Traveling Down the River

Hello,

The team's travels went well through the night. Thank you for your prayers! They are still traveling and will soon be stopping in a village for one last service opportunity before heading on to Manaus.

Please pray for continued safety as they travel and for a great last service / witnessing opportunity with the Amazon people.

We're sorry that you haven't been able to hear directly from the team and see pictures from their experiences, but hopefully that means when they return there will be plenty of stories to be shared on the blog.

Thank you for checking in and for praying.

God bless,
Kelli Coblentz

Headed Back to Manaus

Bom Noite (Good Evening) !

All is well with the team and they had another great day serving and loving on the Amazon people of Brazil. Right now they are headed back to Manaus. They will travel all night and most of the day tomorrow, but will take some time to stop in another village to serve.

Please continue to pray for safe travels during the night, for receptive hearts of the last village they'll visit and for a strong finish for our team.

Thank you for checking in and for your prayers.

Kelli Coblentz

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

Tuesdays work in the Amazon

Our first full day of work in the Amazon was awesome! Our morning starts with breakfast at 7:00 am, followed by devotion at 8:00. We get off the boat at 9:00 & start our ministry work. There were many people lined up at 9:00 waiting to see the doctor & dentist so our medical team was immediately busy. Our mens & womens team walked around the village to meet people say hello. We found out that there had been a death in the village & we were invited to go to the funeral (a first for me after 20
Amazon trips). Our trip pastor Djard shared at the funeral & then I spoke briefly & we prayed for the family. Later we were able to talk with the dead mans only daughter & she said she didn’t feel that God loved her & would let her into heaven. Our boat women shared with her what the bible says about freedom through Christ & that salvation is a free gift & she asked Jesus Christ to come into her heart! What an awesome day!
I took some of the north American men & we met some of the men in the village. There was an older man named Jose that we made an immediate connection with. We asked him questions about the type of animals he hunted & fished & we built a bridge by showing him pictures of the animals I hunt & fish in Texas. His face lit up as I asked him to tell us stories about seeing giant anacondas & he mentioned that he had even killed 2 jaguars that were eating his animals. He showed us his fishing nets & spears that he uses to feed his family & also showed us the skins of the deer he killed & the tails of armadillos he has eaten. Jose said he had 2 absessed teeth that were giving him pain & he said he had tried to remove them with a hammer ( the people in the jungle are remarkably tough & resilient as you can tell by the story of Jose)!!!! Jose & others in the village later came to the “church service” we had in front of the school. Jarrad Brandt gave his testimony & our Brazilian pastor preached & multiple people raised their hand that they accepted Christ for the first time.
The team is doing great & everyone is feeling well. Please pray for continued open doors for the gospel & continued unity with our North American & Brazilian team.

Ready to Serve

Good Evening,

All is well with the team. They attended church on Sunday with the church they're partnering with and met the translators they'll be serving with. They also sang a song for the church and then the church sang the same song in Portugese, which was sweet and just a great reminder that although we may speak a different language we worship the same Lord.

They traveled all night and day today where they are now docked in front of the village they'll visit and serve tomorrow.

How can you pray for the team?

* Unity with the translators and among each ministry team
* Receptive hearts of the village they'll be serving
* Wisdom and discernment for the medical / dental teams as they treat patients
* For the North American team to be open to what God wants to do in, through and to them
* Praise God for keeping them safe and for the translators, for they are an integral resource to the team. Thank the Lord also for the boat crew who work very hard to transport the team, cook and clean for them and keep them safe.

They are having trouble connecting to the satellite router which allows them to post on the blog so hopefully those issues will be resolved so that you will be able to hear updates and stories directly from the team.

Thank you for praying and for checking in.

Kelli Coblentz