Adventures in South America

Mexico City and Oaxaca

2009-05-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

Mexico City conference was AWESOME, and for the last week we have been traveling in Oaxaca with Janie, and a brother from La Plata, Argentina who also came for the conferences.

We are currently in La Soledad, and hope to be in Pinotepa tonight.

I´ll try to write more later!

Central America

2009-04-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

As we started out from Chiapas early Monday morning, the landscape seemed to alternate between hot, muggy, dense vegetation and dry, open spaces, scattered with a few trees here and there.

All along the road were these little fruit stands containing mangos, pineapple

We arrived at the Guatemalan boarder in the late afternoon. The paperwork for us and the van weren’t too complicated (well, I didn’t think it was, considering Dad was the one to do the van stuff, and it went pretty fast…). As we waited in the line-up of cars, many of them were pretty beat up, and had another crashed car in tow. Apparently Guatemala is a cheap to fix broken down cars!

Once over the boarder, it was a ways to where the brother lived. When stopping for dinner, we met some Christians at the restaurant who strongly advised us to stay in the city we were in for the night, because of danger on the roads at night.

We left the town late morning, and were back on the road. It was early afternoon when we arrived where we thought the brother we were going to visit lived. They had given us a town name, and a kilometer number to help us locate the house, in addition we had their number we were to call once we crossed the boarder. When we had crossed, we called, then kept calling as we got closer, but nobody answered. Expecting him to call back, we just kept on driving, but he never did. We went up and down the highway looking for kilometer 87, but couldn’t find it. We asked people along the road; they were eager to help, and give us directions whether they knew what they were talking about or not! We were sent to the north, then to the south, east and west, never getting to where we wanted to!

Lalo had been to the house once before, years ago, but said everything seemed to have changed, and he didn’t recognize anything! It was soon after that we were informed there were two highways running parallel, and this one had just been built, implying the old highway was the one the brother was on!

Finally on the right road, we thought it would be easier to find the place… but it wasn’t. We did the same thing; driving up and down, asking people, some who really did know, others who didn’t, not knowing which ones to believe. From what Lalo remembered they lived out in the country on a sugar cane plantation, so we were looking for an isolated little farm. Later we found out in a hurricane he had lost all he had, and they now lived right in the town in a smaller place.

I’m not sure how it happened, but the Lord helped us to finally find the place, way back in this little alleyway off the road. By the time we pulled in, it was almost dark, and the brother who had come three hours to meet us there had already left. The brother we were coming to visit had dropped his phone in a well, explaining why he hadn’t answered his phone, the only place our number was stored.

Only two daughter-in-laws and their children were at the house when we got there, and we invited them out to dinner. Upon getting back to the house, the majority of the family was back, and we went around greeting everyone. Something Mom has learned the hard way is that the greeting customs here are slightly different than in South America. You shake everyone’s hands, and only sometimes do you kiss the girls on the cheek, never the guys…

We had a reading till late, then while Mom and Dad arranged for their sleeping accommodations in the van, the rest of us sat around and talked. Before going to bed Anna enlightened us all on the conditions of the outhouse in the corner of the property, and we decided to check it out. In the dark, not too much was visible, meaning our ears were a bit more attentive. What we heard as we got close was not to pleasant. It sounded like someone was smacking while eating mushed up bananas with their mouth open. Pulling the curtain aside to the mud-brick wall, and shining the head lamp in, to the left, a roll of toilet paper was perched on a protruding nail, the waist-basket full of used paper was set below, and directly ahead was the toilet seat. The closer we got to the seat, the louder the sound got, and looking into the hole was a sight enough to cause you to throw up. Down below was a sick mass of brown waste churning, and sparkling with shining light. There were animals down there!! I don’t know if they were bugs, or worms, or what (Anna suggested snakes) but whatever it was, was gross. I got in and out of there as quickly as possible.
Lalo slept on a hammock on the porch, Mom, Dad and Anna in the van, while Ben, Nate and I were on the roof. I think the three of us got the better end of the deal. The heat from the three bodies in the van accumulated, along with the necessity of using blankets in defense against the mosquitos. We had a cool breeze encouraging the pests away, in addition to not needing to use any kind of covering. Falling asleep under the palm trees silhouetted against the dark blue starry sky was both comforting, and un-nerving, considering the gentle swooshing of the palmfrons combined with the crickets’ and toads’ melodies lulled us to sleep, but at the same time, all around us we could hear the coconuts falling unprovoked from the tops of those looming trees not giving exception to anything or anyone below. Nathan, the most directly below the hard, round bowling ball sized weapons was a bit paranoid, but soon exhaustion overcame the three, and we slept amazingly (especially me, the “spoiled” one, who got to use the pad off the back bed in the van).

We woke up to the sound of roosters crowing, and water running in preparation for breakfast. At eight o’clock it was already too warm, and muggy.

Ben helped in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, mashing up different chilies, tomatoes and cilantro to make salsa. Some the rest of us played soccer with the kids, and Nate sharpened his shock-put skills by trying to launch one of the fallen coconuts up into the gigantic mango tree, encouraging the large, ripe mangos to release their hold, and fall into his hands. It didn’t work quite that well, and we all had to cover our heads, and dodge the coconut rain during his attempts.

Breakfast was an artistic array of green onions, brown beans, and bright colored salsa over the meat.
After another little reading, we were once again on our way, this time to El Salvador!

The boarder was only a few hours from the house, and the time went quickly. While getting the paperwork for the van (for some reason, after stamping out of Guatemala, we didn’t have to get our passports stamped into, or out of the country there), Mom was walking around when she met a couple of girls in the boarder jail. It was one tiny room with small square bars on the door. When asked what they were in there for, a confusing answer was given, probably the way they say it in El Salvador is different than other countries. Anyways, we came to find out that they were in there for prostitution. They were asking for money, (because there in jail, others have to provide food, and anything else they need) so Mom said she had to go ask her husband for something to give them. She told me about them, and asked if I would go talk to them with Lalo. Honestly, I didn’t really want to go, but after I did, I was glad. It made me so sad though, they seemed like just ordinary women, (minus the excess of make-up they wore). They talked to me like any other girl would! I don’t think they wanted to be in that situation at all! While I was talking to them, a woman in her fifties (pretty obviously their manager, or whatever those people are called in charge of the girls), as well as two even younger girls than those incarcerated, wearing heavy eye makeup, skimpy tops, short skirts, and unnecessarily high heels walked up. They listened, and talked a little too. When we went to leave, the older lady standing with us, not knowing Lalo had given the girls something before she had came, began to reprove him for just preaching, and not helping with their physical needs. He didn’t say what he had done, but was very polite as we left. Because we didn’t have to leave as soon as we’d imagined, Nate and I went and bought a couple mangos and a cold soda for them, for which they were so thankful.

It was dark by the time we arrived in San Salvador. Neither Dad, nor Lalo had been here, so once again it was a little complicated finding the hotel the brethren had suggested we stay at. When we arrived, Juan Ventura, one of the main brothers in the meeting, was standing right outside waiting for us. Juan had lived at our house around seven years ago for a few months, and had helped us with both painting our house, and laying tile in our kitchen. It was neat getting to see him again, especially now that all of us can speak much better Spanish than we used to.

The hotel was very interesting. It had been there for decades, and visiting brethren had stayed it in since Jimmy Smith, years ago.

The next day we went and visited a family, who invited us all to stay at their house! The great-grandmother had just lost her husband a few months ago, but she was eager to have us come.

It was only later, after we’d stayed there a night we realized that she, her daughter, grandson, and granddaughter were all sleeping in one room, while Anna and I shared one room, and Mom and Dad another. Ben and Nathan stayed at her oldest daughter’s house down the road.

When we had talked more with the sister, we found that she had lived for some time in the US. Some years were spent in California, and Oregon, but most were in Maryland, where two daughters, a son, and quite a few other more distant relatives live. The two grandchildren living with her are cousins, who both have their parents working in the US to support them. The grandson hasn’t seen his dad in five years, and his mom in three! Both his parents are re-married to other people after moving there, and his dad has a whole new family! He told me that it is really common there in El Salvador, and five of his friends at the school he is attending are in the exact same situation. But even through all of that, it was really neat to see how encouraged he was in the Lord, and how he was trusting Him to work things out with his family.

On Saturday we had fun with their family, as well as others from the assembly, going out to the beach! We all piled into our van, at least four to a seat, Nathan underneath the bed, in the dark, and Ben lying on the bed.
Lining the shore, are tons of little “fincas” (translated into English, that would be farms, but they weren’t farms… it was more like large houses, with about an eighth of an acre, and a pool) you can rent for the day, along with a meal. It took us a while to find one that had a good price for both the lot and the food, but after driving up and down the road, taking advantage of passing out calendars and tracts, we went back to one of the first ones we’d seen.

The ocean had huge waves that crashed in a magnificent way, the water curling over itself, allowing the sunlight to shine through, giving it a smooth, greenish blue hue. If only it was as safe as it was beautiful. Going up to only our knees in the luke-warm water, the rip-tide was obviously extremely strong, and scary, reminding me of the last time I’d been in a rip-tide in Ecuador, and had almost drowned along with Nate, Dad, and Daniel.
Most didn’t venture out of the yard, and played in the pool they had there. Dad blew up a rubber boat we had brought along, and the younger kids had a blast with it. The older ones played a kind of water polo with a tennis ball, and over-turned chairs for goals.

We had a lunch of chicken, and the extra-thick tortillas they have in El Salvador (the further South you get, the thicker the tortillas). Afterwards, a few of us took a little siesta in the hammocks we’d hung up in the little palm-frawn shaded area.

After playing a little more in the water, we had a Bible reading, and headed back for San Salvador. Before we’d left, the sister we were staying with bought some crabs.
It was amazing the way they had each been tied individually so they could not grab anything with their claws, while they were all tied together, back to back. The next day they were scrubbed with a brush, and put in the pot.
After we’d gotten home, a few of us went out in the street to play with the volleyball, a bunch of other kids were out there too, and when invited, played a little with us. But, it was obvious they weren’t really too accustomed to that, and in turn, invited us to play baseball with them! Most of the kids were under twelve, but they could sure hit that big, hard, plastic ball far! We all had tons of fun, and were sweating buckets. We lost at least four balls from them getting hit so hard over the houses and into other people’s yards.

Sunday was boiling hot. Sitting in even the first meeting, sweat ran down everywhere. The fan was set directly in front of the seats we were sitting in, but faced the other way. After breaking of bread we had a Bible reading, lasting about an hour and a half. When we were finished, the cold coke they served us had never tasted better!
The rest of the day we spent visiting people in a nearby district. At each house we read a little bit, either where they wanted to read, or a place Dad, Lalo, or Juan chose.

After dropping off everyone who had come with us, we had a family night, eating pizza and some traditional food (since Mom is still trying to stay off gluten).

It was our last night with the family. Anna and I stayed up late talking with Yanira, the youngest daughter, before falling in to bed.

The next morning we got up around eight, and after eating pupusas (the thick El Salvadorian tortillas made with beans and cheese) and coffee, we said goodbye to the family.

It was less than three hours back to the Guatemala boarder, then another two getting to Guatemala City, where Martha and Patty live. Their family had also lived in the United States for a while, when I was really little. Their relatives still live there, in California.

Once again it was a little complicated because Dad hadn’t been here for like over 20 years, and Lalo hadn’t been here for some years too, but we finally arrived at the house.

We are leaving Guatemala tomorrow, and are heading for Oaxaca, then Mexico City. Apparently there is a pretty big deal about a pig flu or something, so we're not quite sure what's going to happen with that...

where are we?

2009-04-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

..currently in Guatemala city, we arrived yesterday from El Salvador and plan to stay untill the 26th; sunday

Tijuana to Chiapas

2009-04-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'm going to go back through a quick review of since we were in Tijuana, to where we are now in Chiapas. Sorry, it's kinda long, since I havent' had enough time while we're at cafes to do it...

So, we'd been told that it was dangerous in the boarder towns, especially on the Mexico side, and from what we'd heard, it was worse in Tijuana than Mexicali, so on our way down we'd avoided Tijuana. But, coming back, that boarder was closer for Lisa's parents to pick her up, and we wanted to visit the assembly there, so we decided to spend a night.When we arrived we were met with big hugs and kisses; it had been over a year since we'd last seen everybody there. And because we usually see them at least two or three times a year it was exciting to see them all again.As we ate dinner, the subject of conditions in Tijuana came up, and what we heard was pretty frightening. Their house, built on a hill, was right above a main avenue of the city. About a month ago, one morning around six, the mother of the family heard what sounded like someone throwing rocks at a tin roof close to where they were living. After looking out over the balcony, the real origin of the noise was discovered. Along the street were dozens of cars lined up on the side, each filled with at least three people, and driving past was a whole stream of other cars shooting at the parked ones. Apparently two rival drug cartels, attempting to take control of an area another drug cartel had left (after being discovered, and incarcerated by the police) had arranged a battle. The supposed plan was one group would come from the North, while the other would come from the South, and they would meet, having their gun war on that boulevard. The only problem was; neither assembly kept their side of the deal. The parked cars below were waiting in an ambush for the others. Somehow the opposing side heard of this, and instead of coming from the appointed side, they came from the other way, taking those waiting by complete surprise, and massacring their unprepared rivals. After about 20 minutes of gunfire, it was over. Or at least it seemed that way until pickup trucks arrived with the comrades of the dead and wounded came along chucking those on the street into the bed of the truck, and drove away. A week later there was still blood all down the road where the pickups had driven leaving a trail behind them. The police had been advised of what was going on, but didn't interfere, appearing only when it was all over, and all had disappeared.Then, soon after this happened she went on to tell us that one day she had gotten a phone call, the man on the other line calling her by her complete name, using even her maiden name threatened to kidnap her son, and hold him for ransom. They sent him to the country where he's going to be staying until it is felt he is out of danger.Other than the alarming news, we had a great evening at the meeting there, as well as spending the night before waking up early the next morning, and heading for Guerrero Negro, Baja California.There, the assembly only consists of one family; an older couple and their four daughters, and one of their daughter's husband.The day after we arrived they took us out whale watching. It was amazing! There was a bay that was full of blue whales. Here many spent the winter months, and even had their babies. We went out in a small motorboat, and skimmed along trying to get close to one. You couldn't go three minutes without seeing them; either swimming quickly, their back rising and falling beneath the surface or one coming up for air, mist projecting from it's blow hole.At first it seemed like they just all would swim away from us, their tails raising out of the water, meaning they had dove down deep to where they could remain for up to twenty minutes.Soon, they came close to the boat, showering us in mist. The mother, as well as the baby. When we saw them, everyone would rush over to the side, the whole vessel tipping to one side, then the other. The babies especially liked to show off and would swim fast then twist upside down, their barnacled bodies visible beneath the clear water. Not only did we see them, we were also able to touch them!! The little part of the tail I was able to reach was wet, and rubbery, pretty much what you would expect a whale to feel like. Our guide told us that he had even gotten a chance to hug the whales when they would swim straight up with their whole head out of the water!It was amazing! To know that these enormous, powerful animals would let us tiny, little humans, in a tiny little boat come out in their bay, and actually swim up to us, give us a little show, and actually let us TOUCH them, when they had that whole lagoon where they could just hide, and keep away from humans! It was impressive.From Guerrero Negro, we continued down the Baja peninsula, admiring the desert beauty of Saguaro cactus, century plants, and all shapes and sizes of huge rocks, and steep, but smooth mountains. To the side was the gorgeous Sea of Cortes. It's white sand spread beneath beautiful blue water that slowly blended from the aqua color to a color as dark as the night sky. The little ripples made the rays of sunlight appear almost like stars as the wind blew gently. We were all excited when there wasn't enough time to make it to La Paz, where we were to take the ferry, that night, and would spend the night on the beach.After searching for a while we found a free beach, where we pulled our van up next to where a trailer was parked, thinking everyone had already gone to bed. But, not five minutes after a pickup pulled up between the trailer and us, and we wondered if they'd be okay with us sharing their beach slot. French Canadians from Ottawa, they turned out to be a very nice older couple. They let us use the firewood they had collected while it was still light, and while Mom and Dad prepared their bed in the back of the van, the rest of us learned all about Alaskan Malamute sledding dogs, it being thirty something below back where they live, the fishing camp they had in Canada, how good fishing was there in Baja, and the places they'd backpacked when they were younger. The husband did most of the talking, because his wife didn't speak much English... her French was beautiful though! They were a very active couple, and very interesting to listen to.The four of us laid out our sleeping bags on the luggage carrier, organizing who would sleep where. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the moon was half full as we layed there, falling asleep to the gentle lapping of the waves on the rocky shore and an occasional "get your feet out of my face"!!We woke up shivering early the next morning, before it was light to find our sleeping bags soaked with dew. Pulling them off, and packing the van. Everyone got their own seat to sleep on while Dad drove.In La Paz we met up with some friends who had been visiting Cabo San Lucas, and were in La Paz for the day. We also found some hitch hikers we'd picked up a week before in Guerrero Negro (who had traveled with us on a Sunday morning, and got to have devotions with us, and well as were asked to answer questions about it! The singing was what cracked me up though; they sang louder than any of us, not really knowing the tune. Maybe they were making fun, or maybe they really enjoyed it! We might have thought they were a little weird, wearing the whole hippie get-up, but I'm sure they thought we were weirder... a family of six, coming from the States into Mexico, where it's supposedly really dangerous, driving a van, with a Mexican family they really don't know that well, then pick up a couple hitch hikers, which we have been obviously warned not to do, as well have a "Sunday service"! We saw them walking down the streets of La Paz and said hi. They told us they wanted more of the tracts we'd given them to "evangelize La Paz". They were an interesting pair) they were surprised to meet us a week after we had last seen them almost a week ago!

We rode the ferry over the channel of amazingly beautiful ocean for about five hours before arriving at the mainland at night, the moon once again sparkling over the water.
We spent two nights in Culiacan, with a couple in the meeting we'd seen at Tijuana conference almost every year. Their next door neighbors had an ocelot they had adopted from one of the places they were working in the forest. It was pretty cool. It could be on one of it's owner's shoulder, and jump clear over to the other side of the room where it's other owner was.
From there, we drove to Durango. The road was pretty curvy, and seemingly dangerous. It was only later we learned a week before an older American couple had been detained by some delinquents, shot and killed, the motor home, and money they had was taken. Apparently events such as these were known to occur on that road. Traveling with a brother from Culiacan, we were able to locate where the brethren were. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we went out to pizza with an aunt, and a couple nieces and nephews we'd never met before.
We were told we could stay in the house of the daughter of a brother near the meeting room, but weren't quite prepared for what we found at the house. Two little boys, age eight and five lay on a bed with only a dirty sheet and blanket. Although it was past elven at night, their mother was nowhere to be found. The TV was up in a corner, the blue hue cast over the room. My parents were told they could stay in another back room in the only other bed in the house. In the next room was only a washing machine, and a whole pile of clothes the boys would dig through to find something to wear. The toilet was behind a small cement wall, the shower directly in facing it with another wall. Neither had doors. It all smelled like urine, and to flush the toilet there was a tank of water you would dip your bucket into then pour it down into the bowl.
Mom and Dad slept on the bed, Nate, Anna and I slept in the van on the seats, while Ben froze up on the roof of the van.
In the morning we ate some cheerios we brought from the US, along with milk we bought in the store down the road, which we ate in plastic cups we'd brought. The only other food we found in the house was a couple of Cup 'O Noodles. There was no fridge, and only a small camping burner to cook food on.
That day was a Sunday and we walked down the road to meeting. A family was visiting, so the small kitchen was very crowded. All the benches, chairs and stools were put to use, and still we were all shoulder to shoulder, knee to bum, backs to the walls all around.
Dad noticed one of the main younger brother's wives didn't break bread, and asked if she was saved, to which she replied yes. But when asked if she had been baptized, she said no, but said she would like to be. When my dad heard that he asked "why not today"?
So down to the river we went after going and having breaking of bread for the second time that day, (the second time in two weeks, considering we'd done the same thing last week in Guerrero Negro, only this time only the sick man who couldn't make it partook of the emblems, considering we'd already done it earlier).
The river was quite contaminated as she and my dad descended down the muddy bank. Ironically, after examining a picture Ben took, we saw a man in the background floating in the shape of a cross...

It was a happy time. We played with all the kids in the water afterwards, then all rode on the roof of the van on our way back.
That night we talked late with the family before going back to the house we stayed at the night before. At eleven we arrived to a locked gate. The mother of the boys had brought them home at eight when she'd gotten off work, but was no longer there. Once again they were left alone.
We decided we'd just stay the night in a hotel, partly because the following day was Mom's birthday. It was good we did because a certain individual of our family desperately needed a functioning bathroom that night, considering both digested and undigested food was expelled rapidly both at the same time. It was painful just listening to it!
A close friend from an assembly in California had both friends and family in the state of Zacatecas, and wondered if we could make it to visit them. We arrived in Tobasco, and met up with one of her best friends, Tita, her husband, and three sons. They generously opened up their house to our family, and guided us to the rest of the family's homes.
The first night we arrived, she told us what had been happening to her the last couple of
days. It all started when the phone rang, and upon answering it she heard a young man. He claimed to be a nephew that had visted years ago when he was young. Later she realized he had gotten the information out of her that she had a nephew named Juan who she hadn't seen for a long time, and that had a sister named Susie. He claimed that he was Juan, and was traveling with Susie and wanted to stop in and visit her. At first she was overjoyed, but as he continued to call, getting closer and closer, she began to get nervous. When he claimed his car had broken down, and he had to fly on the plane, and was at the airport needing a relative to sign a paper saying he was a honest upright man who woudn't be using the 30,000 dollars they had found in cash in his suitcase for anything wrong, asking if she would sign, she really got afraid. When she asked for the name of the guy's mother, he promptly hung up, and after that didn't speak to her again, but the phone kept on ringing, and upon answering there would be no answer. It was then she knew that wasn't her nephew, and they were probably involved in some sort of drug trade, and wanted to use her to get them out of trouble. It was kinda scary.
We visited Juana's brother and wife, two sisters at their houses, then another sister who lived up in the boonies with her dad. We also visited Tita's parents house. Although none of the people we visited were professing Christians, Dad had a little Bible reading at each place, and we talked a little bit about it. Some were very happy for our visit, others a little suspicious, especially because not having everyone's number we were not able to communicate that we were coming.
The time we had with Tita, her husband and two boys, 12, and 14 was really fun. And, in the end, Tita especially really wanted to know more about the Lord, and was asking my mom a lot of questions. They need a lot of prayer, because there Catholicism is so strong in those communities, and becoming "Christian" is a real sacrifice to many... even to the point of their own family abandoning them.
From there we were on our way to Queretaro! We arrived in the afternoon, where we met up with Jaime, later Iris and her little son. We spent the evening with Jaime, Allison and their little daughter at Jaime's parents house, where we had a delicious bbq dinner. Iris and her son were also there, and we met up with her sister, brother in law and niece.
It was so wonderful for me to see Iris again! It had been a long time I'd spent time with her, and for the first time I met her son. We stayed in her parents house, (who live in the US) where she is also living. She was so hospitable, and all of us were able to sleep in beds! While there, we visited the city, her sister explaining to us all the arcitecture, and the history of things which was very interesting.
We were only going to stay one night there, but the Lord allowed a rock to be thrown at our van, splintering our largest side window to crack into splinters, meaning we had to stay an extra day, which the majority of us weren't too disappointed about :D

Dad temporarily fixed up the window with duct tape...

Sadly, we left the next morning at 6, picking up Lety four hours away in Mexico City. The drive Iris makes every Sunday to get to meeting. After packing her stuff in the van, we drove to a metro stop where we were to meet a brother of Florentino from meeting in Gresham. We found him, he found us, jumped in our van, and guided us to where he lived. There almost the whole family was hanging around. We had a Bible reading and they called in Domino's pizza. It was amazing!
When asked if Gabriel wanted to go with us to visit his other brothers, as well as Josefina's family he was game. We left around one in the afternoon, and didn't get into the town till about ten. There we showed up unannounced at his brothers house who didn't really seem that comfortable, which is understandable. We had a short Bible reading and sing before saying goodnight, and going out to eat since we hadn't eaten since lunch, and got a hotel for all of the four hours we slept. But it was nice to be able to shower and be in an actual bed.
The next day we got up at 5, and were off to visit his uncle on the farm. Most of us were asleep in the van by 8 when we arrived, so I'm not exactly sure what went on, but apparently my parents got a tour of the town!
Then, we were invited in for breakfast. Imagine eight people just all showing up at 8 in the morning unannounced saying they were friends of your nephew in the US! Florentino's aunt was busy making corn tortillas, all by hand, all perfectly symmetric, and just the right thickness. The scrambled eggs were dark yellow, confirming the fact that they had practically just been taken from underneath the chicken. Dad had bought yogurt and bananas for all of us too.
Here they were eager to hear Dad read the Bible, and explain some things to them. I felt horrible about doing this while Dad was reading, but both mom and I were fast asleep sitting upright in our seats!
From there we climbed the dirt roads to where Josefina's mom, and sister live. They had a huge herd of goats there. Anna had fun feeding them some milk that was just on the point of going bad. We rode on top of the van like usual on those terribly bumpy dirt roads. There was a little boy, a nephew I think it was of Florentino who hitched a ride with us, and rode up there too. It was fun ducking under the branches, and trying not to get bounced off the roof.
We even stopped at a little aqueduct, that had the most clear water I've seen in a stream down here, where Nathan (who is always in his swim shorts) jumped in for a swim.
We dropped Gabriel off there, where he was going to spend more time with his family there, and we continued on.
While i was driving, before turning the corner on a switchback, there suddenly appeared odd signs painted on the road. I was trying to figure out if they were ligit or not when a semi appeared coming straight at me in my lane! I got the picture real quick then...

Switching off between sleeping, driving, talking, or just sitting watching out the windows, we finally arrived in Chiapas, where brother Lalo, his wife, six children lived in a small, two-bedroom house.

We thanked the Lord for having Lety with us. Although she had only been to the house a couple times before, she was able to direct us to where they were. It was around ten or eleven when we pulled up in front of the house. Lalo was laying in his hammock on the front porch, and when we arrived he came to greet us. Upon opening the door, it felt as if a wall had hit us, and we had suddenly stepped into a sauna... the air thick in our lungs. For a second there we all wondered if we were going to last. After spending the last few days in the air-conditioned van, it was a major shock.

The house only had two rooms, as well as a small meeting room filled with long wooden benches. In one room slept Lalo's whole family (he, his wife, and five children) while Mom and Dad slept in the other room. Lety, Anna and I had fun “creating a bed” out of the wooden benches in the meeting room; laying extra hammocks, and sleeping bags on top of them. Ben slept in a hammock on the porch, while Nathan got the top of the van.

It was so hot, but there were so many mosquitoes that you'd rather put the sheet over you than be covered in the small, insignificant, extremely annoying, frustrating, exasperating bites.

In attempting to partially escape the stagnant muggy heat, we got our hair all wet before lying down, which provided at least a bit of alleviation.

The next day was Sunday. We had a couple meetings in the morning, after which we sat down to a delicious dinner of barbecued beef accompanied with the traditional beans and unending supply of tortillas.

Following the meal, we all felt steamed. Sitting in the house, doing absolutely nothing, the sweat just flowed down our legs, backs and arms. When informed that a river ran close to the house, we needed no convincing! The brother drove up his cattle truck, and we all jumped in the back, enjoying the feeling of moving air evaporating our sweat, cooling us down.

Hiking down to the river was a beautiful walk. On both sides of us loomed luscious trees with brightly colored flowers. Butterflies fluttered around our heads, and the frogs croaked in nearby grass.

Upon stepping into the slowly moving water, expecting it to be cool, it was a bit disappointing to feel it warm on our legs. The brook in that particular spot was wide and shallow, so we decided to go upstream to where it was deeper. There it was cooler, and we had fun hitting a volleyball around, trying to keep from slipping on the moss-covered rocks lining the floor.

