as though I can understand this language. I am amazed by You. You turn the rain off then on, off then on again. The world is at your command. This man seems to know of You, but he dosent know You. Lord God heal him only so Your Glory can be shown. Save his life Father God spare his old soul. Izzy has placed his hand on the old mans heart. I believe he is telling him how important it is to know You personally by accepting you with his whole heart. The old man just looked up at me. Though blind, I felt he could see me. God if You don't heal him on this earth, then I have faith that You will save him, and make him new in the kingdom. I cry and plea for this man. I see his heart, but not as you do Lord. I'm standing here thinking of Your glory and what You've done. God your amazing, always on time, and forever mine. I have realized through this trip that You are calling me to search your scriptures. You want to show me great and mighty things.

- this was written by a member of our team. i think it shows the kind of hearts that God has placed on this mission. the comment tonite was made that we have these seperate groups from different parts of the country, that God has brought together and now there are no divisions, its one team that God has pulled together, each with different talents and abilities that God has used for his purposes. its such a the power of the spirt is so beautiful to witness and be apart of. i feel spoiled and have this amazing sence of joy, that i get to be aroud people with such a servents heart.

ive been told by those most experianced here in the amazon that "every trip is different. you will see different things and God works in many different ways." now being on my second trip i can see what that ment. last september i came with a team (many of which are also on this trip) to this same area and it was like harvest time. God chose to glorify Himself by using us to share the gospel. the Spirit was so powerfull and many lives were saved. this time around, it feels like we've been sent to plant the new seed in those who are still lost and to encourage the saints here. but i must be honest, many here feel that the enemy liked having those previous in the dark and, now having lost that battle, is starting to fight back. The truth that the Spirit has shown us is allowing us to see the spiritual warfare that is going on here. many unbelievers that we would speak with knew the gospel and could tell us who Christ is. some even have personnaly seen the power of Christ. but kept saying that they were not ready to accept Christ as their savior. many of our team testified that they could feel something fighting against them. i am reminded of John 3:8 "The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you cant explain how poeple are born of the Spirit" the Spirit comes when it comes and goes when it goes and God will save these people when He has planned it and not before. in the words of one of my brothers in Christ "we serve a Big Big God" it is also clear to us all that God is far from done here.

God did wonderfull things here today, some we witnessed most we may never know of. and what we saw will be included in tomorrows blog.

but i wanted to share that a commen theme throughout the week has been for us to turn to God and Pray, Pray, and Pray for the Spirit to be present and working and for any opposition to be bound and cast away from here. so i pass along that prayer to all our family and friends. Resistance to the Gospel has been less and less as the days pass. with your prayers as well anything can happen.

Day 2-3

Day 2 & 3

On Saturday morning at 8am we had a team of 9 prayer warriors head into the River to take part in several divine appointments. They visited 4 different homes, and the spirit dominated. The rest of the team was still working in the Village of Boa Vista. We once again had the Women's ministry, Men's ministry, Vacation Bible Study, Optical, Medical and Dental. The ministries were very successful. The Women made 19 Gospel Bracelets that the village ladies loved! The VBS played games with the children, and colored pictures Moses. They also played with an oversized parachute that was made of the colors of the rainbow.

As the morning progressed it was time for our first Youth Rally. The team that came to the villages in September had noticed a lot of teenagers in these villages, and therefore wanted to make the focus on the mission to work with the teenagers to build up disciples. The way that we plan on doing this is through Youth Rallies. Around noon the teenagers gathered to sing worship songs and hear our preacher speak alongside his wife. The message was simple, yet just what they needed to hear. Stuart told them that they needed to make sure that they were planting sweet seed to grow sweet fruit in their life. The actions of today are repercussions of tomorrow. The massage was amazing!

