Well the motor for Steady Away arrived on Friday, in its box. Was fitted to the hull on Friday night and was out doing its job by Saturday afternoon.
It had been a busy week but the finale was to come! Our second trip to Saint John and our first in the Steady Away. We had told Eder and his family we would be back on the 17th September to participate in the ‘cell’ group and more. On Saturday at 1.30pm those asked to go on the trip arrived at the Pastor’s house.
Leaving in the Steady Away was myself (truly an ‘L’ driver), Josivaldo, Fransciso, Fabiano and Robson. Going in the Pastors boat was Tinho, Dr Hort, Alessandra, Vanusa, and Dayvid.
I have to say, having Josivaldo in the boat was excellent, he has worked on engines and boats for years and knows the ins and outs. The river is still going down and the connecting tributary we were taking as a short cut was down to less than 50cm in parts. This meant that the engine had to be lifted slightly out of the water at different parts of the course.......all new to me, who only knew the basics.
We arrived at Saint John about 4.30pm and spent some time thanking those who had pulled us out of the water. The man who had rescued me and Robson was at his home and it was lovely to meet him and thank him again but this time in dry clothing! He was really touched that we had kept our word to return to the community and thank them.
This was a very special moment for Vanusa (her two children Bia and Geovana were staying with Rebeca and our children). Vanusa is married to Rui who teaches in the school at Saint John and it was her first time seeing where her husband works and being introduced to the community. Rui is the person who is running the cell group at Eder’s house.
Dr Hort who has started work in the Dental Surgery at the school, has also volunteer to work with me in bringing Dental Care to the community. We hope to be able to do not just extractions but fillings and dental health education. The dentists pass this way twice a year and only extract teeth!!!! So they are not anticipated with any enthusiasm. Also when the people can get to the city of Maues it is difficult for them to get an appointment with the dentists and so often their dental problems are aggravated by the impossibility of treatment. We have also volunteered to treat them at the school when they arrive in from the interior. We see this as a way of showing God’s love and fundamentally building relationships.
We said good bye to the people of Saint John and headed further up river to Eder’s house. We were heartedly greeted by the family and shortly after our arrival the brother’s arrived with fish that they had caught for us to eat that night. They were overcome with joy that we had returned, even though we had promised to return there is often much doubt, because here so many promises are broken.
Rebeca couldn’t go because she was taking care of our children and Vanusa’s children but she had prepared food for the ‘cell’ group which we had brought with us. The ‘living arrows’ that had travelled with us, each gave a testimony of what God had done and was doing in their lives or a word which they felt God had given them to share. Everything dove tailed and flowed as one testimony complimented the next. I shared the dream of reaching the riverbank people in the Amazon and how I had shared this dream with you who had been impacted and how the church had raised the money cycling across England and how this was much, much more than you had expected, just to so how God loves them in a spectacular way, a deep way and how His love has moved people around the world so that we could be with them that night. There was 40 people present for the ‘cell’ group and five adolescents gave their lives to the Lord.
Later that night before we went to bed we were treated to fish, farinha and spicy sauce!!!!! Tasty to say the least. It is great to travel with members of the church and share experiences with them, it certainly brings men closer to one another. Pastor Tinho lost his snoring trophy to Josivaldo who managed to be heard over 50meters away by other members of the community. Unfortunately those sleeping beside him (as all the men slept in hammocks in the farinha hut) didn’t sleep too well.
One of the couples suggested that they might build a ‘baraca’ (hut) for the sole purpose of ‘cell’ group because it was obvious that the farinha hut was getting to small!!!
In the morning a traditional Amazonian breakfast was served, coffee, cake, tapioca (which is like a pancake) and fresh ....other fruit which I can’t remember the english name for....In the morning I went through doing ‘quiet time’ with them and over 8 youth from the night before returned to Eder’s house to participate (coming 1.5km upriver again by boat). The only person missing from the night before was Donna Aurora who is the granny of the family. She had a visitor in the her home but has really adopted me!!!! Which meant I got sent a bag of farinha and caju fruit to take home with me! After devotional time I went to say goodbye to Donna Aurora and invite her to visit us at our home on returning to the farinha hut (our base). Everybody had already gone down to the boats, on arrival at the boats I was given a fish to take home with me!
It is hard to express the love and welcome we have received from this family who have opened their homes and their hearts to Jesus.
On the way home we returned via the same short cut.......this time however we had to get out of the boats and pull them along for 100 meters as the channel is nearly totally dried up. Don’t worry we will be back next month......we will just have to go the long route......twice the distance but already many are wanting to go.
Our last visit we truly arrived just as Jesus sent his disciples with nothing but Him, no food, no great preparation. But the word was received and has borne fruit already. This time we returned, better prepared with some food and ‘our’ contribution but even then it was a token compared to the blessing that was poured out upon us.
I found the whole experience tremendously humbling, terribly and fearfully holy!!
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