That night was our last with Lety, so the three of us girls decided to sing; something we hadn't done much of in the three days we had with her. It was so fun! Well, for us at least, Nathan, sleeping on the luggage rack claimed our voices awakened the choir every rooster in every yard in the whole town... he and Ben weren't too thrilled :D

The next morning, we set off once again, leaving Lety there in Chiapas, while continuing on with Lalo to Central America.

Baja

2009-04-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

because i´m lazy, and don´t have time to write more, from there we spent a couple weeks in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where Nate and Anna went to school. We ended our time there by going to a rural conference. From there we traveled two days straight for Lima, Peru, where we flew out two days later for the States.

we were in Washington for almost three weeks, where we got to see everyone again!!!! relax, get stuff done for schooling when we get home, and pack up again for the Mexico and Central America trip.

We traveled through Baja California starting in Mexicali, where we stayed one night on a ranch where they have no running water or electricity. My cousin Lisa traveled with us for the week, which was awesome! We then went down through Ensenada, where we went to meeting. Some of the people had gotten the message wrong, and had waited 4 hours for us to come!

The next day we went out for a fishing trip on a pretty cool boat. Half of us caught little fish, while the other half caught nothing. but it was worth the boat ride!

We dropped Lisa off after spending the evening in Tijuana. We spent the night and left the next morning.

We are now in Culican, Sinaloa!

el Tren de Muerte

2009-04-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

It sounded a bit scary when Ben, Nate and I were told we were going to be riding by ourselves on the Death Train for twenty hours, but also adventurous. We were told it was given the name because of the high numbers of deaths resulting from that train ride. It was mostly because of individuals transporting their goods from one area to another, storing their belongings below, in the seats they had purchased, they rode on top of the train. Because the train is nowhere NEAR a smooth ride, jerking over the tracks, screeching to a jolting halt every once in a while, many would lose their balance, falling off to their death. Another reason was because of the frequency of the train de-railing... killing several. The last time my uncle wanted to ride the train, that is exactly what had happened to it before he'd gotten on, and he had to take a bus. But, we were assured in the last few years it had really improved, and such things rarely happened any more...

Thinking we were going to be able to store our luggage in some luggage storing place on the train, we had brought all our own things, as well as another humungous, heavy one containing everyone's _ extra things_ with us. The fact Mom, Dad and Anna could only carry 50 pounds a piece on the plane was another reason for us to take as much as we could. Walking down the pathway next to the train, lugging our baggage we looked for our car. After walking half the length of the very long train, we found it. Then, realized all our luggage was going to need to be with us. Between the three of us we loaded up all the bags, putting them in overhead shelves, hoping either the jerkyness of the train wasn't as bad as we'd be warned, or the racks were more sturdy than they appeared. The car we were in appeared very empty. Besides the three of us, there was only a couple, and a lady with her two young daughters.

We spread out, each in a different row of seats. The train was hot, especially when it was sitting at a station, and the seats were made of a fabric that seemed to absorb the heat. Pretty soon, the engines started up, and the train jolted to a start. Soon, we were going at a pretty constant speed, and the wind begun to circulate, cooling everyone down. It was fun to just sit with your feet sticking out the window in front of you (ignoring the signs saying to keep all objects inside :S ), staring out into the jungly/foresty landscape. Every once in a while, there would be an opening in the trees, where a herd of white Brahma cows would be grazing peacefully, or a garden with rows upon rows of hand planted choclo (large, tough, corn) swaying slightly in the wind caused by the passing train.

Soon, the sky began to become more and more overcast. The black thunderheads began to loom above us, then splat! The huge droplets began to pelt us through the windows. The three of us didn't want to close the windows, because it was still way too hot, but one of the train worker people came around shutting them all. Now we were damp, hot, and closed in.

By the time the storm passed, it had cooled down, and the sunset was beautiful. All the brilliant colors lighting up the sky, and the silver-rimmed clouds was awesome.

After a while, Nate got bored of just sitting, and we went together down through the other cars. As we walked, we looked drunk, swerving all over, accidentally bumping into people as we went, because of the bumpy train. Getting to the door of our car, pulling hard on the door, it swung open with a burst of wind, and we walked out onto a small platform. The next car's platform was only about a foot away, and you could see the hook, and loop that held them together. It was a bit scary jumping from one to the other, watching the tracks flash by below. We realized we must have bought a higher that lowest class ticket... the others were crowed, and instead of seats that leaned back (sometimes overly so, all the way down till they hit the seat behind them), they had straight backed benches. There were many more people in these cars, with much more baggage.

As we got further, the train stopped frequently, picking up more and more passengers. At these stops, all along the side of the train, young kids, and older women walked offering food, and drinks. You didn't even to look out to see what they were selling, each person, in their equally raspy, worn out vocal-cord (from calling out day after day) voices made it clear to all what they were selling. It was like (a unique kind of) music in our ears hearing Spanish again. Being able to understand everything (or most everything) being said. I can't imagine what it will be like to be back in the US!

We had a food bag with beef jerky (from Uncle Nathan) dry cereal, crackers and cookies as well as a couple two-liters of soda and water for the trip, but man did those empenadas, and barbecued chicken and beef sticks look appetizing! We ate the stuff we had, and drank the soda and water.

Then, when we finally decided to buy something, we realized Dad had only given us Bolivianos in hundreds and fifties (which are only roughly worth twenty and ten dollars, but the venders usually don't have change for those bills). We told Nate to buy something for all of us to break one of the fifties, so he bought a something to drink. It was a nasty transparent, brown, quinua (a nutritious filled, nutritious tasting, nutritious looking grain), chunky fruity liquid that looked, smelled and tasted like vomit. It was in little plastic bags, having a straw sticking out of the top, made with probably “unsafe” water. Ben bravely gulped it down, while Nathan told me if I drank half of the other he would finish it. After I practically gagged with the first half, Nate decided he really didn't feel like drinking the rest, and we threw it away. After Nathan was congratulated on his superb intuition on what would be best for the three of us, I was elected to buy the food from then on. We ate the cheese, and chicken empanadas, as well as the shishkabobs later that night. By dark, our car had really filled up, but each one of us were still in a pair of seats to ourselves. We slept with our heads on one end, and our feet hanging out the window to give us more room. We had a somewhat comfortable sleep (if you could call it that) until three AM, when we were awakened by the train jarring to a halt, the lights flickering on, a pumped group of young people who chattered endlessly, and the venders on the side of the train all took a second to register to the groggy brain. This is where I realized I wasn't in the right seat. I got kicked out, but in my seat, a little girl was fast asleep next to her mother. Her normal seat was across the aisle, next to a quite large, grumpy looking man. So, that was now my seat. Sometime in the night Nathan and Ben had also lost their pair of seats, and were now sitting in their assigned seats next to each other. I was so thankful to see the gentlemanly side of Nathan come out, and he offered to spend the rest of the night next to the scary man. The rest of the ride wasn't too comfortable& considering you felt bad leaning your seat back into the lap of the person behind you& while the person in front of you didn't feel the least bit apologetic and went right ahead.

The Sunday morning sunrise was beautiful. All sorts of colors bursting out of the sky. When we arrived at the station around 10, dad, a brother and his son were right there to help us unload the luggage, and carry it to the trufi. I kinda hobbled rushing out, because with my luck, I had stepped on a ginormous black bumble bee that was stuck in a plastic bag on the floor of the train, under my feet the night before. As we rode to the house, Dad filled us in on what was going on. First, he told us the day we left had been relaxing, and they were able to see a bit more of the Pantanal (well from the windows of a restaurant that is). But this was no normal restaurant. They ate crocodile, piranha, and I forget what the other strange things were. They had then gotten on a plane, and arrived in Santa Cruz a couple hours later.

As soon as they got in, they were updated on the news. A son of a family there in the Santa Cruz assembly had recently come back from Spain to visit his family, and had committed suicide a few days before, and his step-mother had just found him. So, from the plane they went straight to a funeral. My family had just met brother of the deceased, Samuel, in the conference of Montero a few months before (while I was in Ecuador), and he was really thankful my parents were there for the funeral. My parents had spent the night there in the house of the brother who had picked us up.

Another piece of pivotal information was the fact that there was a Dengue epidemic. Implying that over 65% of the Santa Cruz population had the malaria-like virus. The first time an individual gets sick, it is like a acute type of the flu. It can last up to two weeks or more. The victim gets very dehydrated, and has a high fever. The first time is bad, but after you get it once, the next occurrence is much worse. If not caught in time, the individual can hemorrhage, bleeding from their eyes, gums, nose, and fingertips. Dad decided that it wasn't necessary that we risk getting something like that, and we were informed that he had already purchased bus tickets out of there for the same night after spending the day in Santa Cruz.

We arrived at the two-story house, having a little internet café, and small market downstairs, and unloaded our bags. It was so nice to have a shower, after practically 24 hours on a dusty, dirty train. As soon as we were showered, and had gotten dressed it was time to leave to have lunch at Samuel's parent's house. The family was in a time of grieving, the funeral being the day before, but they thanked us over and over again for coming. The father of the family at a rural conference, and hadn't gotten the news of his son's passing, so that was hard for them too. I felt so bad, I really didn't know what I should, or could do for them. We had just been on a train all night, hadn't really gotten enough sleep, and none of us knew any of the family except for Samuel. You could tell all of them had been crying, and weren't feeling the best obviously. It got a little better by the end though.

From there we went to meeting. They had it in the afternoon there. It was another one of “well, if we re going to have three hours of meeting, why not have it continuous”! . Oh, it was so wonderful singing in Spanish once again. And here, they sang loud. I mean it was thunderous!

We talked for quite a while with those from the assembly before we were pushing it for time as usual. Back at the house we packed up, and headed for the bus station, and loaded a double-decker for Cochabamba, escaping the Dengue epidemic.

brazilian beaches and beyond

2009-02-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

The rest of our time in Florionopolis was great.

The island's Fireworks for the New Year were known to be some of the best in Brazil. Cesario and Elvira's relatives were on their way over to see them, and all us YP piled into a few cars with them. When we got out, more than a ten-minute walk from our destination, we needed no one to tell us where we should go. Mobs of people, looking like swarms of ants all headed for the shoreline. EVERYBODY in Brazil (or so it seemed) packed together on the shore overlooking the bay. I've never been in a crowd that big in my life! Everywhere you looked there were groups of families and friends, talking, laughing, or just hanging out waiting for midnight.

Before leaving Cesario's, the Argentinean girls told me they had heard that it was a custom in Brazil to wear all white on New Years Eve, so the five of us girls all put on white shirts, and skirts. Some of the people back at the house kinda smiled when they saw us like that, but didn't say anything. They spoke to each other in Portuguese, and we weren't quite sure what they were saying... but quickly forgot about it upon arriving, and seeing many, if not the majority were also wearing white. It was not until much later, after we'd left Florionopolis, that I asked Mom if she knew what it was all about. We both laughed when she told me, and I felt a little bit embarrassed. Catholics, showing their loyalty to the church had that custom... :S

So, after waiting around for at least half hour, the fireworks started. While lighted from a boat in the water, in they were controlled by someone on shore with a remote. It was pretty impressive, watching the bursts of color in the sky, then their reflection below. All around, everyone was looking up, and with every explosion their faces lighted up. When mid-night finally rolled around, the reason for the champaign bottles in just about everyone's hands was evident. The whole time people had been walking around, shaking them up, and right at twelve, the corks were popped, and everyone anywhere close to them were showered.

A couple days Mateus took us to different beaches. When my parents had come back from Joinville where Danielle lives, they brought back a car Danielle had let us borrow. It really came in handy. And I got to drive for the first time in what, six months?! It was wonderful! Because in Brazil the law is you have to be eighteen to drive, I was the only one with a liscence who could. So Dad drove the other. It's interesting how although January is summer down here, it is also the rainy season. So, while we were at the beach, it rained every time. But, it didn't change the fun we had. I think it was the first time we'd been swimming in the ocean in the rain! One of the beaches was close to where Bernardo and Giseli live, so their daughters came out and swam with us too. Jose and Graciela invited us over for “pastel”, a sort of fried empenada, with shrimp inside, made only in Brazil. They were really good!

A few days later, the conference started. By then, three more sisters and a brother had arrived to the house from Bolivia. They had the option of staying at the luxurious hotel, or in the little three roomed, one bathroom house, already bursting at the seams with five girls, and two guys. Cesario and his wife Elvira, as well as the rest of my family (sleeping at Elvira's parents') coming in to eat every meal. They chose the house. We were all so impressed with Elvira and Cesario's attitudes. The whole time they were positive, cheerful, and serving everyone as best they could. Although it was complicated rationing out the shower, and eating times, it was a really happy time.

The hotel, where the conference was hosted was very different than the majority of the conferences we´ve been to in South America. While many times it was warm outside, they had air conditioning. I'm sure we must have had it in other places on this trip, but that's the first place I remember! During the meetings, if we concentrated really hard, we could understand the majority of what was being said, but were still at that point where once comprehending what was being said, it was kinda hard to connect those parts to complete thought. Finding the books of the Bible were easy for us, which helped us to understand a little more.

As we discovered the whole country of Brazil, the food at the hotel was incredible. Some of what we ate was similar to American food, then everything else was amazing too. I don't think there was ANYTHING I ate that I didn't like!

After conference we went to the beach with Jose and Graciela, along with their nieces, Mariana, and Jiovani and all the YP staying at our house. They took us to the sand dunes, where we were able to sand-board. We rented a couple boards, and all shared them. It was awesome! Compared to snowboarding, you have a little less control of where you're going, but it's easier to get up, and stay up if your board isn't waxed. Another thing is the exhaustion factor. After riding down a dune, you have to hike back up. It seems as if for every foot up, you slide back three. So by the time you get back up to the top, you feel as if you're done for the day after only one run! But, after sitting up top, watching the others for a while, you had to go down again, and again, and again. When finishing for the day, we were all tired, but happy. A few of us, thinking about back home at this time of year there's plenty of snow on the mountains, began to experience snowboarding withdrawals.

From there, we had to say goodbye to Jose and Graciela, as well as Marianna and Jioviani :(. They were all so kind!

The next day we had to say goodbye to Cesario, Elvira, and Mateus, as well as Dina, Eliana, Rus Mery and Josue from Argentina. Even though it was kind of hard to communicate with Elvira, I really enjoyed being with her, and she was really a help spiritually to me too. It was almost as if her daughter Talita and I had switched lives. At the time I was staying at the Simoes, going to their conference, hanging out with Talita's friends, she was at L.A. conference, where she hung out with my friends!

Saying goodbye to the Argentineans was hard. They had traveled with us for almost a month I think it was, and I really bonded with the girls. We shared things we were going through, and they encouraged me in the Lord. I will always have good memories of them, as well as the songs they taught me in my mind. Josue was a real encouragement to my brothers too.

From Florionopolis, our next stop was Joinville, where Hanes, and Danielle (Dad's cousin) live with their daughter Sarah and two sons Johanes and Dominique. It was a beautiful little German settlement. They live on sort of mission grounds where Hanes' grandparents, then parents had been missionaries. We stayed in Hanes' in-laws house while they were away on vacation. Everything was obviously German in the whole house. It was as if they had brought a part of Germany with them when they'd come from their home.

Here we were thrown into yet another language hurricane. Sarah spoke mostly Portuguese, and her cousin who was visiting knew no English. With her we communicated in either our Spanish mix of Portuguese, or some English. The boys talked Portuguese with Sarah and Bruno, English with us, and with Danielle, but only German with Hanes. So at two and four they were fluent in three languages (Dominique understanding, but not quite speaking all quite yet)!

We had a really nice time there. Danielle and Sarah took us to a milk, and cheese farm, where we saw goats that were treated the best I've seen, then to a waterfall where we went swimming. One night we had a bond fire where we had SMORES!!! The first time since we'd left home. They were delicious. We also sang in English and Portuguese while Danielle played the accordion. It was really neat to see Sarah and her younger cousin Bruno singing with all their heart, and almost arguing about what one to sing next :D.

It was so refreshing to be back in a house where English was a first language, something we haven't had since Ecuador and Leticia!

Piracicaba was our next destination. Pretty much our whole trip we were just winging it, not knowing exactly where we were going, or when, until maybe a week, maybe a day before doing it. Piracicaba was a different story. We knew we were going to go there, and had been looking foreword to it the whole trip. Uncle Nathan, Vi, and Larissa were going to be there, staying with Vi's parents. And, we were going to see our cousin Larissa for the first time, who was born after we started the trip!

Uncle Nathan, and Cristiani (Vi's sister) met us at the bus station. It was so good to see them! Seeing my uncle down here in South America was a little disorienting for my mind at the beginning. :D I hadn't seen Cris since Nathan and Vi's wedding, and it had been over eight months since seeing Uncle Nathan or Vi! Seeing them there made me really miss everyone even more back home.

When we got to the house we were warmly taken in, as if we were part of the family. Although the house was small, and they already had company, they just made more room for us. Here we had more opportunity to speak in Portuguese with Tony and Sueli, although Cris and David both speak English well. And Larissa is adorable! She is the happiest baby I've ever seen!

While we were there, they took us out to eat pastel (like the ones some of us had tried in Florionopolis) and asai, both typical to only Brazil. We had never tried asai before. When they served it in a big bowl, I was expecting the dark brown thick sauce to taste something like chocolate pudding, but found it to have a berry flavor. It was partially frozen, and along with the granola mixed with pieces of fruit like papaya, strawberries, mango and pineapple it was really good!

One day Felipe and Carol (Vi's brother and sister-in-law) came over to Toni and Sueli's to make Brazilian Barbecue. It was delicious! I can't say it enough. Brazilian food is amazing!

After being there a few days, we said goodbye to Uncle Nathan, Vi and Larissa. Felipe and Carol invited us to stay with them in Limera. It was really neat getting to know them better too. Both of them are so sweet! Because Felipe sometimes has to work out of town, we spent more time with Carol. She was always cheerful, and making us laugh.

In Limeira, we were staying in the appartment, but we were barely there. People were always inviting us out to their houses, or we had meeting or something! The place we probably went the most was Beto and Neca's dentist office. There Anna got four teeth pulled, Ben and Mom two, and I one. We kept them busy ;D. It seemed like we were always over there! We also went over to their house and swam in their pool frequently. One night we were there, they brought out old video recordings that Flavio, a man from there in Limeira had taken years ago when he was in the States. It was hilarious to see some people we recognized, from over twenty years ago (including people like my dad, aunts, uncles, and others, particularly from Southern California)!

Pizinato took us everywhere in his car! The cross between a mini-van and stationwagon was just perfect fitting the six of us and him, so he was pretty much our chauffeur ;D. He and Nate teased each other endlessly, never leaving a dull moment.

Elaine took us all around too. One day she took us to Inez's (a sister in the meeting) hair salon where she, her daughter Emily, Mom, Anna and I got our hair and nails done. Mom remembers twenty years ago on her honeymoon when Inez invited her to come to that exact same place!

We also went to a brother's house named Mario Persona. Both his children are now living in the US, and he lives alone with an adopted son, who has been mostly blind, crippled, and mentally slow since birth. To see the love he has for Pedro is amazing, and I really think that the boy has flourished with that love, and has reached heights he would have never been able to accomplish without it. Although he can't speak, walk, or even control himself completely, he knows when he's cared about.

Mario is a very gospel oriented person, and has been posting videos on Utube called “Evangelio em tres minutos”. From that ministry many are coming to him with questions, and are even getting saved. It was really encouraging to hear about his work.

One weekend we went out to Roberto's “facienda”, which is a big ranch where he has horses, cows, and probably other animals I didn't see. There all the young people have good memories of getting together, and spending time with each other. The weekend we went it was only our family, Roberto and his son Mateus, Felipe and Carol, another Mateus from Limeira, and Cristiani, Vi's sister.

It was beautiful, and peaceful out there. Driving up the long driveway, we passed acres and acres of sugar cane, then pastures and pastures of cattle. The large, rustic house was built somewhere in the eighteen hundreds. You could tell it had been owned by wealthy plantation owners in the past, but now, it was apparent that there was nobody taking care of it like there once were. Plaster was cracking off the walls, exposing the bricks underneath and all kinds of old trinkets from saddles to license plates to wood burning stoves and a stuffed animals including a cougar and alligator filled the building. The rooms where we stayed were pretty large, and had very high ceilings, and windows. In the kitchen, Roberto had about five ancient refrigerators, most of them didn't work. As one would walk through, it almost felt like a museum in one of the old buildings down by Fort Vancouver, only instead of American relics, these were Brazilian. It was all fascinating. Down below, in the basement, were the living quarters of the slaves. From hearing of how the American slaves were treated, it was easy to imagine how it probably was hundreds of years ago here too (although apparently here they were treated more humanely as a whole, and the Brazilian abolition had been ratified before that of the United State's). From the balcony, you could see looked over the whole valley of small hills, wide, curving rivers, and criss-crossed lines of sugarcane fields. The place was gorgeous. It was obvious why car advertisements were filmed up here.

A few of us went in to town to buy meat for a Barbecue. It was a tiny place, with only one grocery store. We packed everything into the back of Carol's car, then she let Ben drive. It started out a little rough, considering he's not too accustomed to driving a manual, but pretty soon it seemed almost as smooth as an automatic. While we were shopping, the sky had become filled with clouds, and it had begun to rain. We hadn't taken this into account before we got to the dirt road, but once we got there, it was a little scary for me. The light brown powdery dirt had become a dark slimy, slippery mess. While he drove up, down, and around the hills, Ben had absolutely no control of the back of the vehicle. I would hold my breath while he would turn the steering wheel one way, and the back tires would slide the other. Thankfully we got back to the house safely.

There, Roberto, and Dad made some amazing barbecue for us all, including sausage, chicken, beef, and grilled cheese (which is a delicious Brazilian way of eating their cheese!) in a little outdoor kitchen by the house. As always, it was WAY too much food for us to eat in one meal.

Because it was raining, we didn't go outside, but stayed around the house, playing games, sleeping, talking, or using Mateus' laptop.

The next day we went on a hike down to a waterfall, getting an even better view of the valley, tramping through the Roberto's fields, past the ranch hands' houses, and little lake, stocked with fish. It would have been neat if we we would have been able to stay more time, but that night we had meeting, and the next day was Sunday, so we had to get back to Limiera.

The next day, we went to the assembly in Sao Paulo. It took us about two hours in Pizzi's car. Even though it wasn't too far away, the traffic, at all hours is awful. The city planning for the city hadn't done a good job at all. It was so bad that during the week only certain license plate numbers can drive certain days! It was a fellowship Sunday, so even though there was only one brother, two sisters (Cida), then a husband and wife (Luis and Vicca) with their daughter (Paula), and her boyfriend, we had a meal together. Luis cooked up meat and cheese on a little grill he had brought to the small room where we had the meetings.

After the meal, Pizzi agreed to drive us to Grandpa's caretaker's (Silvio and Rose) relatives' house, which was supposedly somewhere in Sao Paulo. Because we had no idea where it was, and only had an address, and a telephone number, Luis and Vicca said we could use their GPS, and brought Cida along too. It was a long, almost frustrating process finding the address. Numbers seemed to jump all over the place, and for a while they were even on one side, then odd on the other, then it would switch up, then the numbers went up, then started back down... but, finally, we saw a man, and woman standing out by the road, looking sort of like they might be watching for someone, and pulled in. Are you looking for us? In fact they were! Upon seeing the man, we realized the similarities in both looks, and behaviors of Silvio, and knew he was his dad. The lady was his wife, Silvio's mom.

When we first walked into the small apartment, it was a little bit awkward. We had never met these people, and really had never communicated with them at all either. Another complication was our lack of Portuguese, and unlike when we had been anywhere else in Brazil where most people spoke English, they didn't know much. We sat down on the couches, and kind of tried to communicate. Then, Dad was like, “I'd like to share some verses with you.” And, he did. From there, things started to loosen up. As it became less awkward, more and more people started showing up. Now not only the immediate family of Silvio was there, but Rose's was came also, and their cousins, and cousins of cousins. Then, we mentioned maybe singing some songs. Because they are Seventh Day Adventists, we thought we might know some songs they also were familiar with. They told us to go first, then they sang. Man, did they sing beautifully. Some of them were in a quartet from their church, and whether it was just them singing, or the whole family, it was amazing.

From then on, we felt almost part of the family! Each one of us were in another little group, trying to communicate with our Espanportlish. By then, there were probably fifty people packed in the room, and more were outside. It was crazy, but way fun.

Even after knowing them for less than a couple hours, we didn't want to say goodbye. It's amazing how God's love can be so strong. Showing up at someone's house, their WHOLE family coming over, and being able to share the Word, and songs together. It was so amazing.

Back at the apartment, one night Tony, Sueli, and Pizinato had come over to have us try Feshuada, that Sueli had prepared. Apparently it was one of the most-known meals pertaining to Brazil specifically. The story behind it was, in the days of slaves, the plantation owners would throw out all their meat scraps, pieces of the animal they didn't want to eat, to their slaves. The servants would take advantage of the situation, and would cook what they received with beans. Now, most have accustomed to eating it with good meat as we did at Carol's (and were thankful ;D), but there are still some people who prefer it the original way.

We were going to make it to Santa Cruz, Bolivia as soon as possible, but had gotten news that they were voting for a new constitution in the country, so there was a good chance of civil unrest, so we decided to spend a week as a family at the beach. Saying goodbye to those in Limiera, (looking forward to hopefully seeing Cris, Felipe, and Carol in March when they come to take an English course in the US) we boarded yet another bus.

Arriving to Sao Paulo, it was necessary to get to another bus station, getting there on the subway. We weren't looking forward to that. We each had at least one big suitcase, and a backpack, as well as two other extra suitcases, and were NOT excited about squishing into one of those. Being our only option, we kinda had to do it. Our fears were confirmed when the train pulled up to the platform. We stared in through the windows, at the mass of people packed in like sardines. There's NO way the four of us said one to another, but we didn't have time to argue, or even second think when Dad said “Get in!”, and slipped into a car further on. Mom disappeared, and so the four of us, and our luggage jammed ourselves into the already pancaked people in the car. We got some dirty looks, and muttered phrases, but thankfully we didn't understand! The ride was hot, stuffy, and jerky. We pretty much didn't even have to hold ourselves up, because whether we held onto something or not, we wouldn't go anywhere, being plastered against people, or their belongings on every side. When the door opened, we practically bursted out. The six of us together once again, we had to catch another one to the other bus station. Thankfully, although it wasn't empty enough for us to sit, we didn't even have to touch anyone as we stood with our bags jostling through the city.

The next bus ride was around five hours to Maranduba, a little beach town where we were planning to spend the week. We had found the hotel on the internet, and really had absolutely no idea where it was as we stepped off the bus, and unloaded our bags all under the little bus stop cover. It was raining, hard. This was one of the first times my dad really didn't know what to do, or where to go. Although things are usually always last moment, we usually get there, and Dad has an uncanny way of just “knowing things” or at least figuring them out quickly. So, when this wasn't the case, and not “everything worked out perfectly” as it usually does, everyone was a little irritated. It's funny how many times this SHOULD have happened to us, but just never did. So, when it does happen, we're not quite prepared. The rain was puring down, and we tried to keep our luggage under the shelter, but even that didn't work too well. The fact that we were making others waiting for the next bus wait out in the rain, because us, and our stuff were filling the place.

Dad left, and somehow got a hold of the hotel, who said they'd send someone. After waiting out there for like 45 minutes, someone showed up... but, he was on a bike! We kinda smiled at that. He put one of the bags on the bike, which he walked, while we followed him, lugging all our baggage, through all kinds of muddy potholes, and a swinging bridge. Thankfully, the rain wasn't cold, but it was obviously wet. Getting us, and our stuff pretty soaked. While walking along the road, Ben asked the guy if it was always like this here in Maranduba. He replied, “no, the sun does come out sometimes... it was sunny two days ago.” We had been warned about the fact that the next town up, Ubatuba, had been nicknamed “Uballuva”, lluva meaning rain, so we should have been a bit more prepared for seeing only the sun peaking out from behind the clouds a couple times :D.