After the youth Rally the guys game the village boys a handmade fuze ball table and American football. The guys spent some time teaching the Brazilian boys how to throw, catch, tackle and run patterns … It was Awesome. As we were leaving the village a group of us that had been on the trip in September went to pray one last time for Thiago and his family. This family has a strong influence in the village of Boa Vista, and I hope that they will be filled by the Holy Spirit to lead in a Godly way.

After lunch the team decided to take it easy and spent the afternoon swimming in the Amazon River. This included throwing and catching the ball, and jumping off the boat in the most creative ways possible. That evening we went to a new Village called Sao Sebastiao. This is where the missionary Ena from Constantinopolis lives. The entire team attended the evening church service as our friend Jofrie preached an inspirational message.

Finally the day was concluded by Alligator hunting. The first team that went out had several girls that wanted to make sure the alligators were not being hurt. The way they planned on doing this was by throwing them back as soon as they were un hooked. The second group did catch a few little guys and brought them back to the boat before releasing them back into the wild.

Sunday was our first day in the Village on Sao Sebastiao. The group shared in an amazing devotional led by team member Don before exiting the boat to begin ministry. The villagers were ready to go. Our doctor finally was with the team, and the people were anxious to see him. As I learn more about the villages I know that this is the one thing that they are in desperate need of… Medical attention. The doctor had to hit the ground running to see all of the villagers, as well as the dentist. The VBS ministry had many more children than the few days before. Women's ministry gave out 25 bracelets and had an awesome bible study with the women about the worry that they have in their life. The men's ministry talked with the men about how to be men of thunder. As the afternoon came to a close the Youth ministry had another Youth Rally. This rally hosted Stuart as the speaker once again. He delivered a great message about trusting the Lord to give you the strength to beat The Enemy. The rain poured down as we listened to the Word, and after the rain we headed to the boat to rest from another day of ministry.

After dinner we sang worship songs in the dark and watched the dramatic lightning storm that God blessed us with. That was followed by the evening share time. This time involved sharing from the last two days because we were not able to share last night due to the long evening service at the church. This was a sweet time to bond as a team, and open our hearts and minds to God's Will for our trip! All in all it was another normal day. HA

day 1

Day 1

Today was Day 1 of mission living in the beautiful country of Brazil. Many of our teammates are on the river for the first time, and it was so beautiful to watch them experience it! The area that we will be working in this week is called Lake Juanaca. The Baptist church that we work with from Manaus has a church in this area and have a missionary named Ena living there. The Village that we went to today is called Boa Vista, which translated into English means "Beautiful View." And let me tell you… that is an accurate description. The land is beautiful as well as the people.

From the moment we stepped off the boat, hopes were high and the Spirit was evident. The team from September was in this same village, so for many of the group this was a return to sweeet familiar faces. The group split into teams doing vacation Bible school, women's ministry, men's ministry, youth, dentistry, eye glasses, and medical. The dental team performed many extractions, one of which was a boy we met on the September trip who had been having seizures weekly. He was seen by the medical team and prayed over that trip, and has not had a seizure since. The children's group was small, which allowed the team to have some great one on one time with each of the children. Some of the children had teeth pulled, only to return to the group to continue singing and coloring. The medical team saw several patients and even performed a small surgery on the boat. The women's ministry made bracelets, had a Bible study about taming the tongue, and committed to reading the gospel daily.

The day was closed with worship songs and a message given by pastor Stuart. This was a miracle in itself trying to track him down to let him know he would be preaching. He had no time to prepare, and this was part of the beauty of his message. It was truly spirit filled. He inspired the men to treat their children as a gift. He was very direct about focusing on restoring the value of family in the village. The most important point of his message was that "If you don't do it, no one will. Do not wait for another boat that might never come."

The team is doing well and is recovering from a long day of traveling. I am sure everyone will be sleeping well in their hammocks tonight. So far everyone has been safe and healthy, with the exception of a few sunburns today (despite a dermatology PA on board chasing everyone around with SPF 70). HA All in all the day was normal.