Friday, May 11th

We opened clinic pretty early – 8:45. This was also the quickest clinic. Seemed everyone was there and waiting to be seen. We had a little service in the school and it seemed that every child was there. Some adults came too. We sang our songs in Portugese and the villagers sang some songs in English. I held this adorable baby boy. So sweet! 

Isn't he a cutie pie????

I am amazed at how content these children are! He let out just a little cry towards the end and his mama knew he was hungry.

Thatched Home - with covered portch

Here is the portch with a couple of their animals

After service we left and ate an early lunch. We traveled to the next village Jacarequara. They tried to go to this village the last trip but no one was there. It seems they had all gone to the city for their monthly trip to pick up supplies and the little bit they get from the government. We pulled in and this was the WORST village by far that we had been to!

See how flooded this village is?  The river is almost to the homes!

The boat with the tarps is a home. 

Notice the satellite dish?  How does that even WORK?  Those are NOT power lines like we have in America - they are generator lines.  They get generator power a couple of hours a day - usually when it is dark.

This boy is brushing his teeth so he can come in and get his teeth checked by the dentist!  Notice the water.....later, many kids were taking their bath at this same spot!

Trash was strewn about everywhere and the stench of urine was overwhelming at times. No one waved to us like they did at previous villages. It was an erie feeling – especially seeing how large the village was. We definitely did not feel welcome.  The green house in the above pictures actually shut all of their windows and the door when we pulled up.....very creepy feeling.  We opened the clinic up at 2, but didn’t get anyone in until 2:30. Apparently, they had to clean the church so the people filling out the medical cards could sit down and register the people. It was bad! Once the clinic started rolling it was VERY BUSY! The amount of people that came was probably double what we had done so far. Clinic was over about 5 and Ruth Ann and I had to stocked the pharmacy because it was depleted in a big way. Earl said we were having church at 7. Kathy and I went exploring – just a bit off the boat. This one little girl walked by me and grabbed my hand and kissed it. She was so cute! This village was not like the others – these people didn’t seem “happy”. You could see the hard life on their faces. The kids seemed very happy in church. I think it is Earl’s way with the kids – he makes them feel loved and gives them hope. Hardly any parents came – I think 3 and there was probably 25 – 30 kids.

This man and his wife were two of the only adults at the church service.  He is one of the only people who profess to be Christians at this village.

Earl & Ruth Ann have not been coming to this village for very long and they do not have a pastor here. You can most definitely tell! No hope in their faces. Flavia told the story about Noah and the ark – of course it was all in Portugese, but you could tell what she was talking about. 

Over dinner, Earl tried to trick everyone that she was really talking about Jonah and the whale. I think he actually got one of the few guys that came on the medical part. It was pretty funny!  Earl did warn us to lock our doors this night, but compared with how I felt when we arrived at the village, I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had there and at the service. It was a good day!

Should I review the shower again?

Cold, Colder or Coldest.....take your pick!

Thursday, May 10th

We ate breakfast again around 7am and had our devotionals. We are studying Galatians 1 and 5. After breakfast and devotionals, we left the construction crew at the village (with no interpreter!) and began traveling to the next village – Bom Jesus.

This village was very nice – it was clean, the people were very friendly and the homes were painted. It had a sort of appeal to it.  The homes will still "shacks" by American standards, but they were much nicer.  The village had some grass  This village also had a rudimentary system of running water and even a water purifying system.  The water purfying system was not cost effective, so they have been unable to take soemthing like that it other villages.

After we toured the village we opened the clinic.  We gave out a lot of pain relievers, antacids and vitamins. Everyone looked relatively well here. We did give out some baby aspirin. They only way the boat treats high blood pressure is with baby aspirin because they can not guarantee when they will be back and you don’t want people to have a prescription for something like that and then all of a sudden stop it. We did see way too many young girls with babies – it wasn’t any easier at this village than it was at the last!

We left this village later than we expected.  On our way to the next village, I was told a story about a mother who had alot of children.  Apparently, she was "done" taking care of her 12 year old daughter - just couldn't handle it anymore, so she found her a man.  I don't even need to tell you what happened becasue you already know......

We had wanted to get to the next village in time to have an afternoon clinic, but, it didn’t turn out that we could. We arrived in Caiaue close to dusk, so we got out of the boat and went exploring. This village was pretty nice as well. Apparently it is a growing village because they are making more houses. Some houses here had thatched roofs and others had the common tin. I couldn’t believe it, but one home had a TV! The school building here looked like a school – it had artwork up and around the walls, it had desks and chairs and a dry erase board. Brazil has 3 school sessions per day – morning, afternoon and evening. Everyone was so infatuated with us that we made them late for school. Earl finally ushered them off with promises that we would see them in the morning.