The hotel wasn't luxurious, but it was perfect for what we needed; a queen sized bed, bunk-bed, and a hide-a-bed, with a small little kitchen, containing all the utensils we would need for cooking and eating.

As soon as our stuff was in the room, we all changed into our swim-suits, and went out to the beach. From the hotel, it was only about a seven minute walk. By this time, the rain had stopped, but even so, the beach was pretty much deserted. Mom stayed on the beach, watching us, with her long skirt, long sleeved shirt, wide-brimmed hat, and black umbrella to keep as many UV rays away from her skin as possible. It wasn't easy to loose her! We got in the water, and jumped waves for a couple hours, then went to a little restaurant by the water.

The next day, Nate and I got up before everyone (at nine) and went out swimming. The whole time it was overcast, and rained every couple hours, but that didn't matter, because the water was so warm, even the rain was never too cold. When we came back at noon, everyone was still in bed!

It was a really good time to just be as a family. The first time really on this whole trip we spent time being just us. We cooked our own meals, did our own dishes... it was almost like being home again (only without all our family and friends :( )! We had a lot of cereal and milk, beans and rice. Mom is trying to stay away from wheat as much as possible, which she's heard helps with Lupus. So, for everything we bought we looked for “gluten free”. It's harder than it seems! Practically everything has gluten in it, even the chocolate the rest of us all shared! At meal times she couldn't eat the bread we had with eggs, french toast, and even some ice-cream. But, thankfully, her favorite candy bar has no gluten; snickers. Uncle Nathan brought a bunch down from the US when he came, and, because nobody else in my family reads this, I can tell you that she still has a bunch of them hidden away in her suitcase, and when nobody is looking, she sneaks one every once in a while from her precious stash. I think everybody else thinks they're long finished by now ;D. Other than the diet, (which she really believes has been helping her tremendously with not being so drowsy all the time) which is pretty hard to be on, especially when we're always visiting other people's houses, (and you can't just say “I can't eat anything with gluten”), she has been doing much better than Leticia, improving all the time, and is back to her normal cheerful self. The only difference being she always has to wear the longsleeves, hat, and carry an umbrella as well as the 65spf sunscreen she wears to keep as much as the UV rays from getting to her skin as possible as we travel.

We were there for like two days before we left for Taubate, an assembly about six hours away, to spend the weekend. We left our suitcases at the hotel, and each packed a backpack.

When we arrived at the bus station, we weren't quite sure exactly of who we were looking for. The sister with who Dad had communicated only knew Portuguese, and without hand motions over the phone, it was difficult to know exactly what she was saying. What Dad DID understand, was that he had glasses. So, that was the only hint we had recieved. This was one of the few times we had never seen the person picking us before, but, like always, we found each other. Allesandro, Rosangela, Glauber and Leticia's house was right down the road, so it was easy to walk to from the station. At the house we met Lucilia and Juliano, Marcos, Elaine and their two adorable little kids Gabriel and Giovana. The whole assembly had come to greet us. Once again, we had a little bit of an awkward situation. We didn't know them, or anything about them, and they the same with us. As soon as we arrived, we sat down to an amazing meal they had prepared for us.

From there, we had a reading, where we sang, and read a passage. Afterwards, everyone loosened up a bunch. We took showers, and got our stuff organized. We had another meeting later on (which was there regular weekly meeting). Afterwards we went out to an Arabic restaurant. In Brazil, they have quite a bit of Arabic food. There was where everyone really got comfortable. We all talked there till late.

Because nobody´s house was large enough, our family was split up in twos for the night. Mom and Dad stayed with Juliano and Lucilia, Anna and I with Marcos and Elaine, while Ben and Nate stayed in the house we had arrived at; Allesandro and Roseangela's. Although the house where we were at was very small, only having two rooms, we got Gabriel and Giovana's room, while they slept with their parents. They were the cutest little kids ever. A little bit mischievous at times, but full of fun.

Sunday, because we were visiting, and there were too many to all fit in Allesandro's house, they rented sort of an event center. After meeting we had a meal, and the kids played in the pool, or threw little plastic balls at each other (like the ones at a Mc Donald's play place). Pretty soon, some got a little too comfortable ;D. Ben, Marcos and I all got thrown in the pool with our Sunday clothes on, and Juliano and Nathan got in a pretty serious war with the balls. Nate had little red welts all over his back, and I imagine Juliano did too. We all had a lot of fun.

We spent the evening back at Allesandro's, then stayed one more night before heading back to the houses we'd been in the night before.

The next morning, we said goodbye to everyone, and headed back for Maranduba. Being there, in that assembly was really encouraging. The three families all got along together really well, and had all come into the meeting just within the last couple of years. They were all ready, and happy to learn all they could.

On our way back to Maranduba, we stopped in Ubatuba, where we met a whole group of kids, and young adults from YWAM (Youth With A Mission). There were over two hundred of them all from different churches, who had come together for some sort of a camp. We talked to quite a few of the kids for a while, and it was here where I could hear the ext ream accents. They say those from the north of Brazil, and those from the south can't understand each other. Even though we barely know Portuguese, there was a definite distinction in the way some of them talked. They were all excited,witnessing, singing songs, and performing skits for people on the boardwalk. When we were about to leave, they invited us to stay with all of them at the school they had rented, or if we wanted to have free surfing lessons the next day. Dad decided it was too much, so we went back to the hotel.

Instead of taking surfing lessons with those from YWAM, who were at another beach, pretty far away, Dad rented a surf board, and let me take lessons with an instructor. Nate was the first one to try, and he got up on his first wave. Ben did really good too, and with Nathan's help, Anna was able to catch a couple waves. It was really fun.

It turned out the instructor was a Christian too! While Nate, and Ben were out surfing, I talked with him. He had had a hard life, and everything went wrong before he finally turned to the Lord. After his conversion, by his testimony, his wife, two sons, father-in-law, and various others in his family were saved. He had a really neat, interesting testimony.

That was our our last day at the beach. We hopped on a bus to Sao Paulo, from where we got another bus to the Bolivian boarder.

The boarder town where we arrived was hot, humid, jungle territory. Probably one of the hottest places we've been. Dad had went scouting out for a hotel for us to stay in, and found one way out in the country, that was practically a ranch, with a bunch of rooms, overlooking the beautiful “Pantanal”, kind of a marshland (or something), which people come all over the world to explore. Apparently it has all kinds of snakes, piranhas, panthers, crocodiles, and other wildlife, but we didn't have time to see any of that if we were to arrive in Santa Cruz for Sunday.

Thankfully we had air-conditioning in our room, where we stayed the rest of the evening, except when we went out for dinner. Walking down the road we smelled shishkabobs being barbecued over coals, and stopped in. It was too hot to be very hungry, even though it was probably nine at night. There we celebrated our last night in Brazil...

For breakfast at the hotel, we were served eggs and milk probably from their own chickens and cows, as well as bread and bananas. In the place was a HUGE blue macaw, that chased us around during breakfast. The owner of the place came into the dining room to see us all hiding behind chairs, making sure that at least one object always between us and the extraoridinarily large bird. It must have looked very comical. She shooed the menacing creature out of the room, and apologized for it's behavior, allowing us to finish our breakfast. The train was to leave soon, on which Ben, Nathan and I would be riding to Santa Cruz, so we rushed to pack up all our baggage.

After crossing the boarder into Bolivia, arriving at the train station, the three of us older kids said goodbye to Dad, Mom, and Anna as they headed for the airport. We were planning on meeting up in Santa Cruz after about twenty hours...

Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Finally Brazil!

2008-12-31T06:32:00.000-08:00

The busride to Bolivia was long; eighteen hours. Mom was feeling pretty sick, and had a fever that she'd had for a while. We weren't sure if we should just stop, and get off the bus, or if we should keep going, then go to a doctor once e got to La Paz. We stood, and prayed for mom, and what we should do. It was decided we would go ahead, and if she got sicker, we would just stop where we were. Thankfully though, she got some better, and was able to travel. Like the majority of buses down here, there were the movies, which even though they were like stupid, unrealistic science-fiction ones that aren't even worth watching, waste your time. The landscape changed quite a bit from leaving Lima to arriving at the boarder in Puno, next to lake Titiicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world I think it is). The first being right next to the ocean, and all you can see is sand dunes, and the sea stretching out to the west. We were able to see the sun setting over the water, and although the dry, arid sand dunes were not the most attractive, looking out over the horizon, the sun slowly melting into water was beautiful. From there we climbed to where the landscape, although not nearly lush, was more green. There were little scrub bushes with llamas, donkeys and sheep nibbling on them, and instead of the palfrawn walled shacks by the beach, brown, adobe huts with grass roofs were scattered here and there. Instead of the polluted air of Lima, there was a fresh smell, and it was harder to breathe because of the altitude.

The whole way to the boarder, we had all been praying Cam would get through with no problems, being underage, with no written permission to be traveling alone. When we arrived there, we went straight to immigration, the whole time seeing the answer to our prayer being unfolded before our eyes. We had absolutely no problems, and were through the crossing half hour before it closed (unlike the last time my family had gone through, with all the Peruvian Y.P. , arriving just as it was closing. There was major complications there. Out of the twenty of them, at least a few of them were underage, and because they had left on a holiday, no notaries were open, and they didn't have the necessary notarized letters. The boarder people didn't want to stamp them out. They ended up having a really hard time, but the Lord worked it all out in the end)! From Puno, we took a little minibus-like van the two hours to La Paz, the highest capital city in the world. We were all exited to be able to actually lay down for the night, and a little bit hyper. We sang songs, talked, and watched as the sky darkened, and the lights around the lake began to turn on reflecting on the water.

Arriving in La Paz we weren't quite sure where the meeting room was from where we arrived, so Dad called one of the brothers, while we waited out on the freezing cold street with all our luggage. After quite a while, a little van, and a pickup truck pulled up to where we were, loading our luggage in one, and us in the other. It was past ten when we stopped in front of a large, metal door. Opening a little door cut out of the big one, we stepped into the meeting room, where they were having the conference. There were rows of white plastic chairs, and hard, wooden benches. Unloading our luggage in a back room, we realized this is where all of us were to stay. There were large square tick mats made of straw and flour sacks iin a pile off to the side. We layed them all out in a row on the cold, hard cement floor, pulled out our sleeping bags, spreading them out, then putting the thick, musty smelling blankets over top of us. Ben decided to hang up his hammock between two pillars in the meeting room instead of sleeping in the other room with the rest of us. The majority of us slept extremely well. After being on a bus two days, and a night, it's amazing how exhausted you get!

The next morning at six-thirty a brother came in and greeted us cheerfully. We poked our heads out of our cocoons and reached to shake his hand. He reminded us that praver meeting started in a half hour, so we probably should be getting up soon. Most of us rolled right back over until ten minutes before seven. We pulled on our clothes, and walked out to the beginning of a long day. After prayer meeting we had breakfast, a thick corn-meal drink, and a piece of bread. It was decided to read in II Timothy 2 for the Reading Meetings. It is so interesting, 'cause this was the third time we've read that chapter this year, whether it be at a conference, or an assembly meeting. The meeting after lunch, and before dinner was one long one of three hours. It reminded me of being in Bucaramunga, Colombia, and the first two-hour meeting went over, and they ended up just skipping the break, and going straight into the next two-hour meeting.

This conference was really encouraging; especially the love of the people. In the meetings, as well as after so many were SO gracious, and giving all they had to make us comfortable and happy. There was family especially that really encouraged me. One of the main brothers in the assembly had quiite a large family, of which many had gone far from the Lord. But, in the last few years the Lord has really been working, slowly bringing them back, with their families. One of the sons were even baptized there after the conference, along with a young guy and girl. There were of their daughters (who are cousins), especially who were just on fire for the Lord, and their love for Him really showed. We just really need to remember to pray for the rest of their families too. I believe neither of the girls' moms are saved, but they are definitely interested. It was encouraging to hear too, that a guy and a girl were saved one night after a gospel meeting. I don't know whether the brother who goes out and invites people to come in influenced them to enter and listen, or whether they heard the message from the loudspeaker placed right outside of the meeting room, allowing all the neighbors and passer-byers to hear. The young people were encouraging too, ready to sing, or talk about the Lord.

From La Paz, we took the eight hour bus to Cochabamba where we planned on staying for a while. The main purpose of the trip was for mom to be able to rest, and have tests done for her mysterious sickness. Although we had the idea of staying for a while, that didn't end up happening. We arrived Monday night, spent Tuesday resting up, doing wash, catching up on emails, and Ben, Nate, Anna and I went to the school we'd gone to seven years ago, along with Dad and Lydia. Ben found one guy from his class, while one girl from mine was only there picking something up (they all graduated two years ago, so it was pretty much coincidence). We were only there for a while, before going back. The next morning, Dave, Lydia, Cam, Ben and I were on a bus to Oruro, from where we were to catch a train to Villazon, at which point we'd be staying with brethren for the conference there.

It was the first time we were actually traveling by ourselves, to a place where there were no other Americans, and really nobody we really knew, except for the Villarubias, who live in Cochabamba. The bus ride went smoothly, and upon getting to Oruro, we went out to eat with a lady who'd sat next to Dave on the bus, then were almost late for the train. So much for thinking we'd be doing things less at the last moment.

The eighteen hour train-ride was pretty cool. Although it was a little hard to sleep at night, the complimentary breakfast of cafe con leche, crackers, bread, butter, jam, and scrambled eggs made up for it. We snacked on vanilla and chocolate wafers, read our Bibles, talked, wrote in our journals, slept, or just sat there, staring out the window, or sleeping.

Upon arriving in Villazon, it seemed as though brethren began to pop up everywhere. We had bought tickets so late that we were unable to go in the second or third class cars with those that we knew (or we had at least maybe seen before some place, or were known by people we knew from meeting). So when we arrived, and met up with everyone who had been riding the same train, in the other cars, there was quite a group of us. We lugged our stuff down to the meeting room.

The town of Villazon was small, poor, sunny, extremely dry, and either very warm, or very cold. The majority of the houses were made of the mud adobe, some having white plaster covering the walls. Most of the women still wore the traditional clothing; knee-length pleated skirts, three-quarter length sleeved square necked lacy blouses, with a little half-peanut looking hat perched on top of their head, their two long black braids hanging down their backs, tied together with yarn braided into hair. When it was cold they would wear thick stockings, or leg-warmers, along with a blanket tied like a shawl around their shoulders.

We made the rounds greeting every person who was a brother or sister in sight. You had to be especially attentive, because some would only shake your hand, while others would shake your hand, give you a kiss on your cheek while putting their hand on your shoulder, then shake your hand again, while still others just give you a kiss, while patting your upper arm.

After greeting everyone standing anywhere around, the whole group of us who'd arrived kinda just stood there in the entrance of the meeting room not knowing quite what to do next. But, it was all sort of disorganizedly arranged for us to all to stay at a house of a family. There were two rooms, out behind the main house. The whole building was put together with mud adobe, having a tin roof, being supported with thick branches. After walking into the dim, cool room from the bright sunlight, our eyes made little sun-spots around on the cracking, brown walls, randomly having little plug-ins waist-high, and on the hard, cement floor, as well as the corrugated metal roof. Once our eyes adjusted, the straw-tick mats lining both sides of the room, having a isle way in between them, and two rickety, metal beds.

Others coming for the conference were sitting on their mats chatting, meeting again, some after years of being away from eachother. We each threw our bags down on a mat, along with the twenty other people staying in there. Ben, Dave, Cam, me, and Lydia all in a row; our bags separating us from the guys. Men, women, old and young were all together. Mr. and Mrs. Villarubia got one of the beds, while two single ladies from La Paz shared the other. It was kinda comical how we were all kinda just thrown together. We didn't know how the nights were going to be! You do get to know things about people when you're all in the same thing; namely what people are REALLY thinking about when they sleep-talk, or how snores can range from sounding like a train, to a starting car, to someone dragging something over a pile of pebbles. So, while some felt like staying up till like one in the morning, others wanted to get up at four am to take a shower in the bathroom that all twenty of us were sharing, as well as the other room, who probably had a similar amount of people “alojado” there.

The bathroom was another issue. Both the toilet, and the shower (as well as the customary “bude” however it's spelled in French...) were in the same room, so if anyone was taking a shower the line outside the door grew longer and longer waiting for their turn. There was no separation between the main bathroom and the shower, so the faucet, where the water came out to bathe, poured right out onto the floor, getting everything wet, and sometimes even leaking under the door onto the ground outside, making the powdery dust into a mushy mud that was tracked into our room, as well as back into the bathroom. So now the floor is extremely wet, AND muddy. So, naturally not wanting to change in front of everyone where we're sleeping, we have to change in the bathroom. Having nowhere to put the clothes you're not wearing, you have to hold them in one hand, while slipping each article of clothing on carefully with the other hand. It was a challenge to keep any of them from falling. To avoid that risk, we discovered an alternative, and aspired to become almost* professional sleeping-bag changers. It probably looked like quite a struggle watching someone squirming around in the long, black mummy bags, but instead of transforming from a caterpillar to butterfly, the pajamas become a conference outfit, and vuala, we were ready. Another day of at least eight hours of meetings, with three breaks had just begun!

Prayer meeting began at six. We were at least a little late for every one :S. Breakfast, at seven, was a five minute walk from the “local” where the conference was being hosted. It was in a small, dusty, court-yard covered by a blue tarp. Against one wall, made with mud and straw bricks were two large cauldrons, made of metal 50-gallon drums cut in half boiling over red, hot coals. Standing in line, those at the conference waited to be handed their breakfast, consisting of a large mug of tea (or coffee with milk), accompanied by a piece of bread and a bowl of soup. Some brought their own eating utensils, while others borrowed from the local assembly. There were a certain amount of seats, so especially by the third day the majority had to stand eating. It was a good feeling, drinking warm, steaming tea, those brisk, cool, mornings, standing chatting with the others around us.

The first reading meeting (where it was decided we would study Romans 8) started an hour later, the three hours until lunch.

Listening, and trying to concentrate on the doctrine being preached, all in Spanish was mentally exhausting. Even more so for Dave, Cam, and Lydia, who had to pay special attention to every word, then connect the words with the whole thought.

During the breaks we would either walk around, talk, take a nap, or stand in a circle, hitting the volleyball around. Once we walked over the boarder to Argentina, where we white Americans got yelled at for not having any documents, while the Bolivian with us just slipped through without being noticed. Also where Dave and Cam got lost in their taxi the day after arriving in the town, not having any idea how to get anywhere, all the buildings looking the same, and the town being flat. But with the good direction of Cam, they only got to meeting twenty minutes late... while we sat on the edges of our chairs wondering what had happened to them, not knowing what we should do.

By the end of the day, we were all absolutely EXHAUSTED. Gospel went from eight to nine, then after that, the YP would want to do things. The first night we helped tie the tops little long, skinny bags of jellow for the next days snack between meetings. While we tied, we learned Quechua songs, while teaching them what we could in English.

Another night we had a sing in the meeting room, which lasted till like eleven. Then, the last night a bunch went to play “wally”, a type of volleyball in an enclosed room, where you can play off the walls. It was way fun, but staying there till 12 was a little late after having to wake up at 5:30, and having meetings all day.

From Villason, we took a bus with some brothers to Tarija. An assembly with quite a few young people.

We spent an amazingly fun week there, before meeting up with my family in the bus station, less than fifteen minutes before the next bus left to take us to Palpala.

We got to Palpala late Thursday night, or more like early Friday morning, slept a couple hours then went to conference. The house where we were in had two rooms, one for my parents, and the other for us six young people, then other people came some of the nights. We separated the guys on one side of the room, and us girls on the other.

Conference was good. Now, being a really long time since we were there, I don't remember too much....

From that conference, we traveled to Salta where there was going to be a conference the following weekend. Before the conference though, our family, Cam, Lydia and Dave went to a pretty nice little hostel where we spent our last day together. We went out for pizza, then had a wonderful nights sleep. The next day some rode horses, while others swam in a forbidden aqueduct. It all turned out very well. From there we went to the city of Salta, where we spent one more night before Lydia, Cam and Dave left with Bob and Lemmoine for Santiago. From there there were going to bus to Lima, and then Ecuador, where they would separate. Lydia and Dave back to the US, and Cam to Ecuador.

We stayed in Salta, in the sister Ester's house. Eliana, who is twenty-one took us all over Salta, and was really encouraging. Her brother Josue, whose 18 hung out with the boys. The youngest, Estban, was a firecracker. Being like fourteen years younger than Josue, he was practically like an only child. He was wild, but absolutely hilarious.

From Salta, we traveled to Santiago, where we stayed in an apartment that was to be for the mother-in-law of one of the sisters there, but who was to arrive later on. There we had a surprise waiting for us. Dave, Lydia and Cam were still there! They had changed plans and stayed a couple more days before flying to Peru, and Ecuador, which was a lot less complicated. So we got an added blessing, having a couple more days with them. Staying in Santiago was perfect. We were able to be a family for a while, and be able to recoup from running all over the place so fast. Paulina, one of the ladies from the assembly took us all around. She was awesome. Always positive, helping out wherever she could.

Two of the weekends we were there we helped her with the Sunday School work she's doing there in the neighborhood. She is the main one organizing the kids, singing the songs, and getting everything going. It was really fun.

From Chile, we traveled back to Argentina, but instead of going back to Salta, we visited La Plata, where there's an assembly of 300. Walking into meeting you feel like you're in a conference!

But being there we were really encouraged. Every day we usually had at least two invites to go to someone else's house. Tons of more people asked to have us over, but there just wasn't time. And the people there eat at crazy times! We started dinner at 12 a couple of times! Meaning we got home at like 1:30!

We had a day out at a property of the brother Niconor's (in whose house we stayed). A bunch of the people in the assembly brought food, and we had a pot-luck with everyone. Afterward we had a Bible study, then played volleyball, soccer, and a kid brought a bat, so I taught a group of people how to play baseball. I never realized how many rules there are in the game. It was kind of ironic having me teach people to play baseball. I honestly don't know half of what baseball consists of. But they had fun, and that's what counts! I felt bad though, 'cause one time I went to hit the ball, and in my followthrough, I followed through right smack on the side of a kids' head!

But, there was quite a large group of young people there, many of which loved to sing, and pass out tracts.

One girl in particular impressed me. Seven years ago when we were in Bolivia, we heard about a truck full of fruit and vegetables, as well as those going to sell it had rolled, hurting many, and killing a few. Her mom was one of those who died. Eva had to grow up, raising her younger siblings, and is now fifteen. She loves to sing, and go out with the young people, and pass out tracts. One day she invited us to wake up early and go pass out calendars for the new year at the bus and train station.

Although the young people want to please the Lord, there is a lot of discouragment. From both the world, and even in the assembly itself. Please pray for the assembly of La Plata. Especially that the older brothers would know the right way to exhort, but as well encourage the young people. Many of the younger generation have been discouraged and no longer come to the meetings.

I cried on the bus for a half hour leaving that assembly. Both because I know I'm going to miss them so much, and I never know when (or even if) I'll see them again, and too, praying that they would be encouraged to continue in their desire to follow the Lord, and stay strong during the trials. We left there with four more young people. Eliana and Josue who we stayed with in Salta, as well as Dina from there, and Rusmery from La Plata.

The girls are especially encouraging. Whatever opportunity they have to sing, they take it, whether it be walking down the road, sitting on a bus on our way somewhere, or in the house doing clean up. They are also always ready to go pass out tracts and calendars. Such examples!

So, one day in La Plata, we took a day trip to Uruguay, then on Thursday we took an all night bus to Misiones, where we dropped off our luggage at the hotel, then went to Paraguay, passed out tracts all afternoon, before coming back, and spending some time together in the pool. It was so warm, even at eleven at night! The next day we went to the Falls of Iguasu. The widest falls in the world. They were absolutely gorgeous. I don't know if I've ever seen anything so beautiful! We spent the day walking around, looking at the falls, and roasting in the sun.

That evening, our bus left for Brazil. Like always we arrived in the nick of time to hop on the bus. After riding all night once again on the bus, we arrived in the bus terminal, changed, and walked into the meeting room in time for Breaking of Bread. We felt pretty messy to be coming to meeting right after traveling all night on a bus, but it was pretty much the only option we had.

So now we're in Florionopolis, Brazil! Mom and Dad are with Nate and Anna in Danielle's house (Dad's cousin's daughter). Here at the house we all speak a mix of English, Spanish and Portuguese. When we don’t understand what is being said when they say it in Portuguese, Mateus translates to English, then we translate that to Spanish. It’s kinda comical :D

An update on Mom

2008-11-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

Some of you probably know that my mom hasn´t been feeling well for the past three months or so, and after experiencing fever, extreme fatigue and joint pain with swelling, Dad took her to the doctor in Colombia where the orthopedic surgeon operated on her right wrist for carpal tunnel syndrome. He then advised her to see a rheumatologist when she arrived in a major city to have further tests done. When we arrived at the conference in La Paz, Bolivia, Dad took her to another doctor who then called in a specialist to the room. After looking at her blood tests and observing her symptoms, the doctor advised we return as soon as possible to the U.S. for further tests. Dad asked if it were possible to have them done while we are here to be better aware of the options, and she agreed to do the bloodwork and then the results sent on to a rheumatologist in Cochabamba Bolivia where we were planning to visit next. My parents overheard her tell the other doctor that she strongly suspected systemic lupus... that she saw ¨these kind every day¨. Further bloodwork was completed in Cochabamba, where the rheumatologist confirmed the diagnosis as Systemic lupus erythematosus. She is currently taking prednizone and an anti malarial drug that is to help with her symptoms, and she is feeling better. Her desire is that this would bring her closer to the Lord, and that He would have the glory in this trial. At this point, we plan to stay down here longer, and are looking to the Lord for wisdom as to future plans. Thanks for your prayers for her and all of us!!

the other half of our boat trip

2008-11-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

From Iquitios, we continued on the river. This time we were on a big boat, similar to the one we'd traveled on coming to Leticia. It was a cargo ship, the bottom deck containing all kinds of scrap metal stacked about ten feet high on either side of the narrow walkway leading to the stairs. Upon going up to the second level and entering the large, enclosed area with small, variously colored windows and benches lining the perimeter, three rows of hammocks containing people sitting, laying or sleeping with all their luggage scattered around were visible. On this level, in the front was an open space overlooking both the pile of metal junk immediately below, as well as the vast Amazon river and jungle visible when scanning the horizon. Our deck was the third; almost the highest. Here it looked very similar to the level below, but some of us were privileged to be able to stay in a “cabin”. If we would have gone on this boat before the first one, after walking in we would have taken a big breath, and been like “ok, we can do this”, but because we had already been through, this was luxurious in comparison. It was twice as big, had bunks that were a foot wider, and had individual bathrooms in each room! This time, mom being with us, instead of having to fit ten people's luggage, and two people in one tiny room, we had two way bigger cabins to fit five people, and everyone's luggage. Each room had a pair of steel bunks to the left, with thin, green mattresses to lay on. At the head of each of the beds was a window, where in the mornings we could pull back the thick, matching green curtains, and see the soft pink, blue, and orange sky as the sun began to rise. To the far back, taking up about 1/3 of the room (about four by eight feet) was the bathroom. Immediately behind the slightly blue tinted glass door was a brown, corroded, seat-less toilet, filled with brown, murky, Amazon water, that returned from where it came from as soon as it was flushed. Between it, and the faucet coming from the ceiling, serving as a shower was a small sink, and mirror, all being in the same room, and each using the same source of water; the Amazon. So whether you took a shower, washed your hands or flushed the toilet, it was all the same opaque brown water flowing out. Knowing that the river, where the water was coming from was the also the local sewer system wasn't the most comforting thought as you stood there taking an uncomfortably warm shower, or turned on the faucet to wash your hands. But, we were all extremely thankful for the room, bathroom, and although filthy water, something less dirty than we we were to use while cleaning up every once in a while.

