Today was an excellent day on the Amazon!! We started out in Villa Amazonas, which is a fairly large village. We met Pastor Luciano who is the pastor of the Baptist Church in Villa Amazonas. We had a wonderful VBS session with the village children and we all had a wonderful time. The kids loved the lion costumes when we told the story of Daniel in the lion's den. Several evangelism groups went out today and there were numerous decisions made for Christ. One woman had the words "Jesus lives here" written in Portugese on the front of her house. This is significant because there is a great deal of religious persecution in the Amazon. We got back on the boat for lunch and traveled to Parintines. Before we got to Parintines, though, we stopped along the way to swim in the Amazon!! What an awesome experience!! Actually everyone swam the Am but not me because I promised my son I would not!!! Five of the Americans were baptised in the Amazon by Pastor Elmer today. That was pretty amazing!! We celebrated Kandal's birthday with a surprise birthday cake at lunch and she was one of the five who was baptised. We spent the afternoon in Parintines and Pastor Elmer gave us a tour of the Baptist school and the Baptist church and provided us with a history of the growth of the church in Parintines. We got drenched in an afternoon downpour while we were making our way to the church. We had dinner guests which included pastors, missionaries and their families. After dinner Phyllis treated us all to ice cream at McDaves. Some of us were talked into trying the corn ice cream (Sadie), it was not good!!! Today was the last day of our ministry time in the villages, tomorrow we'll send balloons over the boat full of candy and a Bible verse to the children in the villages on the way to Manaus. It's been a great trip for our team and we've all been touched by the miracles God has revealed to us. It's sad to leave this place but we're looking forward to being home with you all and sharing more of our stories. We appreciate your continued prayers for our safe travel back to the U.S. In God's service,
Allison, Sadie, Hugh and the Linda Esperanza team
Praying for your team, you guys are amazing!
ReplyDelete