We got back on the boat and ate dinner.  Earl also made us come up to the top deck so we could practice our singing!!!  Yeah!  I love to sing in English, better yet in Portugese!  I braved the cold shower....it still is not any easier....

No wildlife today....the pink Amazon dolphin eludes me.  I think I am the only one who has not seen it!  Seriously!!

Wednesday, May 9th

We stopped at Sao Sebastian around 3 in the morning to pick up the dentist, his dental assistant and two nurses that the hospital was providing for this trip. The nurses were providing the flu vaccine for the elderly and the very young.

When I awoke around 6:30, we were still traveling to the first village. Breakfast is always promptly at 7am. There were so many people on this boat that a lot of us had to eat up on the top deck. While we were eating, we heard this aweful noise. It sounded like a wild boar. I could not believe how loud it was – I was almost frightened. We were all searching the jungle to see what it was – finally we spotted it! It was a red howler monkey. I didn’t think a monkey could make all that noise and at that volume! We also saw multiple parrots and McCaws. Pretty cool!

Around mid morning we pulled into our first village - Araras.

This village seemed small. We opened the clinic up about 10:30. Everyone gets vitamins and de-wormer. My first real eye-opener was the 12 year old girl who came up by herself. She was beautiful! Her card indicated that she needed pre-natal vitamins. I looked at Ruth Ann while she was talking to the girl and she confirmed that she was pregnant. I was shocked. I had already seen other girls 16, 17, 18 that were pregnant, but I could not get over the fact that she was 12. I just could not get over it the rest of the day. I mourned for her - I wish I could explain what it was like - she hung out with the children during the day.  She still "played" with the other girls her age.  I just couldn't get over it.  I kept coming back to her.  12 years old!

When we were done with the clinic we got off the boat and explored the village. The kids flock to you and start talking to you in Portugese and you begin to feel really confused. You want to talk to them, but they can’t understand you.

Little girls we played soccer with

A couple of us played soccer with some little girls. Of course the village had a soccer field! We are in Brazil after all! The other thing that struck me was that the people in this village looked happy. The kids seemed content and people didn’t look miserable – which is what I was expecting. I think about my boys and how they would not know what to do with themselves. Sharon was a big hit because she was talking pictures of the kids and showing them their pictures.
Some of the construction crew left when we got there to go pick up the wood for the church. When they got back, we all helped unload it. I didn’t think we were going to be able to do it, but finally, we got all the boards off that little boat!

This may not look like alot of wood, but let me tell you - the shortest board was 8 feet and the longest was 12.  It was work to get them out of the boat!

Not long after, we had a church service with the villagers. To see the way Earl interacted with the kids was amazing! They all loved him! We also had to sing the song that Earl had, taught us in Portuguese to the villagers.

 Little did I know we would be singing more and more and more in the days to come!

After church, we headed back to the boat for a late dinner.  I think it was 9pm...As I reflect on this day, it amazes me at how happy these people are with nothing.  The kids in the village share 2 soccer balls.  They live in shacks - crowded shacks!  Sometimes up to three generations in one shack!  We were all talking about how this must be a hard life for them.  We were so happy to be there and to help these people.  It was a wonderful start to the trip!

Some more pictures from the village:

The birds just hang out.....

Girls getting fitted for pillowcase dresses.

The first and biggest house in the village.



Tuesday, May 8th

I got up around 6:20 feeling very refreshed! I went straight to the kitchen for coffee! I didn’t realize that they make their coffee kind of like sweet tea – they make the coffee in a pot, drain the hot coffee and then they had sugar. That was a surprise since I don’t usually use sugar for my coffee, but, I’m being flexible and drinking it anyway!

This morning we spent a lot of time organizing medicines and separating them into smaller portions. We had 500 pills of vitamins in each bottle, but they only give them 60 tablets – enough for 2 months. So, we separated and separated. It was actually fun because everyone was beginning to get antsy to “do” something. I didn’t realize how much preparation went into something like this.
This is also the day the boat started really rocking. Multiple people got sick, but no one that I know of actually threw up because of it – but we sure were taking the medicine!  Ruth Ann says that it doesn’t usually rock like this, but the wind and the other boats were making a lot of waves. One of the ladies in my room had Dramamine and the other had the patch. I took both!

