Okay, so to start out, it’s Jaelah, it’s been way too long since I’ve last written, and this is going to be probably one of the best posts I’ve ever written. (for me at least, I hope for you too!!) 🙂 

 

This post is going to be about the trip me, Dad and Mariah went on last week, from Sunday night to Saturday morning. The ferry left at 5:00PM on Sunday and we got to the landing about 8:00PM. Then we drove an hour to the house we were staying at that night, and Dad left around midnight (yes, we are on Brazilian schedule so had to stop for a few things 🙂 and we actually got there at 11:00, they just had to get the rest of the stuff ready.) to get the cement mixer in Monte Alegre, which was about an hour and a half from where we were staying. They got back at around 2:30AM he said (I was sleeping already, just so you know!) but then Joaquim (head of the construction) started talking to another guy, and he was right beside Dad, and then when he finally got to sleep, apparently there was chickens above them so they started dropping eggs (BTW, they were sleeping in the casa de farinha (google translate) 100 yards from the house, that’s why there was chickens above them) and they got up to move their hammocks. Then they all went back to sleep and then it started pouring, like pouring and the wind made it worse. So of course the Brazilians get up right away  to move their hammocks, so he wakes up. And me and Mariah back at the house wake up at 5:00, because it’s raining too. We wait for an hour, because before the men left the night before, devotions was supposed to be at 6:00AM, breakfast at 6:30AM, and us on the road by 7:00AM so we could get to the community by 10:00AM at the latest. We waited till 6:15AM, decided that wasn’t going to happen, and went back to bed. I think we woke up again at around 7:30/8:00AM, got dressed, ate breakfast and had devotions. By that time it was already around 9:00AM. We had to pack some stuff in different spots, and find places for everyone to sit, so by the time we left it was a little past 10:00AM. We stopped around 5 times I think, so we only got there about 1:00PM. We ate lunch, but by the time everyone was done and everything was cleared up, it was getting close to 3:00. The medical team and Joaquim went to look at the church and where they would be attending people. They got back around 4:30PM, so then the ‘leaders’ decided to go to a waterfall! We had a lot of fun, and stayed till around 6:30PM I think. We went back, changed, and had supper. We didn’t have anything that night, so we went to bed as soon as possible, except for it wasn’t ‘as soon as possible’ because there was still a couple of  people on the team who didn’t have their hammocks hung up. We got to bed around 9:00/9:30PM, so that was good. But not so good considering we were SHOT and had to get up at 6:30AM the next morning and start working hard at the church!!

 

I woke up at 6, or before, because my hammock was the closest to the kitchen, there was only a curtain for a door, and they got up at 5 each morning. And there was a room directly opposite my hammock also, so they were always passing under and going in to the room to grab this and that. This repeated almost every morning. Mariah and the rest woke up at 6:30AM  around there, but I think they could have just gone on sleeping had no one woken them up!! 🙂 We had breakfast and devotions, (my favorite of the whole time, or at least super close!) then split up for the morning. There was 12 people total in the team, so they divided and 3 went with Viktoria (the guest house leader) and the owner of the house we were staying in to do house visits and pray for people. We went to the church with the rest of the team, Dad, Joaquim, and some other Brazilians that were going to help us. When we got there, there was weeds on the floor, and the ground was definetely NOT as level as it was supposed to be!! Our first job was to hoe and pull up the plants/more like weeds. After we got that done, we started to haul ground outside to make it more level. That lasted the rest of the morning and all afternoon. We had lunch at 12:00PM, and went back to work at 2:00PM. (the sun is VERY powerful at that time of day) We continued till around 6:00ish and then decided to stop for the day.  If I hadn’t said before, the Brazilians actually MADE us a shower and toilet. It wasn’t done until Tuesday around 2:00PM, so I think that is one of the reasons we went to the waterfall. They had an outhouse, which I didn’t use. I preferred the woods, and as for Number 2, I held it!! Some of the girls are like, “Are you crazy? I’m not going in either place, I’m just holding it!” And one of them did hold it, till about 9:30 at night, when she finally gave in. 🙂 It was kinda funny. We had a Tadel type thing (meeting on every Tuesday night for cell group leaders) and one of the Brazilian guys that went with us gave a little of his testimony. It was cool. We went to bed at 11:00 and I repeated from the last day. Devotions at 7:00AM, breakfast 7:30AM. Went to work at 8:00AM.

 

We got really dirty again, just like Monday. Except for Monday I’m pretty sure I got the dirtiest. We did the same stuff as Tuesday, just took more dirt out and tried to level it some more. We stopped at 12:00PM for lunch. That day (wednesday) we washed two of the girls’s clothes for them, since they wanted them washed and they were starting to stink because they had been in a bag half the week. We finished right in time! 🙂 (There was a lot a lot a lot!!) We continued with our work that afternoon. We had everything planned out carefully, because there was going to be a church service that night. We got everything ready and waiting, so that when we got back from work we could grab our stuff and take off to the waterfall. One of the reasons we went was because there was like 26 or more people that went with us (including the team and health team and workers) so it was a pretty big line with just one shower!! And we were in a hurry because we had to get back, change, eat and then leave for the service. We had an AWESOME time with the kids, it was so fun! We made bracelets with them that they make on every trip, and gave them some gifts at the end. The adults were watching the Jesus film, told by Mary Magdalene. We got done about 11:00PM, so by the time we got to bed it was almost midnight.

