June 24, 2009

June 24, 2009

GPS Coordinates,

Look us up on Google Earth or Google Maps!

S 03.05.522

W 057.41.393

Dear Friends,

Today was a slight change of pace for our team as we visited a rather small village of 14 families with the additional purpose of dedicating a water well our Amazon Outreach Water Team had finished drilling that day. We arrived early in the morning sloshing through the mud from the rainfall the night before. We gathered in the small but cozy weathered church building to sing praise and worship to our Father. As the congregation began to sing "Open the eyes of my heart" in Portuguese some of us began to sing along in English and the mixing of these 2 languages reminded us of a time in Heaven when all languages will be worshiping together. Laoja, one of our translators, opened with a short message about John 3:16 and challenged the women of the village to think about the significance of giving up their son or daughter to die for someone they didn't know, just as God the Father gave up His Son for us.

At vacation bible school, the team acted out a skit of the Good Samaritan in addition to throwing frisbees and kicking soccer balls around the wet grass while the medical and dental team worked about 100 yards away pulling teeth and offering medical help. All the while engaged in these activities we noticed our eyes wandering back and forth on what was happening with the water well. As the water team worked under a blue tarp we found ourselves not really knowing what we were looking at but still looking on with amazement to see what the final product would look like. Around lunchtime we were able to feed the people of the village with warm beans and rice as they eagerly gathered in line.

Arriving back from lunch the team was able to roam and engage in wherever they felt, whether that was teaching the young children how to throw a Frisbee, or gathering with the women to paint their nails. As the Amazon Outreach water team continued to work away, anticipation was growing to pump the first fresh water from the well. Soon enough word traveled that it was complete and ready to go. This particular water well was dedicated to our team leaders husband, Tom Bailey, who the Lord took to Heaven 2 years ago. Our group leader grabbed an empty water bottle and filled it with the new water as he offered it to Brenda Bailey as she drank the first sip of fresh water. Then, one by one people would come up and take their turn to pump the water including an 80-year-old grandmother and the village leader. He grinned from ear to ear at the joy that his village now had fresh water. As people were taking turns posing in front of the well, one of our team members scooped some water from the river and brought it back holding it next to the clean water. As we looked at the difference between the brown dingy water and the new clean water, we were reminded of how Christ cleanses us from our dirtiness.

The day ended with an inspiring message from one of our team members about Christ being our everlasting water and encouraged the village not to just simply receive it, but to cover themselves in it as he poured water over his head. We passed out Portuguese Bibles and encouraged the people to dig in to the scriptures and water themselves in the word. After the service, we officially dedicated the well to Tom Bailey concluded with inspiring words about the character and mission of Tom's life and the impact that it had on specific team members. This was the smallest village we visited but one of the memorable.