Earl arrived on the boat and we immediately set out for the village the construction crew would be staying to build a church. While traveling, Earl brought maps up to the top deck and showed us all the places we were going to go. Wow! Nothing like seeing this all on a map to put things into perspective! We also assigned/picked jobs for the medical part of the trip. I was going to be in the pharmacy with Ruth Ann.  I was seriously disappointed at first because I wanted to be on the “front line” – but I tell you what, God knew what he was doing when he put me in the pharmacy! (Since I am typing this later, I can look back with some perspective).  I was able to pick her brain about missionary life, how they started in Brazil and what the future may hold for them.  It was a wonderful experience getting to know her and Earl on a more personal level. 

We ate a wonderful dinner! The cooks on this boat are wonderful. I was so surprised by how much food they provided and how wonderful it tasted. I was expecting something very basic – rice and beans, but we were served so much more!  Here are some pictures:

Sorting medicine...see how Dane's shirt is a weird grey-ish color?  Yeah - that's becasue the heat was atrocious!

It was so incredibly hot!  I was scared to death that I wasn't going to make it another week and a half! The sweat was dripping off of me!  GROSS!!!

I am already missing my husband.  It seems so strange that I am going through all of this without him.  I just read my son, Dillan's, letter.  It was so sweet!  I love that boy.  He has such a good heart.  He will be a great man, husband and father when grows up.  That fact touches my heart in ways I can not even describe!  Here are some pictures of my accomodations:

That is my bunk - the bottom pink one.  Looks comfy, huh?

Here is the shower.  Notice the ONE handle - on or off is the only choice!  Pay special attention to the white blur in the lower right corner......

Here is the white blur!  Yes, it is all together.  Very interesting.  The floor is somewhat sloped so the water runs down from the shower to the right to a drain thing.

After dinner, it is time to shower - ugghh!  Here are my choices for water temperature - cold or colder.  I whine like a child, but I suck it up and take a cold shower!  Tomorrow - we get down to buisness!

Day 2 - Monday, May 7th

Trying to sleep on the floor of the airport was horrible.  I tried really hard to go to sleep, but I couldn't get over the freezing cold!

The TAM counter was supposed to open at 3:45am, but it was more like 5am when we finally were able to start getting checked in.  We are finally off to security around 5:30 and I am really needing some Starbucks at this point - and Starbucks isn't my favorite coffee!

The TSA agent who "pre-checks" your boarding pass and passport was super nice!  I thought, wow, this guy was nice, especially at 5:30 in the morning!  I make my way to put my shoes on the conveyor belt and remember to put my money and ALL the contents of ALL pockets into the bin they give you.  Would you BELIEVE that I received the "special" pat down AGAIN????  Seriously?  I'm trying really hard to be patient here.  But again, really?  Ok. 

We get to the gate and meet members from the church in Florida that will be going with us.  One gentleman, 82 years old, had to go home.  Somehow between northern Florida and Miami he had lost his passport!  Can you imagine?  Losing your passport?  Poor guy....

I took this opportunity to call Rob and my boys.  I spoke to everyone and gave kisses and encouragement.  The last thing I said to my husband was, "Honey, I want you to pray about this.  I think we are supposed to adopt."  SILENCE and then, "Okkkkkaayyy."  I say, "Honey, I love you.  All I'm asking is that you pray about it.  Really pray about it.  That's all I'm asking."

After what seems like forever, we board the plane.  Something kinda strange happened.  When the flight attendants were coming down the aisle, they were all speaking Portuguese.  Interesting.  I thought, we are in Miami folks and I speak English, I have no idea what you are saying! LOL

The flight to Manaus, Brazil is 5 hours.  That's a pretty long flight, seeing my only other long flights have been to California.  I started to get antsy.  Five hours is a long time to be confined to the seat.  4 hours into the flight I had already taken 2 naps, read some of the Bible, journal some and read some of my book.  It seemed like I was the only one NOT sleeping!   

We arrived into Manauas.  Let me tell you - this place had an airplane grave site!  Not the picture of comfort when you know you will be leaving this place on a 767 in about 12 days!  We deplaned.  Customs was a joke and infuriating all at the same time!  Of course, they separated us by foreigner and national.  It took us over an hour to get through!  All they did was look at my passport for the visa, ask how many days I planned on staying and that was it!  Me, being so informed about international travel, thought this was "it".  Oh no....it took at least another 40 minutes to get the luggage.  Then we had to get in line for the "real" customs.  Oh, how I hate to stand around!  I am a "do-er" and people who like to do, do not like to stand around! LOL

We finally made it past customs:

Here is another first:

We made it!  I felt so relieved that we made it!

We got to the boat - I have no idea what time.  I didn't bring my phone and I didn't bring a watch.  Didn't think I would really need one!  I have some pictures of the boat that I will post tomorrow.  Can't wait to show you! 

