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