Compared to the others on the boat (excluding Ben and Dave), we were very fortunate. They all had to sleep on the deck in hammocks with all the other hundred people, their children, babies, and assortment of small pets. At night the TV blared, babies cried, parrots in little wooden crates squaked, people rudely rammed into your hammock, and large men snored. All this occurred with the lights on. From our room we were able to hear all the commotion during the night, but were able to turn our lights out, making it much more comfortable. The first night, we thought we'd discovered what everyone else had overlooked... a space where we could put our hammocks up on the VERY top level. Although the sound of the engine was absolutely deafening there, considering the smoke-stacks rose from below, it seemed to be deserted. We hung our hammocks all up there to save spaces. Us girls even decided we'd rather sleep up there in the fresh air, than inside a protected cabin. Later that night we discovered that the place was not so deserted. It was for the captain who was off-duty, and his crew. One man rudely told us to get downstairs, but as we fought with trying to undo the knots Ben had securely tied, making sure there was NO WAY someone would fall, a man came up and said it would be ok, but just tonight. We found out he was the captain! It was so beautiful up there. The noisy deck below was inaudible due to the constant droning of the engine, and there was a cool breeze circulating the whole night as we lay in our hammocks talking, looking up at the vast sky, or out over the dark, now quiet jungle. So, that night we slept up there; a guard pacing back and forth carrying his shot-gun over his shoulder, not being careful in the least with it, pointing it in every direction, practicing absolutely no gun safety techniques. Because he had to keep himself awake all night he kinda hung around and tried to talk to us, but we were so tired we fell right asleep.

The next few nights, because it was a little too cozy, warm, and sweaty sleeping two girls to a bed in the cabin, it was decided two would sleep out on the deck every night. It wasn't as bad as it's description most of the time, but stopping at little villages all hours of the night did get a little frustrating, having people ducking under your hammock to get by then standing up too quickly, giving you a jerk, waking you up. Then, it seemed even though all we had to do on the boat was just sit all day anyways, some people would be up and awake at like four or five in the morning! Although not the most pleasant awakening, the sunrises were always beautiful over the water. If the boat would get close to the bank, or stop at a village, cutting it's engine at that time, the sounds of all the jungle animals could also be heard. Some places little monkeys were visible swinging from the branches of banana trees. Other times our boat would be passing canoes, and looking down from where we were, HUGE fish would be visible in their boats. Some so big you hardly knew how they could fit in such a small boat without it sinking!

Meals on the boat were pretty decent. For those in the cabin, two were served, then the others would go down to the second level, their own bowls and spoon in hand, and wait in line for their turn. Although the meals for those in the cabin were definitely better, the others were good too. We had quite a bit of fresh fish from the river, as well as yuca, rice, and chicken. To drink we were given avena (a liquid oatmeal, which most of us considered delicious) for breakfast, and tea at dinnertime. We also brought snacks, and large amounts of water and soda in case we needed more than was given.

Time was an abundance for the five days we were on the river. Some hung out in the hammocks, taking frequent naps, others played Rook, Phase 10, and Authors (mostly Ben, Nate, Anna and Dave, with Cam and I coming in every once in a while), Lydia and I enjoyed painting up on the top deck, sometimes some of us would play soccer, or volleyball up there too, but after accidentally hitting the volleyball over the side, and watching it disappear down river, into the distance, we decided that might not be the cheapest way to spend our spare time. Having time to read our Bibles, and having quiet time with the Lord was really one of the things we appreciated the most. We could just go up on the top deck, and even if people WERE making noise up there we wouldn't hear it! Being up there was just amazing. Although I realized for the first time I COULD get a headache from too much loud noise, being up there for short increments was awesome. The whole jungle (well at least part of the whole) spread as far as you could see ahead of us being interrupted only by little villages and the winding river, looking like it had gotten lost, reminding me of nonobjective termite tunnels going every which way, having no specific destination. During the day, it was extreamely hot, but dawn, and sunset were the most amazing times to be up there. The sky, with parrots and elegant white birds flying overhead, would turn all sorts of vibrant colors that looked photo shopped. Sitting up there, in the coolness, a slight breeze, you'd just get lost in the beauty of it all.

People on the boat were interesting. The only other tourists were two girls in their twenties from Spain, here to help the disabled in the Jungle. They knew some English, and we talked with them a little bit. One of them played the guitar, and at night she would sometimes take it out, and play. Because of the beautiful music, and lack of anything else to do, people would gather around and listen. One night Lydia and I climbed up on a pile of crates near where she was playing, and laid on our backs listening to the soft singing and strumming, talking, and looking up at the starry sky, watching for shooting stars. Talking with one of the girls, we found she really didn't have a “religion”, she said she believed everyone is right, and everyone's religions have good points. It's so hard to know what to say to that kind of person! The little kids on the boat were crazy. One of them was terribly rambunctious. He wasn't exactly BAD, but was always doing little things to get a reaction from anyone he could. He threw bugs at us, as well as tried to drop them in our soup, would come into our rooms unannounced, beat up other little kids, and insist on HIS way. Another girl I talked to was going into nursing like me, so I really enjoyed talking to her. She was almost more of a doctor, but was doing “practice” time in the remote Amazon villages. It was her first time out in the jungle like this, and she was really nervous about the primitiveness of it. On the boat also, in a hammock near where the boys were sleeping was a little old man, somewhere in his late eighties or nineties. He was terribly skinny, every bone in his body was visible. The light in his eyes was dim, and he was very weak. According to the lady traveling with him, he had cancer, and was going for treatment in Pucallpa. Honestly, he didn't look like he would last much longer. One night we had our Bible reading with him, all sitting around his hammock. I'm not sure exactly what religion he was (probably Catholic), but the whole time he had his hands pressed together in front of his face with his eyes shut, as if he was praying. He, and the lady traveling with him both really enjoyed the singing too (even though we WERE right by the smokestack, where you could barely hear).

Every evening we would have a Bible reading. We started reading in 1 Corinthians on the boat to Leticia, and continued on. One night was with that man, two nights we all squished in one of the cabins. Guys on the top bunk, girls below them, Dad sitting on a bench outside the bathroom. It was SO warm in there, and the next night we decided to go out on the front deck. We all sat there with our flashlights, singing out of our hymnbooks, when people started to gather around. It was pretty much like they'd done with the girls from Spain. They were curious as to what these Americans were doing; reading and singing in Spanish, when they really spoke English. Some were really interested, and talked to my dad even after the like two-hour reading. It was neat. After that, there were a few Christian kids who had listened, and afterwards took out a keyboard they'd brought (one of them was on their way to Lima to find a better life, working as a clown, playing the piano...) and played Christian songs on it. It was awesome, just sitting there, cross-legged in a circle, on a boat, in the middle of the Amazon river, singing with Christians, at night, watching the stars.

Sunday was a little compicated. The day before, when we'd stopped for a while it a little town, we'd gotten off to see if we could find wine for remembering the Lord in his death. So, we were going through this town, the only white people, going around asking for where they sell wine in this jungle village. One place we asked they were like, “sorry, we don't have wine, but we do have rum?”. We were like “uh, no thanks”, and finally did find a place. So, when we were actually there, remembering Him, we had this little “pansito” on a blue and white checkered napkin, and next to it the wine in a flimsy, clear plastic cup, sitting on a little “table” having all kinds of random articles on the shelf below. Again, we were on the bunk-beds, but this time, being during the day, it was SO stuffy, hot, sweaty, and really hard to concentrate too. It was probably the most unique Breaking of Bread I've ever been to!

The whole boat ride was a really awesome experience, and a really nice little break before launching off to more craziness.

As soon as we got to Pucalpa, we spent the day with Franklin and Ruth's (from Lima) niece who lives there, then got on a bus that evening. Eight hours later we arrived in Huanuco, showered (the first REAL time, with CLEAN WATER in over a week!!!!!), slept a couple hours, ate, spent the day with the brethren, went to meeting that night, then were on another night bus to Lima. Getting in at five AM, we got taxis to the Flores. After eating breakfast, started right in on the wash that needed disparate attendance. Us girls hand washed all the clothes, and put them up on the clothesline like the whole day. The Lord gave us an amazingly sunny, warm day for the wash to dry. The day before, as those after were all typical; smoggy, cold, and NO sunshine, but that day was perfect. We unpacked, repacked, slept the night there, then were off another bus for Bolivia the following afternoon.

Fast Boat Adventures

2008-11-27T15:15:00.000-08:00

Cam wrote this a long time ago, and I didn´t realize it wasn´t up yet....

well as instructed i am writing from a sweaty hot and smelly room over looking the muddy ugly and polluted village which connects directly to the amazon river with the same conditions. Ben now told me that he is going to fire me for what i just wrote. let's say the true interpretation of his “instructions” is that a lap top is very good to have because we can describe our surroundings and they're not always a stinky internet cafe. the room here is actually quite comfortable, gracias a Dios. and compared to last night, this place is a Hilton. but let's back up from there. first of all, i won't comment of dear Uncle Dan's need to be in the internet office for 3 hours before we left Leticia nor Dave's heroic attempt to help us across the mighty amazon at 11 at night by contracting with 2 fortune seeking boat stealers. but still, i'm still getting ahead of myself. our “last supper” was prepared by the loving hands of Bethany, Daniella, me and Aunt Martha. Nathans loving hands were occupied showing some of our friends from school around the lap top. they were sweet and it was fun knowing we had made some different friends while staying there. we then told them goodbye and started our pizza dinner...one of our favorite meals while there. we had a very touching speech/prayer from Dani one of our faithful friends here. while eating i was sure to remind Dave to enjoy every last bit of the American luxury. our dinner was over at 7ish which moved directly into making room for all of the last minute things in our bags. around 9 we set off for the port, using our most popular method of transportation: walking. the bags were carried in the jeep and we set off on foot. that is when we were brought to our boat. after about ½ hour of standing around we threw our things into the borrowed boat. we said all of our goodbyes to Paul, Martha, Bethany, Matthew, Dani, and Durley. then we sat and waited in the boat while one of the boys tried to get the motor started. he tried probably 49 times, winding the cord around the thing that spins then pulling with all his might. near one of his last attempts the motor started then abruptly quit. we had been waiting for nearly 20 minutes and the thought of the motor finally starting was a relief. then to our great shock and astonishment a older man walked onto the boat saying in distinct Spanish “this is my boat, and it is not going any where. if you do not get out and leave it alone i will call the police.” then through a maze of confusion we found out that the boat and motor had been temporarily borrowed or to be less polite: stolen. the funny thing is, is that the boat had a leak in it with the bottom being so rotten that if it had ran into a floating obstacle of some sort we would have been swimming with all of our luggage across the amazon. instead of this adventure, we dragged our things back up the hill to where we got a taxi into Tabatinga, Brazil. there Uncle Dan woke up the boat dock guard and convinced him to take us across to Santa Rosa, Peru. we loaded our things onto a considerably more luxurious boat with a non-decomposing base, a dry wood floor to walk on, and a good paint job. we slipped away from the dock with our friends standing by to wave us goodbye. then we floated into the dark amazon as our boatman took us safely across to the other side. through the haze of 12:15 in the morning i gathered that our boat was next to the fast boat we were going to board at 4:30 in the morning. we then decided to just sleep on the floating dock next to the boat. well some of us did. Nathan, however, decided to accept the dare from Dave and stay up all night “watching the stuff.” Daniella found herself a bed on a bench, i found one beneath her, and the rest threw up hammocks, grabbing 3 quick hours of sleep. i must not forget to remember the squadrons of F-17s (other wise known as mosquitoes) that Aunt Cheryl was trying to fight off through the night. they must've been hungry in order to be willing to bite through the hammock and her clothing, finally getting their midnight stack. then around 4 in the morning we woke up to a gathering of fellow fast boat travelers. we brought our passports to be stamped, loaded our luggage, and found our seats on the fast boat. at 4:35 we putted away in our fast boat from the floating dock. amazing how after such a rigorous evening of things not going as planned some things can just happen like clock work. so here we were, on our way to Yquitos. during the boat ride we got a good ham sandwich and coffee for breakfast, then lunch was rice, a potato, stuffed chicken, Inca cola, and 2 candies. the ride was enjoyably cool. after that trip i discovered that when you're tired enough one can really sleep anywhere. apart from the good food, talking to Daniella, sleeping, and watching a boat that was stuck try to wiggle it's way out of a sand bar, nothing of much intense interest happened. well that's my ride Nathan and Anna, however, had a different experience with “Pony” a local “energy drink” spilling on them. Anna was just about to fall asleep on the dirty yet comfy ground when a “sailor” thought “this poor beautiful gringa needs a pillow...here, i'll be her handsome frog and give her a life vest.” turning to give her the life vest he did not realizing his heroic attempts to be the princess's frog had been altered by a bottle of “Pony” sitting in the pocket of the life vest. he then turned the vest upside down pouring “Pony” all over poor Anna. then being wedged between two seats, Anna could not turn to miss the flow of “Pony” and sat staring up at the sailor in helpless horror. Nathan, sitting directly above Anna grabbed the life vest and showed the sailor the bottle of “Pony” the sailer then chucked it out the window and brought Nathan a towel. Nathan started to wipe off the seat then moved to Anna when the sailor came and snatched the towel back. once we arrived we were greeted by our ripped backpacks and many moto taxi drivers. we chose 3 drivers and were brought to our old favorite “motel.” the view from where i write this really is quite incredible. the lush green jungle, the quaint huts built off of the ground with a roof made out of palm fronds, and finally the silvery blue amazon. the sun will be setting soon showing another day completed here on this earth. which just means one day closer to spending an eternity with Him. we will be going to get supper when Aunt Cheryl and Anna return from their quest for water. the Lord continues to carry us here, and shows His good and caring hand to us through our path down here. Lydia just came and informed me that we are looking at going on a boat for Pucalpa to marrow. your prayers for us on the rest of this journey are greatly appreciated. we will continue to remember the words from the song that i am just now listening to “in Christ alone my hope is found, he is my light, my strength, my song. this corner stone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. what heights of love what depths of peace when fears are stilled when striving cease, my comforter my all in all, here in the love of Christ i stand.”

-Cam

Motorcycle Adventures...

2008-10-16T07:17:00.001-07:00

Because the jeep is broken down, Dad was going to relay those who wanted to go out to Kilometer 18 on the one rented motorcycle he had. Dave had already been dropped off, and Dad had come back for the next person. It ended up that Lydia and I were the only ones who were here, and wanted to go, so it was decided I was going to drive the two of us out there, then Dave would ride with her back, leaving me there for the night. I was a little bit nervous driving, especially considering I didn't have a motorcycle license, had never driven that far, on a public road, with someone who didn't know how to drive riding on the back. And we are in South America. In Colombia (the country with the worst driving I've seen in any of the countries down here). In Leticia (a jungle town where everyone rides motorcycles, and there are I don't know how many deaths because of it every year). On a long, country road. Without a cell phone, or any type of communication. Having only two girls. On a rented motorcycle.

Nonetheless, we prepared to go. Putting on our helmets, we made sure they were ones that actually DID buckle under our chins (or that we could at least tie the strap). Dad kick-started the moto, and we were ready. I kinda had a moment of hesitance, and decided I was going to make sure I could kick-start it myself, in case something happened. After a couple attempts, it started. Mom felt a little uneasy about this, and reminded Dad to pray with us before letting us go. “Make sure you get back before dark, the moto needs to be back at the rental place before then”, Dad reminded me before we left. The wheels bumped over the curb, and onto the street. Starting off was a little shaky. We went a little swervy, and in trying to avoid the pot-holes, I managed to hit every one! Once we were out of sight, and going a bit faster, it was easier to keep my balance, and drove in more of a lazy snake-shaped line, than an earthquake meter. Driving in the town was a little more difficult than on the kilometer road, having to avoid the motos turning right in front of you, and big trash trucks stopped in the middle of the street. As we passed the gas station, I wondered if Dad had filled the tank recently, but the thought, “He wouldn't send us way out there without making sure we had enough... besides, we have to get out there soon, there's no time check and see”.

As we leaned through the curves, and sped past the large open areas with cows grazing, then the dense jungle patches, watching the sun slowly sinking behind the tree-tops, the thought had completely escaped my mind, until the motorcycle started to sputter. Then it started going slower... and slower... and slower, until it came to a complete stop. Right in the middle of our lane. “I think we ran out of gas”, I said stating the obvious. We jumped off, then started pushing the motorcycle to the side of the road. It was really hard to push. It would go for a few feet, then the tire skid for the next, continue for a couple more, and stop rotating again. That is when I realized it was still in gear, and had to pull up the little gear changer until the little light showed we were now in neutral. We pushed to a little driveway leading to a house, which was blocked by a metal gate. Beside it, driven into the ground was a little gray rock, and painted on the white part were little black numbers indicating we were at kilometer 14.

Great. It's starting to get dark, we're two girls without a cell-phone, or even a phone number we could call, with a motorcycle that's out of gas, in the middle of nowhere, four kilometers from where we want to go, and 16 from where we came from... as well as all those other things I mentioned earlier.

We had a short prayer and discussion as to what should be our next step. “Let's just keep walking”. So that's what we did. Not wanting to get ourselves in any trouble, we decided to avoid going to any houses to ask for help, and try to walk out the four kilometers. Lydia carried the stuff, while I pushed the moto. This is when we realized that our front tire was also flat. Deciding to take advantage of the fact there was NO possible way we could be back before dark, let alone arrive at the Bible school before then, we decided to enjoy our time. Slipping off our flip flops, we walked, kicking through the water sitting in puddles on the road, remaining from the morning rain. As we talked, parrots flew over the trees silhouetted against the orange sunset sky, trying to drown us out with their loud squawking. We were thankful that it was evening, and not the middle of the afternoon. Although we were just walking, we were pretty warm, but having the sun behind the trees helped keep us cooler.

It was getting darker by the minute when we decided plan #1 wasn't going to work. We were going to HAVE to ask someone for help if we wanted to get there before midnight. A guy walking towards us walking a bike with a flat tire looked nice enough. “Do you know where there might be somewhere we could get gas?” well, apparently there was a “white house” somewhere down the road a little bit, but after arriving at a house, there was no way to tell whether it was white or not, it was too dark. There was a little bridge across the ditch consisting of two boards laid side by side, just wide enough for the motorcycle's tires. In order to turn the hunk of metal enough to straighten it out, Lydia had to lift up the whole back end of it, while I pushed, walking through the ditch so the moto could stay on the bridge. At one point, forgetting the exhaust pipe was hot, I tried to catch the thing while it was falling over, and it made a pretty nasty burn on my leg. As we trudged through the mud to the house, I smeared some over it to soothe it (in attempting to wash it off later that evening, scrubbing it to get the grains of dirt out, peeling shriveled skin along with it, I came to the conclusion that hadn't been the best of ideas, but it felt good until then!). “Buenas noches!” I called standing in the dark outside the house. I could tell someone was inside, because of the light shining out from beneath the front door, but nobody answered for a little while. When a woman finally opened the door and peering out she exclaimed, “Ay! Me asustaste!”. I can imagine why she was scared. After dark, having someone calling outside your house, in a strong American accent, hearing no motor indicating how they had gotten to your front door. But after seeing us two girls standing there with the silent motorcycle, looking very unimposing, she opened the door wider, and asked what she could help us with. After explaining what had happened, she told us apologetically that her husband had run out of gas the night before, but to go to the next “white house” down the road. By now we really were wondering how to find these “white houses” when it was completely dark outside. We tramped back through the mud, and back to the street.

The next house we came to looked promising. It looked very well kept up, and two stories, built of concrete. To the side of the house was a car, indicating we had a pretty good chance of getting gas. After about five minutes standing outside the gate yelling “Buenas Nooocchhessss” to no avail, we decided this was not the answer to prayer we were looking for, and continued walking. I had decided to just try to make it the 13.5 more kilometers, and not take a chance, when we came upon a house that had a tire with a stick piercing right through the middle. I recognized it as usually being a sign for a “taller”, or repair shop. Maybe they would have gas here. I started calling the “good evening” I had yelled out at the last two houses, when Lydia gave me the brilliant idea of asking if they have gas. Minutes after the “Tienen gasolina?” was out, we saw the front door swing open, and the outline of a shirtless man walking cautiously out of it. In one hand was a flash-light, and in the other was the red glow of a cigarette butt. Shining the flashlight in our faces he walked close to where we were. He wasn't very friendly when we told him our predicament, slowly opening the gate letting us in. Lydia and I prayed together before proceeding. “Do you have gas?” I asked again as we walked in. “I'll see” he responded and kept walking the flashlight sweeping back and forth in front of him. When we arrived at the front of the house I stopped, as he disappeared around the back corner. Seeing we weren't following, he looked back at us, and motioned to come back saying, “Hay luz aqui donde podemos ver mejor”. Yeah, there WAS a light back there where we could see, but there was also a light in FRONT of the house close to where we were standing where it was shining plenty bright. But, we still didn't even know if he had gas! I asked again, and this time his response was, he thought so... I pushed the motorcycle under the circle of light, and told him we could see fine right where we were. He kinda smiled, and disappeared. I was starting to get a little bit uneasy with the whole situation, and we stopped to pray one more time together. He was gone for a while before walking back out through the front door hauling a big, five-gallon container of gas on his shoulder. Pulling it down, he had me hold a water bottle, cut in half, using it as a funnel to pour the gasoline into the tank, spilling the cold liquid over my hand. Lydia paid him, and after thanking him, we got out of there as quickly as we could... thanking the Lord for keeping us safe.

Once back on the road, I realized that I was going to have to kick-start the moto again. I was a little more confident since I'd started it at the house earlier, but wasn't completely comfortable. After kicking it over and over again, without it starting I got discouraged, and was about to call the guy, who was now disappearing into his house, to come back, and start it for me when I finally got it, and the sound of the motor sounded like music to our ears. It was wonderful to know we'd be able to make it somewhere, faster than walking. After starting it, I realized that the front headlight appeared as if it had gone dead. It had been on the whole walk without the engine being on, and had probably burned out or something. I got on, and Lydia swung her leg over, sitting behind me. That is when I really realized how flat the front tire was. Driving started off even more wobbly than when we'd left the house! It was worse when I tried pressing buttons, and switching switches thinking there might have been a chance I'd turned the lights off sometime during our trek, but after almost crashing, I decided to concentrate more on driving.

So here we were, two American girls, on a long Colombian road in the middle of nowhere, driving a motorcycle with a flat tire, and no headlight. By now it was practically pitch black all around us, the white cement road ahead of us was the only thing visible, but the potholes were not... no matter what size they were. The “dashboard” saying how much gas (which obviously didn't work) we had, how fast we were going, and all that was all lit up. Now all I could see was the bright light shining up at me from below telling us we were in third gear, going thirty kilometers an hour. But, I'd really have rather been able to see the road than this bright annoying light under my chin, blinding me from seeing the important things in the road like big branches, small animals, or deep puddles. Thankfully I had grabbed one of Paul's nice helmets (instead of a rented one... the ones that have broken chin straps, no padding and fall off your head...) that completely covers your head, has a chin strap, and is like a “normal” motorcycle helmet that has a part that goes in front of your jaw and chin as well. So, I drove with my nose up in the air, appearing like I was enjoying all the wonderful night jungle smells, but in reality was blocking the bright green light with my jaw/chin guard on my helmet, so I could see the road. In riding this way, I was also able to look up into the sky and see the sliver of the moon, with the scattering of stars covering the heavens. They were all so bright, not being anywhere near civilization where there's “light pollution”.

After bouncing over some pretty big branches, then bumping down into a couple shallow, abrupt ditches in the middle of the road, I decided this wasn't the appropriate time for star gazing... and attempted to pay more attention to where I was driving, which still didn't improve much, considering the chin/jaw guard wasn't really intended for shielding my eyes from getting light bleached from the “dashboard”. The next day when riding back, I saw those enormous branches were placed in the middle of the lane (being extra big so nobody would miss seeing them... except for a couple of gringa girls riding a motorcycle down a deserted road, at night, with a flat tire, and no headlight) so that they would not run over the construction area where road workers had dug into the concrete of the road, making little ditches for some unknown reason. We managed to hit both in one shot!

Thankfully nobody else was on the road (even people with pumped up tires AND a headlight weren't out on the kilometers after dark), so we were able to drive right down the middle, where there were the least “alterations” to the road. The whole ride I was thinking, “Lydia was an amazing person to have broken down with me. I was so glad I was with her!”. She didn't panic, or get worked up... we both were just like, well, this is how it is, and we can't do much to change it, so we'd might as well make the best of the situation... and we did! We actually had fun!

When we finally pulled up, parked the motorcycle, and walked in, Dave was like “I was starting to wonder if you'd guys would EVER get here!”. He'd already finished playing sports with them (well obviously, it was now way dark), and been for a swim in the “manigua” with everyone. We explained to everyone what had happened. Then, realizing there really was no way for Dave and Lydia to get back in the shape the motorcycle was at that moment, we came to the conclusion they would just have to stay the night also, and go back the next morning on one of the three buses that pass there daily. Hopefully once they got back, Dad would know what to do next.

After being there for about a half hour, Dad called. But, because we were out of cell-range, the call dropped. Here those with cell phones have pre-paid minutes, and neither Tita, nor Luz had minutes, meaning they could only receive calls. Dad kept on calling, and then it would keep dropping. Finally I got the majority of the message to him, and he said he'd come on out, and figure out what we'd do from there.

Lydia and I helped in the kitchen making dinner. Everything they cooked was on a long, thin
gas stove; the kind used for cooking in restaurants. Having no oven, the food was all put in these huge cauldron-like pots. Standing over the hot stove, we steamed rice (which I'm starting to find EVERYONE does differently... Tita does it one way, Luz another which are different than either my mom's way, or even Martha's) then added peas, and other vegetables. In a small frying pan, bananas sliced in nickle-shaped pieces were spitting oil as they fried. One little piece of chicken was fried for each person as well, before serving them all up in bowls. We had some sort of native fruit juice, which was delicious.

Before were were done making the meal, dad showed up on a moto taxi. He took a look at our moto, and decided he would just try to drive it back to the house with Dave sitting as far back on the seat as possible to try to relieve the weight on the front tire. Lydia would ride back with the “mototaxista”. Dad got on the moto, started it on the first try, then switched on the headlight. I was incredulous. Had it been that simple? I must have accidentally switched the light off when walking the moto or something. So, we had driven all that way without a headlight, putting ourselves in more danger than we were already in, only because we hadn't stopped, and made a more dedicated effort to find the light.

As they drove slowly off into the dark, I wondered how this would all work out... both them getting home, and I staying here the night with people I'd only seen three times my life.

Everyone sat down around the long, tall table, and bowed our heads as one of the students prayed. After finishing their large bowls of rice and chicken, everyone was allowed to have seconds from the large pot. It was amazing how much the small Indian guys could eat! They must be like Nathan; eating more than double what everyone else eats, but staying skinny.

After dinner everyone washed their own plates and silverware, then certain ones had jobs for cleaning the bigger dishes.

Then, while the students worked on homework, Aldo and Tita played the guitar, and sang. They sang some of the same Christian songs that the guy in Macedonia played, as well as others. It was beautiful! Once again, I sat listening to the beautiful singing, and guitar playing while trying to follow on where I could, just enjoying the amazing Christian fellowship. Even though we speak more than three different languages, we're from three different countries and have three completely different cultures, there is one thing that joins us together, completely overcoming all those barriers. Jesus, what he's done for us, and the desire to share it with others.

By nine-thirty guys had to be in their room, and the girls in theirs, lights being turned off shortly after. Both the guys and girls went through the sheets serving as doors separating the “dormitories” from the one, big room. We sat on the beds for a while, talking, sort of learning some Ticuna words, such as the numbers, which I've now forgotten. It was interesting to me, how we count by tens (and ones I guess too...) but they count by fives. I don't know if that makes sense, but like they count to five, then like say one-one, one-two, one-three, one-four, one-five, then start over two-one two-three... I'd never really thought about how other cultures say their numbers.