 

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast and then Dad had a surprise for us. He told us that he wanted us to go to the Clinic with the health team and pray for people. Which I did, but only for 2 girls. This is where the week gets interesting. So we got there a little late, (supposed to have started around 8:00/8:15AM) and there was already probably 20/25 people there, which is a lot considering most of them had to pull a tooth and that takes the most time. I helped mostly with the dentist, have a good friend, Verena, that was the head of the health team. There was 2 nurses, and 3 dentists, except for only 2 were attending b/c there was only 2 chairs. I helped with the forms, counting them out and sorting them. I also helped with filling the cavity. I thought we were going to get done by 12:00 (lunch time), but more people kept coming as others left and some of those teeth were INCREDIBLE difficult and not wanting to come out, so took more time. So there was this girl, about 8 or 9 I would say, and she was screaming SO loud! Her mom was just standing there, holding her hand and saying, ”Stop it, girl! You’re going to get in trouble when we get home if you don’t stop!” So apparently wasn’t helping that much. 🙂 I went over and held her hands, kept telling her to squeeze as hard as she could when it hurt. Mariah came looking for me, and when I saw her I asked her to do what I was doing, so I could go check on her sister. (she was a little scared because she thought she was going to have to pull, and it still hurt a little so i was taking care of her while her mom was with her sister.) I did, and she wanted to draw so I got her some stuff.

 

This guy walks up to me and says, “Hey, a white girl with glasses fainted.” Well there was a dentist using glasses, and my mind just kind of was not turned on to what he was saying. I went to get her some markers, and was going to the dentists, when he comes up and says it again. A girl that was standing off to the side heard what he said and came up to me. “A girl that has whitish skin, glasses and braces fainted.” All of a sudden it all registered and I ran to the room. (it was Mariah if you haven’t figured it out) She was laying on the floor in Verena’s lap, and the nurses were already there, holding her legs up and trying to get her to come back. After she did they gave her some water and crackers and then took her back to the house. We only left around 2:00 from the Clinic, I think she fainted around 1:30/1:45PM. We got back there at 3:00PM, and were attending people till 7:00PM. It was kind of rush, because it was the last day. The next day we went to the waterfall with all the people from the community. We did a barbecue, and spent probably a good 4 hours there. We went back, changed, loaded everything up and headed out. We stopped about 5/10 minutes from where we had stayed Sunday night, at some people’s house that had actually been on the trip. It was fun, except for one of the girl’s on the team almost got sick! We headed out about 9:30PM. The balsa (ferry) was supposed to get there at 10:00pm, and stay parked till 4:00am, when it would leave again. You could get on any time in between there.  The balsa got there super late, at 6:00am, which was an hour before we were supposed to get to Santarem if it had been on time. So we left at 6:00AM, and only got there at 9:00AM. Praise God we are back home safe and sound!! 

 

 

 

                                                                                       This is us before devotions one morning. We all look like we had an amazing night of sleep right? 😛

                                                                                         Me and Mariah the first day before leaving, on the balsa.     

                                                                                        Me and Mariah at the waterfall the last day.  

 

                                                                                                       This was a swamp type thing they had behind their house we stayed at Sunday night. It was pretty cool, considering it was a swamp. 🙂

                                                                                         This is Dad and the guy who’s house we ate supper at on Friday night.  

                                                                                         One of the guys, Jeff, whose was on the team gave his life to Jesus the Saturday before they came, soon the last day he invited everyone to his baptism. It was AMAZING, and his testimony was enough to make somebody cry. So happy for his decision! 

                                                                                         Singing for the Brazilians on Friday night.   

                                                                                          Okay guys, take it in one breath. THIS is the waterfall we spent many hours at during the week, refreshing and enjoying God’s beauty.  We are to the right, if you can see us in the water. 

                                                                                       Both teams on the road, on one of the many stops.

                                                                                        This is the BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, WONDERFUL,  MARVELOUS, TOTAL WORK OF GOD that we saw on the ferry, Sunday night. Isn’t it amazing? I agree! 🙂 

                                                                                        Barbecuing the meat on Friday. That’s what I’m talking about! 

                                                                                          Monday lunch. 

                                                                                         So this is the view of the house driving down the driveway.

                                                                                         The health team on bottom, the first 5 girls from the left. The American team all in middle, with Brazilians to the right. And all Brazilians in the back. 

                                                                                           Devotions in the morning. 

                                                                                         This is where Dad slept at night. To the right is their well. (it is dug out, and is probably around 14/15 ft. deep)  On the ground, as you can see are the dogs, ready to start barking at whoever dares to invade their territory. LOL!! 🙂

                                                                                            Dad evangelizing to this guy on the last day. 

                                                                                          Dad helping mix the cement. And the faces of them both.    Lol is right! 

 

                     Hope you enjoyed the blog post, and hope it helped you to understand more about what we do on these trips we take. I know it got long, but there is people out there who will read it. 

                                                                       Jaelah