We ate lunch - interesting, but very good!  They had alot more than I had envisioned!  It was not just rice and beans.  There are some pics of the food that I will load as well!    I took a nap while some others went to some shoppes up the hill.  I had NO INTEREST in shopping!  I just wanted to sleep!  That was the best nap ever!

We hung out for awhile and when everyone was back, we got to work sorting out all the different medications.  We had to put all the like meds with the like meds as they all were jumbled around during travel.  I was relieved to finally be doing something!  I felt like I got to Brazil and it was like, ok, WAIT, we are on Brazil time now!

We were all beat.  We needed to rest.  After a very simple dinner of sandwiches, our pastor, Keith, pictured with me above, de-briefed with us and gave us some encouragement for the days to come. 

I am journaling while waiting for the shower so I can go to bed!  3 hours of sleep in over 24 hours was more than I could handle!

Night!

About Time!

I know alot of you have been waiting to hear about the trip.  I am finally ready to start sharing my experiences and feelings.

I think I have been waiting until I could sort it all out in my head and have "answers".  I wanted to be able to say, "God sent me to Brazil on this mission trip because......fill in the blank."  I'm not sure what answers I have, but I have been encouraged to write, so, I'm gonna write!

I've decided to update daily as I experienced my trip.  I might put a little commentary in at certain spots, but, we shall see how it goes.

Sunday, May 6th

I said goodbye to my family at the airport.  Most members of the group were there and we checked our bags.  We were carrying 9 "bins" with us to Brazil.  9 bins full of vitamins, Tylenol, Motrin and the like - all weighing approximately 70 pounds.  It was amazing how heavy and how full these things were.  It cost over $750 in addition to our baggage, just to check these things to Miami.  Whoa.....That is alot of money.

We made our way towards security so we could get to the gate.  It has been awhile since i have flown anywhere, so I was kinda surprised by this new x-ray type thing you had to step in and put your arms over your head.  Kinda weird....but, ok, I stepped in, put my hands of my head and stepped out.  I was told to wait on the black mat with the standard yellow footprints.  "Ma'am, do you have anything in your back right pocket?" Oh, yes, I have my cash and my credit card.  "Ma'am, when we say take everything out of your pockets, we mean everything."  Whoops, sorry.  "Please turn around ma'am and empty the contents of your back pocket."  I removed my cash and credit card.  At this point I was still just like, whoops, and I kinda thought it was funny.  Well, maybe it wasn't funny - I'm just one of those people who laugh at inappropriate times and in inappropriate places.  Well, about 10 seconds later, I met the nice TSA woman who would give me the "special" search.  I didn't think too much of it, she was nice enough.  Then she started the pat down and by "pat down" I mean "rub down".  Talk about embarrassing!  OMG!  It was by no means one of those horror stories you hear about, but goodness.  Once they were assured I was not carrying anything illegal onto the plane, I had to get my hands wiped down and analyzed for explosives.  I'm thinking, really?  Really?  Me?  But then I remembered I would do this everyday if it means we don't have another 911. 

Finally, I am off to the gate.  Sweating and nervous chattering every one's ear off.  Not only am I nervous laugher, but also and nervous chatter.  HA!

We make it safely into Fort Lauderdale a bit early.  Our luggage is off the plane rather promptly.  Our shuttle to Miami is already waiting.  We pack up and drive to Miami and get in the doors and in front of TAM Airlines at 10:20 pm.  Oh boy.  10:20?  We weren't expecting to be there so early.  Our check in time was 5am.  Have you ever seen 9 people with 20 pieces of rather large luggage just standing around?  Someone has a picture, I'll find it.  We took up so much room it was really funny!  What was really funny was when these 9 people and these 20 pieces of luggage had to sleep on the floor in the airport.  Did I say sleep?  HAHAHAHAHA!  The Miami airport has this announcement every 15 minutes that says, "The time is now 12:45 am." "The time is now "2:15 am"  "The time is now 2:30 am".  Sleep?  No, we did most definitely did NOT sleep.  Here is an excerpt from my journal:

"We have arrived in Miami.  I didn't really feel like writing but I want to remember this.  We re-arranged the bins because some were slightly over the 70 pound weight limit.

I've brought the book "RADICAL" for the plane rides.  I'm not sure how you can read that book and not want to adopt a child.  The numbers are so staggering it is overwhelming.  I hope God makes it clear to Rob and I what he wants us to do.

I'm sitting here on the floor of Miami International VERY TIRED.  I'm not sure how this is going to work out because I am not very good without sleep!  I'm just going to have to trust God that he will help me feel rested and rejuvenated.  I pray for strength and for quality sleep on the plane to Brazil"

"The time is now 10:30" and I am tired.  Can't wait to post pictures and get into the meat of the trip.

Night!