Trying to pack as little as possible, considering we were on the moto, I hadn't brought pijamas... Luz let me borrow hers. Being she is about a foot taller than me, and quite a bit bigger, they were pretty much huge on me, but at least I didn't have to wear my clothes I'd worn on the trip over.

I was on the bottom of a two-level bunk bed. The yellow mosquito net, containing several patches around the perimeter, was hanging from the four corners above me, then tied in a knot at the top. I watched as the other girls carefully undid the knot making sure there was no way mosquitoes could get inside it as they did. Tucking them all around under their mattresses, they would leave one little section allowing them to climb in. Once that was accomplished, after squirming in, they'd tuck in the last little section too. As soon as everyone was safely in their net cocoon, one person was elected to turn off the light, and either use a flashlight or just feel around to get back to their bed.

We said goodnight, and could hear the guys over in their room saying their goodnights too. I couldn't understand, but the Ticuna guys must have been saying some sort of joke in their language, and were all laughing.

Soon, everyone was quiet, and deep in sleep, considering they wake up so early every morning, working hard and studying all day. I stayed awake a little longer, enjoying the complete darkness, as well as the only sounds being jungle noises. I could hear crickets, frogs, all kinds of other insects, and animals. Such a contrast to being in the town of Leticia, the neighbor's lights being on all night, dogs barking, and roosters crowing at all hours of the night. I could have laid there all night under my mosquito net just listening to the jungle's night song, but in trying it lulled me to sleep, and I drifted off.

I woke up to the sound of cheerful whistling, singing, sweeping, and talking. It was five-thirty, or six, and everyone was up doing their different assigned jobs, but me. Tita walked by bunk and said “buenos dias”. I jumped up, got dressed, then went into the kitchen where she was lighting the stove with a long candle (instead of just the cigarette lighter, because she's scared she'll leave the gas on too long without being able to get the spark of the lighter, and it will end up exploding). She started the hot chocolate, given as a snack to all those working before breakfast.

To the side, she had a big bowl of masa to make arepas (a sort of pancake-like breadish thing that is pretty much like a dough nut, only not sweet). She had me pour cold water over the mix while she kneaded it with her hands, until it was just the right consistency. Then, she separated the dough into enough sections for each of us to have two. From there, the two of us would roll them into a more spherical balls. After rolling them for about thirty seconds, it began to flatten out, making a UFO shape. Then it was time to hold it in one hand squeezing it between your fingers and thumb muscle with your other hand just with the tips of your fingers and thumb going around making it flat. Once it was almost the right shape, you'd slap it back and forth between your hands, sort of how the ladies in Mexico make tortillas. Tita laughed at me because of how slow I would slap it between my hands; she on the other hand looked like she was clapping, she did it so fast, doing it the way she's done it ever since she was little. It reminded me of what we'd do with silly-putty. Once they were the perfect roundness, and thickness, they were placed on a grill sitting over the stove.

While they were cooking, we made coffee the same way we'd done the other morning I'd been, with the coffee-grounds in a sock-like strainer, put in boiling water inside the metal pitcher.

Once it was all done, we served up the plates, and placed them on the shelf for the everyone to take to their seats. We sat down, and thanked the Lord for breakfast.

After finishing eating, everyone scattered to their different jobs again, cleaning up the dishes, as well as getting ready for the day's classes.

Finishing quite a bit before Tita, Aldo and I, the students went out for fifteen minutes of reading a passage in Proverbs, and meditating on it with Luz. Looking from the doorway where we were, all the students sitting under the palm frawn covering at the little wood tables, made of trunks, bent over their Bibles. There outside, mist covered everything. You could barely see the trees from the jungle peeking out behind it. You could hear all the birds singing everywhere around, as well as a (very) occasional motorcycle motor driving past on the road.

After the fifteen minutes of meditation, the students returned to the long house, where Tita led the Bible reading, where we first sang with the guitar, then each person told what they had learned or thought about as they had read Proverbs 12:18-20. I sort of thought that was too easy, but soon learned that these Indians really don't know much of the Bible at all, and are not even really educated. They were practically right out of the jungle tribes. It was a complicated task for them, first understanding the Spanish words, then gathering their own thoughts about what it said, and translating it from their language into Spanish again. Later Tita told me they might have been embarrassed to talk in front of me, so that may have been part of the problem too.

During the next break I went out to the little prayer hut to read, and pray. It was just so peaceful, and quiet. I wished we could stay out there at kilometer 18 with the Roberts the whole time here in Leticia. But, it's hard 'cause it's so far from everything; like groceries, the hospital, or anything else you'd need to buy.

Then, while she taught another class, Aldo and I prepped for lunch; cutting up onion, peppers, tomatoes, and garlic. He told me about the students, and how it wasn't easy working with them. He said it isn't possible to just tell them the gospel, about Jesus, and God, then leave, because others have done that before, resulting in a mix of their religion with Christianity. And each tribe has a different idea of how the world was created. One tribe believes that the world used to be in complete darkness under the shadow of a humongous tree, when an Indian came along with a machete, cutting it down allowing the sun to shine. Some believe man came from the pink dolphins on the Amazon river, who when they came too near to the shore would change from the dolphin to men and women. Another believe there was only one man on this world, who walked and walked on the face of the earth until he was really really old. That was when two bees came and bit him on each knee. Before dying, out of the bites on his knees became two other men. One was good, the other bad. Some of the Indians who heard the gospel decided that the good one was God, and the bad one was the Devil. So, what they're trying to do at the institute is start from a firm foundation, instead of just building on their previous beliefs.

For lunch, we mixed the vegetables we'd cut up in a pot with whole fish (with little slits one-fourth of an inch apart all along both sides, intend ended to “reduce the amounts of bones in the fish”, but really only cut them up in little pieces making it impossible to get through a tenth of a bite without having a million little pieces you have to pull out of your mouth. Others must just eat the bones because they're so small, but not me, I took double the time eating my piece than the slowest of them), boiled bananas in another, then steamed rice in the last. Carrying all the food and juice outside, we sat at the wooden tables where the students had been reading earlier. Instead of having one of the students pray in their native language, they had me pray in English.

After lunch, everyone kinda scattered doing their own thing. One guy, went off to find some balsa wood for the “ark” he was carving with a knife (they're learning about Genesis, and instead of calling it a “boat”, it was now re-named an “ark”). He went off with a machete in hand, and returned a couple hours later, soaking wet from the dip in the lagoon, carrying a good sized log, meaning he'd cut down a pretty big tree with just that machete. Aldo, Tita and I just kinda hung out in the hammocks until Aldo decided to get the blowgun, and styrofoam plate for a target. We had fun testing the strength of our lungs. Seeing a bat way up in the palm frawn ceiling, Aldo decided to see if he could get it; and sure enough he did. The dart went through it's wing, and had it pinned to the ceiling, while it made a high pitched squeaking. It was pure chance though. When he tried to hit it again, he was at least a foot off. Thankfully the little animal didn't die, and we left it hanging by it's toes on a nail nearby.

Behind where we'd left the tiny bat, I noticed a tree having two snow-shoe looking apparatuses wrapped with string holding it on. Each consisted of two poles, looking like they were hugging the tree, then on either side of the tree, perpendicular to the poles, wooden vines were holding them together. The night before, I had seen a short video-clip on the laptop of one of the Indians using these. He would climb up on the bottom one, push the second one up to about his waste, climb up on it, laying down pull the first up to where the second one is, stand on the first one again, pushing the second one up again. Kinda hard to explain, but is somewhat similar to an inchworm; it's top half of it's body going up, then pulling it's second half up, if that makes sense. It was pretty cool. At the top of the tree there were little round, orange fruit that he would cut off, and throw down. Wondering why they couldn't just shimmy up the tree like they do with coconut trees, I came closer to the tree, noticing it had two-inch long, skinny spines all the way up the trunk.

Tita invited me to come with her and Aldo on a hike into the jungle with them, but because she had most of the responsibility at the school that day, being as Luz had gone into Leticia for groceries and errands, it wasn't possible to do it that day. So, I was going to stay another night with them, and go early the next morning. I hadn't really talked with Dad about how long I could stay, but was sure he'd let me spend another night, but Luz called saying Dad wanted me back on the 2:00 bus back to Leticia.

We played a Spanish card game, which I've never played in my life, before I collected all my stuff, shoving it into my purse, and standing out on the street five minutes after hearing the “colectivo” pass the house coming from town, waiting for it to reach the end of it's route, then pick me up on it's way back.

I was sad I couldn't stay another night, but so thankful for the wonderful time I'd gotten to spend with such awesome, fun Christians... which were so easy to get along with, despite all the differences, especially considering we have more differences than things in common.

Nobody was in the little bus when I jumped into the front seat next to the driver. Before I'd gotten in, Tita told me his wife usually volunteered, helping with the cooking at the institute, but had fallen, hurting her ribs, and was recovering. I talked to him a little about that. He was a really friendly older man, telling me all he knew about the places on the sides of the road as we passed them. We only picked up passengers at one other stop. The “micro” was so bumpy, it's shocks were pretty much killed from driving that stretch of bad road so often.

The route went right past the corner by the house, I paid my 2.50, thanked the man, and walked back to the Roberts'.

A week later, three motorcycles were speeding back down that same bumpy, jungle road. Nate and Cam, Dave and Lydia, Ben and I decided to go again for their Wednesday “sports” time. This time four of us were planning on spending the night; everyone but Nate and Cam.

As it got dark, we played volleyball. It reminded me of the second time I'd seen these people, when we'd played. This time everyone was much more comfortable, and we were joking around the whole time. It was so much fun.

It was getting late when Nate and Cam jumped on their moto, and headed back to the house. Because everyone was hot and sweaty, it was decided to go swim in the “manigua”. Everyone but Luz, Tita and I went because someone had to stay to make dinner. I did end up walking Lydia down there, considering she hadn't been before and didn't know where it was. It was a beautiful walk. Jungle rising up on each side of the road, with the whole sky lighting up with lighting bolts zig-zagging across the looming clouds turning the heavens a bright electric purple behind us.

While they swam, we made “arroz con leche”. Rice boiled with milk, sugar, and cinnamon, having raisins plopped on top of the porridge looking mixture. It smelled delicious, and when everyone came back, we ate our light dinner.

Because the next week was the students last, they were doing some projects to finish up. As we helped them out, cutting, gluing, coloring and drawing, we sang, listening to Tita and Aldo play the guitar. It was fun just being relaxed, and comfortable with all the Christian young people.

At nine-thirty we separated, disappearing behind the doorway sheet into our rooms. Lydia slept where I had the week before, and I on the top bunk. The night noises were just as amazing as they were before, and perfect for falling asleep to.

Once again, we woke up to the sound of cheerful workers. This time it was Ben sweeping the “sala” instead of one of the students. Lydia and I helped make fried arepas, while the egg soup boiled on the stove. I was feeling sorry for Dave, because arepas are one of the only types of food he really doesn't care for, but thankfully he actually liked these kind that were fried instead of being baked with interesting cheese.

Immediately after breakfast Tita and Aldo took the four of us on a trek through the jungle back behind the school. Because we had forgotten to get running shoes, Lydia and I had to borrow boots and shoes from Tita to add to our breezy outfit of pants and long-sleeved shirts At first I was jealous of the boys who were wearing just their flipflops, tee shirts and shorts, but soon changed my mind. Although it was really warm as we walked, mosquitoes swarmed around us, even attempting to stick their little blood-sucking straws through our jeans!!

We had five machetes (which got circulated to the person without one) and walked slashing the vegetation on the sides, keeping the path wide enough to walk through. It felt as if we were explorers, climbing over fallen logs, forging small streams, and cutting out the trail. As we walked, the tall, leafy trees filtered the sunlight that shone down on patches on us. Having the covering kept moisture in, as well as kept the sun from shining straight down on us, keeping us as cool as we could be walking through the humid Amazon jungle in long-sleeves and pants. All of the sudden, Tita lifted her head toward the sky, and started searching the branches of the tall, overhead trees, “micos!” she exclaimed excitedly. Even though she couldn't see them, she could distinguish their shrieks from that of all the other jungle animal sounds (unlike the rest of us). Soon, her ears proved to be right, and the whole clan of monkeys swung through the branches overhead, while they screamed down at us as well as each other. Ben tried to take pictures, but those animals were so small, so fast, and so high up, it was really difficult to capture.

Halfway through our little adventure, we came upon a large log blocking the path about four feet off the ground, and a few feet in front of it long vines hanging from the trees around. Aldo decided to be the brave one, grabbed the vine, jerked on it a few times seeing how sturdy it was, walked over to the log, climbed up, then jumped off wrapping his arms and legs around it. Looking like fun, I decided to try it too. We were there for probably ten minutes trying to imitate the micos we'd seen earlier, climbing, swinging and yelling.

All along the path we examined all sortss of flora and fauna. There were huge florescent blue butterflies, their fluttering wings each as big as big as an open hand, while others were small, having wings that appeared like stained glass windows of which you were transparent. Weird bright orange fungus, big black beetles, leaf-cutter ants marching in a line to their large nest, and even pineapple plants with tiny pineapples just starting to grow, lined the path.

By the end of our two-hour trek, we were all getting a little worn out, and walked in silence. We were all SOAKED in sweat. Trying to look up around taking in God's creation wasn't as easy as it sounds. You had to walk with your head down examining the best place to put your next step, over logs, on moss instead of the gushy mud that made a sucking sound when trying to pull your boot out.

Back at the long house, lunch was already cooking, so while some sat in the hammocks, Dave, Ben and I took advantage of the volleyball net, and bumped the ball around a little until the food was ready.

We had beef prepared the same way as the fish I'd had before; with a bunch of cut up vegetables, on rice along with fried bananas.

Taking the break they usually did in the afternoon, we were deciding what to do since after playing only a little bit of volleyball nobody seemed very interested. That's the sky began to get dark with billowing, gray clouds. “Let's play Micro!” suggested Aldo. I'd seen pictures of the last time they'd played soccer with that little ball in the rain; EVERYONE had ended up COVERED in mud. I was a little bit hesitant, but it DID sound like fun.

We felt, as well as saw the first splatters on the dry powdery gray clay-like dirt as we begun to play. Soon it was pouring down on us. Everyone was soaked. The ground was beginning to get slippery, and slippier, and slippier until everyone was sliding all over the field. Certain areas were worse than others, and some would use that to their advantage kicking the ball away from an opponent and over into the growing mud puddle. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, it was also a disadvantage to the first person also, and both players would usually end up either on their back or stomach with fresh mud covering themselves. It was absolutely HILARIOUS to see someone go for a fast, hard kick only to miss the ball, their one leg flying up into the air using the momentum to pull up the other leg standing on mud as slick as a banana peel on a soapy tile floor, causing the poor victim to end up laying flat on their back, as the others continued to play above and/or around them, slipping on top of them as well, resulting in somewhat of an accidental dog pile. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. The whole time everyone was laughing so hard; both at ourselves, as well as everybody else. Pretty soon we were beginning to get exhausted from the whole waking up at 6, going on a two hour hike, playing volleyball for an hour, then this slippery mud soccer game day, and decided to get cleaned up. Only first we had to have a mud fight, of which I didn't really understand the purpose of, considering everyone was already COVERED head to toe in the slimy mud. But we went along with it, and soon learned we COULD get dirtier. Smear it in the hair, on the face, and just throw it randomly at whoever happens to be in front of you. Poor Tita and Luz had been attempting to avoid everyone, but when noticed they were pulled into the middle of the battle and smeared even more. Then we were VERY muddy, and wanted to get clean even more, considering mud chap stick isn't the most pleasant tasting flavor out there, and a bit grainy as well.

That's when it both stopped raining, and we realized there was no running water at the institute because the electricity was off. All of us but Tita and Luz (who had to stay with the place), walked down to the lagoon. We jumped off the little cement ledge into the luke-warm water, rinsing the gritty, slimy mud out of our hair, and clothes. As we swam around, I remembered what had happened the other week we'd been there. Nate had put the key for his motorcycle in his unzipped pocket, then jumped in, losing it in the mucky brown water. We'd combed the gross, mushy gooshy, try to avoid touching, bottom of that lake, to no avail. That's when we found out all the rented motorcycles could be started with another's key, and run without it... it made us a little more cautious the next time we rented motos.

We had fun climbing up on a floating log while two people held either side, then jumping, and flipping off of it. One time Dave dived in, confusing me, because his head and body went in quickly, then his legs and feet seemed to freeze for a second, then slowly disappear under the water following the rest of his body. When he came back up, his forehead was bleeding; he had dove right into a submerged log! We were so thankful he hadn't gotten more hurt than he did!

By this time, it was time for us to be heading back to turn in the motos at the rental shop. We didn't have dry clothes, so after throwing our stuff in our backpacks, thanking those there, we hopped on the motos, sopping wet and headed back home.

We rode side-by-side some of the time, and were staggered at other times. I could never get bored of riding a motorcycle through the country, especially here... I love it!

A Typical Letician Week

2008-10-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

Now that we're leaving the jungle town, I decided to describe a typical week here in Leticia. On Sundays we have Sunday School at 9, or 9:30, where everyone either said a verse by memory or shared one they've been enjoying recently. It has been really neat to see how a lot of the time, many of the verses relate to one another. Then at 11 we have Breaking of Bread.

After eating lunch, the last two Sundays we've had Sunday School. Lydia put a ton of effort into painting signs, one that we put outside the house for the neighbors to see, as well as posters having songs in both English and Spanish. Shortly after lunch, we would go out into the neighborhood inviting any kids we saw, and even knocking on doors. The first week we had absolutely no idea how it was going to work out. We told people we were having a free, hour long Sunday School from two until three in Spanish and English. Both times we've done it, we've gone out a bit late (like half hour before it started). About fifteen kids came the first Sunday. We sang songs, and Dad had a word. This last Sunday, it was pouring rain when we went out, getting us all soaking wet, but amazingly, more kids came than last time. We split into classes. Dave and Ben had one, with older kids (which ended up being all girls), and Lydia and I had younger kids (of whom at the beginning were all boys). A guy and girl, around twenty came, and talked with Paul, Mom, and Cam. Dad was still off inviting people half way through, so when he arrived, he joined their circle. Lydia had everything set up for our class. She had picked the story of Daniel, and was going to read it in Spanish, then have me talk about the importance of prayer. Because things come up so quickly, it ended up I kind of came in not knowing what I was doing, reading the story, then talking to the kids about it. They had never heard the story of Daniel before! Lydia had carefully traced enough coloring pages for all of the kids since we didn't have a photocopier, and they loved coloring them.

After being in classes for about a half hour, everyone came and joined back in the living room, where we sang the B-I-B-L-E (la B-I-B-L-I-A) and “Yes Jesus loves me”. I got the privilege of standing up in front of everybody, and doing the chorus in Sign Language (but it wasn't that bad considering there were mostly only kids, and people here at Roberts). Even though we really didn't/don't know what we're doing, the Lord worked everything out very well.

In the evening there is a gospel we invite anyone to come too. If nobody comes, we have an open meeting. If they do, (which eventually we've had at least one person every time) we have kind of a gospel, or answer questions they have. This last week we had a full house, a bunch of guys and a girl in their twenties (the girl, and the guy who came to Sunday School, as well as some of their friends), a seventeen year old girl who is visiting her family next door, who her aunt told her we were “evangelical Christians”, and she just showed up, as well as Lesli's mom, and three little neighbor boys, who none of us recognized, or invited, but we were glad they'd all come. Right in the middle of one of our songs the electricity went out... that was an interesting event. As soon as we had candles all lit, and flashlights, having sung a couple songs, it came back on.

Every Thursday night we have a reading meeting where it's pretty much open question and answer time. It is really neat having that, where we can talk about things freely, having a time set apart, and bounce verses and ideas off each other.

Saturday is the only other night we have a fixed plan... that is prayer and reading meeting.

Other than those, what we do during the days really varies. Every day we have wash to cycle through the washing machine (which we fill manually) and hang them on the line, do dishes, dump garbages, cook meals. Just those things can easily take up most of the day. Intermediately we do go to the internet too, where they have air-conditioning!!

Throughout the week, everybody does different things. Nate, Anna and Matt have been going to the local school in Spanish. Off and on Cam has been going with Paul and helping out with his English classes. I'm not really sure what Ben and Dave do... they kinda float and do whatever needs to be done. That's pretty much what I've been doing too. This last week I went with Cam, Paul, Dad, Bethany, and a few of our neighbors to pass out Ticuna tracts on the Brazilian side of the boarder. One day I went and helped translate with the Roberts when they went to the consulate for papers to get signed for living here.

Lydia took a girl named Lesli who has cerebral palsy to school a couple days. Lydia is absolutely awesome when working with her. I think her work back home really brought out her love for those kind of people. Lesli is in a wheel chair, and when you come to her house, and knock on the door, usually her mom is off at work, leaving her alone because her dad left her mom when she was little. She pulls herself around on the hard tile floor with her arms, considering her legs have almost no strength in them. Her feet are curled up, as are her hands, and she is very skinny. On Thursday Lydia, Dave, Ben and I went to a Christian “art school” with her, while Lydia taught an art class on how to draw eyes, then painting also. I think it was good for the girl to get out of her house, and interact. You can tell she is shy, and ashamed of how she looks, especially when she's with a bunch of other “normal” kids. But, she's smart, it's only her body that doesn't work right. It was convenient having the art school right down the street from her house, and we could walk her there.

Together we've visited places like the kilometers, and the river villages... other days we go to a nearby pool and go swimming when the heat is unbearable.

Two weekends we went to “Cafamas” almost a water park, where there is one big swimming pool, and two very large slides. They also have a volleyball and basket ball court. The first time we went there, we invited those from Kilometer 18 to come along too. When they showed up, none of them had swimming suits, which were absolutely mandatory at the pool. It was really disappointing for them, especially since the Indians had never been in a swimming pool in their whole life! It ended up Mom and Martha used their swimsuits for a while, then lent them to two of the girls, who were so excited to be able to go in, but also felt awkward wearing swimming suits, always having worn just their regular clothes in the river and ponds. Naturally living by water their whole lives they were expert swimmers, but I'm sure they'd NEVER swam in such clear water. I had fun going down the long slides with Tita.

Lesli had come with us here too, but just watched us. Lydia made her feel included by letting Lesli use her camera, and take pictures. She took pictures of people going down the slide, playing volleyball, then our group picture too. She absolutely LOVED it!

At the end of that day, all the kilometer 18 people had come back to our house, as well as Lesli for a spaghetti dinner with us, then a meeting afterward.

And that's pretty much as ¨typical¨ as our untypical weeks go...

A night on the river

2008-10-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

We had a rushed dinner, because we were already running late. It was 7, and Franklin's boat upriver to Iquitos (the 4 day ride we had taken to get here to Leticia) was to leave at 8 or 9. Although it didn't take too long to get to Peruvian side, we had to walk down to the boat launch, get a little canoe, to get across the river, and get his passport stamped out of Colombia.

Ben, Dave, Dad, Lydia and I went to see him off as well as have the experience of being on the river at night. He had packed light, having only had one small duffel bag, and a backpack, so carrying his stuff wasn't hard. It was dark, and the stars were barely visible as we walked quickly down the streets. Arriving to where we had tramped through the mud to the first night there, as well as where we had launched from to get to the river villages, we began to look for a boatman. Dad went all up and down the little creek looking for someone who might take us, but there was no one. The place was pretty much deserted. Nobody was out at this time of night, especially to take people out on the river when it was this dark. It was then we began to get worried. Franklin HAD to get on that boat... there was just no way he could afford not to! His plane he had already bought tickets for was leaving from Iquitos, (depending on how long the boat took) either the day after it arrived, or maybe even the same day. And the next boat leaving port wouldn't arrive in time. About that time, a random guy appeared out of the darkness, “Estan buscando una lancha?” yes, we were looking for a boat, “ahorita vengo, tengo un amigo que puede llevarles”, but he came back disappointed saying his friend wasn't home, but brightened up and said he thought he heard a boat coming (since it was too dark to see). It ended up the only thing coming down the river was a dug-out canoe with three people and their produce sitting in it. There was no way anymore could fit in it. We were just about to turn around, and get moto taxis over to Brazil, and see if we could get a canoe from there, but by this time, we were really running low on time. As we were talking, a man, his wife, and two children came from the street, and down the incline past where we were, then put their things down on the hard, packed mud, and looked down the tributary where we were, to the river expectantly. We asked them if they were waiting for a canoe, and they said they were, and that one should be coming for them soon. It ended up they were also going to Santa Rosa, and said we could hitch a ride with them in their canoe.

We decided to take advantage of waiting, and try to catch the fireflies that were in the tall grass nearby... man, were they hard to get a hold of! We were tramping through all the vegetation, but as soon as we got close to the green, blinking light, it would stop, and go black. Finally Dad grabbed one, and we saw they were completely different from the ones we have in the U.S. The family standing with us were probably wondering if all Americans were like this...

After getting tired of chasing fireflies, it seemed as if this boat we were waiting for was not coming. When we asked the man, he appeared to be concerned too, and pulled out his cell phone. Talking fast in Spanish, he confirmed that at least SOMEONE was in fact coming. He then reassured us, and after waiting about ten minutes, a canoe big enough for all of us came putting up the river. We climbed down to the edge of the river, stepping onto the bow, then into the pecky-pecky, and sat down on the rough boards, or along the sides.

It was a beautiful, warm night. As we slowly approached the river, crickets were singing, and the tall stilt houses above the embankment, which had no doors or windows, had a soft orange glow emitting from the openings. Music and voices floated out onto the water, but no one was outside their homes. Although they were audible, the river seemed unusually quiet compared to being in the town of Leticia, where there is always motos zipping past the house, or the neighbor's campesino music on full-blast. The water was very calm, making the ride smooth. Putting your hand down into the warm, glistening, glassy water, made a v-shape behind, and disrupted the reflection of the lights. The boat itself did the same looking back at Leticia, but behind, the lights were hardly visible because of the trees and other vegetation by the water. Ben was indulging upon the “ambiance” and “romanticness” of the evening, to which Dave replied unemotionally, “well, it COULD be romantic...”. Just the way the two of them were talking about it was absolutely hilarious, making us all cracked up.

It took about ten minutes to get to the other side of the river, and when we stepped off the canoe, Dad realized all his money was missing. He had lost it while hunting down fire-flies. We didn't have time to worry about it at the moment; Dave paid, and we hurried to immigration after checking in with the boat which said it was to leave at 8:30 or 9:00 (It was past 8:30 by that time). Climbing up the building's steps, we found the doors were shut and locked, but there WERE people inside. Knocking on the door, Franklin waited patiently. They finally opened it a crack, but even after explaining his plight, of needing to leave on the slow boat, leaving that night, they told him they couldn't help him, shutting and locking the door in his face.

They were supposed to be open 24-hours. How can you close the boarder for stamping in and out of a country when there are still modes of transportation in and out? Everyone had told Franklin he'd be fine. It was frustrating having this happen. Just then, we saw what we thought was the answer to prayer. A military man was walking down the path. All 6 of us quickly surrounded him, and asked if he could help us. After hearing our story, he agreed to go and talk to those at immigration. He only wanted a small tip for the help. He had no success either. They shut the door on him too.

A man came up from the river asking if we needed a ride back. Although that was a bit too far in the future to think about at the moment (we still had at least 10 minutes before we needed to be heading back), Dad decided we WERE going to need to get back eventually, and it was getting late, meaning not many boats would be going back, so he might as well bargain now, THEN see what other ways we could get Franklin on the boat. The man was asking too much, so all us kids kinda hung out, while we drank Inca Kola, Dave (the only one who had money) bought for us to break a large bill for the ride back. It was around then, that we stopped, and prayed that the Lord would work this whole situation out. I don't know what happened between that time, and the time Dad realized that man was the man he'd been bargaining with, who had disappeared, was the ONLY one going back tonight, and went off to find him. If we didn't get a ride with him, all of us would end up spending the night on the island, somewhere... and Dad still didn't have any money. He came back, a peaceful, mysterious look on his face. All he said was, “let's go talk to the governor”. A bit confused, we just followed him. Walking up to a house with a bunch of ladies running little gas stoves BBQing fish over hot, glowing coals, we saw a short, dark-skinned, slightly stocky man wearing a red shirt relaxing in a white, plastic lawn-chair. “This is him” Dad whispered just loud enough for us to hear before stepping onto his porch and greeting him with hand-shakes. We pulled up a couple of other plastic chairs, as well as a long, crudely cut wooden bench, and all sat around him.

He looked at us a bit quizzically, before Dad began to explain. After we had the problem all laid out before him, his eyes narrowed, and taking Franklin's passport, he said in Spanish, “I'll go right over and get this taken care of”. He called over to the covered shack where a group of men were drinking, and laughing, some of them drunk, telling the captain of Franklin's boat to keep the boat docked until the passport business was taken care of. As he disappeared down the dark, cement pathway, Dad told us how this had worked out. While going to look for the boatman he had rejected, he found the man sitting, talking to this older man on the porch. When Dad started talking to him about the price of the boat, saying what he'd asked would be alright, he introduced him to the man who was sitting with him. He was the governor of Santa Rosa. It was explained to us that he was more powerful than the mayor, who represented the people. This man represented the government, and upon hearing about our dilemma, he assured us he would take care of it. Which he did; coming back with the same emotionless face he'd kept the whole time he talked with us, he handed Franklin his stamped passport. What an answer to prayer! We thanked the governor profusely, and walked down to the boat. Climbing up to the third deck of the ship, it was obvious there was way more room than the trip here. Franklin had plenty of room to string up his hammock, there were probably only 15 other people up on the top deck with him.

Leaving him standing on the front deck waving, we said goodbye, walked down the gangplank to shore, and climbed into the waiting canoe. As the motor droned on, the lights grew smaller and smaller until we arrived to the Colombian side once again. When arrived back at the house, and recounted what had happened to the others, we were all amazed to see one more time how the Lord had been working through every detail.

Tabatinga jail

2008-10-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

I was sitting in a cool, air-conditioned room, working on the internet, when Dad drove up with Franklin, Wilmer, Lydia, Ben, and Dave sitting in the big orange jeep. Ben ran in and got me, telling me to hurry; we were late like usual, and as soon as I jumped into the front seat with Lydia, Dad shifted into gear, and we bounced through the one-way streets of Leticia. It was another extremely hot, sticky, muggy Amazonian day, and the sun was beating intensely down on the black tarp over our heads steaming us sitting inside. While all the guys were squished in the back, Lydia and I were nice and cozy sharing the front seat. We were to meet the Colombian Ambassador, who Dad had made friends with, at the jail to visit the prisoners in less than fifteen minutes, at two-thirty. Apparently there were about twenty Colombians in there, including two girls. The ambassador would bring supplies for them, considering their family didn't support them. He was a Christian, and encouraged anyone who wanted to come and visit. One problem lying ahead of us was the fact that we really had no idea where this jail was located...

After driving all around Leticia, asking where the jail was, we arrived at a small three-story white building with two guards standing inside the gate connected to a tall chain-link fence with barbed wire lining the top. The sign said this was a “juvenile correctional institute”. We hadn't understood we were going to be visiting juvenile delinquents, but we proceeded anyways. After parking the jeep, the seven of us walked up to the gate, where the guard stopped us, telling us we couldn't go any further. Dad told him the ambassador was to meet him there in five minutes, but that didn't seem to affect the guard, he just said no.

Deciding that might not have been the right jail, we scoured the small town even more, to no avail. We decided to act upon our last option; cross the boarder and look for the jail in Tabatinga, Brazil. Immediately after crossing the line, the language switches from Spanish to Portuguese, which you realize very quickly. “Perdon senor, sabe donde queda el carcel?” we would ask in Spanish to the reply of “Nao falo Espanol”. How can it be that someone living two feet on the Brazilian side of the boarder with Colombia not know Spanish? Many things in both languages sound very similar, but I guess “Where is the jail?”, doesn't! After driving back and forth down the “international” (the road between Brazil and Colombia) about three times following the pointings, and suggestions of those who acted as if they understood what we were saying, but really didn't (or maybe it was just OUR interpretation of their Portuguese) we finally found someone who understood what we were talking about, and followed their directions. After thanking them, we drove to where they had said to turn, but the street was under construction. That didn't phase Dad, he just kept at it, and went down another street. The back-roads were SO BAD. I don't when the last time a vehicle, other than motorcycles could have possibly gone through there. The daily rain just makes the potholes bigger and bigger, some are even at least a foot and a half deep! But, that didn't phase Dad either. He just drove right through, crazy steering wheel, changing gears, avoiding the bigger of the mini-ponds and all. It was an adventure all right. Even those on either side of the street (who living there SHOULD be used to this sort of thing) looked at us like we were crazy for taking this on. I was afraid that parts were going to slowly start flying off the poor, ancient jeep. Finally, after taking several wrong turns, we arrived on the other side of the road block, and were headed in the right direction. We pulled into a gate, only to realize that it must have said something like “DO NOT ENTER” in Portuguese on the sign attached to the chain-link, because a whole group of military men in uniform with all kinds of arms ranging from pistols to knives, started waving, pointing and shouting in Portuguese. We kind of got the hint that we just might not be supposed to be there. Dad threw the jeep into reverse (which you have to do by pulling up the little black ball on top of the gear shifter and pulling it back because it's broken) gears grating, and we flew back down the driveway. There was a steeply inclined little parking lot place where we left the jeep, putting rocks behind the wheels, because the emergency brake is basically non-existent, and piled out. It was gross how all of us were drenched in sweat. My shorts were khaki, and might have given the impression I had gotten a little too scared during our excursion. Some of the guys were wearing jeans, and black, I don't know how they survive. Anyways, after getting out, we walked past all the guys with the weapons (they were having gun cleaning party or something I think) and into an open door. The man sitting at the desk spoke only Portuguese, and understanding him was pretty complicated, Dad understood more than any of us (even those that spoke Spanish), but that wasn't enough. So, despite the language barrier, Dad proceeded to tell him what he'd said at the last jail. Numbers are pretty similar, and Dad told him we were to meet the ambassador ten minutes ago, at 2:30. The man looked up at the clock on the wall “but it's 3:40 right now”. Until now we hadn't had to worry about the one-hour time change between Brazil and Columbia. But we still weren't even completely sure we were in the right place. Dad tried to get in without the man we were waiting for, but the guards here didn't want to let us either. It was decided that we would just leave the supplies we had brought for the prisoners, and go home. After talking it over, the guards decided the people with I.D. COULD go in (nobody told Lydia nor I we needed it, so we hadn't brought ours, making us unable to enter), so while all the guys went in, us two girls sat on the curb, preparing to wait for them.

That's when the ambassador FINALLY did show up! He apologized for being so late. I am still confused to as whether someone called him and told him we were there, or he just showed up an hour after we were to meet! Now that we knew we were in the right place, and met up with the ambassador, stuff began to make more sense. The reason there were only twenty Colombian guys, and two girls, was because they were in a BRAZILIAN jail, and we were visiting with the Colombian ambassador was because he was their representative, and was in charge of them.

Being with him was the key, although we had no identification, us girls were allowed in as well. As we walked through the narrow, cement-walled hallways, it felt just as you would imagine a jail feeling (unless you'd been to the women's one we went to in Bolivia where everything was open, and it felt like an apartment complex, which had a lock and guards at the door leading to the outside world...). As we walked, we went through a series of black steel gates, which a guard in uniform had to unlock to let us pass. At the very top of the walls were small windows with bars covering the opening.

As we passed through the last gate, we entered into a square room with a picture of something that looked like the virgin Mary that had been painted over with orange paint. This room too had the small barred windows at the top of one wall. All around the perimeter sat men (and one woman) sitting at old-fashioned desks (the ones that have the chairs attached to them) staring curiously at us. We went around the room shaking everyone's hands. They were all very friendly, but many wouldn't make eye contact, and would look at the floor as they said their “mucho gusto”. There were no open seats, so when we walked in, the men jumped up, and first gave Lydia and I seats, then the rest of the guys with us also got to sit down.

As we had been walking, I'd been thinking how thankful I was that there were a bunch of guys with us, that would talk to the guys, and if I HAD to talk, I'd just be talking to the two girls (not that I didn't want to, but I HATE talking in front of people, especially a bunch of guys in jail). But God had something different in mind. “These brothers and sisters from the United States have come with a message from the Bible.” As he talked, I thought, yes, the BROTHERS would be glad to have a word, but the ambassador continued “Daniela, do you have something to share?” Oh man, I was just about to say no because I was scared, when I saw the reference I'd written on my hand that morning. One of the guys read it, and a few verses around it, then I talked for a little bit. Everyone was very respectful, listened, and thanked me when I finished! I was impressed. After I was done, Dad, and the other guys talked, presenting the gospel. As they talked, I looked around the room I couldn't understand how these people had messed up so bad. They looked like just normal people, and as Dave described it “If I saw any of them on the street, I'd have trusted them with my life”. The most sketchy would have been the lady, around thirty-five was wearing a lot of make-up, a short dress, cross-legged sitting at her feet was a younger guy, who was teasing her most of the time. He was outspoken, and it seemed as if everyone admired him, and respected him, but didn't trust him at the same time. Others around the room were sitting on the hard gray cement floor as well. There was one middle-aged man, wearing glasses on the end of his nose, turning to the passages, reading where the person talking was opened to. He looked just like any other nice father, with children in their mid-twenties, having children of their own. Another guy, who was a heavier-set sat quietly, looking shy, but seemed really nice. He looked as if he could never do anything wrong. It just shows how you really can't judge someone on just what they look like, as well as how nobody is incapable of doing some things like they've done.

It was SO hot in that room. All those people packed together, with no air-conditioning, or even fans in this humid 90-something degree weather, with like 30% humidity. The only ventilation was that tiny window way up at the ceiling. We were also pretty far into the jail, so we were surrounded by other cement rooms, meaning the iron-barred doors didn't do much either. Everyone was sweating profusely, but most didn't seem to notice. They were accustomed to the intense heat, and humidity, and listened intently.

After we were done talking, we handed out tracts, some new testaments, and bookmarks. They were all really happy someone from the “outside world” had come to visit them, and begged us to come back soon. We shook their hands as we filed back out, accompanied by one of the guards, and they went out the opposite door, back to their enclosure.

As we walked back, through all the locked gates, hearing them click behind us, I thought how hard it would be to live like that. Who would want to come and visit you in jail? It would be so lonely!

We thanked the people at the front desk, as well as the ambassador for letting us come, then all piled back into the jeep.

I've been back with Lydia one more time, while the guys (Ben, Dave, and sometimes Dad) have visited every week.

Visiting Macedonia

2008-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

6 am Dad was knocking on the girls' doors, and parting the sheets serving as walls for the guys sleeping in hammocks and blow-up mattresses, saying, “time to wake up!”. The only responses were groans. Too many late nights and early mornings in a row...

All sixteen of us sat down at the two long white plastic tables looking (as well as feeling) half asleep. Breakfast was boiled eggs, which after we pulling the soft inside out of these delicious croissant-like breads, they would fit perfectly in there... kinda like a pig in a blanket, only different. Many of us have learned to really like bananas smothered in peanut butter, and amazing “Ben-Franklin” orange juice (juice made by Ben and Franklin under the expert instruction of Paul Robert) made in the blender with ice. This is a common fast, good breakfast we have quite often here.

After eating, Durley showed up, and we started walking down the street in a posse looking group of gringos, accompanied by a Peruvian, Venezuelan, and Colombian. We all were carrying boxes of tracts, calendars, Bibles, candies, and food for a day on the river. None of us were quite sure what we were going to be doing... all we knew was that we were to be meeting up with Will Chowning (a man who lives across the boarder in Brazil with his wife Lydia, son Lee, three daughters, Tana, Sarena, Fairy, her Brazilian husband Miguel and little son Miguel) and he was going to take us out on the river to visit some of the villages along the way.

Arriving at the “dock”, it was clear to see the river was too low for a boat to arrive to where we were. So, instead of taking the road up above, where the ground was flatish, and the walking relatively easy, we took the obviously more “adventurous” route; the “dry”, steeply inclined river bank, which the rain had soaked the night before. Amazingly there was a pathway, but the wet clay/mud mixture was SO slippery, it was almost better to walk on the tall, wet grass. Walking single-file, we were falling left and right. It would have made an entertaining home-video. A bunch of various aged gringos walking along the bank of a muddy river in the Amazon carrying all kinds of boxes and bags, slipping all over the path, arms flailing, belongings falling in the mud... with a road just up to the left of them, how “tonto” can you get? We got a little tired of fighting nature, and decided to let Dad and Will battle it on their own to get a couple small pecky-peckys for the rest us to ride in.

They found some, and we climbed in carefully, each making sure we sat down on the opposite side as the person in front of us, knowing if we didn't, the whole canoe would capsize. They were only about four feet wide, twenty long, and the sides only came up out of the water about six inches. Then motor was on the back, attached to a long pole with a propeller on the end, slightly resembling a weed-eater. Using this, it was easier to navigate in shallow water, pulling it out whenever needs be, keeping the propeller from hitting dead trees, or getting caught up in river weeds. Sometimes while on the river you see a whole group of Indians packed into those things, the sides only rising above the water a couple inches. If one person was to rock the boat too much, water would pour in, and they'd have to increase the bailing speed, compensating for the incident, as well continuing as a result of the leaky sides.

Once all of us were in two, we rode to the larger canoe. It was about one and a half times as long, and about six feet across. This one was also tipsy as we loaded in, but not nearly as bad as those small ones. There were benches on both sides, then a place to sit in the very front. Our boatman had higher technology than most; he had a steering wheel, and some wires that went along the side to the outboard motor screwed onto the back of the boat that swiveled every time he turned the wheel. A large portion of the boat/canoe was covered with plastic, protecting passengers from both the strong Amazon sun, as well as the torrential rains we were to experience later on.

And we were off! Nate, Anna, Matt, and I all went way up in the front. It was awesome! You could lean over, and let your hands drag in the water that was just slightly cooler than the warm morning air, and feel the mist coming up. Those behind you felt a little more than mist though, and after getting a whole side of their body soaked, they would ask to keep all arms and legs INSIDE the boat. The best feeling was to lay on your stomach across the front part of the boat, feeling the bow rise and fall with the rhythm of the waves, the wind blowing your hair all out of the braids. We had to practically shout at one another while talking because of the loud motor, and wind. Being up there, Matt replaced Nate after a while, and we had fun trying to spot pink dolphins, native to the Amazon river. They would jump out of the water, but you had to be really quick, because after surfacing, they would disappear again. One time we were confused to see a bottle traveling UP-river, only to realize that it was attached to a piece of rope, and a dolphin was pulling the string and bottle against the current. It was awesome to see those dolphins (or at least the splashes they made).

While speeding slowly upriver, we saw other pecky-peckies on the water too. Some canoes, occupied by Indians, were carved out of only one huge log, and the navigator used a paddle that had a short handle, having a cross between a heart and teardrop thin, wide end.
Many were transporting fruits and other produce to sell downriver in places like Leticia, Tabatinga and Santa Rosa. Others were letting down their fishing nets, which were held up by plastic bottles, where the dolphin had probably obtained his from one such net; raiding a fisherman's day's labor. That is one reason the natives here do not like the dolphins. They make trouble for the fishermen, eating the fish, and breaking the nets.

Every once in a while, the sides of the river would contain an opening with a little wood jungle dwelling on stilts. Surrounding them would be all kinds of fruit and jungle trees, as well as cows and goats grazing on the grass around. Chickens and dogs would be pecking the ground, or trying to get cool laying in the shade. From the house would be an obvious trail (or one that would be not so obvious, being a pathway of trampled on mud) down to the river where a canoe would be tied to a steak stuck into the mucky ground. Sometimes there would even be a little floating dock made out of balsa wood. Indian women would usually be squatting on them scrubbing clothes, while kids would go swimming in the water, making sure they stayed right by shore as not to get stuck in the strong current of the immense river.

After being on the river for about forty five minutes, we pulled up at the first village. Our boatman roped our canoe alongside of others to a very wobbly stick stuck in the mud. To get out, we had to balance on the bow, and hop out onto the steep, slippery bank, then practically crawl up the side to where it actually flattened out, using our fingers like claws to dig into the ground, while it was a bit more difficult to do so with out toes considering most were wearing flip flops, but we tried- anything as to not slip and fall into the milky brown water below!
With Will leading the bunch, we all tramped down a narrow dirt pathway, paralleling the river, underneath the tall, shady trees on both sides. Finally arriving at a jungle house/store we met some Christian acquaintances of Will's who were sitting cooling off in the shade. In a nearby tree, they had pet parrots, whose wings were clipped so they couldn't fly. We had fun holding them on our fingers, and trying to talk to them (only they didn't respond). After chatting for a few minutes, we continued on our trek into farther inland. About five minutes in, we arrived at a very well built wooden bridge that was extremely long, leading us to the village. It was raised about ten feet from the marshy ground below. Off to the left we saw a group of women squatting on rows of logs that were lanced together. They were washing clothes they had lugged all the way down to the tributary's mucky brown water. Amazingly, the town was quite organized, and clean. There was hardly trash anywhere, and there were recognizable streets (even though there was absolutely no motorized vehicles in the town). Surprisingly, there were power lines; coming from the houses, you could hear the music from radios, and the soap operas from TVs, even way out here in the middle of nowhere! Because it was the middle of the afternoon, the hottest part of the day, all sane people were taking siestas in their hammocks or sitting on their porches, legs dangling off the side while mending huge, complicated-looking fishing nets.

As we walked up, people just stared suspiciously. Others practiced what English they knew “Heylow”, “Whachur naymae?”, then shied away giggling if we did as much as look back at them. Dad organized us in groups of three, and after getting handfuls of tracts, bookmarks and candies we dispersed. Just about then school got out, and a whole flock of kids wearing blue and white uniforms surrounded us, happily accepting the candies and bookmarks. We went around to houses too, giving booklets and other reading materials to mothers watching their kids, or young people who were just lounging around. Sometimes we would start talking to one of the ladies, whose response would be a blank stare or smile, only to realized she spoke Tacuna, the native language of one of the tribes. Interestingly, not very many of the children were very talkative either. If you tried to start a conversation with them, they would usually give you a one-word answer talking so quietly it was almost unintelligible, or some would just stare up at you with their big, brown eyes. One group of kids from 2 to 6 years old I saw gathered around in a circle, and decided to see what it was all about. One little boy had a knife in his hand, another little girl had a big spoon, and they were digging a shallow hole in the soft soil. I was kind of confused until I saw the limp form of a baby chick in a little shirtless brown boy's hand. They all looked serious as the funeral proceeded. It reminded me of all the animal funerals we had back home when we were little. When I walked up, and asked what happened, they replied “it's mom stepped on it”, quickly finished, dropped it in, covered it up, and ran away to their house. One little girl about two years old started crying. I'm not quite sure if she was scared of me... or if she was sad about the chick.

Nate, Durley and I were in one group, and were sent down to the ladies we had seen earlier cleaning clothes. While walking on the path, I saw a unique plant, that slightly resembled a fern. Each “branch” had five branches off of that, with tiny leaves on each. When you would touch even one leaf, the whole string of leaves would close up like a tortilla. If you touched the main stalk, all the leaves, as well as the branches would close up. It was so awesome. We'd seen that kind of plant five years ago when we'd been here, and I've been looking for that plant since. We got a little distracted in passing out tracts, touching all those kinds of leaves, watching them respond to our touch, closing up. As we got closer to where the women were, it was really mucky. Nate and I had our flipflops all dirty, but poor Durley; she was wearing cute white and pink shoes that were perfectly coordinated with her pink and white shirt. She was making an effort to keep them clean, balancing on a piece of plywood that had been placed in the watery mud. In trying to walk carefully on it, she lost her balance, and fell in. Her shoes were now even more yucky than ours, so was her leg and pants. But she was a really good sport. This isn't quite her type of thing. Even though she lives here in Leticia, this was her second time on the river, and had only been to a village like this once before.

As we came close enough to the bank to see below, although we were still a ways away, it was evident a few of the older ladies in the group were not wearing anything on top. Nate kinda froze, and turned away, awkwardly standing back while Durley and I attempted to slide down the bank in getting to where they were. Although not ashamed, they pulled various articles of clothing out of their washtubs to put on, while others just held them up to their bodies when they realized Nathan was giving out candies. They were agile as they walked up the slippery bank we had been struggling to get down in order to get some from him. They loved the laminated texts we gave them, containing a picture and verse. We said goodbye, and they got back to washing, chatting excitedly in their native tongue one to another as we walked back to the village.

It was so hot, walking all these places in direct sunlight. Even attempting to sit in the shade of one of the trees didn't help much, considering the air was stagnant and so humid. After taking a break for a while, we trekked back to the boat. We were exhausted from getting up so early, and walking so much in the intense sun and humidity. Durley lay on the bow of the boat, Paul and I sat behind her with Martha and Matt. I fell asleep to the hum of the boat engine, rocking of the boat, and the cool wind off the water making the warm sun actually feel good. We stopped at one more village before arriving at our final destination upriver.

Macedonia. That was the furthest community we were planning on visiting before returning, making a stop in one other community, then re-visiting Santa Rosa, the second place we'd been, and having a Bible talk. Here we did the same we'd done in the other two villages. Dad met one of the pastors there, the son of a faithful Christian man and his wife who had like twelve kids and together have made an immense impact on the Indians in the tribes all around, bringing them to Christ.

While Dad was talking to him, we were just finishing the last of our tracts and saw a guy picking on a guitar. When we asked him to play us something, he handed the instrument over to the guy sitting next to him, who began to strum. The strings seemed lose or something, but he was doing an amazing job of keeping up a melody. As he sang, I realized he was singing a Christian song. That really impressed me. He didn't know we were Christians, but every single one of the songs he played were worshiping the Lord, or talked about how we as young people need to step up, and follow Him, because of all that He has done for us. It was so awesome to just be able to stand there, listening to the sound of the guitar, and Spanish songs, spending time with other Christians, we didn't even know, enjoying the Lord together. Seeing other vibrant young people, on fire for the Lord, who are not the least bit ashamed of their faith, and are ready to share it with anyone who comes along. After standing there for a while, another guy, who had a mullet came along the path, and even though we didn't know him, he shook all our hands, then went up with the group of guys listening to the one playing the guitar, and started playing himself. He played some songs in Tacuna, then translated them into Spanish for us. I translated for Lydia into English. They were beautiful. He was part of the Christian church there in town, and was teaching others in the youth group how to play the guitar too.

While standing there enjoying the songs, I looked up across to the river, and saw what appeared to be a very white Indian riding a log down the river. It looked very odd to me, and after a few minutes of trying to make this picture make sense, I realized it was Dave! He and Nate had just slipped on their swim shorts, and started swimming in the river! They even were jumping off a big boat that was just docked on the side of the river. Crazy boys. I was a little worried about them, but decided not to say anything, and they were fine.

I was sad to leave the music, and other Christians, but Dad said it was time to be heading back. We said goodbye, and re-boarded. While we were almost back to Santa Rosa, out of nowhere the sky started getting darker, and we could see the wall of rain rapidly approaching our little boat. It looked kinda scary, especially considering we were in the middle of the Amazon river, and a storm didn't sound like the funnest thing to experience at that moment. It was scary enough being on the huge boat coming to Leticia when the storm hit a few weeks ago, but being in this little canoe, that had a tiny little motor... some were beginning to get nervous. Nate was deep asleep on the front of the boat, but somehow he woke up to realize nobody was up front with him, and looking ahead he decided what we all had made up our minds about ten minutes before; we were all under the blue tarp, covered in all the rain gear we had brought. When it came upon us, the strength, and power of that rain and wind was incredible. Although most of the boat was covered, mist, and droplets soaked us who were all the way in the back; the plastic covering us didn't do much at all. Outside it was like a garden hose had been turned on, soaking everything. Will shouted above the sound of the torrential rain and wind, telling us Amazonian rainstorm horror stories, while looking worried. When Wilmer saw how much water was in the bottom of the boat, he started bailing. He wasn't going to take any chances. It was actually pretty dangerous being out there during such a downpour, with all the waves, in a boat like that, and we decided to try to make it back to Leticia instead of stopping in those villages to have Bible readings, especially when you never know how long the storm will last, and if it will get worse. It ended up that two days later, there was a river tornado, and the roof of the school in Santa Rosa, the second village we'd gone to, and were planning on returning to, was ripped off. We were thankful not to have been on the river that day.

About a half hour after it had started, the storm ended almost as quickly as it had appeared. Looking behind us, we could see the rain still pelting down in sheets on the stormy, turbulent water. Back in Leticia, the streets were hardly damp. The rain here is so crazy, it can be completely pouring in one part of a city, then another part is completely dry, and doesn't get a drop of rain all day!

Stepping off the canoe, we paid our boatman, and thanked the Lord for keeping us all safe...

Los Kilometros

2008-09-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

“Daniela, time to get up” I rolled over, not feeling like getting up. It was 6:30, and Dad was ready to leave. Finally I jumped off the top bunk of Bethany's bunk bed.

It wasn't long before the two of us walked out the screen door, and started down the street to find a place to rent a motorcycle.

Across the street the neighbor had motos to rent, but after knocking on his door for a while we decided he'd had a late Sunday night, and probably wasn't getting up anytime soon. The next place we tried had what we were looking for. After showing his motorcycle liscence, the lady gave Dad two helmets and the key. Our “cascos” were small, black rounded helmets that look almost like baseball helmets. As usual, with ones that are rented, the chin strap didn't work, and I had to hold the thing on with the hand I wasn't using to keep me aboard the moto. Dad swung his leg over and got on. After getting it kick started, I jumped on behind him.

As we rode I thought about where we were going. The week before Dad, Ben, Nate, Wilmer, Matt, Franklin, Anna had gone in the jeep and on motorcycles passing out tracts. Eighteen kilometers out, they had arrived at a place where the owners of a ranch like place were Christians. Apparently it was a Bible seminary where Indians from the neighboring tribes could come and learn more about the Bible. The hope was that after intense studies for three months, these people could go back to their tribes, and tell others the good news, as well as spread the word about the seminary. Dad had been out there before with some of the others, and said there were three young people, two ladies and a guy, just out of Bible school themselves, who were in charge of teaching the third session of students they'd had so far. Three men, and two women from three different tribes, all speaking different languages had come to learn more about the Bible, despite the fact that they might not have been saved before arriving.

While leaving Leticia, the road was absolutely horrible, the cement used probably hadn't been patched since the road was made. We were constantly zig-zagging back and forth across the road trying to avoid the ginormous potholes. Another complication included the fact that there are usually no mirrors on the motorcycles, and others riding around you cut back and forth without warning, so you definitely have to be a defensive driver. I was glad to I wasn't the one driving. Everyone in this town rides motorcycles. Because Leticia is landlocked, and there are no roads to or from here, everything has to come in on a plane or boat. Because the motorcycles are easier to transport than cars, that's pretty much all that is imported in the way of vehicles. Unlike most places where the vast majority of drivers are men, here women drive just as much as men. It's funny sometimes to see a whole family riding one, small motorcycle. I think the most I've seen is four or five. Sometimes you see a little kid who's completely wiped out, fallen asleep between his two parents while driving. It's so cute!

After turning off the main street in Leticia we headed off for the “kilometros”, a long road that is about 28 kilometers long, containing little towns all along. It was a beautiful ride. An early morning mist covered us making us a little chilly, but it felt so wonderful to feel the wind, and droplets blowing over us. Because we were late, as we usually are, Dad had to go fast, making it that much more fun. Here too, the road was in bad shape, and Dad would have to yell “bump”, while I would put one hand on my helmet to keep it from falling off (I honestly don't understand the point of wearing a helmet, if it has no strap, and will fall off if you just tip your head to one side, let alone if YOU fall off! But I guess people just do it because “it's the law”, and not really to protect their lives... ) and the other to hold on as tight as I could. Driving on that road is almost like a video game. There are “road repairs”, which I think were forgotten about that you had to drive around, trying to make it before the motorcycle coming the other way got there first. But if you didn't it wasn't that big of a deal... one lane can fit two motorcycles. Trying to fit a vehicle and a motorcycle is a bit more complicated, but not impossible... you just have to make sure you don't mess up. There are constantly dogs crossing the road too, and you just have to hope all the little shirtless, barefoot kids playing on the side of the road stay where they are, and if they don't, you have to make quick swerves. As you get further out, the “road” turns to a pathway of two strips of cement, meant for cars or trucks to put one tire on each, but on the motorcycle, you have to try to balance on it, now just running over any debris that exists instead of trying to avoid it. On either side of us was beautiful jungle. As I took it all in, I realized that THIS must be where landscapers get their ideas. Beautiful palm trees, all different hights clumped together, little ponds with bulrushes all around, gorgeous flowers, butterflies of of all different bright colors fluttering all around, parrots flying overhead, big black birds with long yellow tails cawing at us... and it was all natural! The houses were all made of wood planks, and were perched up on stilts in case of flooding during the rainy months, with a ladder to get up inside. If the door was open, you could usually see hammocks where the families would sleep. Some had tin roofs, while others' still consisted of the braided palmfrawns the Indians have used for years. In the yards are various types of jungle fruit trees, including maracuya, lulu, as well as more known fruits such as bananas, pineapple and mango. There was usually a clothes line up containing the family's apparel all hung up that had been washed in one of the Amazon tributaries nearby, to which the women have to carry all the clothes, and back.

After being on the road for a good half hour to forty-five minutes, Dad slowed down, and we bumped over a small bridge made of sticks layed tightly together, that allowed us to go over the small stream on the side of the road. We had arrived at Kilometer 18. In front of us was a building that reminded me a little bit of longhouses I'd heard about in elementary school, exept this had a tin roof. To the left was a large covered area made of wooden poles, and a palmfrawn roof, where hammocks were hung up, as well as tables and chairs made out of logs, where it looked like the instructors and students would take their breaks. Between that, and the longhouse, there was a small soccerfield, which upon seeing it, remembered what the guys had said about playing when they had come. The students were all really good, and they said one girl was better than any of the guys. Past the soccer field they had an area fenced in where they had chickens. Behind that was a water tank.

We drove up to a little cement patch in front of the door where we parked the moto, and walked in with our helmets. It took a couple seconds to get used to the darkness of the room, but when we did, we saw the five Bible students sitting at a wooden table in plastic chairs, their Bibles, and books opened up in front of them. The instructor, a tall black lady named Luz, was talking, but stopped when we arrived. The other lady I'd heard about before coming, Tita, appeared soon after, and gave us towels to wipe off all the rain. Dad had arranged before coming that he would talk for a while with the students, so I went with the two ladies outside for a prayer meeting. I think the place we went to was a “prayer hut”. It reminded me of something you would see in Africa, but is also common down here. There were sticks stuck into the ground in a circle, all spaced about three inches apart, making a wall, the roof was made out of the same braided palm frawns that the natives used for their houses. It was neat to look up, and see how much work was put into building it, and how beautiful it looked. I was amazed at how, even though it was raining, NO moisture came in through the roof at all. We all sat down on pieces of logs set upright. A little after getting there, Aldo, the guy there from Chile, the third person working there arrived, and we started into prayer. It was so neat to hear these young people, so on fire for the Lord, praying for these Indians who are just about at the end of their instruction, and are almost at the point of returning to their tribes. It made me cry. I wish I could be that dedicated, and that so many other young people could see this, and appreciate the Lord, and want to do His will like these people, and have such a strong care for peoples' souls like they do.

Once finished praying, Luz read a Psalm, and we talked about it a little before going back into the house. We came in through a side door into the girls' room. Inside were about four wooden bunk beds with mosquito nets covering them. On one end of the room was the bathrooms and showers. When coming back into the big room I realized that the longhouse was divided in three parts. Cut in half longways was the area where the students studied and ate, with a little part cut out for the kitchen, then the other half was cut in two; one area for the guys, and the other for the girls.

As I talked with Tita (whose real name I found was Bellanira), she made coffee. It was interesting the way in which she did it; she placed a metal pitcher full of water on the burner, then once it was boiling, she placed a strainer that looked like a mini butterfly net, full of coffee grounds into the pitcher, dipping it in and out of the water, and taking a spoon, every couple seconds and seeing if the liquid was dark enough. While getting the bread ready, and pouring the coffee into cups, she told me about how it happened that she was here. For two or three years she went to Bible school, where they all had to wake up at the latest 5 every morning, and had classes 'till nine at night! There they had all kinds of Bible, culture, music, and other kinds of classes. They also had missions to different tribes. She spent a total of two years, I think it was, in Amazon tribes. There she and two or three others would live like the Indians, and try to learn the language. In her tribe, she was only with two other girls she knew, who were there for six months segments, where between those times, they saw none of the outside world. Anyways, she just finished missionary school, and was stationed here in Leticia three months ago. Of the students, two are from the tribe she was working with. Luz and Aldo were working with other tribes, but were also from the same missionary school as Tita.

When we were done preparing the snack, we went out to serve it to the students and Dad, but he was already outside taking the Indians on motorcycle rides up and down the road in front of the seminary school. The last time he was there, Dad asked them if they knew how to drive a motorcycle, and after replying no, he asked if they'd ever ridden one, and was surprised to their response that they had never even been on one! Being Dad, he had to give them a chance to ride; some he even let drive. Although he did have to explain that you kind of have to keep your eyes on the road and not on the group of your friends watching you, after an instance where he had to grab a hold of the handlebars when one of them was driving.

After everyone had a ride, Dad got off beaming just as much as those experiencing a motorcycle for the second time in their lives. Looking at them, you couldn't help but smiling too. We drank the coffee and bread, then had to leave. Dad let me drive! Because the motorcycle was “semi-automatic”, like the 50 we have at home, and you can change gears without having to use a clutch, it was easy. I was so sad to leave those people. I loved being there. They were awesome.

The next week on Wednesday they invited us back for “deportes”; once a week they had a break from 3:30 to 5:30 where they played sports. We waited for dad 'till 4 at the house, then upon calling him, he said for us to just go ahead on the motos, (We had three rented, because the boys, Dave, Ben and Nate, had gone out earlier that day, riding down the kilometer road, then went swimming halfway through. They all got really burned, but it sounded like they had a lot of fun) and he'd come as soon as he could. So I got on the back of Nate's, Ben took Matt, and Dave took Durley (a really awesome Christian girl who comes over a lot to the Roberts with her husband Danny). The other girls stayed home, went shopping, and cooked.

We went back down zipping past the kilometers. Because we were really late, the boys had to drive really fast. It COULDN'T have possibly been the fact that they love speeding along that road ;D. I think Durley might have been a bit concerned about the speed at which we were going, but she didn't complain. Nate and I were in front most of the time. He would go really fast, then slow down waiting for the others, then as soon as they had almost caught up, he'd take off again. My helmet didn't have the strap again, so I had to keep on holding it on my head. It was so much fun. Just as we we were approaching, the sun was setting, and the sky was every shade of yellow and orange. It was absolutely gorgeous. Looking up, you could just see the silhouettes of the big jungle trees against it. Parrots and other birds were making all kinds of noise finding their perches for the night. Somewhere there were amazing smelling flowers too. Unlike the last time we'd been there, this time the air was the perfect temperature, and the wind felt wonderful.

When we pulled in, everyone was playing volleyball on a court that was crossways on the soccer field. They were hitting a hard, partially flat ball over a sagging net strung between two poles stuck in the powdery sand. Although they played sloppily, they kept the ball off the ground! Two of the guys were wearing gardening gloves, of which I never quite figured out what they were for. One of the Indians was wearing a headband made out of bright green braided palmfrawns. They greeted us with warm smiles, even though they were disappointed we were so late, and had been waiting since 3:30, and it was already 4:30. We watched for a while, then came in once one of the teams lost. Ben, two of the students, and I were on one team, while Nate, Dave, Aldo, and the girl who plays soccer extremely well were on the other. I think the other team could have whipped us worse, but did have some mercy; they didn't spike on us over the 6 foot net TOO much... It was a lot of fun. It was interesting how they kept track of points; instead of making four lines in a row, then crossing it off to make groups of five, like we do in the U.S., they draw a little box in the sand, each side being a point, then one goes through the middle making a group of five.

Then we played soccer with a REALLY flat plastic ball, but it was nice 'cause most of us were barefoot. That was almost as fun as the volleyball. I got to see the one girl play, and yeah was she good! The way she could move her feet was amazing.

About that time, Ben and Dave had to go back to Leticia to return one of the motorcycles to where we rented it. They left a little after five thirty to get back by six. They were going to bring back Dad to take us home. Later that night we found out that Ben's tire popped, and he had to walk it home, and Dave had to leave him, because he had to get back to the rental place before it closed.

Back at Kilometer 18 we were all hot and sweaty from playing, when they invited us to go swimming in a nearby lake. We changed into our swimsuits, and started down the road. It was practically dark as we arrived. It was more of a swamp than a lake; there was tall grass and palm trees surrounding the milky brown, calm water. We slipped off our flip-flops, and left our stuff on the bank, then jumped in. The cool water felt amazing. Although we could easily touch the ground, we preferred to tread water, be cause on the bottom was mooshy gooshy mud that was just about the consistency of dog pooh, mixed with grass and other decomposed things... we tried to float, or make it to the log in the middle of the pond if we got tired of swimming. Durley was a little bit paranoid in going in the lake. She was afraid of the huge boa constrictors that can swallow humans whole, especially knowing they are here in the jungle, or other scary animals around. It is especially disturbing when you can't see your hand more than six inches under the water. You have no idea what could be down there. Aldo and Nate especially enjoyed reminding her of such creatures every few minutes to which she would panic, and they would have to reassure her that they had never seen one there before. This anaconda (not boa... thank you Seth) is one we saw in the local zoo, found around here, and is only six years old....

It was dark by the time we climbed out of the lake, and slipped under the barbed wire to get out. Although we were all wet, and it was night time, the air was so warm, we didn't feel a bit chilly. Back at the longhouse, we changed into our dry clothes, then Matt and Nate played memory, while Tita made coffee, the students worked on their homework, Aldo played Christian songs on his guitar, which Durley knew, and I listened to them, while watching the boys playing their game.

It was past seven by this time, and Dad still hadn't shown up. We only had one motorcycle, and had four people who needed to get back. We didn't have Dad's phone number or even a phone to call him on. Nate wanted to get back home, and decided to take Matt with him. We were worried about them, because being dark, driving on that road is really dangerous! Durley and I talked with Tita for about ten minutes after Nate left, when we heard the jeep pull in. It was Dad and Wellington (a Christian guy we'd met on the three day boat coming from Iquitos to here in Leticia). They apologized for being so late, then we said goodbye to everyone there, and left together.

Dad let me drive the jeep. It was crazy. The steering wheel is a little messed up; you have to turn it all the way from one side to the other to make it turn, then when it starts turning, you have to whip the wheel all the way back to the other side. You have to do it slowly, but quickly at the same time. It's pretty complicated. Then while whipping this steering wheel back and forth, you have to be putting the clutch in, changing gears, then letting up on the clutch not too quickly, but not too terribly slowly. Then, trying to do all this while trying to find the little “stick thing” on the floor as my dad called it, to take off my brights as a big truck flashed their lights at me, as it came barreling down the road at me, on this tiny skinny two-lane road. And the more nervous I get, the faster I turn the steering wheel, meaning once I turn it fast one way, then I have to swing it even faster the other way, over correcting, making me swerve all over the road. I probably looked drunk. Then, after this, we're passing a little town, and I see a bunch of little kids sitting on a curb, and when I look more closely, one of them is LYING in the MIDDLE of MY side of the ROAD!! I was like “oh my goodness!”, and swerved into the other lane. Was he dead, or hurt, what happened? Just as I was about to pass them, he jumped up and ran out of the road. They were just playing a game, and had probably dared that poor kid! It was kinda scary. I now have more respect for Dad, Paul, and Ben who drive the jeep all the time. I will no longer think “wow, this is kind of jerky” when they´re driving. I now understand.

We got in just in time for a wonderful dinner of dutch babies with peanut butter and maple syrup that the girls had cooked up for us. Ben and Dave had gotten back home safely even after all that had happened with the flat tire.

Another time we went out to the kilometers, we were going to have a picnic lunch out at a lake we'd heard of. Dad, Nate and Dave were on the motorcycles having Anna, Cam and Bethany on the backs. Ben got to drive the jeep (of which he did an awesome job, keeping the thing on the road, and was as smooth as was possible with changing gears) with Mom and I sharing the front seat, Lydia, Franklin, Wilmer and Matt sitting on the benches in the back. The whole ride we had to grab onto the sides, seats, or others around us to keep from being bounced all over the place. Those on the motorcycles looked like they were having a lot of fun! Nate's helmet was the one that was loose this time, and Cam had to keep on re-adjusting it on his head.

We passed some of the same houses, but this time we didn't go as far as the Bible school. Because the motorcycles were going way faster than us, as we pulled around a corner, we saw Dad motioning for us to turn into a driveway. The little bridge, similar to that of the one pulling into the Bible seminary was just barely wide enough for the jeep. Ben did an amazing job backing up, and pulling forward with that crazy steering wheel to make the turn into the place. I was so afraid we were going to end up in the ditch. As soon as we got past the gate we saw a beautiful lake with palmfrawn huts, tall palms and other types of trees all around. There was a deck with plastic lawn chairs, and tables. It was beautiful! We parked the jeep, and the boys put the motos in a row. Before unloading, we looked around for the owner of the place to ask if it was okay if we swam, but after searching, the only thing we found out from the Brazilian, Portuguese-speaking co-intruders was that the owners weren't there, but that it was probably fine for us to be there and swim also. Some changed immediately into bathing suits, while Dad hopped on one motorcycle, while Nate and I got on another to see if we were in the right place. It ended up it was, so we pulled out the peanut butter and guayava jelly sandwiches, along with the coke and guaraná soda. We sat on the white lawn chairs, ate, talked, and looked over the lake. Once we were done, we jumped into the water. It felt so good, 'specially when it's always SO hot and humid here. Here too, you had to be careful not to touch the bottom because of the slimy mud that was down there. The water was pretty mucky and brown too, but at least it was cool! Nate and Cam had a way over to the other side of the lake where they found a paddle boat, and paddled back over to where we were, and let the rest of us have fun on it too. The Portuguese kids played on it along with Nate and Matt. They would dive off it, and make big splashes. also An inflatable raft was also found, on which they had fun going all around the lake in. Mom and Dad got talking to a girl and her cousin, and got a short Portuguese lesson. Mom was telling them all about her sister-in-law from Brazil, and how she had just had a baby named Larissa that is going to be fluent in both English and Portuguese. She also said she wanted to be able to talk to her in Portuguese by the time we got back :D.
After getting tired out of swimming, Lydia and I sat on the deck, and listened to music until Dad said it was time to go. Ben got back in the drivers seat of the jeep, while this time I got to ride with Nate, Lydia rode with Dave, and Matt was with Dad. The sun was just going down, and we got to experience another amazing sunset on the motorcycles.

Paul knew a Christian guy who lived out in the Kilometers who Dad had visited the last time he was out there. He decided to do so again. After driving way off the main road, we pulled up in the jeep and all three motorcycles. A little shirtless girl peeked out of the doorway when we arrived. She ran to go get her dad. He was somewhere in his late fifties or early sixties while her mom is in her twenties. The man came out and talked with us, telling us about his brother, who he hadn't seen in five years had a serious heart-attack and was in a coma. He was pretty shook up about it, and appriciated the fact that we prayed with him. Before leaving we sang some songs we had memorized in Spanish. It was late, and getting dark, so we said goodbye, and jumped on the motorcycles and jeep. Bethany, Wilmer and I stood on the back of the bumper of the jeep on the way back. It was awesome. Ben was driving fast, and the wind was warm on our faces. By this time it was dark, and you could see the green fluorescent lights of fireflies blinking in the grass, and trees all around.

Jungle Adventures

2008-09-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

a kid´s camp in quito, one quick day in lima, mountain towns near huanuco where we slept on sheep´s skin and used the privacy of a wall for our bathroom, a lovely conference, then a bus trip back to lima, a flight to iquitos and we´re ready to start with ¨recapping¨ our time on and near the amazon.

this is tuesday morning september 2nd--we were supposed to make it out of iquitos with themorning boat right after we arrived but that didn´t seem to be the Lord´s planning so webrought all of our stuff to a very nice hostal where we each got our own bed and a room with a private bathroom in it. we spent the rest of that day passing out tracts, sleeping, checking up onwhen we could get the next boat out to leticia, eating, and having a meeting. the next morninglydia and i woke up at 11:00 (much to our surprise) and grabbed some breakfast in the marketthen quickly packed all of our stuff up to hop on a 2 day boat to leticia. daniela, lydia, wilmer, anna, and i ¨saved¨our spots in the hamocks, although it didn´t seem to help one bit later on. meantime dave, franklin, lydia, ben, nathan, and daniel bought motorcycles and ate food. in the evening daniel took us out to grab one last ¨good¨dinner before being on the river for 2 days. then an hour and a half later than the time that we were supposed to leave (welcome to SA time!) we started our trip down river.

after getting ¨settled¨ if you can get settled with literally 3 people sharing your personal spacewe had a Bible reading with a young boy who seemed quite interested in the Word of God. afterthe reading we sat out on the deck for a while and watched the dark night slip by with the slapslap of the water hitting the side of the boat. finally after a long after noon of sitting in the hot wewere able to take advantage of the cooler weather and set to the task of finding a place to sleep. franklin had to sleep on the nice steel floor, anna and danna slept in the cabin (although they wanted to sleep in the hamocks), and most everyone else slept in hamocks. lydia and i had literally 6 people piled above, below, beside, diagonally, you name it around us. guess the south american men just really wanted to be close to the gringas. sleep did come though ,which was very surprising to me.

be this is now Thursday, september 4th and the morning on the amazon was very beautiful andthen the day turned HOT. we passed the day reading, writing, trying not to bump into too manysouth americans (although the task was next to impossible), playing games, sitting on the roof ofthe boat and getting laughed at by a dozen or so different people, and fighting...which seemed tothe most intereting activity for it took place the most often. :) in the evening we had a reallygood dinner (the food there was actually quite good). then, after another reading we went to bed. this time lydia and i got the cabin and the other sleeping arrangements for everyone else staying the same with exception to dave: he decieded to sleep on the roof of the boat if i´m not mistaken.

¨ Friday, the 5th happened just about the same as the previous day but had a little more suntanning or buring involved and also jumping off the railing (for nathan and dave). daniel met and talked to many south american people and planted a seed in many people´s hearts that we can pray the Lord will allow the increase. we were told we would arrive in leticia at 10:00 in the morning. we arrived at 6:00 in the evening in santa rose (just across the river from leticia). south american time agian for you. when we got off the boat and i was very happy to be on GROUND again. everyone got their passport business taken care of in santa rosa and then dave went down river with daniel to try to re-sell the motorcycles because the customs man was not letting them take them off the boat. daniel gives us instructions to meet paul at either the fruit market or the floating taxi dock. this then started an adventure including trudging through mud with our luggage (a backpack and duffle bag) plus daniel and dave´s for 1-2 a mile , franklin, nathan and i taking a few small backpacks up the road a bit to see if we could spot paul and get him topic of the others, not finding him, talking to several policemen for help, sending franklin back to tell the others that we´ll get them picked up soon, then nathan and i getting a ride to paul and martha´s house in a police car (what can i say, they´re famous here), and then finally getting a hold of paul to let him know where the other straglers were left behind. cheese sandwitches, carrot sticks, cucumbers, chocolate chip cookies, and juice has never tasted so good in my life! to be back with american food once again, we all were smiling and ¨ahhing¨like no other. their house was the best feeling we´ve all had in a long time. even nathan said after sitting down at the table ¨i think i´m going to cry¨.

the next day we had a late breakfast, got a grand tour of leticia , and enjoyed another amazinglunch. the rest of the day was filled with just relaxing and catching our breath from the trip. inthe evening we had a meeting on Acts 16. after the meeting everyone started to help with dinner.

the following days were not too busy because daniel had to go back to iquitos to return some bikes he and the boys had bought but the customs wouldn´t let them into leticia. so most of the time we wer just relaxing, at times cleaning, and eating. lydia and i got to teach and met some very interesting friends, lee and tanna chowning. the most significant thing about the day was that we were able to stand on the border of columbia and brazil--being in two places at once really isn´t all that bad! :) daniel got back the next day and started to plan some different outings with paul.

thursday the 10th finally arrived--the day we had all been waiting for: aunt cheryl joined us again in leticia. the whole brimlow family went to pick her up and i must say it was VERY good to see her again! the next day emily amsler switched her places with the united states as she went back home from visiting here in leticia.

Sunday was the first sunday with a sunday school and breaking of bread that i actually understood. it was nice to be able to pray and understand what you were saying ¨amen¨ to. the sunday school was a good challenge, specially for the younger generation coming from judges 17. we discoverd that sampson´s great great or maybe just great grandpa could´ve known joshua...and yet look at where israel was during his time. and here the challenge was presented by paul and dan to not let the ¨spiritual bar¨ fall from generation to generation as it had for sampson. after a very nice breaking of bread we at a delicious lunch with the Chowning family (a family that lives here and helps paul translate and teach). during the after noon the young people (which was actually a nice group: lee, sarina, tanna, and fairy chowning along with the 8 others from our group) played authors, ¨agents¨, then psychaiatrist. after the chownings left we went into town for some south american icecream. as we walked back to the house us girls (lydia, danna, bethany, anna, and i) started talking about making a fancy dinner for paul and martha and dan and cheryl. when we got back to the house we went to the internet and did some research and came up with a hawaiin theme and threw around ideas such as fruit salad, shish cabbobs, crepes, and then something for dessert. in the eveing we had a question answer meeting with the question ¨why do we keep sinning after we get saved¨ the answer that i most enjoyed was ïf things were perfect down here we wouldn´t want to go or look forward to heaven.¨ that answer pretty well wrapped up the question in my mind although we spent another 45 minutes discussing the subject...it was a nice meeting though. after meeting we made pop corn (one batch of kettle corn....SOOO good!!) and cut up cucumbers and watermelon for an evening snack. daniella did the dishes as she often does and everyone else watched her and cheered. just kidding...everyone is very quit to jump in and hlep out here (with exception to nathan who we have to bribe with something containing sugar to get him to work). after everything was finished up everyone was quick to get to bed for an early start the next day, we were all going to go down the river to benjamin constante.

everyone sleepy eyed and groggy rolled out of bed at 5:00--all 15 of us and after a quick reading we went to the river and met tanna and her father will. we were going to go down river with them to benjamin. well, will was not expecting such a large group so after an hour of standing around waiting for our boat man and for life vests and a very unhappy will comlaining about how he was supposed to be there in 30 minutes when it takes about 2 hours we were told that 5 of us had to turn back. dave, nathan, lydia, bethan, and i were very quick to offer. so we sent franklin, ben, wilmer, daniela, and unlce dan down the river for th rest of the day. meanwhile back in leticia we all spent a pretty lazy day, eating, sleeping more (which some of us did right after we got back), checking the internet, and doing some individual studying and reading.

the next day, tuesday the 16th was not much more of a ¨sleep in.¨ we had to get up at 6:00 thismorning. but the day it brought was MOST rewarding! we got to take a boat down the amazonfor the whole day and go to 3 jungle villages and pass out the word of God in form of tracts andbook marks. bethany gave me a good book to read on the boat and it was a very fun ride. thefirst town was fun but the second town we went to was SO awesome! there were 4 differentgroups, all with walkie talkies and we got to tramp through alot of jungle scenery. after gettinginto one of the villages my group passed out tracts and bookmarks and we even got invitied to gointo a house and have a little sit down chat. dave and nathan took a swim and after coming out ofthe amazon were probably more dirty than when they went in. the next stop aunt cheryl, bethany, and i took a nap on the boat which was heavenly and i woke up to the sound of children calling out to daniel and nathan who were throwing them candy. the kids would very excititedly run back and forth and up and down to beat the next kid next to them to the piece of candy. it made me realize how much we must be leaving an impression with them and made me pray that the Lord would be able to use our time here to help do a work in their hearts. we then turned around from this village to go back to a village we had had stopped at to have a meeting. the fact that we had a huge amazon rain storm changed our plans and wet and cold we all descided to got straight back to leticia. after a good dinner we all went to bed, very tired but all very happy.

the next day i was very sick and so i didn´t do anything all day except lie in bed, drink tea, readand occasionally walk around. near the end of the day i felt very ¨emptied of self¨ as daniel likesto call it. the rest of the gang, however (with exception to martha, cheryl, lydia and daniela) went to the kilometers passing out some tracts along the road as they walked from house to house. they ended at a Bible school where kids right from the jungle come and learn about the Bible. appearantly the gringos tried to play them soccer and got schooled...by just 3 guys and 1 girl. they then came back and had dinner. the girls and i talked in lydia and my room about some more details on the fancy dinner/when we could do it. it was decided that we would do it friday and therefore needed to tell the dads so nothing would be planned for friday evening.

