Headed back to Manaus

As I write, we’re on the boat clipping down river back towards Manaus. Last night we went gator hunting, please don’t rub it in my face that the girls boat caught one and the guy’s boat didn’t. However, upon realizing they had just beaten us, we promptly motored over and stole it from them. We visited our final village today. The weather was good as there was no rain and we were even given some shade from the clouds in the sky. The VBS team threw down some Daniel and the lion’s den for the kids. The women’s team normally just meets with the older women of the village, but this time they got to hold a meeting with the teenage girls also. Maryann was able to share her testimony with them as she shares a large sports background with the girls. We departed back for Manaus at 1pm. On the boat, we took some time to sit down as a group and voice our thoughts, surprises, and feelings about the trip. Then we built some quality relationships with a half dozen pink dolphins (which actually do exists, but they’re not nearly as photogenic as flipper) and even went swimming with them for a bit.
As far as I know, we’re returning to Manaus with everyone that we left with. Thank you for your prayers so far in our trip, please pray for safe travels for both our teams. Team 2 departs DFW on Saturday to replace us and continue ministering to the villagers of the Amazon river.
Shout out to Em and my fam! See y’all soon!
-Austin Walker
UPDATE FROM TIM--It is hard to believe that the 1st team is heading home Saturday night. Team 2 will arrive ready to work on Sunday morning at 5:15 AM. God has been so faithful this week by opening up doors & opportunity for us to share Christ. In our last village today during the “church” service I asked several questions, “Do you believe the bible is God’s word”? “Do you believe Jesus Christ is God’s son?” “Do you believe that is you were to die today you know 100% that you would go to heaven?” There was only 1 person in the village that raised his hand when I asked about assurance of salvation. I talked about John 14:6 where Christ said “I am the way , the truth & the life…” Eph2:8,9 “It is by grace we are saved through faith…” & Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.” I spent some time doing illustrations about grace & faith & discussing That salvation is a free gift. What an incredible thing that the God of the universe would use simple North Americans to bring his good news to the people of the Amazon Jungle.

God is so good

Bom Dia from the Amazon! Our team is doing well and God is moving in powerful ways. The Rio Negro is a beautiful river… We wake up every morning to a glassy river that looks like a mirror (because there is no wind) and go to bed every night with the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. Everywhere you look is picturesque and a beautiful reminder that God is here and ever present in the villages of the Amazon. The food is wonderful and the Brazilians serving alongside of us are gracious, kind and their love of God is evident.
This morning we docked at a very small village Costanao, only 5-7 families. It was by far the hottest day yet because there was no wind even at 7 am, yet our group continues to share the love of Christ despite not being comfortable or in the best of circumstances. Everyone is a blessing and encouragement to one another and I am honored to serve alongside of them. The key word is FLEXIBILITY… and we are demonstrating it! When we arrived, the children were at school in another village so there were only a couple children, but KyLea was able to minister and share the gospel with them through an Evangacube and their mom heard as well. There wasn’t a need for all the nurses so the ladies all served together and ministered to the women of the village. One neat story was that an 85 year-old woman led us through the jungle, without shoes on, to show us her mandioca field. She plants, harvests and prepares this plant to sell. Once we were back in the village some of our ladies followed her into her home to hear more about her life there and she was overcome with a sick feeling. They all prayed over her and she was able to come to the church service and accepted Christ into her life. Praise be to Jesus! The medical and dental teams are staying busy and serving to the villagers physical health as well as spiritual. They wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the patient and knowledgeable Brazilian translators. They estimated seeing about 50-60 patients today between the two villages.
We then loaded up and during lunch headed a little further down the river to another village, Bom Jesus. After our mandatory siesta, which I don’t know what we would do without, we went into the village to start ministering. The men went with the Vice President of the village on a hunt for a waterfall, which did not prove successful! They had fun despite the failed trip and they were able to spend that time sharing the Gospel with him. It was a hard village to interact with because the Assembly of God church has a big presence there and because of the restrictions placed on them by the church, the men are not allowed to play soccer and the women can’t cut their hair or paint their nails. Those are our main points of entry to get to know the people so we had to find other routes. The VBS team completely loved on the children by teaching them songs, playing games and learning Bible stories. Six children were added to the kingdom today because of their ministry! The women’s ministry organized a meeting for the ladies of the village to share our stories and get to know them better. We had about 10 women attend and Maryann introduced our group, I shared my testimony and Ally presented the gospel with the Evangacube. God totally ordained this plan because 3 of the women related with my story. One woman asked to share her testimony as well. At the age of 14, her sister and she accepted Christ when a visiting group came into their village. Once they came home and shared with their family, their father beat them and held a knife to their throat and told them to choose, God or their family. The girls chose Christ and had to leave and went to the church to pray for 3 months for their father. Eventually their father came to know Christ and has been Redeemed! Other ladies shared their stories as well. I have never been so moved to tears as I was today. We surrounded these sisters and laid our hands on them, prayed, cried and rejoiced in what the Lord has done and is continuing to do!
Thank you to everyone who is continuing to pray for us. Know that you have a hand in this and it would not be possible without all of you! God is moving mightily in the hearts of these people who have been forgotten by so many. Continue to pray for the people who have accepted Christ and for those who have heard but not yet received. Pray for the two villages we are going to visit tomorrow. God is good and we can’t wait to share all of our experiences with you when we return! God Bless you all, goodnight!

