First Week on the Amazon

Wow, what a week. You always pray that these trips will be awesome, but I never expected. We flew from Miami to Manaus and arrived at 2.30 am. We were greeted by several people that stayed up to meet us. They were people that knew me as a small child. They were all surprised because I was taller than all of them. We checked into a local hotel and packed our backpacks. At 5 am, we went out to the port and travelled by a fastboat to Coari. It was an eight and a half hour trip (approximately 400 km). In the early 1970's my father started the third church in his ministry. I preached in the building that my father built. It was awkward at first because I spoke in English, then it was translated into Spanish and then into Portugese. We had a wonderful time with the new pastor there and his family. They are an amazing y0ung couple that have had a tremedously significant ministry. After service, they served us dinner - rice, piranah, and two other kinds of fish (piranah is delicious, by the way). On day three, we attempted to travel back down the Amazon to Murituba. But, about twenty five miles into the trip, the engine blew up in the boat. We tied down against the bank and ended up staying there nine hours. As I sat on the boat watching the sun go down and eating dinner (still not sure exactly what we were eating), I thought that this is one of the most signifant experiences of my life. We started getting concerned when the Brazilians started worrying. They told us that the mosquitos there would literally kill us. But, another boat came and towed us back to Coari. What a trip! I'll have more to give tomorrow...