Wednesday, June 8, 2011

 

Today we visited the village of Sororoca.  It is a small village situated on a hill

 

overlooking the Amazon River.  Approximately 30 families live in this village where men

 

work as fishermen and mothers care for the children.  This was our first visit to

 

Sororoca.

 

As a member of the medical team, our day began by creating a medical clinic underneath

 

the shade of a few trees.  Our team consisted of two physicians, two nurse practitioners

 

and a pharmacist.  Our interpreters sit with each provider and are available to relay our

 

questions to the patients.  They are our biggest asset and communicate most effectively

 

with the villagers. Most of our patients suffer from joint aches and pain, upper

 

respiratory infections and headaches.  It's pretty safe to prescribe Ibuprofen, worming

 

medicine and vitamins to every adult and child that is seen. The sickest patient seen

 

today was a 6 year-old little girl with bilateral pneumonia. She never complained...

 

Another patient, an 18 year-old boy, cut his leg with a machete, requiring 6 stitches. We

 

treated 81 patients in 99 degree weather, 100% humidity. 

 

While the medical team worked, the VBS and women's ministry teams sang, danced and played

 

volleyball with the children.  Everyone has rosey cheeks:)

 

A group of 7 from our team went on an adventure by motor-boat, to another small village

 

about a mile away from Sororcoa.  This was the first time Americans had visited their

 

village.  Their biggest obstacle was gaining access to the village by boat.  After

 

several unsuccessful attempts to reach the village (secondary to a floating rainforest of

 

grass, trees, and brush) the team was transported into the village by members of the

 

tribe.  The had a nice visit with the people and were able to conduct a service in which

 

the gospel was shared.

 

The best part of the afternoon was congregating for our evening service in which we sang

 

"Jesus Loves Me" in  English and Portuguese.  The children clapped and sang, afterwards

 

several from our team shared their testimony.  "Pastor" Matt ended the evening with a

 

short service.  There were more children than adults in attendance; however, the children

 

are well-behaved and listened for most of the service.

 

Tonight has been an evening full of entertainment.  We had a "what not to wear on the

 

Amazon" fashion show, exhibiting the leftover paraphinalia from the Eastwood yard sale.

 

There were several buck-teeth, sparkles and hats involved.  It gave us all a good laugh.

 

Later in the evening, yells, shreaks and laughter could be heard miles away [I'm sure] as

 

our group competed in a arm-wrestling competition between the Brazilian crew and the

 

Americans.  The Brazilians won. **Note- Jackson Hinton was the last American standing.

 

Tonight we are tired and most of us will be sleeping soundly because we will all be

 

taking Benadryl to find relief from our chigger and flea bites...

 

 Tomorrow we look forward to visiting our friends in the village of Sol Nascente where we
will dedicate the new playground. 

 

Emily Holcombe & Terry Watkins

 

 

 

 OY americanos! Wow! I can truly see God's hand in Brazil! the People are amazing!

 

they are very REAL! Today in the morning i helped with VBS and i absolutley in love with

 

the brazilian children! they are all bonita (beautiful). mom just let me know if you want

 

me to bring one home because i will in a heartbeat! they lovee us americans. they make us

 

feel as we are celibrities.. or at least so i think! they love saying my name. "emily

 

emily emily!" haha i am trying very hard to speak their language but its just not

 

working.. they all just stare at me like im crazy then burst out lauging. so hopefully

 

they are lauging with me not at me. (: after lunch Jay, Ben, me, and some others took the

 

speed boat and went to another village, Maranhao. it was so lovely. i am speechless at

 

God's beautiful creation. so if a third world country is magnificant then imagine what

 

heaven will be like! anyways i was able to share my testimony and norman translated for

 

me! (obri gada norman) Jay shared with the people and Vanderlay shared the gospel/ his

 

testimony with them. I thank God so much for the opportunities he has given me to share

 

the gospel with these people. two weeks ago if you ask me to share the gospel i would

 

probably be very nervous and barely be able to, and now i am much more confident sharing

 

the gospel. I quite enjoy it actually. Usually after vBS ill grab a translator (Amanda)

 

and go talk with a group of girls and then eventually share the gospel. one girl was

 

Fehananda who accepted Christ! So i now have another sister in Christ(: I cant tell you

 

how exciting it is seeing people come to Christ! It keeps me on fire for Christ and

 

encourages me to continue what God has called us to do. Be his disciples. i cant wait to

 

get home and share all the stories! i miss you owen family! i wish yall were with me so

 

bad! i love yall!
                      Emily Carmichael Owen