Story by Brittni Harrison

Trip Updates- The team is doing well & everyone is healthy. Our team has had an incredible time in the jungle serving people who have nothing We got to go on an alligator hunt last night & one of the Brazilian guys caught a small alligator with his bare hands. One of the men in the village yesterday showed us a jaguar he killed last week. He speared the Jaguar because it was coming afer him. The village ate the meat & we saw the fresh jaguar shin. The man then offered te jaguar head to me as a gift. Dont tell my wife but I am bringing the skull & teeth home to remember this incredible place.

Prayer Requests
Continued unity
Safe passage home (by boat &plane)
strength for me as I am staying for another week
Our team would process this trip well & see how God wants to use this experience to refocus our hearts for those at home.

God is working on hearts in the Amazon

After 18 hours of traveling up the Rio Negro river, Tuesday we we were excited to reach our first village. We have been diligently praying for these people and traveled a good distance to love them and tell them of our great Savior, Jesus Christ. We camped outside the village on the boat and started our day with prayer and devotional led by our Brazil pastor, Djard.
As we got off the boat we were met with smiles and some looks of curiosity. Our boat becomes a passing hospital for their village. The guys and I (this is JP), headed for the soccer field. Through the translator we challenged their young men to a game of soccer. That was stupid. Or, at least we had no hope of victory on the soccer field, but it was fun. I got to play goalie, and I may have found my calling.  After playing soccer & developing a relationship with the guys, we circled the guys up and Matt shared his testimony, then Kyle shared the gospel using the evangacube. There was a guy, who told us his name was Max. He was the son-in-law of the President of the village. It was clear he was a leader, on and off the soccer field. Many of the guys checked out, but “Max” (real name Antonio) engaged. He told us he had been to a church in the big city of Manaus before and that he had pursued God, but then he walked away from the faith. As we asked more, it was clear that he was “hiding” in the village from something he had done in the city.

This village had no church in it. Some villages have Catholic churches (which are actually 4 wood walls…think of a poorly built shed). As we talked to Max more, he told us that he had been having dreams that he was preaching to the village. WOW! We shared the gospel every way we knew how. I am not sure Max was ready and/or willing to accept God’s grace, but it was clear God was doing something.
Our day punctuated with a church service where the majority of the village attended. 4 people made a decision to trust Christ. Max was not one of them, but he was wrestling with the idea. Then, I had the privilege and the honor to baptize Ally and Kylea in the Amazon, after they shared their testimony with the village! Before we left, Max gave Matt and I some gifts of necklaces and earrings for our wives.
What a great day! To God be the glory. Today is Wednesday and we are about to jump off in a new village…we already visited a different village this morning. Side note: we went in one of the huts on the water, where a guy had hammocks hanging on his Porch looking over palm trees and the Amazon River (Think Carona commercial…beautiful scene!). In his hut he had one faded poster which was of a house in America. THE IRONY! We hang pics of their “beach” paradise, and they hang pics of our suburban structures!
Story by Jonathan Pokluda
Update from Tim Coblentz- The team is doing great & everyone is healthy. The Amazon sun is at times unbearable & so we will stand in the shade as we talk with the villagers. Our translators are awesome & the boat crew is very helpful. Everyone on the boat is surprised by how good the food is. Lunch & dinner will consist of rice & beans & some kind of meat. Breakfast is always eggs, some kind of spam stuff, cheese & hotdog buns (that’s right, hotdog buns for breakfast).
PRAYER REQUESTS:
• Continued good health
• Safety as we travel on the Amazon
• Unity between the North American team & Brazilian
• Open hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ

Welcome to the Jungle!!!

If you are wondering how we can update the blog from the blog from the jungles of the Amazon it is due to the miracle of techonology as we have a satellite router that is finally working. As of Tuesday noon, the team is healthy & safe. I will try to give another udpate tonight of todays events.

