First Full Day in a Village

Bom Dia! (Good Morning!)

All is well on the JJ Mesquita. The team traveled all night and visited two very small villages today with about 10 families each. The families in theses villages make their living by fishing, growing corn or hunting animals in the jungle.

To give you an idea, here is the team's general daily schedule:

6:30AM - wake up
7:00 - breakfast (eggs, fruit, ham, cheese, bread, juice, coffee)
7:30 - team devotional
8:00 - 12:00PM off the boat and into the village to begin serving and loving on the people
12:00 - lunch (some sort of meat plus rice & beans)
1:00 - 2:30 rest/siesta
2:30 - 6:00 back to serving the people of the village (includes an afternoon soccer game with the guys)
6:00 - dinner (more meat, rice & beans)
7:00 - church service

You might be wondering what the 'church service' is like if a village doesn't have a church or common area building structure. Many times it's finding an open area outdoors to accomodate the villagers and then worshipping just like we would here in N. America. They'll sing songs, introduce the team, one of the Americans will share their testimony while a translator translates and then Tim or the Brazilian missions pastor will preach.

Prayers for today:
- Open hearts of the villagers and that, through the work of the team, God's kingdom would be glorified and greatly increase in number
- Unity with the translators
- That the guys acclimate quickly to their hammocks and rest well in them (the girls get bunk beds in tiny rooms on the boat; whereas, the guys hang hammocks up in the common area of the boat to sleep at night)
- Sustained health of the team (a few are still dealing with allergies/sinus infections)
- For the medical and dental teams...wisdom & guidance to treat their patients
- For the women's ministry team...to share their hurts & struggles with the women of the village and how a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ & his saving grace overcomes any of our sins...past or future
- For the children's ministry team...to love on those kids & to learn from their simple, loving spirits
- For the sports team...to enjoy getting beat at soccer (because they will!) and that the Lord would open up opportunities to share Christ with the men and teenagers with whom they'll play.

Thank you so much for your prayers and have a blessed day!

Angela Ardis
(Brazil trip - August 2007)

"Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples." - Psalms 96:1-3