The village is fascinating and being able to see little bits of their lives is an honor. We learned that most of the kids that we are spending time with are related in some way, everyone is a cousin. It brings the saying that “it takes a village to raise a child” to life before our eyes. I love how the kids run free and are outside playing, conversing and helping with daily tasks. Well the school age ones at least. The younger ones are kept close to their mamas and peer from the windows and doorways with curious eyes and sweet smiles.
We started off the morning installing the corrugated metal roofing on the church. Our foreman, Ananias is a great leader and has been building with Pastor Mark Lemos, the missionary we are with since church number three and we are currently building church number sixty nine. Last night Ananias shared his testimony with us. He speaks Portuguese and is a tall thin man with white curly hair and leathery tan skin. He has a gentle smile and humble servants heart. God has had a call on his life since he was a young boy of 14 and although he spent many years running far from his Creator God proved his relentless pursuit of Ananias. God brought Ananias and Mark together in His perfect timing and sixty seven churches later God is using these two men to bring His Word to the people of the Amazon basin. We are blessed to partner with them this week.
Our whole team worked together on the inside of the village Pastors house today. Some paining rooms, others touching up the outside paint and a few repairing steps in the back of the house. Every house is up on stilts because of the rising of the Amazon river. We can’t wait to share our pictures with you all. The highlight for the leaders today was hearing the conversations between our team members as they worked in close quarters. Our conversations have moved beyond the surface to the deep meaningful real life substance and struggles that we all have. There was plenty of laughter as we get to know each other and joke around together. There relationships that are being built that began today while tirelessly painting coat after coat of thin white paint that we are sure didn’t make a difference in the house. The paint is so thin that we can’t tell where we have painted. However, it caused us to slow down and live out authentic relationships. I painted in silence with Dan and DJ today as we smiled at each other knowing God was strategically orchestrating the combinations of people in each space conversing and his Spirit was at work in the conversations. He is faithful and in the details, nothing is by chance.
We watched a villager climb a very tall palm tree and harvest acai berries for us. This is one of the ways this village makes a living. We all have videos we will share when we get home. I loved how proud the villager was to share this with us. He proudly displayed his harvest and stopped part of the way up the tree to take a picture of us on the ground with his cell phone. Yes, pretty much each villager has a cell phone, flatscreen tv and satellite. Tonight we ate fresh tart acai and it was delightful.
Our favorite laugh is Dan Lamborns. Our fearless leader takes the trip in stride and his laugh can be heard from most places around the village. We are thankful for he and Van for brining us here. Their confident leadership makes everyone feel welcomed and safe as we navigate new waters in a foreign country.
Tomorrow we will finish up the projects, have a church service in the new building and then head back to Manaus. Saying good bye to our new friends in the village will be difficult. The little ones are so loving and it’s been a blessing to be here.
