Revive.

Acai berries everywhere!

I never know where to start with these blogs. My mind is reeling with thoughts, questions, and emotions from these last 2 weeks. We just got back from a 2-week trip to Amazon river communities and I'm so excited to share with you all about this.

We set off with really no expectations. Headed out with a group of 20 since we join with everyone who works for Amazon Reach. Loaded up the bus with all our backpacks, medical clinic equipment, food for the first week, hammocks, supplies to create showers, water filters, etc. They really know what they are doing around here.

After a 2-hour bus ride, we reached the port where we get on the boat. A small boat. Only big enough for all our stuff and maybe 15 people...so we took 2 trips. 30 minutes down the river and we reached the community on a small offshoot river. Beautifully set in the jungle. At the dock you could see a footbridge leading down to the Catholic Church and a field. Kids were running around everywhere and people looking at us. They had never really been around Americans before.

Ryan, dressed as a clown, chasing the kids

Love these girls!

It was an amazing week here. We stayed in a big community center with all our hammocks and a kitchen. Kids were constantly hanging outside of it...even teenagers who loved to take photos of us. Everyday we did almost the same things. We had a kids club at the school in the morning and the afternoon where we taught them something in the Bible and did a crafts and danced and sang with them. They really loved it. The kids are soooo energetic and friendly, always wanting to be with you. I fell in love with them!

In the afternoons, half our group would go with translators to visit the houses in the community. They were expecting us to visit apparently. But I think over the week we visited all the houses. And we would meet the people and share with them about why we came. At night, we held different events like movie nights, women's night, purity seminar, and more. Between all these we just had free time to meet as a team, have devotion time, or just hang out with the locals.


But I want to share a few specific things that happened.

Teaching about creation

"So during the time of the house visits, a couple of our students and a translator went to a couple of houses by the river and told them the message of the Gospel. Shortly after explaining what a relationship with God looks like people wanted to accept the Lord as their personal Lord and Savior! Amen! The next day they went and taught the one of them how to hold a bible study in their house with people who were also hungry for the word! That same day, the first day, some other students went with another translator to a ladies house that had pain all over her body. She could not even pick up a glass of water with out it being painful. They told her all about how you can have a relationship with Jesus and then prayed and asked God to take all of her pain away. The next night she stopped by and showed us how all her pain was gone and was running around dancing at a women’s night some of the ladies held for all the women in the community. Go God!" (Ryan Moreno)

"That first night, Wellington, one of our Brazilian translators, was talking to a group of 11 guys about why we are here and the message we want to bring to this community. After about 45 minutes of talking to them, they all gave their lives to the lord! This day was the start to our whole week because we got to keep ministering and discipling these men and women for another 4 days." (Ryan Moreno)

Ryan Blumer hanging with the boys

For one of the nights, I was asked to share a little sermon for the women's night. I had no idea what to do and was reminded by Ryan about the story of the woman at the well that Jesus met in John 4. As I read that over the day, I felt like The Lord did want me to share that with the women. The first half of the night we got to play games with them...there were about 20 women of all ages that showed up and they absolutely loved having a night dedicated to them. At the same time, I felt God putting it on my heart to so the women at the end of me speaking if any wanted to ask The Lord into their hearts. I had never really done anything like that...especially in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language so I wasn't sure how it would turn out.
But I got up and shared with these women how The Lord views them. That he sees their past sins and knows everything about their hearts yet still chases after a relationship with them in order to give them true life in Him. And I told them that if they wanted to receive Jesus and this water of life to come and talk to us afterward. But before I got that'd out of my mouth, one woman came right up to the front. And then about 14 others came up. So I had 15 women standing in front of me wanting to give their life to God! What! I was awestruck by what God was doing in their hearts. So with the translators we led them in receiving Jesus.
I got to talk to a few that came up to me after. One lady asked me how long I had been speaking and what my motivation for it was. So it was an open door to share a little of my story with her which was really cool. And throughout the week I got to see some of these women again and build friendship with them.

On our way to visit houses!

Another impacting day was when I went with Ryan, Ryan, and our translator Rafael to do house visits. For the first house we were picked up in a canoe by two girls. There were 5 women in the house that we got to share with. We talked to them about what a relationship with Jesus looks like and about the Holy Spirit. All of them ended up accepting The Lord and we got to pray with them and read out of the Word with them. One girl, Leidiane, spoke up at the end and said she just wanted to know the Holy Spirit more. More to come about her.

Our last house that day was a big family of maybe 7 people. We asked them if they had heard the gospel before and more than half said no. Ryan shared with them the gospel and who Jesus is. We made it clear that them accepting Jesus glorifies God, not us. We  don't benefit from them wanting a relationship with The Lord: they benefit from it. So we asked them if they wanted to commit their lives to The Lord and to our surprise all of them said they wanted to and came to the middle of the room to pray with us. It was so beautiful because you could tell this meant something in their hearts.

My favorite testimony is from that girl, Leidiane, who is 20 years old. They day after we met her, Ryan felt like God gave him a scripture verse to share with her...but he had no idea how to find her. Amazingly, she came that night to the purity seminar. He shared with her John 14 and asked her to read it that night with her brother, who we had also been talking with and ministering to. She agreed to meet us the next day to talk about it.

Us with Leidiane and her brother, Tony

It was the day we were suppose to leave and our boat ended up not coming until 1 so that allowed Ryan, Ryan, and me to sit down with Leidiane and chat with her. The first thing she told us was that something supernatural had happened to her the night before. She said she read the passage and immediately felt the Holy Spirit. She said it felt like fire all around her. And God started to speak to her about many things in her life...many of them personal to her that she did not share. But she said that the Holy Spirit told her about her calling and that her and her brother are meant to be leaders in the community. This was amazing to us because that community has no leaders to lead people spiritually. She also said that the Holy Spirit told her that our friend, Wellington, who came with us, also has a calling to come back to that community. That was even crazier to us because she didn't know that Wellington had actually been thinking about coming back and starting discipleship there. Leidiane was hearing straight from God. So we got to explain to her about how God speaks to people, even about others and what prophetic words may mean. It was day 3 of this girl knowing The Lord and all of this was happening...it was so incredible!

There will be more about Leidiane in the future. I'll hopefully be writing an article about it for the magazine. But God allowing me to see this testimony happened was him answering a lot of questions for me that week. Going into an almost 3rd-world place for the first time stretched me in ways I didn't expect...mentally and spiritually. The place was so joyful and relaxing. I would love to go back there. What wonderful people and beautiful nature everywhere. It's weird going to places where you will never see those people again.

The last day we were there we helped with the medical and dental clinic that Amazon Reach does in every community. Denists and doctors come from the city on that day to give free care to whoever comes. Our job was just to hang out with the kids while their parents were in the clinic. Some of my students got to assist the dentist and doctor with the gritty stuff and they had fun doing it. We also had a pharmacy for the things that the doctors prescribed to the people. It was a cool day of getting to help people out!

Well, that's it in a nutshell for this community. So many more stories, but will be saved for later :) We saw 30 people saved and a few healings, all giving glory to God! The Brazilians we work with say this was a revival for a river community. Hallelujah! We know God is continuing to move in this place even after we've left.

Right outside our place where everyone hung out

The wonderful dock at low tide

Our hammock area!

The boys swimming in the river