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.