Oi! Today was such a productive day for everyone as we visited the gorgeous village of Vila Candida. Due to the fact that it was the very first time that this village has been visited by one of the boats, we completely changed our schedule for the day. Early in the morning we gathered together with the whole village and had a time of introductions of the American team, a powerful personal testimony, and preaching by Dr. Pablo. He spoke on Revelation 3:20 and spoke of Jesus being our gift from God and how we need to accept it. The people graciously accepted us and our message. The history of this village is quite interesting. It is predominantly Catholic and has not been open to outsiders for fear that a new religion would be introduced into the village. When the AO boats would come to this area of the Amazon, the Vila Candida people would go the nearby villages to receive services. This time the Linda Esperanca was invited by the village president to come. The blonde haired, blue eyed Catholic priest from England also gave his approval for an AO visit after meeting some of the Brazilian team at an earlier date. The village saw that it was simply the love of God that we are offering.
Entry into the village was unique to say the least. We had to walk across a primitive wooden bridge that stretched around a quarter of a mile over the water. From there it was an uphill climb that left some of us breathless. This village is a microcosm of exquisite flora and fauna. The pink dolphins and water buffalo have entertained us. We feel like we have been in paradise all day long.
In the morning the lines for each ministry were extremely long. The doctors saw 120, the dentist pulled about 7 teeth, 80 pairs of eyeglasses were given out, VBS had 120 children, and Ladies Ministry was well received. Because of the big World Cup game between Brazil and Chile, the afternoon was flexible. Part of the team watched Brazil win 3-0 with villagers who had televisions. The rest of the team took the most awesome rainforest hike led by one of our Brazilian interpreters. He is a high school English teacher in Manaus who has written a book entitled Growing Up on the Amazon. He told us about many of the trees, plants, fruits, birds, and animals in this area. Some local children accompanied us. At one point we thought we heard the sound of monkeys in the trees. We were so excited, but we discovered that it was the little boys who had crafted whistles from a plant stem that sounded just like monkeys. Many natural artifacts were collected and brought back to the boat to examine.
Stay tuned for the next blog. Tonight is the night of the alligator hunt!
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