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Title: A hammock never felt so good
Body: The flight from Atlanta was tough. Instead of 5 hours, it was 6 (again, a confusion on the time difference). It seemed more packed then normal flights. We had the hope of tv's on the seats in front of us, but for some reason, every announcement had to be given in four different languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian). And when the announcements were going, you couldn't watch tv. You never really realize how many announcements are given until you have been on a quad-lingual flight. The occasional "we are cruising at 37,000 feet" or "the attendants will be coming through the cabin for trash" would last 10 minutes when you added the pleasantries in.

 

The sight of the team getting off the plane was a comical one. Everyone's face shown of exhaustion of being in a cramped space for many hours. The customs process did not help. For a flight of around 150, there were 2 custom agents. This process took another 2 hours to get our team through. To say the least, we were DONE with traveling.

 

As soon as we got to the boat, the whole mood of the team changed. The boats were not pictures anymore. They were real and were magnificent. Both boats were docked as a team from Prestonwood Baptist in Dallas had a team that was in the other boat. The girls went ahead with the translators to tour the boat as the men (not going to call us "guys" here since we were doing a manly duty) started to organize the luggage from the bus and get it to the boat.

 

Everything about the boat seems somehow authentic. It is completely wooden and is covered in a thick layer of varnish-like material that keeps the wood from rotting. The first floor was a big wide open room where we put all the luggage. There is a little nook there for the washer and dryer. As we make our way up to the second floor through the spiral hallway in the back, you see the girl's floor with their hammocks lined up. It looks like the most comfortable version of human sardines ever invented. The hammocks are so close together tied across the skinny boat, but somehow it did not looked nearly as cramped as the 737 we just got off of.

 

On the 3rd floor of the boat is another empty room where the guys hang up their hammocks at night to sleep and put out tables in the day to eat meals and meet. At about 2:15AM, our boat pulled out of the dock and slipped out in to the night. No lights on the shores around (this is the Amazon river). Favorite comment from was Cody Scott. As all the students were flipping out about how cool the boat was and what a great adventure they were in for, and Cody said, "dude, I just realized we are in another country! I was looking around the boat and how cool everything is, and then I saw a bird out on the shore, and realized, we don't have birds like that back at home. I forgot. We are in Brazil!"

 

It was 2:30AM when we finally met as a team on the 3rd floor. We got all of our translators to introduce themselves and give their favorite cereal (the most popular one was Captain Crunch) and sing a worship song. After that, we began to figure out what it meant to sleep in a hammock. They are so much more comfortable that you think. Before the trip, they let us know that we can purchase the hammock we sleep in for $35 at the end of the trip. While I am very much against buying souvenirs that gather dust in the closet, the comfort of this hammock is starting to win me over to the point of purchase.

 

At about 3AM, we began to fall asleep, with the cool wind of a moving boat making us feel so at peace. As I fell asleep, I was overhearing a conversation between Matt Church and one of our 1st time translators (we have 9 total) on our trip who was eagerly learning the English language. Matt was patiently talking very slow and use hand movements to help him understand his words.

 

Cody was right. We are in Brazil.

 

 

 

Title: Waking up in the Jungle
Body: This morning I woke up to Cody videoing me sleeping. It was a pretty fun morning for us. We all woke up with the jungle all around us. Both banks were full of trees and jungle. The night before it was all dark. The day before it was all skyscrapers. No one wanted to get out of bed because once you get comfy in the hammock; you do not want to get up.

 

We had great breakfast of fruit, coffee cake, eggs, bacon and some sort of grill cheese action. It was delicious. We met with the boat crew and went over boat rules. I somehow feel that our team is going to add on to these rules before this trip is over.

 

We are traveling all day today to get to our first village. The other Amazon Outreach boat was right next to us all morning until it veered off to a different part of the river. We will be seeing them in a week on the way back.

 

We spent the whole afternoon unpacking 45 suitcases full of ministry material, organizing for our first village tomorrow. Our VBS team practiced their puppet skills which left everyone in tears. Our haircut ministry practiced on a few heads, and one of our young gentlemen (Nico) lost a farkle and had to be the victim of our women's ministry and got to paint his toenails. I wish I could share video or pictures over this blog, but the satellite connection in which we are posting has a very low bandwidth and we are just thankful to be able to send what we have.

 

The big win so far is that our team has already bonded so well with the Brazilians on the boat and we will be set to be very effective when we land at our first village tomorrow morning. Not bad for a bunch of rookies!

 

We hope to update this on a daily basis , but it will all depend on satellite  coverage. Thanks for your prayers!