Another Great Day in the Jungle

Bom Dia! (Good Morning!

The team had another great day serving the people of the Amazon.

The medical team was extremely busy as they saw over 100 patients. To give you an idea of what folks are treated for it's primarily minor issues such as infections from an open wound (typically see lots of these), colds, and worms which can only unfortunately be treated with a "band-aid" of medications since the patients aren't able to seek out consistent treatment. The dentist is usually busy pulling teeth, which are rotted and causing a lot of pain. One year the dentist worked until probably 9pm, didn't stop for dinner, pulling teeth. It was already dark out and he was using his headlamp to see. So as you can tell, there are quite a few folks, young and old, that have issues with rotting teeth due to lack of hygiene and access to routine dental care.

The women's team had a great meeting with the women in the village. This team will usually spend time getting to know the women by serving them through the washing of their hands or feet and painting their nails. These women work very hard for their family and these are ways our team can love on them. Then usually one of the girls on the North American team will share her testimony along with the gospel and from there dialog with the women about their beliefs.

The children's team played with a lot of kids. The kids just love when teams like ours show up. They love the affection, the Bible stories, crafts and play time. They don't get to play with everyday items like bubbles, soccer balls and beach balls like kids in the U.S. do so it's amazing how they can play with one of these for hours and never get bored. Typically the team will also do face painting, which is always a hit!

The mens's team had a good time visiting with the men and (I'm sure) getting whipped at the soccer game. It's really neat to see the walls of these very hard working village men come down through laughter at our U.S. guys trying to keep up with soccer. And the Brazilians are even playing bare foot!

Yesterday evening at the church service at least 13 men came forward to accept Christ. Praise the Lord! Keep in mind this is unusual for a man to do in front of his village at a church service, typically out of fear of being kicked out of the village, kids being kicked out of school and losing all that they have.

The team is in a new village today called Pari and they will be there until 1:00pm. At that time they will travel for a couple of hours to another village. After serving and ministering to that village this afternoon, they will start the long boat ride back to Manaus and will probably stop at another village along the way.

Everyone is healthy, everyone is feeling good. Things are going great! Tim asked me to apologize that they aren't able to post a story or photo on the blog. They're not getting a good connection with the satellite router, which is not uncommon given that they are in a very remote location.

Please continue to pray for safe travels, good health, boldness of the team, receptive hearts of the villages they visit, and a strong finish.

Thank you for your prayers and for checking in.

Kelli Coblentz