Spiritual warfare in the Amazon

Thursday in the Amazon was an interesting day. We are in the village of Anama & there is a church here with 80 people but the village size is 6,000 total. At the beginning of the day, the pastor gave us some feedback on the village & informed us that the major problems in the village are alcohol, drugs & prostitution (with boys & girls ages 10-16 being used as prostitutes). We had a good day doing VBS with kids & playing soccer & sharing Christ with others but there was also some VERY INTENSE spiritual warfare. I saw some things that really opened my eyes that Satan does not want us here & that he has a strong hold in this part of the Amazon.
Friday will be our last day of work & we are working close to the village from yesterday. There is a small church here that has suffered some very intense spiritual warfare. Some of the people from the church have suffered persecution where villagers throw stones or threaten to beat them. I want everyone to know that our team is safe & everyone is healthy. We are excited to see what God has in store for our last day of work. Our luggage has been held in Manaus but that has actually turned out to be a blessing as that has made our team share their belongings & has brought us closer. I feel that this whole week has lead us to this point in this village where God wants to do something glorious. For our devo this morning I shared Psalm 96 “declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deed among all peoples”. Our “job description” this week is to point people to our amazing God & share how much he desires a personal relationship with each one of us.
We will work in this village all day culminating with a celebration church service at 5:00 PM. After that we will have dinner & start the long boat ride back to Manaus. We will start processing the trip tonight by asking questions like “what have you learned this week about God, other people, or yourself”, “what has God taught you this week about contentment & simplicity of life”, etc. We will arrive Manaus early in the morning & spend Saturday relaxing & seeing the city. Our flight leaves Manaus Saturday night late & we arrive back to Dallas 10:00 am Sunday morning.
PRAYER REQUESTS
• Spiritual warfare- pray that God would protect our team. That Satan would have no power in this village & that people who have visited the local witch doctor would open their hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Safety for our team as we travel on the river at night
• Our team would process well the trip & what God wants to teach us as we come home