Monday Evening Boat Loading

Here's a photo of our boat & some of the supplies we will be taking on our 7 hour trip up the Amazon to Aurana. We just finished loading the boat & are about to have dinner before heading back to the boat. The hard work starts tomorrow although loading the boat was pretty demanding. Please keep us, the boat crew, & the village we are visiting in your prayers. Next update will be Friday night or Saturday. Bye!

Sunday Wrapup

Hello again from Santarem, Brazil! It's 10:50pm (8:50 in Charleston) & everyone is hitting the sack for the night. Just wanted to post a quick update of what we did the second half of today. We all went out to lunch at a VERY popular fish restaurant near the guest house. Everyone was very happy with the food & we had some great fellowship. When we got back to the PAZ guest house, a few of us met with a local artist who is hand painting souvenir T-shirts that we each designed individually. He is very talented. I'm sure you'll see us around Seacoast wearing his handiwork soon. Finally, we attended the 5pm service at the PAZ church. The Brazilians make Seacoast look like a Baptist church. They really get their worship on! This post was originally going to go up Sunday night, but someone else needed to use the laptop. It's about 1pm Monday as I actually post this.
Right now everyone is enjoying a potluck lunch with all the PAZ missionaires before we depart to the village we will be working in this week. Going to load up all the food & other supplies on the boat in about 3 hours for a midnight departure & 7 hour boat trip. We all can't wait to get out on the river & start working! Will not be able to update until we return late Friday or early Saturday. See ya' later!

Water Filter Project

You have all heard about the need for clean water around the world. The Amazon Basin is no exception. We have clean water at our fingertips anytime we want water. This is not true along the Amazon which is the world's longest and largest river. Although fresh water is plentiful in the Basin, it is widely contaminated with microorganisms that cause many different kinds of disease, some of which are fatal. These water-borne illnesses are a leading cause of death, especially among infants and elders.

The PAZ Church water filter ministry provides potable water to the neediest people in the Basin. Currently the filters used are constructed of concrete. With the filter materials, this system weighs more than 300 lbs. Using a different material has the potential to reduce the weight by more than 50%. John Peckham and John Tucker worked with Kelly Lee of PAZ and many other organizations prior to arriving in Brazil to help provide information about potential options. Water Missions International, HydrAid, and Aqua Clara all helped with information about potential options for producing water filters from lightweight materials.

Today, Kelly, John P., John T., Dr. Knopke (President from Aqua Clara), and Becky Hrubik (PAZ Mission Co-Director) visited two river villages to observe the concrete filters in use. This trip provided on-site information about logistics, operations and maintenance needs for this important ministry. For you that use Google Earth, you may see the location we visited by going to S 2 deg 16' 29.2" latitude W 54 deg 42' 15.8" longitude.

Providing clean water has been one of our most fruitful ways of taking the Living Water to the thirsty of the Amazon. Since the beginning of the program, PAZ has installed over 10,000 water filters.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink..." - Matthew 25:34-35a NIV

How Many Loaves Do You Have?

We were up and at it early today at 7:00 a.m. (5:00 a.m. Chucktown time) with a team devotional from Pastor Chuck. He read to us from Matthew 15:32-34. It ends with our Lord asking His disciples, 'How many loaves do you have?'.

The question is so simple that He asks us, what do you have? He doesn't ask us for more than what we have available to us, but He wants to use ALL that we have. Our prayer during this time in Brazil is that each of us will make available to Him ALL that we have and He in turn will feed thousands.

The water team (John Tucker & John Peckham) are out in the village taking a look at the water filters in action this morning. It isn't the village we will be going to build the church, so they are getting the opportunity to see a little more of Brazil and we are praying that God will grant them wisdom as they look for the next steps in this walk. The water filters are an amazing way to share the gospel in the Amazon and Project Amazon has done an amazing job using this physical need to minister to the spiritual needs of a personal relationship with Christ Jesus.

Our more relaxed side of the team (Mike S., Mike E. and Chuck) took the morning to help shop for some of the supplies for the boat trip at the market this morning and had the opportunity to see a little of God's creation with pink dolphins at the quay side. The Brazilians are quick enterpreneurs and charge $2-3 dollars for a couple fish to lure in the dolphins. They played and frolicked as the guys tried to dream of their own businesses to take it to the next level. Chuck crossed the line when thinking a dead fish necklace would do the trick.

Glenn is still getting his beauty sleep as we rest. I (Amie) am sure God is speaking to him through some wonderful dreams and can't wait to hear the stories.

Finally, I (Amie) had the time to spend with a couple sweet sisters in Christ: Fritha and Melissa. They each have such a beautiful heart and testomonies of God's love and healing power in their lives and I am so thankful for the sisterhood He has created between us.

May each of you be blessed today as you read this and we hope to have one of the guys update this evening as we journey out to lunch and then church this evening.

Day #1in Brazil

Hello everyone from rainy Santarem, Brazil! We arrived at 6:40 am this morning to a pretty steady downpour. We were all pretty wiped out due to lack of sleep. The ones of us that are veterans of this mission trip enjoyed a reunion with our hosts Don & Betty Best (and many others) plus met a few newcomers to Project Amazon. Then we hit the sack & slept until about 1pm. When we awoke, we had an orientation session with Don, Betty, and Jeff & Fritha Turner where our itinery & all of the general rules were outlined. At that time, John Tucker, John Peckham, & Harry (Aqua Clara, third party clean water organization) went to tour Project Amazon's water filter production operation. Our trip is a dual purpose mission, construction & offer input on the direction of Project Amazon's clean water ministry. After that we all met at an ice cream parlor for a a little treat & the weather cleared up to be hot, sunny, & sticky! We then went down to the Orla (riverfront) to check out the fishing & line boat (water taxis) operations. We are all now safely back at the Project Amazon guest house where we are preparing to eat and preparing to eat dinner at about 7:15pm (5:15 in Charleston). Have a great night & I will try to update again tomorrow & Monday before we head out on the Amazon River at around midnight Monday night. Blessings!

Correction

Oops! Thought it was Wednesday, so add 24 hours to my 40!

Preparing for Mission

Hey guys! This is the initial post for our 2011 Mission Trip to Brazil. Although internet access is limited & sketchy in Brazil, we will attempt to do a better job this year of keeping you informed. First, I wanted to post the link for the mission organization that we partner with & that hosts us while we're there: http://www.projectamazon.org/. I encourage you to go to their website & learn a little about them, the country of Brazil, it's people, & the amazing things God is doing through this amazing organization. We had our final team meeting this morning & had an awesome time of prayer & anointing. As I type this we are 40 hours away from departing this Friday(3/4) at 6:15 am (we have to be at the airport at 4:30 am - Nuts!). We fly from here to Miami, then to Sao Paulo, Brazil, then to Manaus, Brazil, & finally into Santarem, Brazil, where Project Amazon is based. We arrive Saturday (3/5) at 6:40 am & we will be greeted by our hosts, Don & Betty Best, who will transport us to the guest house. I'm sure it will be nap time since we will have been traveling for 24 hours. We covet yours prayers for our protection & that Jesus will use us as His hands & feet. Stay tuned...