thursday, the 18th everyone went to the orphanage for about 3 hours and talked to the kids. bethany and i stayed in leticia and did some cleaning up around the house. later in the after noon when everyone got back we went into town and helped paul teach at a fancy hotel called the yurupary. paul and dan were both informed of our plans for doing a surprise fancy dinner for the couples and after the hotel paul dropped us off in town to do some shopping for the decorations. we arrived back at the house, ate dinner and then had an evening meeting. paul informed us that he was going out early friday morning to buy stuff for breakfast so we could join him if we wanted. we then went to the internet in the eveing where all the boys were informed of the plans and that we would need alot of ¨human man-power the next day.¨ knowing that we were going to have an early start and a long day the next day we all tried to get to bed early... 11:00 sharp. :)

friday....a big day! the girls got up and we grabbed our shopping list. after 2 supermarkets, andgoing to the fruit market we had the back of the jeep full of food. paul remarked with a bit of a chuckle ¨i have never been shopping for this long this early in the morning...you women are remarkable.¨ we had bought food to make fruit salad, lemonaid with frozen raspberries, tunna salad, crepes (chicken, beef, and ham), white sauses (4 different kinds, white, cheese, sour cream, and onion), and cheesecake. when we got back to the house we smuggled all the ¨wastable¨items into our room and then paul very helpfully took martha out of the kitchen to wake everyone up for breakfast. we then smuggled the rest of the items into the refrigerator. the morning started with breakfast and a Bible time as it always does. then the rest of the day consisted of alot of prepping, cutting up meet, and cooking various things that could be stored in the fridge that didn´t need to be fresh. throughout the morning and afternoon lydia made tuna salad and our own invention of cheese cake pudding: cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and uncooked crackers for crust. it was made into individual bowls so there wouldn´t be alot of mess serving it up. danna, bethany, and anna worked on the decorations which was to make flowers out of tissue paper to drape from the windows. nathan did his part in the dinner by setting up the lemon squeezer for us. then matt squeezed the few lemons that we had. we realized that we didn´t have enough of a few things so ben and dave went and did some shopping for us. they did a surprisingly good job at getting everything we needed...who says that guys can´t shop? i cut up chicken, beef, red and green peppers, and onions along with help from wilmer and durle (a girlfrom leticia, and a good friend of the robert´s and now of all of us!). at 2:30 everyone minus ben, bethany, anna, wilmer, matt, and durle went to the orphanage. the ladies were asked to leave during that time as well so they made good use of the internet café. matt sqeezed the rest of the lemons and made lemon juice. anna and bethany worked on stringing the flowers to a string and setting up the side table and other decorations for the dinner. i showed durle how to make crepes by pouring in a certain amount of batter, rotating the pan, and then flipping the crepe. she did her first one and was SO excited it was adorable!! she jumped around in a circle with her spatula waving above her head. then ben made the white sauces... i must say having him ask different questions from the recipe did make me laugh, but he did a great job. the cheese sauces were SO good. wilmer fried the green and red peppers in a sauce pan. and i cooked the chicken and beef, again, in a sauce pan. the moms walked in and the other people were not there... bethany was very nice to inform them that they had to be prisioners to their rooms until we called them back out. when daniella, lydia, dave, daniel, franklin, and the rest of the gang returned from the jail at 5:30 the house went into a hu-bub of excitement. dave and ben were put in charge of cutting up the pineapple, watermelon, papaya, strawberries, and peaches for the fruit salad. lydia went to work on her dessert...she was going to make some kind of pumpkin bread to go along with the cheesecake pudding. this task became a little difficult when she realized she didn´t have any of the 3 spices that normally go in the cake, so she improvised...the cake was still as good as ever! nathan, matt, anna, and bethany went to pick hybiscuss flowers from the median of a nearby street. daniela took over doing the ladies´ hair. i started blending the lemonaid and frozen raspberries and straining the juice. wilmer and durle watched the things on the stove-top. then bethany came and asked me to make the center peice for the table. the decorations that they had made were GREAT! they had strung up the flowers on the door way, set up the side table with a plant and 3 candles with a lace table cloth on it (concieling the cd player for their candle-light¨music), and then set up the candles on the table. i finished making the center piece by making a wreathe of greenery and then stuffing hybiscuss into it. the final product for the table was 7 white candles, 3 on each side of a tall candle (also the candle with the greenery/flowers) with each candle shorter than the previous, 1 green candle for each corner of the table, silver sparkles sprinkled down the center of the table around the candles, finished with a colorful menú card placed on a white napkin. i must give credit to a very beautiful idea that anna gave: to wrap the tallest, center candle with silver thread...which tied the silver sparkles right into the color theme of the evening. that was the encouraging/fun thing about the evening...there were some that didn´t think it could happen, and it was alot of work but everyone worked together and did their part SO well and helped pull off serving the food and making the place beautiful. getting back...the couple´s room was separated from the excitementof the dining room and kitchen by a lace curtan. nathan lit the candles and the men then went into get their beautiful wives (daniela did a GREAT job in their hair). when they came out we had to take alot of pictures of course then i intoduced the waiters: wilmer for dan, ben for martha, dave for cheryl, and matt for paul. the four waiters was to make sure that they all got thier food at the same time--no one was to wait longer than another. they were also informed that they were to check off what kind of crepe they wanted with what kind of sauce. then we all left and the dinner began. it started with the drinks and fruit, next was the tuna salad with melted cheese and parsly (courtesy of lydia...helping to make a very gormet look), and cucumbers. during the time of them serving the fruit we got their cards back with what they wanted on their crepes and after i flopped a crepe terribly (although it tasted good...it looked aweful) daniela was able to take over. she had just the right touch so i prepped 3 chicken crepes and 1 beef crepe and she cooked them. when they were done being fried, we smoothered them in the sour cream sauce that they had all requested. then the waiters brought them out. finally dessert was served with the help from bethany who decorated the cheesecake pudding with raspberries. lydia prepared a tray of her bread and the dinner was complete. after everyone recieved a crepe and food of their own we went and heard a very heart felt thanks from the parents. then we all sang ¨He brought me to His banquetting table¨and ¨emanuel´s land.¨ the kitchen was a MESS and after a lot of prepping/working in the kitchen the dishes were not looking too inviting. we was very happy when dave told us not to worry about the kitchen that he would take care of the dishes. and he and franklin did just that. it was fun to talk to all the girls after all the clean up had been done and just talk about the ¨miraculousness¨that the meal actually had worked out. it was alot of fun for all of us! after the big day when i laid down again i don´t think the bed has ever felt so good.
saturday was a fun day as well! we all had a late breakfast then after sweeping, dishes, and washing down the chairs we rented motorcycles and road into the kilometers. daniel took anna, dave took bethany, and nate took me. the rest of the people drove in the jeep. we stopped at a beautiful pond and since it was one of the warmest days ever we were all ready to jump in. some did jump into the pond just to get cool before we enjoyed a good pack lunch that martha had prepared for us. nathan and i swam across the pond and borrowed a paddle boat while others swam and lydia and franklin road motorcycles around a big soccer field adjoining the lake. then later everyone jumped in to go swimming and we enjoyed a fun time of just relaxing, swimming, and eating. after we had spent enought time at the pond and after dave and ben got back with the motorcycles we went to visit some other people further up the kilometers. then we returned for another awesome meal made with some of the left overs from Friday night´s meal. after a nice meeting with some other visitors we went to bed.

sunday the 21st we had breakfast, sunday school, breaking of bread, and then went to eat lunch at the chowning´s house. while there we had fun talking at watched lee do a puppet show. i think we should buy some puppets for nathan for when he gets bored since he seemed to be the one that enjoyed them the most out of all of us. :) we then returned to the robert´s where everyone took a nap or read and i came and spent the rest of my afternoon here at the internet. i just got paged: it´s time for dinner and meeting´s starting in a half hour.

thanks for all the prayers. God is working through all of us...but most importantly i see Him doing a beautiful work IN all of us. perhaps today we will be united with Him forever. until that day comes we must all continue on for His honor and glory.

-camrianne

Ben´s pics

2008-09-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder, Ben is still posting pictures on his picasa! http://picasaweb.google.com/brimlow.benjamin

Camp Pambaflor

2008-08-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

Camp has been so amazingly fun, awesome, and incredible. It was so hard to leave everyone! I´m going to miss the kids, as well as all the other people who came to help out.

The one hour bus ride to and from camp was one of the highlights. We would always sing the whole way. Because not everyone could speak English, and neither could everyone speak Spanish, we sang in both languages. It was fun finding the songs we sing in English all the time, then singing them in Spanish.

The day usually started out with a skit done by the volunteers. The theme was about something the kids needed to work on, whether it be sharing, listening, being polite, not cutting in line, or hitting. They were hilarious, and I think really helped the kids remember better than just telling them what to and not to do.

From there, the kids went to their different stations;

In sports, and games the older two groups played dodgeball, baseball, capture the flag, and a variation of volleyball. The younger kids enjoyed limbo, and ¨¿Que hora es Señor lobo?¨ of which Janeen, and Dave were notorious. Dave because the kids loved playing it with him, and Janeen because instead of saying it was ¨time for lunch¨ during the game, she said ¨time to die¨!

In music class, the kids learned different songs, specifically about Noah´s Ark (the theme of camp) with hand motions, and sometimes insturments. The whole two weeks we worked on songs to present at on the last day of camp.

During Bible time, Noah´s Ark was talked about as well, showing how it was a a picture of how we, if we belong to the Lord, we will be saved from judgement. They also learned about different kinds of animals, and the amazing ways the Lord has made them.

Every day we had a ¨special¨ where those working at the camp of different nationalities would present their country. Mexico (Rafa, Sol, Baruc, and Lety) presented first, Canada (AmyJo, Bethany, Janeen, then Micah, and Hanna helped out too) played hockey with the kids, and has a ¨Canadian mountie¨- Lee, come in riding on a horse. Peru (Daniel and Franklin) made a llama, and had Lety and Paulina model alpaca sweaters. Chile (Paulina did an amazing presentation by herself) taught the kids an Chilean dance. Colombia (Andrea who now lives in Ecuador), Venezuela (Wilmer), Ecuador (the Rules, and all the kids at camp)had some traditional dancers come and perform. Although coming form a biased point of view, I think that the U.S.´s presentation was the best. Natalie, Tim, Janie, Lee, Dave, Christina, Cam, Andy and Jenny, Micah, Hannah and I acted out from the Pilgrims, to Abraham Lincoln, to a Hawiian dance, and basket ball. The kids loved it, and it was a ton of fun.

Meals were neat because it was time we could spend with the kids when we weren´t busy ¨doing¨ something. For lunch , we always had typical Ecuadorian food a first course of soup, then a ¨segundo¨of some type fo meat, with rice. Every day we had a different kind of juice, many of which are only found down here in South America. Yummy...

One of the things I enjoyed the most whether it was before the day´s activities started, or after everything was done, was just hanging out with the kids. Whether it was playing volleyball with a hard soccerball that gives you bruises on you forearms, or holding a little ¨pollito´s¨ hand while they jumped from tire to tire on an obsticle course, or just sitting on the grass talking to one of the kids. Although I wasn´t able to see it, during one of these times, three of the little girls who came to camp (Leaslie, Magali, and Katherine) accepted the Lord as their Saviour!!! It was SO encouraging for me to hear!

After being at camp all day, sometimes we would go and see other places in Quito, like the market, the teleferico (from which you could see the whole city). After getting home, we´d have dinner, then a Bible reading and discussion time in which we would get into groups and search the Word, working together to find answers. It was really neat, and gave us different perspectives.

The deprivation of sleep was definetly work it. The whole two weeks I don´t think very many of us got to bed before 11, and had to get up around 5:30. At night we worked on crafts for the kids, or one of the special presentatons. Debbie was absolutely amazing. She would be up before any of us, then go to bed later at night. Working hard all day, then with the meals at home too. I admire her so much!

My birthday was really awesome. Getting emails from people back home made me feel good, and miss everyone too. At camp, Dean had all the kids sing to me, then after meeting Debbie had made a cake, and a bunch or the girls gave me presents. Unbegnonst to me, a South American tradition is to pour flour and water over someone on their birthday... so that came unexpectedly. The little girls at camp had braided my hair in a bunch of tiny, messy braids, so getting the flour and water mixture out of all that was a disaster! But, it was intertaining for the others. We also went to Crepes and Waffles for dinner. Although I missed my family and friends all back home, it was pretty much one of my best birthdays ever. I honestly didn´t think anyone would do anything, then all this...!!

Last weekend, on Saturday, Dean and Debbie took all us helpers to Mindo , a little town in the cloud forest. It was so much fun! We went on ziplines across the valley. Each had a harness on that was attatched to a pulley which was hooked on to a cable. Most of the time we had to sit back, with our legs crossed on ront of us, one hand holding onto the rope, going from our harness in front of you to the pully on the cable, while the other hand went behind on the cable, to stablize us. But, it was more fun to to tkhe ¨mariposa¨where the pully was attatched to your back and your legs went around the guide´s waist behind you, so you´re perpendicular to the ground, and you can see all the trees, flowers, rivers and everything below you. The craziest, funnest thing you could do was the ¨superman¨where you went down the zipline completely upside down, while the guide held your feet up (some people even did it without the guide). While up there, we saw all kinds of beautiful butterflies and birds. There were even black tucans that had red beaks and hummingbirds with extra long, curved beaks.

Afer the ziplines we went down to the river, and ¨rafted¨down it on large, black intertubes. It was tons of fun. Seven of the tubes were tied together with ropes, and one person went in each tube. Going down the river was crazy. Like the whole thing was full of ginormous rocks that we kind of had to squeese our way through. Our guides spent the whole time in the water pushing us through the narrow spaces. The guide from the other raft took off his helmet and was pouring the freezing water all over us. It was so beautiful there! The river, with all the jungly plants around and just as the sun was going down...

The last day at camp was awesome too. We had relay races for the kids in which they had to jump in a flour sack, to where they put their head on a vertical bat, circled around it eight times, then had to run back, go though a tire back to their team. It was hilarous. They were all so dizzy, and falling all over the place. They had fun with the baloon toss too.

After that the kids got prizes; for the verses they memorized during the week, for getting the most stickers for being happy, helpful, listening well, and working hard.

Before leaving, the owners of Pambaflor gave each one of us a boquet of roses to say thank you for the work we´d done at camp. They were beautiful!

The hardest part was saying goodbye to the kids. They were the sweetest, most adorable kids EVER!! They soaked up every bit of love you gave them, and gave it all and more back to you.

We signed eachother´s shirts and all the kids wanted a ¨recuerdo¨from us. One girl took my sweatshirt and didn´t give it back; every time I came near her she ran away. But, a bunch of the kids were the opposite, and gave me what they had; their name tags. The ones that meant the most to me were Andres and Diego. Andres is probably five years old, and most likely the most ill-behaved kid at camp. He never obeyed anyone, and was always running off. But, youcould tell what he really needed was love. After spending some one-on one time with him you could see the difference in his attitude. When I left, he gave me his nametag, and hugged me really tight, and whispered in my ear ¨Te quiero mucho¨. Oh man, I miss that kid. Diego was in the older age group, and always helpful. He was very bright and always knew all the right answers to questions we asked the kids about the Bible. The problem with him though, is from what I heard, he has a really hard home life (no electricity or running water, as well as lives only with his mother and sister), and something apparently happened in his life to the point where he says he no longer believes in God. Both these boys need a lot of prayer. It´s so hard to leave the kids, not knowing how they´re going to turn out, what they´ve understood of the gospel, and if they´ve accepted it or not.

After leaving camp, we rode the bus to some hotsprings about an hour away. The place was amazing. Unlike other ¨thermal baths¨ we´ve been to down here (that is milky brown water in cement lined holes), this had clean water in nice pools with tile floors. The water was heated by the lava in the nearby moutain and came up in springs. There was a series of different pools, from freezing cold (straight from the river) to burning hot (coming directly from the springs) ones you could barely stay in a couple seconds before you felt like your were going to die. It was the perfect place to go after a long week at camp.

During our time in Quito, there were also some very sobering times. First off, Tim´s brother Dan got I a really bad sky-diving accident, breaking his spinal chord, and messing up a bunch of other stuff too. A couple days later, we heard that the camp nurse had been in a really bad car accident with her husband and childern. They were all in the hospital, and one of ther twins was in really bad condition. Later that evenign we heard the little girl hadn´t made it. It was really a shock to us. We had just been with Blanca and at least one of her children at camp, then this happened. She got out of the hospital, as did her husband, but up to the time we left, her other son was still there. We really need to pray for that family. They are Catholic, and we aren´t sure if they´re saved or not. We were still recovering from the news of that family when we heard a cople from Mexico, Norberto adn his Colombian wife Lousia had been in a really bad car accident as well. She was in a coma, and Norberto wasn´t doin gtoo well either. Most of us there knew them, or at least theri family so it was kidna starteling. It seemed like so many things were going so wrong all at once, but it was so neat to come together in prayer and feel the Christian love for one another, even though not everone knew those who were hurting you could see they were feeling their pain, and praying so much for them. I really think those experiences brought us closer to eachother.

Spending time with all the young people and getting to know so many better was amazing. Everyone had such an awesome time. It was so neat to see how everyone worked SO SO SO well together, and how those who spoke Spanish and those who spoke English got along so well and mixed too. It was so neat how the Lord brought all us together and we had an amazing time.

Paulina, Daniel V., Wilmer and I left that night, did the 36 hour bus ride, and are now back in Lima!

Quito

2008-08-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

Since I last wrote, we had conferences in Lima, which M wrote about on her blog.

The last day of meetings, my whole family left for Bolivia with a group of young people, mostly from Peru, but a few traveling back to their homes in Bolivia, as well as a Venezuelan who has been traveling with us from pretty much the beginning of the trip.

They went to the conferences in Montero, Bolivia, and from what I hear from them had a very encouraging time; both for my family, as well as the large group of young people traveling with them.

Dad said that they took up Hebrews 13 (or it maybe 11, but I'm pretty sure I got it right), and a lot of the young people traveling with them told Dad that was exactly what they needed right then.

On Monday they took an all night bus from La Paz I think it was, and arrived Tuesday morning in Cochabamba, where they are now!

That's pretty much all I know from what they're doing!

I left Lima on Thursday evening with Dave, Maricela (from Colombia), Franklin and Daniel (from Peru), Wilmer (from Venezuela), Paulina (from Chile), and Lety (from Mexico). We spent the night, and most of the next day riding the bus until we got to Tumbes, the boarder with Ecuador. We had a really fun time (because I don't have a camera, I don't have pictures, but hopefully I'll be able to get some from the people I'm traveling with). From there we took another night bus to Quito, getting in at 5am.

Since then, we've been helping out at the camp here! It has been so awesome!

The camp is located on one of the flower farms that Dean works with, and consists mainly of the kids of the workers there. They are mostly Catholic, but are really free about having us teach the kids verses, and singing Christian songs. Although the Catholic Bible is used for the verses, the ones memorized have the same words used in our Bible. They do this to present the gospel without being offensive, or making it seem like we're trying to "convert them to our religion". The kids are divided into different groups 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12 year-olds. During Bible time, sports, and crafts they are divided to make it easier to relate more closely to the kids' age group.

I took a couple pictures off of facebook. Here is one of the Bible talks with the two younger age groups (the pollitos, and conejos).

The kids just love you to death, and always want to be right next to you. Although I've been switching around quite a bit, I've been helping out in the "music" area with Paulina and Lety. It's so easy to get completely into singing the songs with all the motions having such enthusiastic ladies to work with. And the kids too, they just love it!

Another thing that has been really awesome, is how well our group works together and mixes. There are almost 20 young people here from all different countries; some only speak Spanish, and others only English, but everyone hangs out with everyone else besides that barrier.

Every night we have been getting together and working through a packet of questions that Dean gave us. There are three groups, and we are going through looking up important concepts in the Bible, finding different verses that support what we believe. It has been really neat, both searching the scriptures with other young people, and seeing things in a different light.

I'll have more to write later, but that's all I have for now!

A Prayer Request

2008-07-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

Today Dad, Nate and I went around visiting different people around Lima with Josue, and Papa Jon. It was an encouraging time, as well as pretty sobering.

While the three other guys were visiting one house, Dad and I were told that a lady we knew, that used to come to meeting, who lived right down the street wanted to talk to us. So, the two of us walked over there, and it ended up she´d been expecting us (even though we´d had no idea before someone over there had told us!).

As soon as everyone in the room had left but us, Dad asked her how she was doing. We weren´t quite expecting the response we got... she burst into tears, and started just pouring out her heart to us! For the first half hour we just got bits and pieces, but the more she talked, the more things started coming together, and made more sense.

It all started when she had kind of gotten stuff messed up with a guy she had been dating for five years. She knew what she was doing was wrong, and after talking with people from meeting, they told her she should marry the guy. She wanted to, and asked him to, but he did not want to, and ended up breaking off the relationship.

From there, she got in more trouble, and ended up getting pregnant with another guy. He did want to marry her, but she was still very much emotionally attatched to her first boyfriend. It ended up that the first one came back, and said that he really did want to marry her. I think she was very confused as what she should do- and ended up marrying him, instead of the father of her child. Because the marriage wasn´t built on a good foundation at all, and neither one actually loved eachother it only lasted 2 months, and in that time, her husband cheated on her, and she left him.

Because the father of her daughter really wanted to see his girl, she would always go and visit him. It was then she really thought that she was in love with him. So she moved back in with him, and they now have another son.

Now she is married to one guy who she really does not want anything to do with, and living with another man who she believes she loves, and she really thinks loves her. But, because of all that has happened, neither of them trust eachother, and there is a lot of tension in their relationship. She really wants to marry him, but she can not because she is married to somebody else, and it would be wrong. At the same time she knows that living with him is not what she should be doing either.

Her young daughter is constantly begging her to get married, so she can have a mom and a dad, and that they can be a normal family. Her not understanding breaks her mother´s heart. She says that is the hardest thing for her to deal with; how the consequences of what she´s done wrong are affecting her kids.

Another complication is the fact that she is living in the house of her mother-in-law´s house. The woman has occasional mental problems, and is extremly difficult to live with.

With all this stuff pressing on her, the lady we visited really does not know what to do. She has even arrived to the point of trying to take her own life! What was even worse was her daughter was right there when she was about to do it, and was trying to convince her not to do it. That would be such an awful feeling; knowing your mom is trying to kill herself!

Now she is really trying to turn to the Lord, and ask Him for direction for what she should do- ´cause she is pretty much in a pretty tight spot at the moment. She knows what she should do, but it is really hard for her to know how to do it. When she leaves the guy she is living with, she will have to support her two kids on her own.

It made me cry to see how much she really had repented, and really loves the Lord, and wants to please Him! When Dad was going to read Psalm 51, she recited the whole thing by memory!!

I felt so helpless (I said absolutely nothing the whole time she talked). What are you supposed to tell someone like that? You can´t just give her some cliche answer. It´s deep, and she is hurting so much... you can feel it. After Dad talked with her, and prayed with her, she seemed a lot more at peace. Oh man though, she was SUCH an example to me. Even though so much bad stuff has happend to her, it´s so amazing to see the faith she has in the Lord. You can see how much she´s struggling, but at the same time, she really is giving her burden to Him, and really trying with all her heart to trust Him with her family.

So please pray for her, and that she would feel the closeness of the Lord, and how much He cares, and loves her. Also, that she would have the strength to do what she knows what is right, even though it is going to be really hard.

M's blog

2008-07-15T22:05:00.001-07:00

ok, sorry this has taken me like forever to do, but for now, while she's here I'm just going to let M do her blog (satravels2008.blogspot.com), since she's with us, and is doing all the same stuff we're doing. M has a links to pics on there too- since i can't exactly figure out how to do links on here. When she leaves the first of august then i'll try to be more diligent in writing on here! Until then, I'll be lazy, and let her do it.

another blog

2008-06-23T09:28:00.002-07:00

m´s blog is satravels2008.blogspot.com

Our first days

2008-06-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

Our trip started out pretty crazy. We were up past two packing, then woke up at a little after four. Uncle M. and Aunt S. drove us to the airport to help, and say goodbye.

Our flight was to leave at six, and we were a little nervous arriving there at five, but because it wasn´t an international flight yet, we thought we´d have enough time. When we got to the airport E. and S. were there with their two boys to say goodbye and help with our bags.

Once most of the checkons were taken care of, everyone but Dad started through secruity. Once we got to the line some of us felt a little panicky. There were tons of people waiting to go through.

We tried to rush as quickly as possible, only to be stopped because someone had forgotten to take all the liquids and gels out of their backpack. By this time, Mom was pretty flustered trying to decide what to do with what couldn´t be carried on, Dad was somewhere behind us, Bob had already gone way ahead, Lana and Jack were wondering if they should stick with Mom and Dana or go on ahead with Bob.

It was decided that Bob, and Mom would see if there was ANY possible way to get the liquids and gels that we really needed on our trip back into a checkon bag. Dana would take Mom´s carryons as well as hers, and see if she could catch up with the rest of the kids.

Somehow, Dad got to the gate first, without any of us seeing him. Shortly thereafter Jack and Lana came panting up. Bob had gone down the wrong concourse, but had finally found our gate. Dana met Dad running back towards security.

¨Where´s Mom?¨

¨She´s back where we checked on bags looking for YOU!¨

He kept on running and because Dana knew we had already missed the flight, was able to slow down, and walk to the gate where the kids were sitting- luggage sprawled all around them. Jack and Lana appeared to be calm, and unworried about missing the plane. Ben wasn´t feeling good at all. Everyone was exhausted from running across the whole airport- each of us with at least a backpack and a carry-on packed so tight that the seams looked as if they were going to pop!

Just as we were catching our breaths we saw Mom running down the hall- past our gate. Her face was all red, and she was sweating.

¨Where´s Dad?¨

¨He´s looking for you!¨

¨Ok, I´ll go back and find him¨

¨Mom, I think it might just be better to stay here and wait for him¨

Mom was pretty upset because she had to throw away all those things we couldn´t buy here in South America, and that we had missed the flight.

About then, Dad came back to where we were. Mom and he talked to the ladies at the desk about getting on another flight. but all the flights to Seattle were over-booked. The ladies told us there was no way to get us on a flight to Seattle until 7pm, and the tickets were very expensive- especially since they wouldn´t refund the ones from the flight we had missed. There was no way we´d be able to catch our other flights if we were to do that- we were to have four layovers that day! If we missed the first one, we´d miss all the others too!

Dad and Mom really didn´t know what they should do, and decided to just reserve those seats at 7 that evening.

It seemed like everything was going wrong. Were we making the right decision in going? Why was the Lord allowing this? We just couldn´t understand. We gathered around and Dad prayed that we would accept this, and just to what the Lord wanted us to do.

SInce we wouldn´t be leaving for a while at least, Dad and Mom decided to go back and see if they could find the people at the desk where we´d checked on our bags, as well as see if they could find the liquids and gels Mom had thrown away. The kids stayed at the gate with the luggage.

Mom had been so overwhelmed and stressed that she had forgotten what garbage can she´d thrown the stuff into, so Dad had to dig through eight of them before finding the right one. The bags had coffee, and all kinds of other junk covering them, so he had to go rinse them off in the bathroom sink. We were so thankful to have found them!

While he was doing this, Mom ran into the lady we worked with while checking in our bags. As soon as she saw Mom she started apologizing ¨Oh, I am so sorry. WHen the computers jammed and it took so long to get your luggage taken care of, I knew there was no possible way you could have made it onthe plane. After you left I felt so bad about letting you go thinking there might be a possiblity...¨

From then on everything turned out for the better. It ended up that the lady was the manager, and she worked it out that the tickets we had reserved a little bit earlier at our gate were paid for by the airlines, as well as a direct flight to Miami from there, making it in time to get on our flight to Bogota.

Dad and Mom came back to find all the kids- exept Bob who was guarding our stuff- sprawled out on the carpet sleeping. After they were woken up, there were apologies for being so stressed and upset, then we stopped and thanked the Lord for how He had worked everything out. It was WAY better than we EVER could have imagined. Now we only had to change planes twice, and didn´t have to spend the night in the Miami airport! And the best part- we´d get to spend more time with everyone back home- time where we were un-stressed and relaxed!

So, we came back, slept for a few hours in comfy beds and hung out with everyone. Some people we´d been too rushed to say goodbye to in person came over, and we got to spend some time with them.

This time we got to the airport in plenty of time :D. Everyone was much happier and we all felt rested.

From there, everything went smoothly. We only had four hours total sitting in airports and arrived in Bogota at 1:00 the next day!

A sister from the assembly picked us up and brought us to a beautiful hotel- that had hot water!!!! It was wonderful. The room had six beds. We all took naps before walking down to the meeting room.

It has been so incredible to see how the Lord has been working everything out. Answering prayers, as well as going above and beyond what we could ask for !

At noon on Thursday, we accompanied Pepes wife to a small restaurant next door to the hotel, and upon arriving noticed some other gringos at a nearby table. Danl went over to speak to them and asked them where they were from. The young blonde guy answered, From the kingdom of God. Danl answered, great!! so are we!! With a clearly disdained look on his face, he replied, nó you are not. you have nothing to do with us. you go around the world proselytizing and making people 10 times worse the sons of the devil than you are. We were totally shocked and when Danl tried to share a little bit of the Lords love and salvation it was clear they in no way wanted to hear more and the gal said that her spirit witnessed within her as soon as she saw us that we were the enemy. We had never run into anything like this before. Their looks of hatred toward us were unsettling and the sister with us said there are alot of them around this area. They spoke fluent Spanish too. We just prayed for them, and then thot back of the older couple who we talked to in the airport that day who prayed with us for protection and blessing on the trip as they were real believers who were thankful that the gospel was being spread.

Thursday evening was Bible Studyand Pete G. flew from NJ and then on Friday pm Em, Sal, Rubio and Dave joined us. Saturday was spent passing out tracts and texts around the hotel area. We were rarely refused, and some seemed very thankful for the Bible messages.
On Sunday Sunday School began @ 10 am and it was encouraging as the boys each had a passage they read to us and then explained what they had enjoyed or learned from it. Dave thot it would be a good idea for our kids to do in the US! Lord´s table was at 9 am, then a time of teaching after that. We sat around visiting and sharing in little groups. They were very outgoing and friendly and open in their love for the Lord. There were about 50 people there total.
We went to a small market where a cafeteria was inside and ate together. We moved to a cheaper hotel and passed out some more tracts in a beautiful park.

It´s time to leave for yellow fever shots now!

Welcome

2008-05-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

To the blog of CDBAND.
Enjoy your stay.