We made it to Brazil, at 5:15AM!! We went through customs and found our host, with no complications! Praise the Lord! We went to Hotel Monaco to eat breakfast and rest up after our long flight. After what we all agreed was the best nap ever, we toured the street market in downtown Manaus to buy lots of goodies. The town is beautiful, the hotel… not so much! We ate lunch at “Bufalo Churrascaria”, where they had authentic Brazilian food, brought out on skewers… they had everything from normal looking beef and chicken to cow tongue and chicken hearts… It was better not to ask what you were eating, but the chicken hearts were quite tasty once you got past the thought of actually eating a chicken heart! We went to a church service with our host church where we sang songs and listened to a sermon in Portuguese. It was so moving to listen to the service with fellow believers even though we couldn’t understand what they were saying! We sang “You are Holy” but in Portuguese, and a new song where two of our members helped lead the song. The whole congregation prayed over us for our travels. After the service, we packed up and headed off to the boat! We had a light dinner and went straight to bed, which we were all ridiculously thankful for, despite the reeeeally close quarters. The boat started on its journey down the Amazon while we were sleeping!

This morning we woke up and went to a village called Novo Airao to get some supplies and see the village. The Amazon River is bigger than you can imagine, but so calm for a river! There are so many trees, but all different kinds of trees next to each other, unlike in the states. We’ve seen some animals… dolphins and crocodiles and lot of multi-color birds. The Brazilian team that is on the boat with us is really nice and super helpful. We had lots of team building today and organizing so that we’re ready to go into the village tomorrow. We travelled up the Rio Negro 18 hours and will travel slowly back towards Manaus each day. Tomorrow, we will see all that the village of Abacaba has to offer! Can’t wait to meet the people and be able to love on them. I got to meet the dentist on board, Marcus, with whom I will be working. He’s from Manaus and is a full time missionary dentist. God has really been good to us and blessed us well already. I can’t wait to see what other miracles he will perform through us.

Story by Alana Macalik

Ready to Serve

Good Evening,

All is well with the team. They travelled all night last night and all day today up the Rio Negro. They finally reached their destination around 6:00pm Dallas time. Tomorrow morning they'll begin serving and lovin' on the people there in the village.

Here's what a typical day looks like:

7:00am breakfast (eggs, fruit, ham, cheese, bread, juice, coffee)

7:30am team devotional

8:00am - 12:00pm in the village loving on and serving the people

12:00pm lunch (rice and beans are a definite! plus chicken, fish or beef)

1:00pm - 2:00pm rest/siesta

2:00pm - 6:00pm back to serving the people (there's also usually a soccer game with the guys from the village and our guys/gals)

6:00pm dinner (more rice and beans, meat, fruit, dessert, and cold Coke or Guarana (my personal favorite!)

7:00pm church service with the villagers

Many times the church service is held outdoors underneath a tree or in an open area, if the village doesn't have a church or other type of structure that could be used for the church service. They'll sing songs together and then the local pastor will introduce our team and typically one of the North American team members will give their testimony, which is then followed by a sermon, more singing and then sometimes they'll hand out donations to the head of each family after church. One of the most beautiful experiences, for me, has been hearing another culture sing the same songs as us in the United States, but in their native language. It is so powerful to see the Lord transcending languages and two cultures singing and praising in different languages and traditions, but to the same Almighty God.

How can you pray for the team tonight/tomorrow?

* Thank the Lord for each team member and their obedience to His calling to go. Most of them are using precious vacation time to serve the Lord and the unreached in a very hot and humid place. Thank him for them stepping out of their comfort zones into the UNcomfortable.

* Thank the Lord for the translators and their hearts to serve our team by helping them communicate.

* Pray for open hearts of the villagers to receive the free gift of salvation that comes only through Jesus Christ and for boldness of the team to share the Good News.

* Pray for unity with the translators. It can be awkward using a translator to speak so pray that they will all work well together. Pray that the Lord would help both the North American and the Brazilian communicate well with each other and with the villagers they will speak with.

* Pray for wisdom and guidance for the medical team to treat their patients.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians 6:19.

Thank you for checking in and for your prayers.

Have a blessed day,

Kelli Coblentz

Team Arrives Safely in Brazil

Good Morning,

The team arrived safely in Manaus this morning and all of their checked luggage made it as well. Praise God! You'll see the team above, just before they left Dallas.

The team will rest until about 1:00 when they'll head to an authentic Brazilian churrascaria for lunch. They will enjoy all the meat they can stand! After lunch they'll have some team time through a devotion and then they might have some time to check out the city for a little while.

They'll attend church tonight in Manaus and they'll get to meet the tranlators who will be working with them all week. After church they'll get on the boat and head down the Amazon River and travel all night so that they'll be able to begin serving and loving on the Amazon people on Monday.

How can you pray for the team today?

* Team unity with both the North Americans and the NA team with the Brazilians.

* Safe travel tonight on the river. Pray for the Captain and his crew to be guided well down the river and kept from harm's way.

* For the Lord to prepare the hearts of the people the team will serve and interact with on Monday and for them to be able to see & hear & believe the Good News of Jesus Christ.

* For opportunities to share the Good News and for boldness in the team.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6

Thank you for checking in and praying for the team,
Kelli Coblentz