The Savannah Team

01/07/2010

These past two weeks have been absolutely amazing! We had a medical team from Savannah, Georgia join us as we headed 8 hours up river, into the jungle, to do clinics.

The day after the team arrived here in Leticia, we pulled out all the medical supply bins left from the last team a few months earlier, and began to prepare for a week on the river. The next day, we headed down to the port with a truck loaded with food, water, personal packs, hammocks, tents, propane, flashlights and tons of bug spray! After about an hour of loading onto the boat, we finally all piled in and were on our way!

As the night rolled in, we stopped overnight at a small community about two hours from our next destination up river; Santa Rosa. Hanging up our hammocks under the starry sky, we all quickly fell asleep. The next morning we decided to hold our fist medical clinic there in the little school by the river. So hulling all the bins off the boat full of medical supplies, we began the setup for the clinic that day. In the back of the room we set up about 5 tables together for the pharmacy, then a table with chairs to the right for “station 1” and another to the left for “station 2.” The line quickly began to filled all the way outside the door and down the stairs. After several hours of translating, prescribing, and handing out the right medications and several vitamins, we packed up and were on our way upriver.

Along the way, we stopped at an Israelite village in Peru for lunch. The Israelites are a people that live in colonies along the Amazon and Javari rivers in Peru. I’m not exactly sure of the ins and outs of this cult, but I do know that they believe that Jesus Christ is a man that lives in Lima, Peru. This creates so much confusion! How do you tell a people about Jesus Christ when they believe they already know him? Learning from AX, apparently they don’t welcome outsiders easily. Infact the last time AX was at Santa Rosa to hold a medical clinic, there were angry men, and the next morning barely anyone had shown up to the clinic. The team had, had to leave early.

So we were a little cautious in having stopped at this village for lunch, so we just stayed out by the river until we were finished. However, after about an hour of having been there a man came over the hill to talk to us. We found out soon that his son was very sick and needed medical attention. George, along with two nurses headed up back up the hill the man towards his house. After they came back, having treated the young boy, we were given bananas and squash, and a very warm goodbye. I was thrilled to have been apart of this new experience! God was doing something there!

We headed another few hours up the river and finally made it to Santa Rosa. As we pulled up, I looked up the steep hill, saw the deep, thick mud, and decided that it was a good time to pull out the boots. George quickly hopped out, hiked up the hill and disappeared over the side. I began praying, as I knew he was asking for permission to stay the night and hold a medical clinic in the morning. As George had gone, a government offical of Peru, by the name of Orlando had gone with him. At the request of George, the man had decided to come with us on our trip up river. Having him along, had opened many doors. Soon George came back and yelled, “Alright! Let’s unload!” Praise God!

Many of the Israelites had come over the hill to watch and help us bring the heavy bins up the muddy hill to the school. As we hung up our hammocks and set up our tents, we soon drew the attention of many children and adults in the community. Some of the ladies from the team and I headed outside with our cameras and limited Spanish, and quickly made many little friends. We were forming relationships with these people who had before despised us. God was beginning to work in them, and we were able to be apart of it.

That night, after a wonderful jump into the Javari river, washing off all the grime and sweat, we began to cook dinner and get ready for the night. Soon a crowd had gathered outside to watch us, so George headed out there to begin the “service.” He began to preach to them, showing them what the bible said, and who Jesus Christ really was. Many people showed up, and were soon participating and asking many questions. It was awesome!

The next morning we set up for the medical clinic. After seeing people for eight hours straight we finally split the team in two, and took shifts to eat and freshen up. Two hours later we finally closed up the clinic. Everyone had received the medical attention they needed, vitamins, and the children were loaded with candy, stickers, balloons and bible tracks telling them of the love of God.

We packed everything up and headed back down to the boat. Waving goodbye to the crowd on the hill, we left for the next village 45 minutes downriver. The next day was our second to last medical clinic. Again it was filled with balloons, candy, soccer and playing with the kids. It was great! Earlier that morning we had been asked to have a church service with the people, and 7 people gave their lives to Christ! Praise God!

After packing up everything once again, we finally headed back out for home.

The trip had been intense, physically hard, and totally mosquito infested. But, God had moved greatly in each community we were in. To hear about the previous visits to these communities, and how unwell the team was received, it’s a total God thing the response we received from the people. Everywhere we went there were seeds planted. Seeds that now need to be watered and cared for. Amazon Xpeditions is now planning on supporting a pastor to go upriver to those communities once a week, stopping in every village to continue the work that was started, to water those seeds planted.

So praise God! Thank you all so much for keeping us in your prayers! God is moving and doing some amazing things here in the Amazon!

The next two weeks will be filled with studying Spanish, volunteering at the children’s home and getting ready for the next team coming on the 9^th.

God Bless!

Heather