As I write this, it's evening and we are anchored in the middle of the Lake Carara off the shore of the village of Maranhao~. This village is rolling hills covered with palm trees and beautiful vegetation. 22 families call it home. They farm watermelon, passion fruit, banana's and whatever seeds they can get they grow. They share the fruit of their harvest among each other. The village has been here for about 10 -12 years.
We started the day with worship and devotions and headed into the village to provide Vacation Bible School for 30 children. The children heard the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. They were given wooden spoons to symbolize how God provides food for their Mothers to prepare. The plan was for them to give them to their mothers, instead some chose to beat the village cow with them instead! Kids will be kids no matter where you are in the world!
At the same time we offered eye tests and glasses. Sixteen villagers were given reading glasses., including an elderly woman wiith double cataracts was given 3+ pair of glasses. Because this village has a well, Dr. Pablo did not have to treat for parasites. The medical needs were basic, pain relievers and providing antibiotics and vitamins and medicine for asthma. Our local dentist Deja saw 21 patients and pulled 30 teeth.
All the woman of the village, 21 in total, attended Woman's Ministry where we shared the love of God. Peggy and Patricia gave their testimony. We handed out care packs with kitchen items and toiletries. We had a special package for the oldest and then for the youngest woman in the village, the oldest here was 83 (she told us she has 15 children!) and the youngest 20 with 3 children.
Men's Ministry headed up by Lee, Dr. Pablo and Pastor Willer with 8 men from the village attending. They discussed the similarities and differences between our two countries and how they are blessed and we were blessed to be there to minister to them. Dr. Pablo told them they are blessed to not have all the material distractions we have in the U.S., they have more time for God and family. Dr. Pablo having spent a year in the U.S. knew that first hand.
One elderly man named Glauder was in pain from a childhood injury on his hip. Lee gathered the teenagers from our group who prayed over him to relieve his pain. The man walked away telling Grace (our interpreter) that his hip was not in pain.
Lee, Phyllis, Peggy and Claudia (interpreter) met over an hour or more with Arcangelo a 25 year old father of 3 children. We talked about God's love for Him. His plan of salvation and what it means to have eternal life. This village only has 1 Christ professing family. We are praying seeds were planted for Archangel and his family and that God's salvation will come to his home. We presented him with a bible later in the day and highlighted verses we discussed earlier that day.
We ended the day with a service in the center of town, most the Villagers came. Each family received a family pack filled with clothes, flip flops, toilitries, toothbrushes and toys. The representative, Yolanda, of their church thanked us and asked us to please return. We hugged and said our good byes.
As we were preparing to settle in for the night the village fishing boat pulled up to ours and passed over a 5 foot long Piraruccu fish they had caught, they wanted to sell it for $60, Dr. Pablo said that was actually a small one! They get up to 7 feet long.
Overall, God was glorified and His love shared in many ways on this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment