HOMEWARD BOUND

I was awoken at 5.30am as the light began to rise over the rainforest. Tinho was telling me to ‘come on’ as we were going to head back and try to make it for the leaders meeting and Sunday school back at Maues.
As we hopped into the boat several things had already been arranged. We would be back within a month, Rui would take a weekly ‘cell’ group and we would stay longer to teach the children on the Sunday morning too.
As we sped homeward we were excited, God had been so present......seeds that had been sown so many years before had been harvested but what’s more HIS words were coming back having completed HIS will. We were looking forward to tell our families; our ‘cell’ groups; the church body.
As we passed by Saint John we saw Rui standing outside his teacher’s house and we waved and cheered to him. All of a sudden there was a massive wallop and the outboard motor swung hard to the left and we were literally catapulted out of the boat. I can’t remember that much, it all happened so fast, one minute we were looking at Rui and his outrageously bright Bermuda shorts and the next we were plunged into the darkness of the river.
As I surface and took in what was happening I realised that my boots were filling with water (we felt it cold in the morning and we were all wearing jeans and light jumpers)....Tinho swam pasted and I shout ‘help me get my boots off’!
I quickly realised the boots weren’t going to take me to the bottom but that Tinho was swimming towards the boat which was spinning around in a tight circle at full throttle. I shouted to him ‘get out of there’.....but he continued towards the boat which in my mind had now become a lethal weapon to be avoided. I shout again ‘get out of there, get out now’, at this Tinho seemed to hear and headed towards the guitar case that was floating nearby. Tinho later commented that he had gone for the boat because he realised he wasn’t going to make it to the riverbank but when I had shouted all of a sudden he realised that the guitar case was going to be his float!
By this time word had gone around the community that three guys had just died and the community came rushing out to the water’s edge. Several men jumped into their boats and came to fish us out and also stop our boat.
We got back into our boat and made our way to the community’s steps where we were offered some more petrol to help us get home. The community couldn’t believe that we had all escaped without death or injury. The whole community came out and we got the opportunity to thank them and promise that we would visit each home on our return.

So what happened? The boat had hit a plank in the middle of the river. As we had looked to wave goodbye to Rui we hadn’t spotted the plank. The plank hit the propeller shaft/column causing it to escape Tinho’s hand, throwing the boat on its side and bailing its contents out before uprighting itself again.

ARRIVAL & SURPRISE

We arrived at Sao Joao (the community Saint John) to meet up with one of our church contacts, Rui. Rui is a school teacher and has been teaching at this community for a few years. Our desire was to see the possibility of witnessing to the family who had invited us to their homes in the interior and then see if they would accept Rui as someone who could disciple and mentor on a weekly bases. We met Rui and arranged to meet him further up river at the family’s house for a ‘meeting’.
We sent on again continuing further up river to Robson’s uncle Eder’s house. Robson’s uncle had pasted a few months in the city and during that time had frequented the ‘cell’ group that Robson leads and gave his life to the Lord at the ‘cell’ group. It was Robson’s uncle who had asked that we might bring the word of God to his family and relatives.
As we arrived we were greeted by two familiar faces Lucas and Luan (these two brothers are twins!) who had gone to the Living Word School over 7 years ago. At that stage I had permission to treat patients voluntarily at a dental clinic and had treated them too! It was great to see them and immediately there was a great sense of welcome and warmth. Their mum, Robson’s aunt (Ruth) who was still an unbeliever took great joy to show us around their area, with guarana being planted and manjuca too. Her mum and brother and sister-in-law also have house close by and we were introduced to them also, taking the opportunity to invite them to the ‘meeting’ that night. We got to meet Ruth’s mum and hear a little of how she had ended up living in this part of the Amazon.
Robson’s aunt Ruth is the Headmistress at the Municipal School in Saint John and was able to tell us about the community and also the other communities along the river (Maues Miri). The Municpal School caters for over 170 students and many of them are brought to school by the school taxi boat! There is also approximately 1000 people living along this river in different communities.
The ‘meeting’ was very relaxed as all the families came together and Rui brought 3 youth from Saint John too. The little generator was cranked up and the ‘farinha baraca’ became dimly lit as it coughed and droned the duration of the evening.
We sang, prayed and shared the gospel through personal testimonies. It was a wonderful atmosphere as we saw the hunger of their hearts and realized that truly in this place the fields were white for harvest. Many gave their lives to the Lord, especially impacting for me was Lucas and Luan at the age of thirteen accepting Jesus as their saviour. Ruth too accepted Jesus into her heart and treated us to a cake she had made for our visit and a saucepan of boiled fish, farinha and rice came later.
We said good night to our hosts as they went off to their respective homes and we put up our hammocks in the farinha hut. The brilliant thing about the jungle is that the temperatures drop to about 20 degrees at night (trust me that is cold, compared to 40-45+) and as we hopped into our hammocks apart from the canopy of palm leaves over our heads the stars could be seen so clearly. We were far from our families but we slept content knowing that HIS hand was over this encounter.

I HAVE A DREAM!

I remember being at Ballyholme primary in Bangor N.Ireland. I was in P3 which means I was 6-7years old at the time and the name Martin Luther King caught my attention on the book in the schools mobile library! Obviously being called Martin made me want to read about another Martin. Even at this early age I can remember reading and being stirred by the passion and energy contained in his speech ‘I HAVE A DREAM’.
I have a dream, a dream too. A dream that sees the GOOD NEWS being brought into the tributaries of the Amazon, a dream that sees not just good news in word being shared but GOOD NEWS in word and deed being manifest.
I have held onto this dream shared it occasionally but also guarded it close to my heart. Something precious, something fragile in the wrong hands but strengthened in others.
In 2004 we moved to Maues, having lived in the Amazon State Capitol for nearly one year. Maues is an 18 hour boat ride from Manaus, having no connecting roads but waterways and boats. For seven years we have lived and worked in Maues and I can count the number of times we have gone further up river into the ‘interior’ on my hands. But none of this time has been in vain as other people have been equipped and mobilized towards the same objective.
Now as the outboard began to take us through the channels and tributaries, taking us ever closer to our destination a sense of expectation began to well within us. The sun was baking down on us and it was a beautiful afternoon as we skimmed over glass like water. At moments you were overcome by the beauty of the surroundings, orchids growing on trees, birds flying alongside the boat, magnificent white cranes and even a few fish to be seen skimming across the top of the water as if to get a better look.
In the boat, Tinho (Pastor Gualter) who has be praying for the last three years to bring the word into the interior through the relationships that God has already given, Martin (that is me) with a vision to reach the riverbank people and Robson a cell group leader and also nephew to the family we were going to visit.